Stolen

by S L Davies

  Once Harley stopped fighting Kodiak let him go, and walked him back to the couch, sitting him beside Branwen. She reached out and wrapped her fingers around Harley’s. He stiffened under her touch but looked over into her eyes.

  “I promise you Harley, this will end. Your brothers? Ryan and Colton? They had to go through the same thing?” she asked.

  Harley nodded his head - tears flooded his cheeks as he looked down into his lap. “I didn’t want to do it Branwen, I promise, she cried so hard and begged me not to, but dad, he would have beaten me so badly if I didn’t do it.”

  “Has he beaten you before?” Karney asked.

  Harley nodded his head, tugging on the hem of his shirt before lifting it up over his head. He turned on the couch so that his back faced Branwen. Dotted across his back were hundreds of scars, pink and raised. Branwen gasped and gently reached out her fingers, running them along one of the particularly raised scars. Harley flinched but didn’t stop her gentle touch.

  “When did he do this to you?” Branwen asked.

  “Since I started puberty. Dad wanted me to have sex with Adaline since I was thirteen. She would have been seven, I didn’t want to do it, shit my dick only just started working, I still thought girls were gross. When I said no, he took me into the back shed and whipped me. Every time I said no, he whipped me. Finally, when I turned seventeen, I said I would do it, Adaline was eleven. Once I finished, I went outside and vomited. After that he said he was going to start training Adaline to take more men and make more money.”

  “What did that mean?” Branwen asked as she stared at him in shock.

  “It meant that he used me and my brothers to do every depraved act from blow jobs to anal with Adaline.”

  “Jesus,” Karney groaned, “he can’t live.”

  Harley looked at Karney with wide eyes and shook his head, “please, I promise I didn’t want to hurt her,” he whimpered.

  Branwen touched his arm gently, to get Harley to look at her, “Karney didn’t mean you, he meant your father.”

  “He’s not really my father, you are the only biological one, Branwen,” Harley said.

  “Explain that to me Harley? When I first saw your family photo, I realised that you weren’t biologically his, but where did you all come from?”

  “I don’t remember my real parents, I just know we aren’t really theirs,” Harley said.

  “How did you know?” she asked.

  “When Colton came to us, I remember it, I was eleven. I heard Dad talking about the people that Colton had been taken from. Then when Adaline came to us, I understood more. Dad found people who were drug addicts, from what I can tell our biological families were junkies, and dad would find us, befriend the family and then take us. The parents were usually too strung out to realise we were even gone, by the time they did realise it was too late, they never reported it. But he is your real dad.”

  Branwen shook her head, “no, no he isn’t. My da was gunned down along with my Uncle Dyfed, but that man, the man that did that to you, your brother’s and sister is definitely not my father,” she growled.

  Harley nodded his head, “I wish I had been lucky to be found by someone like you were when you were sold.”

  “Wait what do you mean?” Carter asked as he came out of the bedroom.

  Harley spun in his seat, opening and shutting his mouth, “who are you?” he asked.

  “I’m Detective Carter McConnell, I’ve been working with Branwen and the Murphy family for years,” he explained.

  Harley turned back to Branwen, “are you like the mafia?” he asked.

  Branwen shrugged her shoulder, “kinda, the mafia is more Italian, not Irish, however, we aren’t exactly above board.”

  “But you have a cop with you, won’t he arrest you?”

  “Not if he wants to keep earning the extra salary, we pay him,” she said with a grin.

  Harley’s eyes widened and his mouth dropped open, “so who is the boss?”

  “You’re lookin’ at her,” Carter said with a grin.

  Harley turned to look at Carter before turning back to Branwen, a wide grin spreading across his lips. “Holy shit, are you really the boss, like the head of some underbelly shit?”

  Branwen threw her head back and laughed, “it’s not quite that glamourous, I spend a lot of time doing paperwork for our legitimate businesses making sure our books are all good.”

  “But like you take hits out on people?” Harley asked.

  Branwen frowned and shook her head, “Harley if I want someone dead, I don’t trust other people to do my dirty work, I kill them myself.”

