For Her Benefit

by Nana Malone

  “I understand.”

  Ariel frowned at her phone. “Okay, if you’re headed back, I will hitch a ride with you to my hotel.”

  “Yeah, come on.”

  Penny was staying with Jessa. Ariel had opted for a hotel. I’d offered her a place at the house, but she hadn’t wanted to be in the way. Besides, Tristan was in and out with his team, so I think they wanted some alone time without the troops descending upon them.

  We found Penny in the study cooing at a very chubby-cheeked toddler on her computer screen. She was the perfect combination of her parents. Her skin was a warm mocha, and her curls were looser and silkier than Penny’s. Her face though was mostly Sebastian.

  Once we were in the car, Erik gave us a broad smile. “Where to first, miss?”

  I angled my head toward Telly, whose head lay on my shoulder and she gave me a wide grin. “Let’s head to Ariel’s hotel first.”

  Telly gave him a sloppy smile. “You know Erik, if I didn’t like this nap so much, you might be on my list of men to do.”

  His cheeks pinked slightly as he grinned. “That’s nice to know, Miss Telly. Let’s get you home.”

  The drive to the hotel was easy and mostly quiet. Ariel fidgeted. I could tell she was anxious to get back to the hotel and to her prince. “Is it hard having Tristan travel so much?”

  She nodded. “Um, sometimes when I can’t go with him it’s not great. I’m glad I was able to tag along to their last string of European games, so that was good. And my team has things handled at home, so it’s pretty great right now.”

  “What’s that like, just knowing that someone loves you?”

  “You already know. We all see at how he looks at you.”

  I smiled at that. “He says he loves me all the time.”

  “And you haven’t said it back?”

  “Oh, I have. But sometimes I worry that with his life, I’m not enough, you know?”

  “Oh yes, I know those feelings. I felt the same way with Tristan at first. For a long time, I thought he gave me up for the life of a prince. It took me a while to realize that he wouldn’t have done that and it was a big old misunderstanding.”

  “That’s one hell of a misunderstanding.”

  Ariel shrugged. “It’s a longer story. Basically, his brother is an asshole.”

  “Huh, I’ve met some of those before.”

  “I’m sure you have.” She shrugged. “But we found our way back to each other, and we make it work. And I’m just thrilled that he’s home for a long time. He was essentially living in exile.”

  “I remember reading something about that. That’s crazy.”

  “Yes. For that story, we need less alcohol in our systems.”

  I laughed at that. “I’m not sure if that—“

  Erik murmured something softly, and Ariel’s ears perked up. “What? What’s wrong?”

  I frowned at her then at Eric. How had she picked up on it so quickly?

  “Oh, nothing to worry about.” His gaze shifted to me in the rearview mirror. “Miss Olivia, there was a complication. Ben would like you home as soon as possible.”

  I sat forward, straining against my seatbelt. “What kind of complication?”

  “I don’t know. I just got the notice from East.”

  My gaze skittered to Ariel. “I’m sorry. Maybe Erik can drop me off at home first and then take you to the hotel.”

  “No, I’m not leaving you. If there’s some kind of complication, that could mean trouble.”

  She tried to take charge immediately. “Erik, let’s get back to the house, and then I’ll take her and Telly and we’ll lock up in the panic room.”

  “Yes, that’ll work.”

  I nudged Telly, who had started snoring softly with her mouth open. “Tell, change of plans. We’re going to the house first.”

  “Hmm, okay. You have nicer beds. And a sauna.”

  I rolled my eyes at that.

  She was obsessed with Ben’s sauna. I was convinced she’d make her own key before moving back home just to use the spa whenever she wanted.

  When we arrived at home, no cars were parked in the driveway. When we stopped at the security gate, Erik frowned.

  “Where’s Scott? Is something wrong?” I asked. Scott was supposed to be on gate watch.

  Erik nodded. “Miss, I’m going to have to ask that all three of you stay in the car while I check everything out.”

  Ariel was sitting forward too. She’d already unbuckled her seatbelt. I followed suit. I undid Telly’s for good measure.

