Page 70 of Skin Deep

“He won’t bother you or anyone else ever again,” I promised.

“But if you have any special requests,” Pax added, “now’s the time.”

The woman’s eyes shimmered with unshed tears. She took a drag on her cigarette and looked away. “Mariann Rhetter,” she whispered quietly. “Went by the stage name Monroe. She left with this fucker last year and nobody ever saw her alive again. She was my…” She stopped and took another long drag. “She was mine. If you boys find out where he left her so I can give her a proper send off, that’d be good of you.”

I frowned. Mariann Rhetter… Why was that name familiar? I didn’t have time to contemplate it. The sedative wasn’t going to last too much longer. We had to hurry.

“No promises,” I told the stripper. “Give Beau my thanks.”

She nodded without looking at us before stomping out the cigarette. “Makehimscream and beg for once, would you?”

We loaded Bowen into the back seat, and I sat behind the wheel of the car. I couldn’t believe it. Bowen fucking Ivanski. The monster who’d haunted my nightmares for decades was passed out and helpless in the back seat of my car. I was minutes from being able to do whatever I wanted to him for as long as I wanted.

Make him scream and beg for once, the woman had said.

How long had I fantasized about doing just that? After what he did to Brandon, he couldn’t die slowly enough. Nothing I could do to him would give him as much pain as what I’d felt watching Brandon die and in the years that’d followed, but I was sure going to give it my best fucking shot.

“War?”

I blinked and realized the car was moving, and I was behind the wheel. We were on the outer belt, less than a mile from the exit I wanted, which meant we’d been driving at least twenty minutes. It hadn’t seemed that long. I didn’t even remember starting the car.

I must’ve gotten lost in my own head fantasizing about what I was going to do to Bowen.

“I’m fine,” I assured Paxton and moved into the next lane.

He frowned. “You don’t look fine. You haven’t said a word since we grabbed him. You sure you’re up for this? Because if you’re not—”

“I can fucking do it!” I snapped at him roughly as we slid into the exit lane.

“I know you can,” Pax offered gently. “I’m not saying you can’t. I’m saying you don’t have to. I’m right here.”

He put a hand on my arm and my shoulders instantly relaxed. I hadn’t even realized I was tense until he touched me.

My throat tightened and we rolled to a stop. I took a deep breath. “I want this to be over with. I want you to be safe. I want him dead.”I want him to suffer like I suffered.

“I know.” Pax pulled me in to kiss the top of my head. “We’re almost there. We just need to get the information your dad wanted and then we can get back to hunting the ripper.”

“Fuck,” I spat as we pulled into the factory parking lot.

“What?”

“Mariann Rhetter. I knew that name sounded familiar. She was in the ripper files as a witness. She was talking to the cops. Said she had information and set up a meeting and then…”

I twisted in the seat to look at the man passed out in the back seat. Could this be him? It would make sense that the vory were protecting the ripper if it was Bowen.

Did Nikita know? Was that why he’d sent me after Bowen? He didn’t fit the profile Shepherd had built, but that didn’t mean anything. Criminal profiles were generalizations. They weren’t always right.

Pax’s fingers curled into fists. “If it is him, we’ll get to the fucking bottom of it tonight,” he promised. “But right now, we need to focus, War. Are you good?”

I swallowed and nodded before hitting the turn signal. “Yeah. I’m fucking peachy.”

Ithrewabucketof cold water on Bowen. He gasped as he came to and struggled against the table’s restraints, but he wasn’t going anywhere.

I leaned in, briefly blocking out the bright light War had hovering over the table. “Rise and shine, motherfucker. Time to face the music.”

Bowen’s lip curled into a sneer. “You… You have no idea who you’re fucking with!”

“Nope,” I said cheerily. “I don’t give a shit who you are, but he does.”

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