by Ker Dukey
Two missing people—people I know and care about.
And a fucking found person. Benjamin Fucking Stanton.
“Fuck!” I glare at Mr. Harris in the backseat.
“Units are processing the scene for evidence. I’m on my way back to Elise’s house to see if I can glean anything from that scene. Detective Rhodes and Sharpton are already there. I feel like this Benny fucker has us stretched out all over the goddamn place,” he seethes. “Find anything at the club?”
I dart my eyes to Harris again. “I’ve got a lead.”
He senses the vagueness in my words. “Ahhh. You got the big boss? Bringing him in for questioning?”
“I will get answers,” I confirm.
“Good,” he barks. “I’ll let you know if we find any evidence at the Stanton’s.”
We hang up as I pull into the parking lot of the precinct. I shut the car off and stare at Harris with venom in my glare. “I don’t play games.”
“Oh, but I do.” Another evil smile.
Gritting my teeth, I run my fingers through my hair. “You’re protecting that sick fuck for whatever reason. Right now, I’m more concerned about the whereabouts of my friends. Is there anywhere he could have taken them that you know of? I don’t think I need to tell you that if you’re colluding with him and we find out, you’ll be put away for a long time. Accessory to kidnapping…” I trail off, hoping he’ll get the impact of my statement.
“Is that all?” His dark eyebrow lifts in amusement. “From what I’ve been told, this Benjamin character is quite the tyrant. He doesn’t seem the type to simply kidnap them. Why do you call him sick? Is there a cure for what he has?”
Flashes of Jade and Macy’s old cells flit through my mind. I think about all the murders in Benny’s wake. The torment and torture and insanity. This asshole is right. Benny doesn’t simply kidnap. He rapes and kills, and there is no cure for his kind of sickness.
Benny is a monster.
“From what I know of the man you speak of, he has ravenous cravings.”
“You’ve made your point,” I seethe. “And that is exactly why you need to cooperate with the police.”
I’m eager to get inside and check on Jade and MJ. Once I realized Benny was back, I wanted my girls safe. The precinct is the safest place in the city. Jade doesn’t even know about Josey and Elizabeth’s apparent kidnappings yet. Rhodes called earlier to tell me they found and bagged Elizabeth’s cell phone, but have been unable to trace the number she used to correspond with Benny to anywhere. Another dead end. But she’s definitely gone and there was a struggle. The front door was left wide open, her suitcases abandoned in the doorway, and her shoe was on the porch.
Benny has been around this whole time and in our space, yet alluded detection. What if we don’t find her and she’s left with him for years like Jade and Macy? Bile creeps up my throat, and I choke it down.
“Why is it you think I would help—” he starts, but my heart skips when the back door opens behind me.
My gaze is still fixed on Harris through the mirror when a blade digs into the side of my throat, drawing blood.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
I didn’t pay enough attention. Underestimated this motherfucker. I know who holds the knife before I angle my head slightly to see who’s joined us. When my gaze meets Benny’s cold brown eyes, rage threatens to consume me.
It’s really him. Knowing and seeing are two different things.
The air thickens and closes in, condensing the small space of the car. My insides squeeze and contort, strangling my lungs so I can’t gasp in a full breath.
He’s in my car, just feet away from the entrance of the precinct where my family is.
“Fuck!” I snap. Blood slides down the side of my throat, wetting the collar of my white dress shirt. The blade isn’t in deep enough to hurt, but it’s enough to make a statement.
And knowing Benny’s fucked-up state of mind, he could deepen that blade at any point and do it with pleasure in his heart. I can’t be taken away from my girls.
“Where is she?” Benny bellows, his eyes manic, red veins running angry across the white, his pupils a black abyss swallowing the brown. I’d die and take him with me before I ever allowed him near my wife again.
My nostrils flare. “You will never lay eyes on Jade again. I will fucking kill you—”
His eyes narrow and his brow collapses. “Not her,” he snarls. “Bethany.”
I blink in confusion. Harris fucking laughs.
Bethany?
