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I take Aviana’s face in my hands, eyes scanning over it to look for one single fucking mark that might tell me if she’s hurt, but she’s relaxed and smiling, a victorious smile, one full of pride and glee. “I did it,” she whispers, looking up at me with those sweet fucking eyes. “I fucking did it, Cohen. I got him here. I can’t believe I got him here.”
I exhale the breath I didn’t realize I had been holding since the moment she walked into that bar. “You’re fuckin’ incredible. You know that?”
She beams. “We’re halfway there.”
I lean down, pressing my lips to hers. Neither of us has established any sort of relationship or what it is we’re doing here, but right now, I need to fucking kiss her more than she could imagine. She melts into me, soft hands going up and playing with my hair, lips parting, and a small whimper coming from her throat. Fuck yeah. She wants this as much as I want it.
Thank fuck for that.
“Get a room, you two. We’ve got business.”
We part to see Alarick, Kendric, and Zariah walking into the room. I release Aviana, but I’m not fucking happy about it. This better be good.
“Where’s Benedict?” I ask.
Alarick glances at Aviana. “He’s chained up. We’ve got to keep moving because a scene is goin’ to be caused if we stay here.”
“Are we talkin’ to him first?” I ask, narrowing my eyes.
“He wants to talk to her,” Kendric nods to Aviana. “I say we let him. Whatever we can do to get the information...”
“He wants to do it alone,” Alarick goes on.
“No fuckin’ way. As if we trust him,” I growl.
“I’ll be fine. I’ll talk to him,” Aviana shrugs. “I got him this far. If he’s going to talk to me, then we’d be stupid not to take that chance.”
I look to her. “He’s a clever, very dangerous man. Don’t want you anywhere near him alone.”
She smiles at me. “I appreciate that, but we have to get this moving, as Alarick said.”
“He’s secured,” Zariah tells us. “I’ve double-checked. You’ll be safe. We’ll be at the door the entire time, one sound of distress, and we’re in there.”
Aviana nods. “It’s cool. Let’s go.”
I keep my frustration in and follow them as they go towards the room where they’re keeping Benedict. I don’t know what he wants with Aviana, and I don’t like it at all. He’s very likely going to try and convince her that he doesn’t belong here. Luckily for him, she’s not stupid. Still, men like that, they have gotten as far as he has in life by being very fucking good at what they do.
I don’t like it, but I don’t get a choice.
“Dial me, and then put your phone in your pocket,” I say as we reach the door. “Best we hear what he’s sayin’, too. It might be information we need to hear too, can’t risk anything bein’ missed.”
Aviana nods, pulling out her phone and dialing me. I answer it, and she slips it carefully back into her jeans pocket before giving us a thumbs up. “I’ll be fine!”
Then she goes inside and closes the door.
We stand on full alert, waiting for any sign of something going wrong. I’ll fucking break his neck. There is absolutely no doubt about it. One wrong move, I’ll finish that motherfucker.
“Well,” Benedict says, his voice croaky. Probably from the touch-up Alarick and Kendric gave him earlier, trying to get him to talk. “I’ll give it to you, Aviana. It has been a long time since someone has fooled me so effortlessly.”
“I guess you figured because I was a girl, I didn’t have it in me. That’ll teach you for thinking girls are nothing more than toys.”
Fuck. I adore her.
Benedict grunts. “Perhaps it will. I don’t appreciate being thrown around by a bunch of dirty bikers.”
Aviana snorts. “Dirty bikers, you are so set in a certain way, aren’t you. Right now, those dirty bikers are far cleaner than you are. Did you piss yourself, Benedict?”
Kendric chuckles, low in this throat. “She’s fuckin’ good.”
I nod.
“You do know that someone is going to have seen you leave with me on security footage, and when I don’t show up, they’re going to come for you. You do know that, don’t you, Aviana?”
“I’ll take my chances. I’ll be long gone by then, and so will you.”
“What do you want from me?”
“I’m sure you know exactly what we want by now, but you’re refusing to give it to us, so without it, you’re useless to our cause.”
Benedict chuckles, low and throaty. “What are you going to do, kill me?”