  Harley’s eyes widened and his face paled slightly as he swallowed hard. “Are you going to kill my dad?” he asked.

  Branwen shrugged her shoulder, “would that be a bad thing if I did?” she countered.

  Harley bit his lip and frowned, she could see the dilemma running through his mind, he wanted the man dead, but at the same time the guy was the only dad he had memory of having. Every emotion was playing out on Harley’s face. He looked up at her and a small smile formed on his lips.

  “No, it wouldn’t be bad, he needs to die,” Harley said resolutely.

  Branwen smiled and nodded her head, not confirming whether this was something she was going to do. As it stood, she didn’t know whether she would kill Benjamin or whether she would let the law handle it. She needed to speak to Carter, without Harley with her, she needed to find out what would happen to Harley, Ryan and Colton if the law handled it. Technically they were guilty of rape, and the fact that Adaline was only twelve, or eleven when she was first raped, made it an even bigger charge.

  Branwen believed that Harley didn’t want to rape Adaline, she could see it in his face, she could read the guilt, it was practically oozing from the boy’s body. However, Colton had been smug, something wasn’t right with him, and Branwen wasn’t sure that he held the same regret that Harley did. Either way, she needed to protect Harley, but more importantly Adaline from more of her father’s attacks. The last thing that Branwen wanted was for Adaline to end up like Rebecca, Benjamin’s sister.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Harley stayed in the motel suite with Branwen and the guys while they tried to organise some sort of plan to get at the very least Adaline out of danger. What Harley shared about his father and family rocked Branwen to the core. She wasn’t sure she completely understood what was going on. She had so many questions but didn’t want to overwhelm Harley. He was a victim in all this, but in being a victim he had also become the predator and that caused conflict in Branwen. She had never got involved in destroying paedophiles or rapists, it wasn’t something the Murphy family did, they did their business, they sold their drugs, and dealt out punishment where it was needed. However, unless someone messed with the Murphy family or the Murphy family’s income stream then they didn’t bother punishing people.

  This was different. Here were her biological parents, who had agreed to meet her, who had from what Harley said, sold Branwen to a paedophile ring for sex trafficking, this directly affected her. And her heart was torn in two, she wanted to protect Adaline, but at the same time she didn’t want to get involved. She just didn’t know what the answer was.

  “Harley, tell me what you meant when you said that Branwen had been sold as a baby?” Carter asked, sitting next to the boy, later in the afternoon.

  Harley had relaxed and was even joking and chatting with the guys happily. Gone was the angry kid that she had first met, or the scared little boy that had rocked up to the motel room that morning. Harley frowned, but nodded his head before sitting deeper into the couch.

  “I overheard my dad speaking to his friend Shane. He is the cop that said he had found Branwen. Dad got angry that Shane wasn’t stopping the other cops from looking into Branwen’s abduction. He told Shane that if it came out that he had sold Branwen then everything would be ruined.”

  “What do you think he meant by ruined?” Carter asked.

/>   “I assumed he meant that the family would be exposed and the stuff that dad was making us do to Adaline would come out.”

  “Does Audrey know about what your dad made you do?” Branwen asked.

  Harley looked up at her and shrugged his shoulder, “I don’t know, she wasn’t in the room, but she never stopped him, she knew about the whippings because she tended to my wounds. I think she knows, but I think she is too scared of my dad to stop him.”

  “Does he beat her too?” Karney asked.

  “Yeah, she usually has black eyes and stuff, but because you were coming, he didn’t hit her in the face, but I still heard him hitting her,” Harley explained.

  “Do you think she knows more about my abduction?” Branwen asked.

  Harley bit his lip, before shaking his head, “no, any time your name came up before we knew you had been found, she would tear up, she genuinely believed you were dead, I think she knew that Dennis took you, she just didn’t know that you were sold or taken to Northern Ireland.”