“He means Elizabeth Stanton,” Harris chimes, tilting his head to the side to study my expression. “His pretty new doll,” he adds as a taunt.
My fists curl as furious hate swirls beneath my skin like an entity. It runs through my veins like a fucking jet stream of motherfucking rage. “She. Is. Not. Your. Doll.” I’m calculating whether I can get my gun off my belt and shoot Benny in the fucking eye when Harris speaks up. His tone seems to keep Benny from digging the knife further into my neck. They are friends.
“Technically, she was his doll, then someone stole her,” Harris says as he gestures toward the front seat. “If you check my cell phone, you’ll see.”
Someone stole her, as in someone other than Benny? What the fuck is going on?
Reaching across to the passenger seat where I tossed his belongings while trying not to move my head is harder than it seems. A gasp involuntarily pushes past my lips as the blade slices deeper. Motherfucker. I hold up the cell and Harris lifts his shoulders to signal he can’t move. I put cuffs on him to protect myself. My car doesn’t have a barrier separating us, and I couldn’t risk him becoming brazen and trying to throttle me from behind.
“Keys,” Benny growls, his spittle hitting my cheek. He’s so fucking close, I can smell the madness on him.
Pulling the keys from my pocket, I offer them over and tighten my jaw. This is not how I thought my day would pan out. Benny’s eyes flit over to Harris, who turns for him to un-cuff him. If I’m quick, I could maybe get out of the car. It’s a risk, though, and could get bloody if Benny rushes me over the seat.
My decision-making is over sooner than I anticipated when Harris is released and thumbing through his cell phone and Benny’s attention is fully back on me.
Great.
He swipes open the phone, then reaches forward to show me a picture.
Thud.
Elizabeth, what the hell happened to you? I gape in horror at the words carved on her naked body.
“W-What the f-fuck is this shit?” I stammer, bile rising in my throat again. Her tiny tits are smeared with blood. Hell, blood is even pooling at the juncture between her thighs. She’s just a fucking kid, not some goddamn doll for this sadistic fuck to cut up.
“I swear to Christ, if you don’t use that knife to finish me, it’s going to be in your dead black heart, you sick motherfucker,” I roar. I’m quick, moving to the side, then forward so the knife only nicks me a little. Everything moves in slow motion. Benny’s eyes expand as I turn to face him, ripping my gun from my holster as I move.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
Noise, loud and distorted, thunders around us like a tropical storm erupting in the small confines.
“I know Jade is here,” Benny bellows over the chaos, and the air stiffens. We all stop moving. Hell, maybe stop breathing.
Benny gestures with a nod to the side of the building. Taking a quick glimpse, some big fucker grins back at me.
“He will go inside and alert everyone to what’s happening out here and they will all come running, leaving your little family alone and at his mercy. So stop trying to be a hero. You’ve never fucking been one,” he growls, his eyes flitting inside their sockets, the veins underneath bulging. He really is a monster.
“Everyone just needs to take a breath. We all want the same thing.” Harris quirks a brow and smirks. He’s so calm, it’s unsettling.
“She
was Benny’s doll, but now she’s her doll. One of my employees took her. My associate here would like his precious dolly back,” Harris tells me before waving the horrible fucking image of Elizabeth in my sight.
They want me to believe he doesn’t have Elizabeth?
“Why take Josey then?” I snap, my hard gaze meeting Benny’s between the gap in the front seats.
“That dumb cop doll was in my fucking way. She stuck her nose in places it shouldn’t have been,” Benny rages, the knife held out toward me, my own blood dripping from the tip. I wince at the sting in my neck. Jade is going to freak the fuck out when she sees it. “She was nosing around and ruining a good thing between me and my Bethany. Getting you and the other shit pigs on my trail. She needs to be taught a lesson.”
“She looked so frightened in her cage,” Harris says, egging me the fuck on.
“Enough!” Benny bellows.
“Why are you here then?” I demand. “To take your sick bestie here back home so you two can fuck and kill my friend?” I’m not seeing the whole goddamn picture here.