There is a pause, and then in a calm voice, Aviana says, “I’ve done worse, I suppose. You can blame my captor for that. He sucked my soul right out of me. If you think I care what happens to you, Benedict, you’d be wrong.”
“You kill me,” he growls. “You’ll die. You will fucking die.”
He’s breaking.
Fuck.
She is good.
“Death wouldn’t be such a bad vacation,” she says, and then her voice grows chipper again, “now, are you going to play nice, or are you simply worthless to us?”
Benedict falls silent for so long. I figure he’s shut his mouth and isn’t willing to say another word. Then, after a few moments, he offers her a deal. “I’ll do you a deal. I’ll give you exactly what you and your little club want in return for my freedom.”
“How do you know what my little club and I want?”
“You want Blanche, Peter, and Dax? Am I correct, Aviana? You want to take down that operation, thinking you’re going to be saving the fucking world if you do. You do know that there are thousands more like them out there?”
“I do, but those particular ones have something we want. Not to mention, they have ruined many people’s lives. We have a biker who needs Dax, so he doesn’t go to prison, we have bodies lined up that they’ve taken from us, we have a young girl who doesn’t fucking belong with them.”
“I’ll give them to you to do with as you please. I can have that entire operation annihilated in a matter of hours. You let me go; I’ll give you that.”
Aviana snorts. “You think I believe that if we let you go, that you’ll just hand over an operation and people that are making you millions, and let us deal with them and go on with our lives without ever hearing from you again?”
Benedict’s tone is serious when he replies with a firm yes.
“Why would I ever believe that?” Aviana questions.
“They’ve been causing me problems for a while now, and if you think the money they’re bringing in is worth anything to me, you’d be wrong. It isn’t worth even a small percentage of what I earn. They are nothing but thorns in my side. You want them gone? I’ll make that happen. You want the girl back? I’ll have her returned. As for me, you let me go. You and your little club will never hear from me again. Do we have a deal?”
“You know I can’t make decisions for the club, Benedict. They’re never going to believe you’re going to just hand them everything they want.”
“I will not speak. You kill me; you kill the information that comes with me. You’ll never take down the operation I’ve got running there. You’ll all be killed. I have the manpower to do it, without even a glitch. You simply do not. Do you want to see those people die?”
Aviana falls silent.
“Go and speak to them. I’ll wait for your answer.”
Aviana leaves without another word. We step away from the door, and she walks out, glancing at us. Alarick puts a finger to his lips, silencing her, and then we all make our way to his room where the others are waiting before speaking.
“No fuckin’ way,” Kendric says first. “Second he’s gone, he’ll have us all killed.”
“I have to disagree,” Zariah says. “I think his life is far more important to him than those people. I think he’ll help us.”
“I do, too,” Aviana nods.
“It’s fuckin’ risky,” Alarick murmurs. “If we trust him, and he turns on us... he’ll take our entire fuckin’ club down.”
“Then we have to be smart about it,” Aviana suggests. “We have to make sure that it’s done in a way that he can’t take us down without it hurting him, too.”
“How are we goin’ to do that?” I murmur, crossing my arms.
“By taking something he loves the most and holding it until we have what we want.”
“That man doesn’t love a single fuckin’ thing,” Alarick mutters.
“You’re wrong. He does,” Aviana grins. “He loves his daughter very much.”
“Wait,” Zariah says, her smile widening. “He has a daughter?”
“Indeed, he does. Not many people know about her, it’s to keep her safe, but I happened to find out about her. I know her name, too.”
“You’re fuckin’ genius,” I grin at her.
She shrugs. “What can I say? I’ve learned a few tricks...”
“Any idea where we might find this daughter of his, quickly?” Alarick asks.
Aviana nods. “I have an idea or two.”
“Well then,” he extends an arm. “Lead the way.”
~*~*~*~
“THAT’S HER, RIGHT THERE!” Aviana says, her voice a frantic hiss. She points to a girl who is walking down the street after leaving a café that she works at. We have been waiting for hours for her shift to end, and finally, it has.
“So what are we gonna do, follow her home?” I ask Alarick, sitting in the idling truck.
“We’re goin’ to have to. Can’t abduct her from the street.”
“Where are we going to take her?” Aviana asks.
