Chapter 9
HARLOW
"My father started his working life as a chef." I leaned against the back of the couch. "By the time he was thirty, he owned two restaurants. Those two became a chain. Eventually, he retired from working in the kitchen and concentrated on the back end."
I ignored Boner's smirk.
"Turns out, he was an even better businessman than he was a chef. He expanded into hotels and then real estate. Went from being a regular guy to multimillionaire."
"So your father is Batman?" Boner asked.
I snorted. "Hardly. My father was ambitious. For every dollar he made, he wanted two or three more. It became something of an obsession to him."
"Rumor has it, that's how rich people get rich," Boner said. "They do everything they can to get more money."
"Exactly," I said vaguely, thinking back. "The more money he got, the less time he had to spend with my mother, my sister and me."
"I have a feeling that's not a bad thing." Boner looked at me sidelong.
"Looking back, it wasn't," I agreed. "At the time, it stung. He taught me how to cook. With regular meat," I added quickly before he could ask.
"That you know of." He gave me a sly grin.
"Yeah, well." I shrugged. I couldn't discount the possibility entirely.
"Go on," Boner encouraged. "Daddy turned into an obsessed workaholic, what happened then?"
I grimaced at that description, accurate though it was. "He made some powerful friends," I said slowly. "The kind of people who think they own the world because they have money and influence. People who think they can do anything they want."
"People like Carl," Boner stated. "Bottom feeding assholes."
He looked like he'd happily bring Carl back to life and kill him all over again. I could relate to that. Death seemed too good for some of these people. Which was why some ended up in my party box, with slow dripping water.
"Right," I said softly. I glanced away, seeing nothing, lost in my own thoughts.
"What did he do?" Boner asked gently. Carefully, he placed his hand on my knee, lightly at first as though I might jump at his touch.
Considering what was going around and around in my brain it was a fair bet. One I managed to win by not jumping.
"He thought he might make some money from my sister and me," I whispered.
"Lettie was a couple of years younger than me.
Absolutely beautiful. She could have been a model, but she wanted to work with animals instead.
She planned to be a veterinarian. She was the sweetest person I ever knew. She had the biggest heart."
"Had?" Boner asked gently. "Past tense?"
I didn't acknowledge that he'd spoken, not yet. I continued talking, letting the words out one by one.
"My father thought he'd sell both of us. But she was the one they wanted." I could barely speak above a whisper. Saying all of this made it real again. Like it only happened yesterday.
"What did they do?" Boner whispered.
I turned to him. Let him brush tears off my cheeks.
"They raped and murdered her." My voice broke on the last two words. "The sweetest person on the face of the planet and they destroyed her. Broke her into pieces, just because they could." My heart broke all over again.
I closed my eyes, moisture pooling on my eyelashes.
"I made it my life's work to destroy them," I said, managing to contain my composure just enough to be coherent. "Starting with my father. So far, I've found three of the others."
"Jesus Christ." Boner's hand tightened on my knee before he forced himself to relax again. "How many?"
"Including the man who organized all of it, seven," I said. "He didn't touch her, but he was behind it. Her and so many others like her. Whoever he is, he lives in the shadows. I suspect he's very powerful, very rich. He thinks he can't be touched."
So far, he was right. The three men I found hadn't been able to give me his name. Or weren't willing to. Even knowing they were about to die, they were too scared to tell me.
"So, we're looking for three bottom feeding assholes," Boner concluded.
It took a few moments for his words to register.
"We? There is no we." I shook my head.
"Sweetheart, you can't tell me all about this and then not expect me to be involved up to my eyeballs.
" He held his hand up in front of his eyes.
"These are exactly the kind of scum sucking shitworms that need to be brought down.
If there was a Vigilante University, its mission statement would be to get rid of them.
Like it or not, I'm in with you on this.
Besides, it might help to have another pair of eyes when it comes to finding the head asshole. "
I ran the pad of my thumb across the nails on my opposite hand, back and forth while I tried to think up some argument that would convince him to forget all about this. I should have realized telling him would lead to him inserting himself into my…mission, for want of a better word. Crusade.
"I appreciate you wanting to help," I said slowly, "but this is my revenge. They need to pay for what they did to my sister. It's been too long already."
"Revenge is a dish best served cold," he quoted. "In this case, revenge is very much a dish." He actually winked at me.
"I've never been called a dish before," I said.
"Then the men in your life were doing you a disservice," he said. "Go on then, let me help you. Otherwise, I'll be forced to follow you around and join in wherever I can."
"Did you just threaten to stalk me?" I asked.
"Are you shocked I'd do something illegal?" He quirked an eyebrow at me.
I had to concede that point. Edward Bonegard wasn't what you'd call a law-abiding citizen. Me either, so I couldn't judge.
"You're going to get in the way if I don't let you help me, aren't you?" I asked. "Like you did with Carl."
Boner pretended to look offended. "I was very helpful. Perhaps you have a selective memory." He said it with no heat and a hint of a smile.