“She’s into chicks, not dicks,” Harris pipes up, smirking.
Would that stop Benny?
“We’re leaving together,” Benny snaps. “And you’re going to use your police bullshit to find my Bethany!”
“Elizabeth Stanton,” Harris clarifies again, and laughs. “Just making sure you can keep up, Detective.”
My eyes dart back and forth between these two monsters. One is calculating and calm. The other is unpredictable and feral. Together, they’re what motherfucking nightmares are made of.
“What about the female on the monitor?” I ask, recalling the woman who was hurt and seemed to rattle Harris. “Is she okay?”
“She’s none of your concern,” Harris bristles, and it’s the first time I’ve seen a dint in his armor.
I scramble for a solution. “Josey. You get me Josey and we’ll find Elizabeth. We have a mutual interest, that’s for sure.” I don’t tell him once I find Elizabeth, there’s no way in fucking hell Benny will ever touch a hair on her again. “I’ll need to question you both—”
“Question time is over, Detective,” Harris says, and reaches forward to pluck one of my business cards from the console. “When we have a lead for you to follow like the good fucking dog you are, I’ll call you. Until then, I’ll be needing my goddamn computer and we’re getting the hell out of here.”
“I want Josey. Before I even think about helping you find Elizabeth or giving you anything back, I want Josey. That is my deal. Josey, and you get your laptop and my help.” I meet both of their cold gazes. I can’t believe I’m bargaining with these motherfuckers.
“Tonight.”
Benny’s eyes narrow. “And I was so looking forward to fucking the unwilling cunt. She’d have screamed so much.” Despite his threats, I see a flicker of irritation in his eyes. He doesn’t want to fuck her. He wants Elizabeth. For some fucked up reason, he’s attached himself to her like he once was with Jade, and I want to know why. He won’t ever get her, but he doesn’t know that.
“Why Elizabeth? She’s your sister. Blood sister. You know that, right?”
“Don’t try to make it wrong or perverted. You could never understand. She understands me,” Benny seethes, his knife twisting a little further in my direction. More blood trickles down my throat, almost in warning. “She loves me. She’s mine.”
Whatever you say, psycho.
“In two hours. I want Josey in my custody, then we’ll find her. Until then, I need to know anyone who could have had a vendetta against you. This isn’t a random kidnapping. This person knew where Elizabeth lived. They clearly knew your connection to her based upon that sick fucking picture. I want everything there is to know on this guy.”
Harris grips Benny’s wrist, gently pulling him away, and it shocks me when Benny complies. Are these two assholes fuckbuddies or some shit? I press my palm to my neck to staunch the bleeding.
“Female. Lucy Vandross is her alias. But look into Jessica Johnson. She’s local,” Harris says, his voice cool and businesslike. I hate how fucking smug he looks. As if he’s the one calling the shots here. And the fact that he has Benny on a tight fucking leash blows my mind.
“Two hours,” I snap.
“See you soon, Detective. Don’t fuck this up or things could end badly for everyone. And bring my laptop,” Harris threatens.
Benny throws open the car door, but not before shooting me a menacing glare. “Tell Jade and MJ I say hi.”
They’re gone in the next instant, disappearing between cars. I should go after them and be the real fucking cop I am, but I don’t.
Benny wants Elizabeth.
He has Josey.
This is the only bargaining chip I have right now, and I sure as hell am going to use it. Fuck protocol. I’m getting my friends back.
Then I’m going to end both those monsters and send them back to hell where they belong. Stepping from the car, I march over to the big guy still standing there smiling at me like we’re fucking buddies.
“Great job. It looked totally convincing.” He beams.
“What?” I bark out, annoyance making my nerves rattle.
“The scene. That guy paid me to be an extra. I can’t even see where the cameras are filming. It’s incredible.”
“You don’t know him or that you’re trying to intimidate a police officer?”
His eyes bulge and his skin pales. “What? I was just paid to stand here as an extra.”
A decoy. Dumb motherfucker.
