Chapter 30

While I am excited to watch Nessa get her revenge on these assholes, I'm not really ready for her to be out and about. Tonight is the grand opening of the club that Green and Gray are being held in, so it's packed with people.

Call me overprotective, but I'm just not ready for Nessa to be around others I don't know. It puts me on edge. And that should terrify people.

Unfortunately, it doesn't. Especially since Nessa told me that I needed to put my big boy panties on and get over it because she's doing this no matter my opinion. Which was rude. I don't wear panties, I wear boxers. Sometimes. Usually I prefer to go commando unless I'm wearing jeans. That fabric is not gentle.

Damien meets us at the back entrance, holding open the door for Nessa and pulling her in for a brief, gentle hug before turning to us.

"Hey there, Daddy B. How's it going?" he greets Boris.

I have never been more happy to hear a nickname before in my life because I can guarantee I'll be using that one in the future.

"Hello, Damien. I have requested you not call me that multiple times."

Boris adjusts his suit as he walks in, refusing to make eye contact with my smug as feck face now that I've heard this wonderful new phrase. I trail behind with Nessa between us. Damien falls in step beside me once he closes the door.

Apparently, Nessa knows this building and helped Laney set up a lot of the vendors who are here tonight, so she's already aware of where to go and steps in front of Boris to take the lead.

My nerves tense with her body exposed, but she's holding herself well. If she feels confident here, I don't want to ruin that. So instead of watching her like a hawk, I decide to eyeball every motherfecker here who dares to look her way. My girl is taken, and looking at her is a crime I will be the enforcer of.

"Dude," Damien nudges my arm, and I try not to scoff as I eye a particularly creepy fecker.

I don't know what it is about him, but he rubs me the wrong way. Damien, not catching the hint, throws an arm around my shoulder. I'm two seconds away from punching his teeth in when Nessa looks back at me and smiles. My nerves instantly calm. She trusts these people completely, so I trust them too.

"What do you think of the club? This is my baby." Damien is so friendly it's weird. Not many people who murder and torture for a living talk or act like him. It unnerves me.

"It's ostentatious," I say, earning me a glare from Nessa.

"This is my project too," she says.

"Don't worry, Nessie," Damien coos at her, "ostentatious is good. It shows that we have money and are willing to pay anything to make sure others experience sexual liberation."

I hear a snort come from behind or beside us. I have no idea if it came from Nessa or Boris, but it makes me laugh either way.

"Sexual liberation, eh?" I glance around as we walk past four black doors. "What kind?"

Damien gives me a look that makes me want to peek my head into every room here.

I guess being this guy's friend wouldn't be so bad. At the very least, I can fake it so that I can explore this club on another date . So, I slip on my crazy mask, metaphorically of course, and glance over at Damien.

"You got some good torture weapons down there?" I ask, making polite conversation as any good assassin would.

Damien turns near giddy. "You have got to check out my mini-sword collection."

Okay, maybe he's not so bad because that sounds awesome. I feckin' love swords.

"How did you get miniature swords?"

He laughs and rubs his chin before winking at me.

"Let's just say I know people." He shrugs. "Besides, Alexi kept getting pissed that I was killing people with Arondight, so he helped find someone who could make miniature replicas of all of the most famous swords for me to use instead."

I stop dead in my tracks. "Are you talking about Sir Lancelot's sword?"

Okay, this might be the coolest guy I have ever met.

"Fuck yeah!" He looks surprised that I know that information, but who could possibly forget the name of one of their childhood hero's swords?

"Evie had it made for me." Damien continues as we walk down the stairs. "It is sick . But it was so heavy, once you got a good swing in, it would just go straight through your victim before you got the chance to ask him any questions."

That makes sense. Swords were weighted for battle and quick long movements. Not the type of precision required for torture. I nod along as he tells me about how he was legitimately Knighted and has a certificate and everything. By the time we make it to the basement where the torture rooms are located, I think I might be in love with this man.

He walks me to the back wall where all of the miniature replicas of the most famous swords are stored in a glass case.

"That one is Leggbit from the…"

"Famous Magnus Barefoot, the legendary Viking king of Norway," I finish for him, opening the case to touch the metal.

Damien claps me on the shoulder. "I knew I liked you."

I scoff, turning back to look at the copy of Excalibur.

"You hated me when we first met."

Damien grabs his chest in mock offense while I continue to peruse his collection. "That is not true. I just didn't want you using my girl to make yours jealous."