"I had everything under control," I said.
"But if you really want to help, I guess I could use another pair of eyes and hands.
We might find them and end them quicker.
Before they can do it again." I wasn't na?ve enough to think they haven't already done it again. And again. We could stop more of it.
"Can I ask you a question?" He ran his thumb back and forth just above my knee.
"Can I stop you?" I asked.
"Usually, not," he agreed. "Believe it or not, I have some boundaries and this may poke at it too much. If you don't want to answer…"
"Since I can't stop you, you might as well ask," I said dryly. I made an 'out with it,' gesture with my fingers.
"You said your father tried to offer both of you," Boner said carefully.
I guessed where this was going. "You want to know if he succeeded. No, I killed him before it got to that. As far as I know, no money exchanged hands."
"And your mother?" Boner asked, a wince already on his face.
"She passed away before all of this happened," I said. "I like to think she would have stopped it, but I'll never know." It was obvious he thought she'd had a part in it too. That was clear from the flash of relief on his face.
"I'm sorry you lost your Mom," he said after a moment. "Moms are special. Dads, they should be special too." A hint of a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. "Was yours the special of the day?"
I snorted. "He had a regular old cremation," I said. "It was ruled an accident."
That made Boner grin. "Good girl. Nice work. He was your first?"
"Yeah, he was." I gave a short nod.
At the time, it was the most difficult thing I'd ever done.
Looking back, it didn't seem like that big of a deal.
It hadn't brought my sister back, but inheriting all his money gave me enough to start my restaurant.
And buy a nice condo. I'd kept some aside for expenses, but donated the rest to women's shelters around the city.
Who the hell needed that much money anyway?
I certainly didn't. I left myself enough to be comfortably off, but not ridiculously rich.
"I'm starting to think we need a T-shirt," Boner said. "Card-carrying members of the Daddy Killers Club."
"That would be subtle," I said sarcastically. "T-shirts and membership cards."
"A support group then," he said, unflinching.
"Isn't that what this is already?" I gestured toward him. "A support group for serial killer vigilante daddy murderers."
"That sounds like a great title for a movie." He grinned. "Serial Killer Vigilante Daddy Murderers." After a beat he added, "From Mars."
I snorted a laugh. "Speak for yourself. I'm not from Mars. Before you say it, I'm not from Uranus either."
He tipped his head back and laughed. "There's no way someone as cute as you could come from Uranus, or mine. Although, if we're going to talk about anal…" He wiggled his eyebrows, then moved to kneel in front of me, between my thighs.
"Boner," I whispered.
"Harlow," he whispered back. "You deserve orgasms. Let me do this for you." He placed his hands on my thighs and ran them up slowly, until his thumbs were almost pressed against my pussy.
"I don't want you feeling sorry for me because of what my father did," I said. "Or for what I did to him."
"Good, because I don't. You're a badass. You don't deserve pity, you deserve respect. You deserve pleasure." He rubbed his thumbs up and down slowly over the fabric of my leggings, teasing me.
When I didn't object, he hooked his fingers into the waistband of my leggings and panties and pulled them both down. He leaned in and inhaled.
"You smell sweeter than honey," he whispered. He nudged my clit with his nose, then replaced it with his tongue, teasing and lapping slowly. "You taste even better."
I pressed my hands to the couch on either side of me, closed my eyes and let him feast on me.
As much as my instincts wanted to tell me to keep my distance from him and everyone else, he had a talented mouth. One that was going to make me come undone faster than I could have done myself with one of my well-designed toys.
"You're dangerous," I said softly.
He looked up at me and grinned. "You're just figuring that out now, love?"
"No, I noticed it on the night we met, but you're good at reminding me," I said.
"I'm good at a lot of things." He slid a finger inside me. Just one at first, spreading my arousal around my pussy. Then, in went another finger, and a third. Massaging my G spot while his tongue worked my clit.
I arched my back and looked toward the ceiling, my eyes glazed, all of my senses focused on the man between my legs and the attention he was lavishing on my pussy. I barely had time to suck in a deep breath before I was coming hard and fast against his mouth. Panting and crying out his name.
Ignoring the neighbor banging on the wall again.
If anything, I cried out louder because of his irritation. That was what he got for trying to ruin a perfectly good orgasm. Honestly, he was probably listening, his hand wrapped around his own cock. Hoping I'd shout louder still.
I flopped back down against the couch, trying to catch my breath.
"Just like that," Boner said approvingly. "You're incredibly beautiful when you come." He eased my panties and leggings back into place and patted my knee before moving to sit beside me again.
He leaned over to lightly kiss my mouth, letting me taste myself on his lips. "So fucking perfect. Now, we need a name for this plan. How about Operation Revenge?"
He switched gears so fast, he almost gave me whiplash. I blinked a couple of times and shook my head to clear it, so I could catch up with him.
"We can think about that," I said.
He nodded slowly. "Okay, that's fair. Now, where do we start hunting for these assholes?"