  A silence fell over the group as their mind went through all the different information that Harley had given them. This was a clusterfuck of drama and Branwen wasn’t sure she wanted to be bothered with any of it. Part of her wanted to be on the plane back to Northern Ireland and leave this fucked up weird family behind. However, there was another part of her that knew she couldn’t leave Adaline behind in that mess. She was twelve years old, that was too young to be hurt the way she was. No one deserved what she had been through, but to be a child and having to face that, it was too much for even Branwen to comprehend.

  “Did your da have you having sex at your house? Were there other people there while you were doing it?” Carter asked, breaking the silence.

  Harley nodded his head and sighed, “it was at the house, Dad would monitor it through cameras that he had placed in the room. He would tell me when to go into Adaline, sometimes it was the middle of the night, and other times I would have to go and get her and take her to the room. At first, she fought, but now she just went.”

  “And your da, did he ever rape Adaline as well?” Carter asked.

  Harley shook his head, “no he only had me, and I think, Ryan and Colton have sex with her.”

  Harley looked miserable, he looked down into his lap, with unshed tears floating across his lower lids. When he looked up at Branwen, she saw the guilt and agony in his eyes, “I never thought I was raping her, but that’s what I was doing. I’m a fucking rapist,” Harley said on a sob. His shoulders started to shake as a guttural sob fell from his lips. Kodiak pulled him into his chest and held the boy while he cried.

  Carter nodded his head at Branwen, and she stood with her crutches as she hopped after him, Finnbarr and Karney followed behind her. Once they were in the bedroom, Carter closed the door and leaned his back against the wood, as he ran his hands up over his face and tugged at his hair.

  “I don’t have to tell you that this is a clusterfuck, Little Raven, I dunno what to do about it,” Carter said.

  Branwen nodded her head and sighed, sitting on the edge of the bed, and stretching her casted leg out in front of her. “I dunno either, you’re right, it’s a clusterfuck. We can’t leave Harley or Adaline there, and the other boys they are victims too, even though I think that Colton shares his father’s perversions.”

  Carter nodded and sighed, “I believe you, if that’s what your gut is saying.”

  “There was something not right about that boy, only fifteen but something said he was enjoying everything his da had been throwing at him,” Finnbarr said with a growl.

  Branwen nodded her head, “we obviously can’t go to the police here, they are just as corrupt as Benjamin.”

  “Yeah, I heard that too, who are the cops that the Isakov family have on the payroll?” Carter asked.

  Branwen looked over at Finnbarr, “there are four cops on the payroll including the chief inspector, Martin O’Brien.”

  “Can we go to him?” Branwen asked.

  Carter bit at his lip and grimaced, “I dunno, cops talk, the minute they plan something it will give time to whichever cops are dirty pedo’s to get involved and by the time they raid the house, Benjamin will have got rid of everything.”

  “Shit,” Branwen swore, “well I guess then we will have to go in, Finnbarr will the chief inspector turn a blind eye when a dirty pedo turns up dead?”

  “As long as we are gone by the time his body is found, I reckon he will,” Finnbarr answered.

  Branwen smiled and cracked her knuckles, she was going to make Benjamin pay for the pain he put not only Adaline and the boys through, but for what he did to Audrey. She would make him pay for selling her, but as it turned out for Branwen, life ended up being a great one. So, she couldn’t help but think it was the best thing he did.

  “So, we are doing this?” Karney asked.

  “Yeah, we are doing this,” she answered with a wicked grin.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Branwen managed to convince Harley to go back to his dad in the early evening. As much as she wanted to hold onto him, she knew that if Harley didn’t go home, it would clue Benjamin into what was going on and he might panic. She didn’t want that. She wanted Benjamin completely unaware of the hellfire that was about to reign down on him.

  When her alarm went off at four in the morning, Branwen was filled with a nervous energy. It was one thing to take out people that had wronged her in Northern Ireland, she knew which cops she could trust, she knew the lay of the land, so to speak, but here in Melbourne, she wasn’t quite as comfortable. The fact that Benjamin had friends who were cops made her slightly nervous too.