“Somewhere he can’t find her, but safe. Zariah knows a place and is getting it set up so we can hold her there until Benedict delivers.”
“I kind of feel sorry for her,” Aviana murmurs. “Poor girl hasn’t done anything wrong.”
I turn and glance at her. “We have no intention of hurting her. She’ll be okay.”
Aviana nods and stares at the young woman walking down the sidewalk. When she gets into a car and pulls out, we follow her. She lives not too far away, at a small apartment complex. We park right behind her, and Alarick gets out. Here’s hoping she doesn’t fucking scream. I get out, too.
We approach her as she goes to the passenger side to get something out. When she turns around, we’re right there. Alarick is pointing his gun at her. “Don’t scream, or I’ll shoot. We’re not goin’ to hurt you. We need your help.”
“Who are you?” she gasps, face white as a ghost.
“Friends of your fathers.”
“I can’t help you,” she shakes her head, “I don’t even speak to him, I swear. I can’t stand that man. Please, don’t...”
“Get in the truck,” Alarick orders. “Again, we’re not goin’ to hurt you.”
He waves the gun at her, and she obliges, climbing into the back of the truck. I get in the passenger side, and Alarick stands at her door until I can turn and point my gun at her while he goes around and gets in. She’s white as a ghost and staring at Aviana, no doubt figuring we’ve captured her, too.
“It’s okay,” Aviana says, her voice soft and careful. “Nobody is going to hurt you, I promise.”
“I find that hard to believe when he’s pointing a gun at me,” she says, her eyes going to me.
“It’s only so you don’t run. I’m not goin’ to use it.”
Alarick turns and takes over the job of watching her so I can drive.
Aviana said she knows about Benedict’s daughter from the time earlier in her life when she spent a few months with him. She said he had pictures of her, and she saw her name on one of those and knew she lived locally. Benedict had told her their relationship was strained, but he would do anything for her. It was a good fucking call, and I can only hope it all goes to plan, and he is more inclined not to turn on us if he knows we have his daughter.
“What do you want from me?”
“We don’t want to hurt you, Angelica. Your dad has something we want back, and we’re just holding you to make sure he returns it,” Aviana explains.
“How do you know my name?” Angelica asks, her voice shocked.
“I have heard your father speak of you.”
“Well, that must have been a rare time; he doesn’t give a crap about me now.”
Here’s hoping that isn’t the truth.
“I think you’d find that’s not true,” Aviana explains. “Either way, we have no intention of hurting you. You’re just something we need to ensure he does as we’re asking.”
“What has he taken that you want so badly?” Angelica asks.
“A daughter, who has never met her father,” I tell her from the front seat.
“Oh,” she says, her voice soft.
“Please, don’t be scared. We’ll have you home soon, I promise you.” Aviana assures her.
Angelica doesn’t say anything more.
We drive to the location Zariah has set up to hold Angelica, and when we get into the small house, we lead her to a cool, clean room in the basement. There is a television, a bed, and a bathroom. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s clean and tidy, and she’ll be safe here. Angelica looks around and then faces us once more. “How long do I have to stay here?”
“A couple of days.”
She’s scarily calm. It makes me wonder if this isn’t the first time she’s found herself being taken for something her father has done.
“After this, I’m changing my name,” she mutters, sitting on the bed. “Can I have a book, please?”
“Of course,” Zariah says. “Anything you need, you let me know.”
We walk out of the basement, locking the door. Zariah has secured all other entries and exits to make sure she can’t get out. Kendric has done a full sweep of the place to make sure there are no weapons she can use when we go down there.
“She’s calm,” Zariah says when we’re at the top of the stairs, and the door is closed.
“Guessin’ it’s not her first rodeo,” I mutter. “How did you find this place?”
“I know a lot of safe houses, joys of being a cop. Or...formerly, I guess. Now, let’s go and tell Benedict the great news.”
I nod. “I’ll go over with Aviana, and we’ll have him facetime her so he can see we’re not bluffing. Keep it short and sweet; hang up quickly when you’re done. We don’t want him seeing that she’s not distressed.”
Zariah nods. “On it.”
“Let’s fuckin’ do this.”
Finally, it feels like the end might just be closer than we think.
Fucking finally.