The Virgin Duet

I’ve been searching for Rebecca for months and there’s been no trace of her or her brother. Hank has been on top of Nico’s activities since the moment I realized she’d left, and two days ago something finally changed. All of a sudden, Sam pops up at the club. After months of nothing, he comes out of nowhere, and the first place he’s spotted is at Nico’s side. It doesn’t take someone as smart as me to figure out what’s happened. I knew when she left she was going one of two places—to her brother or to Nico to find her brother. She must have gotten to Sam before Nico did, but looks like her brother couldn’t shake his addiction, even at the cost of his sister’s life.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. She took off,” Sam says around a mouthful of blood. I let go of his shirt and he falls back into the chair. I’ve taken him to a warehouse I own near the docks. I need some privacy for what I have planned.

“I guess if I had a bag of heroin, you’d give her up just as fast as you gave her up to Nico. Wouldn’t you?” I’ve got six men watching Nico’s club, and no one has seen him leave in the past two days. I know she’s in there, but I need more information before I go storming in, guns blazing. As soon as Sam cleared the club I was there to grab him. I know he is going to be my best resource in getting Rebecca back.

“Aren’t you supposed to be some pansy-ass CEO who doesn’t get his hands dirty?” he wheezes, rubbing the side of his ribs. I’m guessing I broke a few already picking him up.

I’ve loved one other woman in my life besides Rebecca. That’s my mother. I killed for her, and I have no problem doing it again for my Tinkerbell. She’s worth everything to me.

I feel the sinister smile spread across my face as I lean in and get to eye level. “I’ll let you in on a little secret, Sam. These hands were dirty long before she came into the picture. You have no idea what I’m capable of, and that’s the reason you should fear me. You tell me where she is and I’ll let you live, but if you don’t start giving me the information I want, you’re going to find out what true pain is.”

He audibly swallows and sits up in the chair. “She’s at the club,” he whispers. He takes a deep breath when I don’t respond.

“What else?”

“As far as I know he’s got her locked in one of the floors under the club. It goes down two levels, but I’ve never been through them all. Some of the girls who dance at the club have rooms there, but mostly it’s Nico’s space on the first level. The one below it is where he cuts most of his drugs, so it’s impossible to get inside. Just give it up, man.”

“So you think he’s got her on the first level? The floor he’s staying on?” I try not to let my mind wander to what it is he could be doing to my fairy. I can’t allow my brain to go there yet. I have to stick to my plan and mentally organize myself or I’ll have another breakdown.

“Yeah, but listen, you can’t get in there. He won’t hurt her. He swore it to me. All the times I tried to give him his money back, he always just wanted her. From the beginning, something about her made him crazy, and he had to have her. He’ll take care of her, I wouldn’t have told him where she was if he would have killed her.”

Rage like I’ve never felt boils through my body and I react. I ball up my fist and backhand him out of the chair and halfway across the room with one strike. I walk over to where he landed and grab him by the back of his shirt, dragging him back to where we were. I pick him up and toss him back in his seat and lean down again so we are eye to eye. He’s having a hard time focusing on me, so I grab his face and make him look at me.

“You betrayed the one person in this world who ever loved you.” Tears start to well in his eyes, and then he’s full-on sobbing while I hold his face. “Listen to me, Sam. When I find her, if there is one hair on her head out of place, I’ll show you what it’s like to beg for death. Do you understand?”

He’s still crying like a child but nods his head in agreement. “I’m so sorry. I was doing so good, but then the cravings hit and I needed a fix. I thought I was doing the right thing.” I let go of him and he drops his head in his hands, his body shaking with his sobs.

I walk out of the warehouse and leave him sitting there. When I exit the building, Hank is leaning against the car waiting on me. “She’s at the club, isn’t she?”

“It’s what we expected. I need a layout of the building and exit points. It’s happening tonight.”

“Just us two?”

“I’m prepared to go alone.”

“But lucky for you, you don’t have to.” Hank winks at me and then gets in the car. I slip in the backseat and mentally shuffle my plan. I have to have this perfect before we go in.

I take a deep breath and recheck my weapon before we enter the building. We are trying to blend in, and looking as normal as possible helps our cover. Hank and I are dressed in suits with only one gun each. We’ve got silencers on them just in case we run into trouble, but from what I’ve calculated, this should be a casualty-free event.

It’s a wonder drug dealers make it so long, because the people they surround themselves with can be so easily bought off. A few hundred bucks and we found out when the guard’s shift change is and, more importantly, where my fairy is being held.