Well shit, he just straight up called me out. Rude. Ever heard of bro code, bro? Even if it is toxic masculinity at its finest.

"I had to get her attention." I shrug, picking up the Sword of Mercy also known as Curtana. It has a blunt end to symbolize mercy and is typically used in the coronation of British kings and queens. I'm perplexed as to why it's here.

"What do you use this one for? This sword is basically useless."

Damien snickers, grabbing it from my hand and pressing the circle on the center of the handle. Immediately, a needle pops out from the tip. I can invision it sliding under the nails of the people who have wronged us as they scream in agony. How fitting is its name, the sword of mercy will bring no hope to our prisoners.

"Woah!" He hands it back to me, and I take a moment to appreciate the craftsmanship. I'm going to need the name of the man that makes these.

"Not so useless after all."

I nod in agreement, pressing the button again to retract it. I'm so caught up in the talk about swords that I forget to be paranoid about Nessa. Glancing back, I see her watching me intently with Evie and Boris at her side.

"For what it's worth," Damien whispers, "I'm glad you two found each other. Daddy B scared me for a bit there, but it seems like he's coming around."

I have to hold myself back from laughing at this ridiculous nickname.

"He's making her happy, and that's all that matters to me."

"Good answer, bro." Damien winks at me before walking over to the first room next to Nessa. Alexi's here too, along with a white-haired guy I guess is Lev, if the way he guards Evie is anything to go by.

Lev kisses Evie on the forehead before muttering that he'll be watching surveillance for the night in the private rooms. Evie nods, but I get the feeling more is going on than they're saying.

Oh well, all I care about is my girl getting back a little bit of the justice she deserves for herself tonight.

"Should we be worried Damien and Cillian are getting along?" Evie asks Nessa in a whisper-yell.

My girl grins as she looks back at me, knowing full well I can hear her. "They are two peas in a pod. I'm worried we might have to start coordinating sleepovers soon."

Jerk. Okay, okay, she isn't wrong. If he has mini-swords this cool, I wonder what other kinds of weapons they might have at their place.

Damien gets everyone's attention as he taps on the first door. "This room contains Philip. He is half dead already from the shots Daddy B got into him, but Doc has ensured that he's stayed alive and struggling until now."

Nessa and I look at each other, but she just rolls her eyes. I have to ask though. "Who is Philip?"

"The mouthy one." Damien acts like I should have any idea what he's talking about.

"Forgive him," Evie says. "He picks random names for his victims."

My brows pinch. "But why?"

Damien looks at me as if I should already know why. Apparently, I'm the only one who doesn't understand this man's level of insanity though, so maybe I am the odd one out.

And everyone says I'm the crazy one.

"I have too much information in here," he taps his head, "to worry about the names of the men I get information out of."

Evie laughs as she says something to Nessa before she and Alexi head upstairs.

I turn my attention back to the certifiable man child. "What kind of information?"

"Now you've done it," Boris murmurs, pressing close to Nessa who just giggles.

"I need to know, what information could possibly be more important than knowing who you're torturing?" I am genuinely curious.

Damien rubs his hands together. "Did you know that you can't hum if you hold your nose?"

That can't be true. Without hesitation, I hold my nose and attempt to hum. Well holy feckin' balls. I can't.

"Or that pigs can't look up to the sky?"

My mouth almost drops open. I never thought about that. "Poor piggies," I whisper. Damien looks just as concerned about this information as I do.

"I know, right? If I ever visit a farm, I'm going to pick up each piggy and make sure he gets the chance to see a blue sky."

"He doesn't have to look up to see the sky, Damien." A new man greets us from the stairs. He is a little bit older than us but not by much. Evie is standing next to him, so he must have been invited.

"Havoc," he says as he reaches out a hand. I take it instantly, knowing who this man is. He used to be the second in command of the Shades assassins until he switched sides.

"Cil," I say and he nods in return.

"I am well aware."

The way he glances back at Evie makes me suspicious, but she wears a giant smile, so I decide to let her have her little secrets.

"Rude interruption, bro." Damien says. "Maybe the little pig wants to be able to see what's above him!"

Damien turns to me, putting his hands on his hips. This dude is built. His shoulders could crush my head without even trying.

"Oh, also, everyone's tongue print is different, so if you ever kill someone make sure to cut out their tongue so they can't be identified by it."

I can honestly say I didn't know any of that. Maybe there is some method to his madness. "Damn, you like, know everything."