  Erik went around the roundabout and parked the car at the front of the house instead of in the driveway like usual. I frowned at that. Ariel squeezed my hand. “He’s doing that just in case there’s trouble. He can run back and not have to back up in the driveway.”

  “Wow, you got all that by him parking here?”

  She nodded. “I’d have done the same thing.”

  “Right.”

  He stepped out. “I’ll be right back.” And then he was out, on his phone, presumably calling Scott to find out where he was.

  As he started going down the long driveway on the side of the house, it looked like he jerked and then jerked again, and then he sagged down to his knees.

  What the hell?

  Ariel reached down to the floor, grabbed her purse, and snapped it open. Inside, she pulled out what looked like a gun but not quite.

  “Is it a gun?”

  “Fright gun. It’s all I can carry with all of your firearm restrictions here.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “My guess is that he’s been shot. Stay in the car.”

  “I’m not staying here.”

  “Well you can’t leave Telly unattended while she is passed out.”

  I blinked at my best friend and my new friend. “You can’t go by yourself.”

  “If there’s anybody here who can go by herself, it’s me. Stay put.”

  Ariel opened the car door and stepped out. Before she could even push the door shut, she cursed and then she sagged as well. Someone was at the door. I tried to scoot over Telly and reach for her side of the door to shove her out. Maybe I could fireman’s carry her. As I got the door open, a shadow loomed and someone leaned onto the door. “Tsk-tsk, you’re not trying to run away, are you?”

  I didn’t bother to scream. I didn’t bother to cry. Instead I was pissed. Fury formed underneath my skin. “Fenton, what the fuck?”

  He pointed a gun at me. “We really are going to clean up your language and your behavior. God, you’re such a whore. But that’s okay. I can fix you. Now get out.”

  “I’m not leaving Telly in here.”

  He sighed, and I watched him close his eyes and inhale deeply. The moment his eyes were shut, I reached for the door and he waved the gun at me. “I wouldn’t if I were you. I’m trying to calm myself so I won’t shoot your pretty face. I’ve put a lot of energy into you, and you up and vanished from my life. That wasn’t kind.”

  “I don’t know what you want from me.”

  “I don’t want anything from you. I want you. You belong right here by my side. You took a lot longer to break up with Dexter than I wanted, but still, it happened. He kept telling me he couldn’t break up with you because your mother had died, and I didn’t want you to hurt. But then I realized that you were a whore, so now I don’t really care if you hurt.”

  I knew that this was the part where I should ask him all the questions, like why he was doing this and what he wanted from me. He had basically pronounced to me that he was just plain psycho. “Okay, I’ll come with you, just leave Telly alone. Did you shoot Ariel? Erik?”

  “Oh, relax.” He waved the gun some more and I noticed the attachment at the end of the gun. “The Swede, his name is Johansson, right? I assume he’s Swedish. Anyway, he is wearing a vest. He’ll be fine. I have tied him though. Oh, he did catch that one shot in his shoulder. No vest there, so it’s probably going to hurt.”

  Jesus Christ, Erik
was going to bleed out.

  “I checked the house, and your boyfriend wasn’t here. But if you’re coming home late, that means he’s probably not far behind, so we’re going to go now.”

  I pinched Telly, praying she would wake up. Praying, praying, praying, but she didn’t. I didn’t want to just leave her there, but I didn’t have any choice because he wouldn’t hesitate to shoot her too. “Fenton, relax.” I put up my hands and scooted my ass across the seat. I frantically searched for any kind of weapon I could use, a pen… something. “I’m coming with you. You don’t have to do this.”

  “Out of the car.”

  I planted my feet on the brick of the circular drive, and I saw Ariel, facedown, and there was something sticking out of her neck. Oh God, that was one of her tranqs.

  Fenton tsked again, then he wrapped his fleshy hand on my wrist and yanked me. I almost tripped and fell to my knees, but he yanked me up. I hadn’t realized he was that strong.

