“I see you speak just as vulgarly as these thugs,” Banes snaps before finally answering her question. “The hard drive is encrypted, so Mr Smith couldn’t open the files, but he could read the filenames. I guess seeing one named Nate Smith had him worried. Part of the deal was forme to wipe him off the hard drive. But he was a fool. I never intended to delete his files.”
“Are you saying…” Abbey chokes, not able to finish that sentence, and fuck, I don’t even want to think of what he means but I can’t help it. I fucking know what this means.
“It all makes so much more sense now,” I mutter over Abbey’s head. “He was trying to cover his own arse.”
“Desperate men do desperate things to protect their secrets,” Banes preaches, making me want to fucking gut him right the fuck now.
“So he didn’t want anyone to find out he… what? Raped a woman?” Abbey asks, and Banes scoffs.
“Not a woman. A child. Two to be exact.”
My world tips on its fucking axis and I nearly stagger back, but Abbey’s knees go weak, and she nearly collapses, so I hold her up, bracing her shoulders, helping her stay upright.
“Smitty… raped two children?” Abbey squeaks, and Banes shakes his head.
“You call it rape. I do not.”
“Oh, my bad,” she scoffs. “I should have said helay the flame within two children?”
“Yes,” Banes answers so casually, like we aren’t talking about one of the worst violations a human can do to another. “I’m sure if you speak with Celina, she will confirm that it was an honour to have Mr Smith’s blessing in the name of the church. Look at how she’s flourished ever since. Wendy too, although I believe she met her death at your hand, Abigail.”
I fucking stiffen, running his words through my head over and over to make sure I fucking heard him right.
Celina? Wendy?
Is he saying Nate found them through that fucking trafficking ring? That he raped them and then fucking kept them?
I think back to the relationship they all had. Celina was his favourite, gaining old lady status, but was she here of her own free will? She never acted like it was any other way. But then, I guess he probably groomed them if they were underage when they first met.
Shit. Fucking Smitty. I wish he was still alive so I could see his face when he realised his secret was no longer a fucking secret.
Then, I’d kill him in the most painful way.
Fire.
“You’re all sick!” Abbey yells, pressing her hand to her mouth like she’s fighting the urge to hurl. “This is all just so… sick!”
“Your attempted insults do nothing, so let’s focus on business, shall we?” Banes sneers, parting his lips to speak again. “That hard drive is worth more money than you can possibly imagine on the dark web. I’m happy to split the sale. Fifty, fifty. Just hand it over and set us free. You’ll get your money and never have to see us again.”
This fucker is delusional if he thinks we are fuelled by money and I’m about to tell him so when Abbey speaks.
“You know, I kinda hoped you would somehow slightly redeem yourself,” she says, shaking her head in disbelief. “Instead, you’ve done nothing but cement your death.”
Spinning, those big doe eyes meet mine, and I can see she’s ready to leave, so I take her hand and lead her out of the container, ignoring Banes’ attempts to get us to stay.
“Lock it up,” I bark to Murf, who nods and does what I asked, as Abbey looks around to the men.
“Okay… who was it?” she asks, cocking her hip and crossing her arms over her chest. “Who dobbed me in?”
Fingers get pointed at Murf and Teddy, one of our young Sadists, and I smirk at how the latter flinches back when Abbey’s hands fly to her hips.
“What’s the saying? Snitches get stitches?” she snaps, and Teddy’s gaze darts to Murf.
“He ordered me to.” He points to Murf, who just rolls his eyes.
“No offence, Abbey.” Murf holds up calming hands. “But I don’t want to fucking die, and the quickest way for that to happen is to keep shit from my President.”
“Too fucking right,” I mutter, the burn of the cuts flaring now that the adrenaline from being inside that fucking container with the most twisted fucking man I’ve ever met has worn off.