"Exactly," he exclaims, throwing his hands in the air as the rest of the room groans. "So, anyway, I need to keep the names to a minimum. What if I decided to keep all their names straight, and I forgot one of these amazing facts because of some soon to be dead guy. It would be awful."

"A true tragedy." I nod in agreement.

Havoc looks wildly annoyed with this conversation. "Why don't you go tell the kid about your little knife collection while the grown ups work over here."

Damien glares at him, but I want to see the knife collection. "You have knives too?" I ask.

"He is talking about the mini-swords," Damien says through gritted teeth. Clearly this is a sensitive topic, but I'm kinda pissed for the guy.

"You did not call a miniature replica of the epic Taiheiki, the sword that moved by itself and killed an oni demon that was cursing Hōjō Tokimasa, a knife ," I scold.

"Here we go," Nessa says, shaking her head. Havoc looks at me in shock. For a man I once thought to be one of the greats, with his rumored ‘best kills' in the assassins league, I have to say I'm not appreciating his form of a joke.

He has to be joking, right?

"How the fuck did you find two of them?" Havoc asks Evie.

"Alright," Alexi interrupts whatever she was about to say as he comes down the stairs again with Evie. "That is enough. We are here for a purpose, and I have other plans tonight that do not include standing around here talking about the names of weapons. If you do not wish for me to go into explicit detail of exactly how I will be going about using one of the rooms here tonight, I suggest we move into the torture part of the evening."

Boris raises a hand before any of us can ask for the details because I want to know what there is in all of these rooms upstairs.

"Son, no one wants to hear that." Boris eyes me as if he knew I wanted to. "Our girl is on a mission."

I sigh, he's got me there. Damien opens the door and we all file in. Once we're all in the room, I whisper to him so just the two of us can hear. "I've got your back on the sword thing, bro."

He fist bumps me, and I have a feeling we'll be having one of those sleepovers soon.

"This one is mine," Nessa says, and everyone takes a step back. The man on the bed with tubes and wires all around him smiles. His limbs are restrained, allowing zero movement. There is even a belt around his stomach.

Doc is on call if we want to make this last longer, but my girl said she just wants it to be over, so I don't think we will need to contact him.

She takes a step towards him and he coughs.

"Hey there, little Reaper. I thought you might want to see me again."

His teeth are bloody as he speaks, but Nessa doesn't pay him much attention. She just walks up and touches one of the IV lines he has connected to his body.

"You know," she starts, still staring at the bag of fluids pumping into his veins, "I thought a lot about what I would say or do to you when I got the chance."

He grins. "Think about me often, doll?"

The way she cringes at the word makes me think of how Ronan used to call her that. It takes everything in me not to stab the asshole for the remark, even if he likely has no idea what he did.

"At first, I wanted to tell you about how I can practically feel you eating my flesh some nights."

Her hand trails over the restraints holding his arms to the bed as she walks around it.

"Then, I thought about finding a way to make you understand that type of violation."

He gnashes his teeth at her, and I step forward, intent on holding his head down, but Nessa holds up a hand to me and I respectfully take a step back.

"She's got this, bro," Damien whispers and I nod.

Boris watches closely but makes no move towards her. While I want to help her slay her enemies, Boris is the one who likes to sit back and watch as she enacts her revenge.

"But then I realized," Nessa continues, "that none of that really matters. I could stab you a thousand times, I could make you cry and apologize until you can't speak anymore. But none of that will change the result at the end of the day."

His brows pinch. She has confused him. Green is the kind of man who knows nothing but violence, so not having it aimed at him is likely unsettling. Which my girl must know because she plasters on a sinister smile.

"So, I decided you're not worth the effort or risk of hearing loss."

We all watch as Green goes quiet, his end closer than he realized. Nessa goes to the table with medical supplies laid out and grabs a large syringe.

"You know what I learned when my father had me shooting people, making a mess of beautiful places with their blood?"

Green says nothing, his face cold and impassive. But this is the moment I've been waiting for. The moment Nessa turns into the monster that complements mine.

"There are more simple ways to kill people and still have them suffer. In fact, did you know that an air embolism is ten times more painful than a heart attack?"

She draws back the syringe, filling it with nothing before attaching the end to his IV.

His breathing kicks up. "Wait, you'll want to know what I know."

She pauses, her hand on the end of the syringe ready to bring him his end.

"Do you really know anything of value to me? How close were you really with my father?"

Green shakes his head. "They aren't where you think they are, the kids. He hid them up north."

I want to ask Nessa to wait, but I don't think Green here knows we have other people who likely have this same information in the next room, which makes him useless to us.