  “Quit your whining. She’s fine. She tried to fire a tranq gun at me. She’s lucky I didn’t kill her. But I don’t need royalty with their money and access coming after us. It’s going to be bad enough when Covington realizes I have you back. He is truly nutters when it comes to you.”

  “Why don’t we just talk about this? I didn’t know that you had these feelings about me.”

  “Stop lying, you whore. You like to tease me all the time. You made this happen.”

  “Okay, I hear you. I’m sorry.”

  I tried to slow us down by deliberately tripping on my heels again, but he wrapped an arm around my shoulders, pulling me in tight, pressing the gun into my side. “Let’s be clear. I will shoot you.”

  He practically frog-marched me down the circular drive toward the gate. “How did you make it past the gate? Where’s Scott?”

  “Well, I made him think that I had an appointment and that I’d left something here at the party the other night. He opened the gate to come and check my credentials, and then I put a bullet in his chest. Two, actually. These silencer things are fantastic. I’ve only seen them in the movies, but it’s really exciting to actually use one.”

  “Is he dead?”

  “No, sadly. He is tied up in the butler’s pantry, I believe. I really thought about slitting his throat, but I discovered I do not have the stomach for that. Better to hire out for that kind of thing.”

  “Okay, I hear you. I’ll go with you. Let’s go.”

  “My car is outside the gate, parked along the side of the street. Come on.”

  I knew if I got in his car, there was no telling what would happen to me or to my friends. I tried to remember the training that Roone had given me. How to get out of scenarios, what to do, what to say, and I swallowed hard.

  He had both arms around me as he went to the security panel to push open the gates, and then I made my move. I clamped my hand on his gun hand, knowing full well he had the advantage, but then I took a deep breath and did what Roone had taught me.

  I grabbed his gun hand in a sweeping motion, and then bent his wrist one way, and then the other. The crunching sound made my stomach roll, and he howled. But he was disarmed. I had the gun and I turned it, fired blindly. I wasn’t sure I’d hit anything, but he cursed and then took off running. With the gun in my hand, I bolted to the security panel. Shit. He was stumbling, but he was coming, and he was coming fast. I did not want to fight anymore.

  Run and save yourself. Get to the panic room.

  But I was done running. I needed to incapacitate him if I was going to save my friends. This wasn’t going to be like when Todd had me. I knew my friends were alive, but if I left and saved myself, they would die. He would strangle them if he had to with his bare hands.

  So I took the gun, threw it in the house, closed the door, and then turned to face him. He stumbled back in surprise. “What? You changed your mind?”

  “No, I’m just going to fight.”

  His grin turned evil then. “You think you can fight me? This is happening. You are coming with me.” His right arm reached my wrist, and my automatic response was to pull back. But then I remembered what Roone had showed me. I placed my left hand on his arm and then swung my arm slightly, bringing it around, then pressing down at the pressure point on his wrist. He howled and released me, his other hand hanging limply by his side. I remembered what Roone said about punches, make sure my fist was tight, and hit what I could, a soft tissue preferably and avoiding bone. So I hit him on the face, his nose, with an open palm. And then I punched him in the throat. He coughed and sputtered but still managed to duck from me. He was big. A lot bigger than I was.

  Six feet but he wasn’t solid like Ben. He was pudgy. I kneed him once, and he oofed but he didn’t go down. I went for another knee and he blocked me, catching my knee and making me less stable before he tossed me on my back. My spine felt like it was cracking, but I tucked my chin so that my head wouldn’t crack up. I wanted to howl. This was just like with Todd. He was going to jump on top of me, and then what would I do? I’d be dead. And my friends would be dead, and—

  Stop it. Fight.

  I rolled over, trying to jump back up, and then he climbed on top of me. Every fear receptor in my mind fired. This was the worst possible position I could be in. He put his hands around my neck and started to squeeze.

  “You filthy whore. I will fucking kill you. You think you can run from me? After everything I’ve done for you, how nice I’ve been to you, you are mine.”