  Kodiak had spoken with the chief inspector Martin O’Brien, once Harley had left. According to Martin, they had been trying to infiltrate Benjamin’s ring for years. He was known for producing child pornography, not just with Adaline, and his son’s but other children that belonged to paedophiles in the area. As it turned out, it wasn’t just Adaline that the boys were forced to have sex with. Something that Harley failed to mention, which concerned Branwen. According to Martin, Harley, Ryan and Colton were the only boys that were ever filmed and used, but there were anywhere up to thirty girls ranging from the age of three to Adaline who was twelve. Branwen felt physically ill as Kodiak relayed what Martin had told him.

  The films were always done from the same room, which Branwen assumed was at the house. She was disgusted. But it still didn’t answer why Benjamin chose to sell her rather than keep her. That didn’t make sense. Branwen thought that he would have been happy to have a girl that he could have starring in his sick and twisted films. Instead though he sold her and sent her out of the country. Martin had agreed that it didn’t make a lot of sense. Branwen was filled with a great sense of relief that he chose to sell her but at the same time she felt guilt for Adaline.

  “Are you ready to do this?” Kodiak asked, as he kissed her naked shoulder.

  Branwen turned her head to look at her beautiful Russian man. She smiled and nodded her head, “more than I can explain, I want answers, but more than anything I want that man dead, and I want those kids saved.”

  “What if Colton or Ryan, hell even Harley is just like their dad? What do we do then?” Kodiak asked.

  Branwen inhaled a deep breath and bit her lip, it was something she had thought about a lot during the night. She couldn’t kill a fifteen-year-old kid. But she didn’t know what other answer there was. If the boys didn’t see what they were doing was wrong though, she didn’t know what other choice she could have.

  “I don’t know. Maybe we need to let the law handle them, and just hope that with help they can get them to see what they have been made to do was wrong. I can’t kill them though, Kodiak,” she said.

  Kodiak frowned and nodded his head, “I understand that, and I would never expect you to. We will work it out.”

  Branwen smiled and nodded, before she dragged the blanket from her body and swung the heavy cast on her leg out of bed. They ha
d decided that they would turn up at the Tomlinson house at five, while it was still dark. She didn’t think that Benjamin would be expecting that. She just hoped that Harley had been able to keep it together during the night.

  ***

  It was right on five when they pulled up to the house, where the Tomlinson’s lived. The house was shrouded in darkness, it appeared no one was awake, which is exactly as Branwen wanted it. Quietly Kodiak and Finnbarr went to the back door, while Branwen and Karney took the front door. Branwen reached out to the knob and slowly turned it, feeling that it was locked. She nodded at Karney, who made quick work of picking the lock.

  When they entered through the front door, Branwen heard the light click of the back-door snipping shut, meaning that Kodiak and Finnbarr was inside. The plan was that Kodiak and Finnbarr, would look for the room that was used for filming and storing all the child porn. Harley had told them that there was a secret door behind the large canvas picture of Branwen when she was a baby, it was in there that the room was. It didn’t miss Branwen’s irony that the room that the filthy pedo did his work was behind her picture.

  Branwen and Karney moved into the master bedroom. In the low light she could make out the distinct shapes of Benjamin and Audrey Tomlinson sleeping peacefully. Branwen went to Benjamin’s side, while Karney went to Audrey’s. Branwen looked up at Karney who nodded, she pressed the barrel of her gun to Benjamin’s temple and clicked the safety. Benjamin’s eyes shot open, and his mouth opened in shock.

  “Hello Benjamin, it’s time to do some filming,” Branwen said with a sardonic smile spread across her lips.

  Benjamin shook his head and raised his hands, “Chloe, I. what are you doing here?” he stammered.

  “Well Benjamin, for a start my name is Branwen, you sold Chloe to a paedophile ring. She died the day you sold her to be raped as a newborn baby. So now you get to deal with the matriarch head of the Murphy family. You see Benjamin, normally we don’t get involved in punishing pedo’s, normally we just ignore the scum and let them sort themselves out. However, what I do get involved in, is when someone hurts me family. And you, you hurt my family.”