Page 36 of The Tourist

Chloe

The Darkness of Richard Armstrong

By Chloe Benson

Published on the Dark Web for all who want to read it.

There are monsters in this world, lurking in the shadows and preying on the vulnerable. Richard Armstrong was one of those monsters. Born into a world full of the trappings of luxury and male dominance, he embraced it all and let power consume him. His legacy is one of violence, betrayal, and unimaginable cruelty. A legacy that led to his eventual death.

Richard Armstrong didn't inherit his place in the underworld. He earned it all by himself.

In his early twenties, Armstrong took over his family’s casino and built it into an empire, but no matter how much power and wealth he possessed, it was never enough for him. He craved more control, more money, and more blood. He wanted to be number one and wouldn’t let anybody else get in his way.

On his orders, murder was a daily occurrence, but rather than get his hands dirty, especially toward the end, he would get other people in his organization to do his dirty work.

His wife was one of his first victims. She dared to fall in love with another man and his wife, and for that, Armstrong’s wife and her male lover paid with their lives. Armstrong then injected his wife’s female lover with illegal drugs and continued to feed her addiction for almost eighteen years. As a result of the drugs, she didn’t know her own daughter even though they both lived in the same run-down trailer. I am thankful that the story has a happy ending for both of them.

Armstrong's wrath knew no bounds.

Anyone who crossed him or dared to defy his twisted sense of loyalty met a gruesome end. The bodies he left in his wake were too many to count, each a testament to his insatiable thirst for domination.

The money he made from the casino, more than enough for a lifetime, didn't satisfy his greed. Armstrong ventured into the darkest corners of human depravity, dealing in drugs and human trafficking. His empire thrived on the suffering of others, and the people he destroyed were treated as mere commodities. In his world, everybody had a price.

I was one of his victims, sold for eight hundred thousand dollars. But I wasn’t the only one. There were others in captivity with me. We all had signs placed around our necks with labels that stripped us of our humanity and reduced us to roles in Richard Armstrong’s sick game.

‘The Nephew,’ a muscular man with blonde hair and blue eyes. He looked like someone who might be seen on a cable television show.

‘The Indebted,’ a woman with green eyes and vibrant red hair. In her arms was ‘The Princess,’ a woman with darker skin who prayed in a foreign language.

There was another woman with dark blonde hair and green eyes. Her label, ‘The Nobody,’ was the most insulting of all.

And finally, there was my best friend, Serena, who was given the label ‘The Sister.’ It was a cruel message aimed directly at Diego Rodriquez, her brother and owner of a rival casino in Las Vegas.

I don’t know where any of them are now or if they are still alive.

Richard Armstrong didn't just destroy lives. He shattered entire families, and he tried to mold his son, Eaton, into his own image. But Eaton possesses something his father lacked—a heart. Eaton saw through the darkness and chose a different path. He escaped the suffocating grip of his father's rotten empire and found love and happiness.

Now Eaton and Diego are fighting to undo the damage caused by Richard Armstrong and his associates. These two men are heroes in this story. They are the ones searching for those who have been stolen and risking everything to bring them back home.

Both men are relentless in their mission, driven by a desire for justice and redemption. They have the resources and skills, but they face unimaginable odds, navigating a web of deceit and danger, in their efforts to save the victims who can't save themselves.

Eaton and Diego’s quest is far from over. The path they are treading is treacherous, filled with the remnants of Armstrong’s evil. But with each step they take, they are dismantling his empire, brick by bloody brick, exposing the horrors that were hidden in the shadows and bringing justice to the victims as well as retribution to the perpetrators.

As I write this, I am filled with a mix of anger and gratitude. Anger at the atrocities committed by Richard Armstrong. Gratitude for those heroes who are fighting to make things right. The world needs to know about Armstrong’s evil, but it also needs to know about the good people who are working tirelessly to combat it.

This is a call to arms. It’s a plea for awareness. The darkness that was spread by Richard Armstrong is still vast, but it is not insurmountable. With courage, determination, and collaboration, we can shine a light on these horrors and work toward a world where no one has to suffer the same fate.

This is not a story of despair, but one of hope. Together, we can fight the darkness and help those who are lost to reclaim their lives.

In this tale of evil and redemption, the true heroes are the people who, like Eaton Armstrong and Diego Rodriguez, work tirelessly to rescue those who can not free themselves.

From the bottom of my heart, I thank them all.

CHAPTER24

Diego

Chloe is sitting on the sofa, her laptop open in front of her, typing furiously. Her dedication to her work is inspiring. It seems that writing has become her way of healing.