“Confirming her name is Lilian, she’s approximately sixteen or seventeen and has brown eyes and dark hair?”
“Correct.”
“I’ll have it done. Await my call.”
Benedict hangs up the phone and glances at Alarick. “Happy now?”
“I will be when this is over. You’re certain Kendric will be cleared?”
“You underestimate my power,” Benedict scoffs.
“It’s not your power I care about. It’s the fact that I don’t fuckin’ trust you. That man deserves to walk free because he had fuck all to do with what Dax was running in our down. You have his name cleared, or our deal is off.”
“Sit down, biker,” Benedict mutters. “I’ll have his name cleared. I have more people on the police force than you could possibly imagine. I run that fucking show. Blanche is mine, and he’s the best there is. You give me zero credit. This will be finished by days end.”
“You’re confident,” Cohen growls. “Anythin’ could go wrong.”
“It won’t,” Benedict says. “I’ve handled far worse than this. My men far outweigh what Blanche has running over there. It’ll look like a deal gone wrong, and the media will have a field day with it. The cops will love it. They’ll think they’ve uncovered a massive operation that is now finished, and that’ll be the end of it.”
“You’re sure that’s how it’s going to go?” I ask.
“One hundred percent. You should know by now, Aviana, that I’m just that powerful.”
Oh, I know he is.
I fucking know it.
“Just make sure it’s done, so we can take that poor girl home safely. She doesn’t deserve what’s happening. I hope you know these little operations you’re running, they’re sick. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
Benedict grins. “Money is money, sweetheart.”
“Those girls have families!”
“You’re wrong,” he says casually, “they don’t.”
“You’re horrible.”
He shrugs, not a single care in the world. “Perhaps, but I can live with that. Are we done here? I’d like to eat something.”
I grit my teeth.
Cohen walks over and takes my arm. “Let’s take a walk.”
We turn and exit the room, the other men stay with Benedict. Cohen takes me to the large gardens at the motel we’re staying at, and we stroll past the duck ponds that compliment them. It’s a nice place, if only they knew the kind of dealings that were going on in their rooms. They’re be horrified, no doubt.
“Can’t worry about what else makes that man so powerful, babe,” Cohen says as we walk. “You gotta worry about what you can change. I’d love to take him out, too, but a man that powerful...it’ll come back, and it’ll destroy us. Can’t save the world.”
“I know,” I exhale. “I just hate that this is happening in so many places and to so many young men and women. They might not have families, they might be on the streets, but they don’t deserve that. Imagine the trauma...I just...I know how it feels.”
“You ever goin’ to tell me what happened to you those years you were away?”
“Does it matter?”
“It does to me.”
“Why, so it can upset you?”
“No, so it can fuckin’ show me what I did to you and remind me never to make a bad decision like that again.”
I sigh and stop, turning towards him. “You thought you were helping me, Cohen. You thought I’d be sent somewhere safe. You weren’t to know that deal would go wrong.”
“I could have done more...”
I shrug. “Talking about it doesn’t change anything. I was with a man who was cruel, harsh, and nearly broke me, but the thing is...he didn’t. I escaped. I got out. I’m free now. He did not beat me.”
Cohen takes my face in his rough hand, giving me a gentle expression. “You’re a fuckin’ warrior, do you know that?”
“Oh, I know it.”
He chuckles. “If you want to do something, something for the things you can’t control, then why don’t you use some of that money left to you and open yourself a big center for people who have been sold, or abandoned, or left on the streets alone. Give them a place to be. Give them hope. Stop people like Benedict being able to touch them.”
I look to him, my heart swelling. That is the most incredible idea. I have been wondering what to do with money like that for days, wanting to give it back in a way it would count. That counts. My god, does it count.
“You’re incredible,” I say, smiling up at him. “That is the best idea I’ve ever heard.”
“We’ll discuss it more when this is over, but I know one thing about you...if you can give back, if you can help in some way, then you’re goin’ to find your peace. Your inner peace.”
My smile widens. “When did you become so wise?”
He grins. “Just now.”
“Well, I must admit, it’s quite charming.”
He grunts. “Don’t get too fuckin’ excited.”
I laugh. “Come on, let’s go and get Lilian home to her daddy.”
“Fuck yeah.”
Here goes nothing.
21NOW – AVIANA
“Why haven’t we heard anything?” I ask, pacing the room, rubbing my arms as nerves begin to eat away at me.
It’s seven p.m., and we still haven’t heard anything. There has been no word, nothing on the news, and Benedict hasn’t been able to make contact with the man in charge. Has something gone wrong? Is this going to blow up in our faces? Is he double-crossing us, and we just don’t know it? So many questions and so little answers. I’m frustrated, and it feels like I’m walking on eggshells as we wait to see how this is going to end.
Surely it’s our turn for it to end, right?
Surely.
“What have you done?” I demand, glaring at Benedict with a look that promises I’ll make him wish he didn’t double-cross us if that’s what he’s doing.
I swear, I will make him pay.
“I haven’t done anything, Aviana. Give it time. You’re overreacting,” he says calmly, but even his face shows that he’s feeling some sort of anxiety towards the whole situation.
“Is there any way we can tune into some sort of police