Elizabeth
COLD.
Dark.
Alone.
I’m not sure how many hours have passed since that crazy blonde woman took me from my house. Two. Maybe three. Long enough for her to cut my clothes right off my body and ruin Benny’s work.
She made me cry.
I hate her.
The moment she dug her knife into my stomach and crossed his name out, I broke down. It wasn’t that it hurt. It was that I’d finally found some sort of happiness and this bitch was stealing it straight from me. Ruining his mark on me. Taking me from my master.
I wince as I try to sit up on the bed. She has me bound at my wrists, but I’m otherwise free. We’re in a dilapidated old motel that smells of mothballs and stale cigarette smoke. The only sound that can be heard is the constant dripping from the bathroom.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
One quick glance around the room tells me she isn’t here. Lucy is what she told me her name was. But that’s all she told me. I’ve yet to discover, despite all my demands, why she’s taken me.
An obsessed fan from my site?
An enemy of Benny’s?
I’m not sure.
My gaze continues to scan the space for anything to be of assistance. The phone is just out of re—
Bam!
The motel room door bursts open and slams against the wall. I shriek in surprise. Much to my dismay, it’s her, wearing a pair of fitted jeans and a tight white V-neck sweater that shows off her big breasts. Since she ruined her last outfit with my blood, she’s taken the time to freshen up. It makes me hate her more. Her perfect blonde hair hangs in waves in front of her shoulders and her makeup is flawless, down to the cat-eye she lined her eyes with. She’s older than me, I can tell that much, and there’s soft crinkles around her eyes.
Meanwhile, I lie here bloody, beaten, bruised, and disgusting.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
“Why am I here?” I demand, my glare focused on her.
She smirks and sits beside me on the bed. I don’t trust her smiles or her slow moves. She’s like a panther. Deadly and violent. But sleek and beautiful. She’s waiting to strike again. I can see it flickering in her eyes. Her palm runs up my naked thigh and her fingertips brush against my blood-crusted pussy.
“I can see why he adores you,” she says in a tone that sounds remotely jealous. A fire
of irritation blossoms inside me. Does she want him? Does she want my master?
“I can see why he wants to cut your heart out,” I throw back at her, my words hateful.
She laughs, and it’s throaty. Sexy. Pure woman. I feel as though I’m a dirty little girl in her presence. Have they had sex before? Is she a jealous ex-lover? Anxiety shoots through my veins. I don’t like the idea of him with anyone, especially not someone beautiful like her.
“Sweet doll…” She grins and teases my clit with her finger. I squeeze my thighs together to try to stop her from touching what doesn’t belong to her.
My body belongs to my brother.
Benjamin.
Master.
“As adorable as you are,” she purrs, “you are merely nothing but a useful tool. I’m going to use you so fucking hard to get what I want.”
I cry out as she pushes her finger forcefully inside me. I’m dry and sore from when Benny and I had sex. Her intrusion burns, but I refuse to let tears fall. I already gave too many to her earlier.
She pulls her phone from her pocket and snaps a picture of her finger inside me. When she’s satisfied, she slides it from my body and sucks on it.
“Mmmm, your pussy is sweet.” Her eyes darken as she runs her fingernail along a still bleeding cut on my stomach. “But your blood is sweeter.”
When Benny cut and sucked on me, I was into this whole blood play thing. But with her, she’s like a fucking vampire dead set on draining me dry. It’s disturbing.
“He’ll kill you,” I threaten. Based on his past and how much he seems to adore me, I hope this is true.
She turns her gaze toward the window. “He’s going to try.” Her eyes snap back to mine, hate flashing in them. “And that’s exactly what I’m hoping for.”
A trap.
This bitch is using me to set Benny up.
“If he doesn’t kill you, I will,” I seethe.
She stands from the bed and walks over to the mirror. Using her wet, still-bloody finger, she writes something on the glass. “You’re not capable of such things, sweet doll. Only monsters are. You are not a monster.”
I clench my teeth and glare at her message in the mirror.