  And then my brain triggered. I wasn’t his. I was Ben’s. And Ben was mine. And if I was going to see him again, I was going to have to fight harder than this. I remembered what Roone had taught me. With enough force, I could get anyone’s hands off my neck and get just a little bit of space to breathe. And then from there I knew what to do. I had to dislodge his weight, and I knew how to do that.

  Reaching both arms in front of me, trying desperately to catch a breath, I reached my hands out and plucked back hard, giving no fucks to the scrapes on my elbows. I positioned my hands and yanked back hard, pulling at the juncture of where his thumb held my throat, and I made a little space as he had to re-center his balance. Then I brought my knees to my elbows and bucked him off.

  Holy shit. I knew that had worked in practice training with Roone, but I didn’t know it would work in real life. I shoved to my feet, and he howled. But I was on him. I grabbed him by the ears, picked up his head, and swallowing a sickening dread, I smashed it to the ground. Getting into a better position, I made a fist of my hand and punched.

  He coughed and gurgled, and I ran back toward the car. Erik had left the keys inside it. If I could get Ariel in the car, I could at least get her and Telly the hell out of there. There was no point in crying. No point in letting my emotions wash over me. He’d tried to choke me, but I could cry about that later.

  I’d almost made it to the car. I was so close. Five feet. That’s it. Five more feet. But then he snatched me from behind, and when I fell on the grass, he was on top of me again. Choking me again. ”Why do you insist on running? I love you. I don’t want you to die. But now you have to.”

  My vision started to go gray. I was choking. I had no energy left. And then suddenly, his hands let go and his weight lifted off my body. Was this what dying felt like? My soul releasing from my body?

  I pushed up to a sitting position to find Fenton in front of me, flailing, legs kicking, and there were arms around his throat. Holy shit.

  I forced myself to all fours as my eyes adjusted, oxygen filling my lungs. “Ben, oh God, Ben. Ben, don’t kill him.” My beautiful Viking. His face was all snarling raider.

  His gaze met mine, but he didn’t let up. He just kept squeezing until Fenton stopped kicking. Then he shoved him off of him and jumped to his feet, running to me, pulling me in his arms. “Sweetheart, are you okay? Are you hurt?”

  Was I hurt? Yeah, I was hurt, all right. I shook my head. “I have some scrapes.”

  Then he shook his head. “No, Livy, you’re
bleeding.”

  I glanced down and there was blood on my shirt. “What? It must be his.”

  Ben’s fingers traced over it. “No, that’s… that’s you.” When his fingers pressed, I froze.

  “Ow.”

  “Liv…”

  My vision gray on the edges again, the black coming out to meet it. “What?” What was wrong? Where had I gone wrong? And then suddenly, everything was dark.

  25

  Ben

  I was probably crushing her hand. I knew it, but I couldn’t stop myself. I held on tight to her, afraid to let go, because what if I hadn’t been there? What if I hadn’t gotten there in time? I ran through all the scenarios in my head fifty times at least. Every single one of them ended badly. Horribly. God, what if I’d been too late?

  But you weren’t. So no point in driving yourself crazy.

  It couldn’t be helped though, because even after everything we’d done that day, I’d still failed to protect her. Evan Zolov had been arrested and so had Marcus Van Linsted. True to form, Evan had said nothing, given up no information. He was old school. He would rather die than give up my name. He would just vow to kill me instead. Which was fine. He could vow to kill me all he wanted, as long as Livy was safe. Although a part of me wished to God that Bridge had let me kill him.

  I’d almost killed Fenton. But her huge dark eyes on mine, pleading with me to not become that monster, had stopped me.

  I could never take it if she looked at me with fear. But God, what if I had been too late?

  I blinked away tears and just held her hand, careful not to disturb any of the monitors hooked to her. The nurse had already warned me once when I tried to lean over her and hold her, give her my warmth. The hospital was always so fucking cold.

  “What’s with the water works? Did you find out there’s someone even better looking than you out there?”

  Her voice was like honey on bread to a starving man. I lifted my head and blinked away the tears. “That’s not possible. How dare you even suggest such a thing?”