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“You’re very beautiful, Brooklyn,” he said with an unfamiliar accent that dripped with licentiousness. “I could earn a great deal of money off you, but once I saw that head of hair and your gorgeous body, I knew I had to keep you for myself.” He licked his lips which had nausea burning in my belly. “Though you’re a bit old for my taste and your pussy is likely not as tight as I prefer, your overall beauty outweighs both.”
What a fucking bastard. Anger mixed with sorrow and fear and a dozen other emotions pulled through me as I turned toward a silent Ben. “This is why you installed cameras in my bathroom? To show my photos to … to men? To sell me? Why would you do this? How could you? I’m your damn sister.”
“I fucked up, okay? I stole from my employer. Why? Because I could and because I deserved more than the shit wages I was earning while his bank account just continued to grow.” He raked his shaky fingers through his hair while a flicker of sorrow crossed his eyes. “Six weeks ago, my boss told me he knew what I had done. Told me he had no intention of giving another cent to the legal system and that he was giving me a chance to return the money or else suffer the consequences. Jesus, I panicked. I’d already spent part, invested the rest, and was locked in for fourteen months. I had to do something, so I started searching the dark web. That’s when I came across Mr. Herman. I never realized that selling a few harmless nude pictures of a beautiful woman meant I was becoming involved with a human trafficking group.”
Tears fell from my eyes. Ben had always been the good guy. Five years older than me, when he was in high school, he had always been popular. Good at sports. Even liked most his teachers. What happened to him? And why?
“I don’t understand. I never thought you of all people would steal, much less put money over your own family.”
“Look at this dump,” he hissed. “I was sick of living like this. Never having an extra cent. Living paycheck to paycheck. Driving a piece of shit vehicle. Fuck, my boss put a goddamn hit on my head, Brooklyn. I had to do something.”
“So you spied on your sister? Posted her nude photos for the damn world to see? My God, Ben. How dare you! How fucking dare you! I’m so thankful our mother isn’t here to see what you’ve done.”
“I’ll make sure you lack for nothing,” the dark-haired man said as his eyes trailed over my chest and down my body, lifting bile up my throat. “Money won’t be an issue for you or your brother. As soon as you’re in my possession, I’ll clear Ben’s debt as well as pay him a handsome sum of money.”
“Your possession? I’m not going anywhere with you. You can’t force me to do something I don’t want to do.” I turned toward Ben who refused to look me in the eye. “We’ll talk to your boss. Work out a payment plan. I’ll visit with my bank. We don’t have to do this. Please.”
I blinked up, my eyes blurring with tears when I saw the back door slowly and quietly opening. West held a finger up to his lips warning me to be silent, his Glock in hand. His expression was frigid, overwrought with rage. Pushing the butt of the gun against the stranger’s nape, there was bone-chilling ice to his tone as he said, “Do so much as breathe on her or touch one hair on her head, and I’ll slit your frail chest open, pull your dried-up heart out, and feed it to you.”
A smiling Mr. Herman rotated, facing West, and pointing his gun at his face. “She belongs to me now. Her brother and I made a deal. She’s not your concern.”
“You brazen fool! Her pathetic excuse of a brother is nothing but a weak pussy and a thief, and since the house is seconds from being surrounded with my people, I suggest you lower your weapon.”
“And I don’t take threats lightly.” Mr. Herman reared back, but before he could proceed, West fired a single shot through his right temple, killing him instantly.
Shaking, and seconds from losing the coffee in my stomach, I started toward West, but two footsteps in and he had Ben by one arm, lifting his body off the ground.
“Put me the fuck down! Who are you anyway and why are you in my house?” Ben gritted out, a stream of spittle flying from his mouth.
“My name is of no importance to you. All you need to know is that I’m your worst fucking nightmare.” West threw a right fist into Ben’s jaw, blood flying from his mouth. Ben brought his right forearm up and formed a fist with his left but wasn’t quick enough as West connected with his face a second time, knocking Ben to the ground. A booted foot kicked him in the kidney once, twice, and again while Ben curled into the fetal position trying to protect himself.
“Stop! Don’t kill him.”
West’s face was twisted with rage, his eyes hard and dark. He pulled Ben to his feet, holding him by the shoulder. With relentless hatred in his expression, he reached back and threw another fist at Ben’s jaw that was so hard and cruel that his neck turned at an odd angle and more blood streamed from his mouth.
“You broke my motherfucking jaw, you son of a bitch. And at least one rib.” Ben wheezed, spitting blood and a tooth. “Who the fuck are you?”
“I was hired to collect the money you embezzled or do with you as I see fit, so I’d say a broken jaw is minimal. If it weren’t for the fact that I’m in love with your sister, you can rest assured you’d be dealing with Jesus right now. Or the Devil.”
“I’m so sorry, Brooklyn. The last thing I ever wanted was to hurt you.” Ben rubbed his jaw, his face red with shame.
“I don’t want your apologies, Ben. I just want you out. Maybe one day I can forgive you, but right now, I can’t. My God, I loved you, trusted you. There’s nothing I wouldn’t have done to help you out of this mess. Seems you didn’t feel the same for me.” Tears flooded my eyes as I blinked toward West, his face still raw with rage.
If it weren’t for the fact that I’m in love with your sister… Had he really said that? Had he meant it? Was he still going to kill Ben?
“You heard her,” West demanded, all hard lines and knotted muscle. “While my people dispose of this sorry fucker, I want you to wash the blood off your face then clean this mess off the floor. Once you’re done, pack your shit, get your sorry ass in your rusted-out truck, and get the hell out of her house and go fight your own motherfucking battles. Since I happen to know your sister’s heart is still full even after what you’ve done, I’m going to make you an offer. I’ll pay off your debt, but in return you will disappear and won’t show your ugly face again until you’ve found a way to unfuck your worthless life. I will, and I reiterate, will be watching your every move. And should you try to bring harm to another hair on her head, I’ll find you. And I’ll end you.”
Ben faced me, shock in his expression. “Don’t tell me you’re offering up your pussy to an assassin. You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!”
Before he could say another word, West’s fist was connecting with his chin, knocking him out cold this time.
“Are you okay?” He stepped toward me and pulled me into his arms, my body wracked with sobs and tremors.
Was I okay? I didn’t know what I was at the moment besides numb. Dumbfounded. And dying to curl up against this man who claimed he had no heart. Thoughts of loving a killer should be out of the bounds of reason, insane, not to mention terrifying. But right now, I didn’t feel any of those things.
He saved me.
He kept my brother alive.
