Page 38 of Ruthless Vengeance
I pull back, then send my fist right into his jaw.
His head snaps to the side as blood starts trickling down his chin from his split lip.
But I don’t give him a chance to react before I grab him by the collar and slam him against the wall, knocking the last of the air from his lungs.
“You think you can touch my family and live to tell the tale?” I growl, wrapping my hands around his throat, squeezing just enough to make his eyes bulge.
Ben’s fingers claw at my wrists as he struggles to breathe.
I tighten my grip, ready to end this.
“Wait—”
His eyes, so much like Clara’s, make me hesitate, and I loosen my hands just enough for him to drag in a breath.
“I-I can help you,” he chokes, his voice breaking from the pressure still on his throat. “You need me.”
I loosen my grip a little more but don’t let go entirely.
For all I know, this is just another game to him, and I’m in no mood to lose.
“Start talking.”
Ben coughs, choking down air. “I’m not working for Tommaso. Not really.”
I narrow my eyes.
How dumb does he think I am?
“Try again.”
“I swear.” He coughs, his voice still hoarse. “I’m working for Cillian.”
Cillian?
“That’s not possible.”
“I’m a…mole,” Ben chokes. “I was feeding Tommaso’s men bullshit, trying to stay on the inside long enough to get something useful for him.”
It’s a little too convenient of a story. I grind my teeth, trying to decide whether or not I believe a goddamn word coming out of his mouth.
But I can’t deny that he has me intrigued. “Useful how?”
Ben shakes his head. “I’m not saying anything else…without security.”
I squeeze his throat again, making him grunt. “Security? You’re in no fucking position to negotiate.”
Ben’s face is slowly turning purple as he fights for air, but somehow he still finds it in himself to smirk, the prick. “Take me to see Clara,” he chokes out.
My body tenses at Clara’s name on his lips.
He has some fucking nerve mentioning her, but I know why he’s doing it.
Ben knows Clara would likely step to stop me from killing him out of guilt and loyalty to a family that he betrayed. She’s got too big of a heart, one of the many things I love about her, and the little shit knows it.
But if Ben truly is working for Cillian…
I hate to use Clara as a bargaining chip, but it seems Ben has also inherited the Peterson stubbornness. That mixed with the fact that he has nothing to lose makes for a dangerous combination.