"Everyone may be afraid of the name Donovan O'Neil." Nessa presses the plunger and Green's eyes go wide. "But soon they will learn to fear the daughter that slayed him more than they ever feared him."

Green's body begins to stiffen in pain. "He's n..not the real monst..ter."

Nessa leans in his face as he grits his teeth in pain, fisting his hair she spits in his face. "That's right. I am ."

We stand by and watch as he hollers in pain. So much for not losing our hearing. His body convulses, spit foaming at his mouth until he goes still.

Part of me expects Nessa to look worried or bothered by what just happened, but when she glances up at us, there is a joyous smile on her face.

"One down," she laughs.

And just one to go.

???

"Havoc," Nessa says as we leave the room where the man who haunts my girl's nightmares just took his last breath. It was nowhere near as bloody as I needed it to be. "You start with this guy. I don't care what information he has right now. I want you to make it hurt."

Havoc nods, rubbing his hands together as if this is his specialty. Actually, I know that it is. He was one of the best torturers the Shades had.

"Cillian, you and Damien actually get the information from him." She turns and points a finger at Damien. "No swords, we actually need to know what he knows."

Damien raises his hands in surrender. "Agreed. But I can use the miniature ones, right?"

Havoc scoffs and rolls his eyes, but I'm already grabbing three of them before we go in the room.

"Good choices," Damien says, walking by me as we all step into a larger room.

"I thought this one might need more attention, so I gave him the larger room," Alexi says.

Evie leans back and whispers something before kissing his cheek, and the guy actually blushes. I wasn't aware stone was capable of that, but the women that Nessa surrounds herself with tend to surprise me.

I can see my girl is tired, this has already been a lot for her. She went from resting and healing to being out in a club and actually working. She doesn't want us to see it though, so I keep the information to myself.

However, I think Boris is also aware of her lack of energy from the way she keeps leaning on him. It makes me wonder when she last took pain medication for her ribs and if they're bothering her right now.

She said they'd been feeling better, just a dull ache that flares up if she moves too fast. I have a feeling she might be hiding how sore and traumatized she really is.

She wouldn't let either of us sit in during her talk with Dr. K, which is totally fair on her part. I just wish I knew how to help her better. There will never be enough apologies in the world to fix what I did by walking into that warehouse unprepared.

But I can start here, with this.

We all turn our attention to Havoc as he gets started. You would think eight people in a room while bloody justice is exacted would feel like too much, but it's oddly comforting. I know that every person here would die for the woman I love, as Havoc turns the man in front of us into a sobbing mess.

He's careful though. He pushes and makes it hurt, but he doesn't drive him to insanity. There is a method to his madness, and it is beautiful to witness.

When Gray is about to pass out again, Evie calls for Havoc to stop. The two of them seem to have a well working system. She keeps him aware of the limits and he listens. There is no hesitation either. The second she says ‘stop', his hand pauses in mid air right before punching the man in the jaw.

Gosh, this is like a party. I had no idea how much I needed to witness this bloodshed in order to feel better. Don't you just feel exhilarated?

I warned you I was insane, and I did not say that lightly .

When Havoc steps back, Alexi douses Gray in cold water and Nessa nods to me.

I actually feel giddy as I step up for my turn. I want him to hurt, to pay. But his head is slouched down, and that will not do.

I look up at Nessa, ready to ask her to come hold the man's head up while I carve one of these swords into his skin, but she is leaning almost all of her body weight on Boris.

Glancing at Damien, I nod. "Get them a chair, she deserves to see all of this while comfortable."

He immediately gets one. Nessa attempts to protest, but Boris rolls his eyes and pulls her into his lap, gently of course. In an instant, that pinched expression on her face relaxes. When her eyes meet mine, I can see the silent thanks, and I smile at my girl.

"Damien, help me hold his head up, will you?"

He flexes his hands, practically running towards me. I think he and I might love this part the most, breaking that final bit of someone's spirit until all that's left is a blubbering mess.

I feel a sort of kindred spirit in Damien, and I half wonder if he loves this part so much because it solidifies our control over others. At least, that's what a shrink told me when I tried to get help after Nessa allegedly died. I saw her twice before deciding violence was the answer to my pain. She wasn't all that helpful, not like Dr. K seemed to be for so many here.

Pushing all of those thoughts aside, I focus on the task at hand.

"Okay there, Finn." I thought a bit about Damien's idea with the names. I love it, but coming up with last second names is a lot of pressure, so I figure I'll just go with one name. And Finn sounds like a weak ass dude's name who is just begging to get punched in the face.

"Does he really look like a Finn to you?" Damien questions me. I glare at him.

"Every asshole looks like a Finn to me. That was the name of the kid who thought he could kick sand in my face as a kid. This guy totally looks like he kicked sand in other kids' faces." I gesture to him as Finn's face lolls to the side. He's awake but barely.

"Good point. Alright, Finny boy."

"No," I hold a hand up sternly, "just Finn."

Damien rolls his eyes. "Alright, Finn . Are you ready to have some fun?"

"Two peas in a pod right there," Nessa says, and I can't help but laugh. It might come out more menacingly than intended. Or not. Either way, we are about to have some fun.

It takes a little bit of time, but eventually we get what we need. The new leader of the Shades has a child trafficking organization, and Havoc thinks he may know who she is.

"They move them about every thirty days to set up a new training camp. If there is a breach in the perimeter, they have resources to get them moved in twelve hours or less." The man is a little worse for wear. He can hardly open his eyes due to how swollen they are, and one is bleeding quite badly. "They have kids as young as six and as old as sixteen."

"How many?" Nessa asks.

He tries to swallow, but it looks like it hurts. Good . "Last I heard, she said fifty were still alive."

He at least looks upset about that. To know kids are dying and he just went along with it solidifies that we're on the right side here, and he chose wrong. So feckin' wrong.

Yeah, okay I know torture is wrong too, but you at least have to agree he deserves it, right? If not, you should probably just stop reading now because I have a feeling things are only about to get worse.

"I don't understand," Evie says. "I killed him. The Shades are loyal to me, or what's left of them at least."

"Well," Finn rasps, "you didn't kill her . When she came to my boss asking if he wanted to sponsor the whole thing, he agreed all too quickly."

"Why did you take Nessa?" I demand. It's great we put together what's happening with the kids, and we already have an idea where they might be, but this is the part that is still bugging me. "Who knows she's alive?"

"He knows she's alive, and that's enough." His head falls forward, but he continues talking as his eyes shut. "H-He won't stop until he has her. I've seen him, and he's caught up on revenge like no man I have ever met."

Torture really wasn't necessary to get him to talk, it was just to requite everything that Nessa went through. He's been giving us everything from the beginning and apparently tried to get Alexi to listen to everything he knew before we arrived.

"For what it's worth," he lifts his head as blood runs freely from his nose all the way down his chest, "I tried to get him to let you go. I warned him Green would take it too far, that he was taking it too far with the whole eating your skin thing. He was on his way when they rescued you."

My hands shake, knowing Nessa was so close to being taken, maybe even permanently. I look up at her, tucked into Boris on his lap. Her face is pale, her eyes watery.

She's just a girl who wanted her father to love her. It was why she did everything she did. Why she fought so hard for a future she didn't believe in but wanted to make come true for him. But he went down a path none of us could ever justify, and I'm sure that hurts her even more.

Just the reminder of how much he wounded her every time he dismissed her, like she would never be good enough for him, has me seeing red.

Before I can blink, the blade in my hand is buried into his thigh as he screams out. His wailing is so loud it echoes off of the walls, but I don't hear anything. I just watch as a little bit of strength seems to come back to my girl.

Then, I do it again. And again. And again. Only watching her.

In fact, I don't stop until Damien wraps his hand around mine and steals the miniature sword that practically chopped off the guy's leg. He's clearly dead now, having bled out at some point. But I don't look back or acknowledge when Damien whines about one of the jewels being loose, and Alexi assures him he will fix it.

I just walk up to my girl and wrap her in my arms. She squeezes me back hard, and some of the anger and pain in my chest subsides with her touch.

When the red fog clouding my mind begins to clear, we walk out of the room. Boris tries to pull Nessa to him, but I keep her close.

"You got her on your lap for however long that just took. It's my turn."

He shakes his head. "You are so petty."

I chuckle as Nessa rolls her eyes.

"I agree," I say. "I am pretty." A broad smile touches my lips as I press them to her forehead.

"I said petty ." Boris draws out the word as if I didn't hear him perfectly the first time.

"I am aware of what you said, I just chose to change it so that it fit my narrative better."

Damien laughs behind us and fist bumps me. I've decided that he's pretty awesome after all.

"This one might give you a run for your money, Daddy B."

Nessa lets out a loud cackle, and I can't help but follow her in it while Boris shakes his head, ever the disappointed daddy .

He has no idea.