Rules of Bennett: The Complete Collection

by Ember Michaels

  My father raised his hand to strike her, but I rose out of my seat and caught him by the wrist in a firm grip.

  “I’d advise you not to do that,” I growled.

  “You better think about what you’re doing, son,” he replied, his tone low and dangerously dark.

  “I thought about it long before I got here. Now keep your fucking hands off my property,” I growled, never breaking eye contact with him.

  Something sinister flickered in his eyes, but he only smirked at me and tore his wrist from my grip.

  “You’re playing a dangerous game over a replaceable whore,” he said with a sigh. “She’s no different than Stephanie, and you’re bound to lose everything over her. Remember where your loyalty lies.”

  The muscle in my jaw ticked. Everyone’s eyes were on me, heat trickling up my neck as anger brewed deep within my soul. I was so sick of him and everyone else mentioning Stephanie. He always seemed to want to bring her up in an attempt to wound me, to show me that he had the upper hand, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

  “Friends, friends, let’s handle this business like men,” Sergio said, waving his large arms around. “There’s no need to be so serious.” He looked at me and flashed that ugly gold tooth again. “We just want to see if the product is worth the money.”

  “I already told you no,” I snapped. “No one is going to touch her. Do I need to get a fucking translator in here? You’re acting like you don’t understand English.”

  “I won’t be disrespected in front of my company, Benny,” Sergio continued, his smile never faltering. “I don’t know what kind of attachment you have to your whore here, but if you didn’t want her touched, you should’ve left her home.”

  I inhaled deeply and slowly released it, my hands tingling. It was bound to be a blood bath in here in a few moments if I didn’t hurry up and get the fuck out of here.

  “If I tell you she’s not for sale, there’s no reason to touch her. If you think telling you no is disrespectful, that’s your problem, not mine.”

  Sergio sat back down in his seat and pointed at a man sitting a couple of seats from him. “Get the girl and bring her to me.”

  My gun was out of my holster and pointed at his head as soon as the last syllable left Sergio’s mouth. The large man looked at me with wide eyes, looking between Sergio and me.

  “Move another inch, and I’ll blow your head off,” I warned, grabbing Aurora’s arm.

  “Don’t be dramatic, Bennett,” my father taunted. “I can always get you a new slut if that’s what you want. You always seem to fall in love with every useless woman I give you.”

  “Oh, fuck you, Wilson,” Aurora snapped.

  I cupped my hand over her mouth and narrowed my eyes at my father. He always used to preach about loyalty and how important family was. But the way he tried to humiliate me in front of potential foreign business partners made it seem as if he were trying to burn any bridges I could build outside of my business relationship with him.

  He wanted me solely dependent on him, wanting me under his thumb to do his dirty work as he pleased. I was sick of being his puppet, sick of being disrespected time and time again. I’d let it go on for too long because he was my father, but what kind of father would treat his own son like this?

  I thought back to all the information Carrie had gathered and how she thought he was responsible for the death of her parents, my mother, and Stephanie. If what she said was right, then he’d betrayed me my whole life. I’d been loyal to a man who constantly stabbed me in the back and then hid his hands.

  I was fed up.

  Wilson snatched Aurora by the hair and dragged her over to Solomon, who slowly pulled his heavy body out of his chair as they moved closer to him.

  “Get the fuck off me, you old bastard!” she screamed.

  Wilson tightly grabbed her by the back of the neck. “Shut the fuck up or I’ll kill you where you stand,” he bellowed.

  Tears burned her eyes as Solomon roughly fondled her breasts, popping the thin straps of her dress. The anger within me continued to rise as his palms squeezed her exposed breasts and spoke to his brother in Russian as if I wasn’t even in the room.

  Aurora bit her bottom lip in an effort to will herself not to cry. In an instant, my vision hazed over, and instead of seeing her, I saw Stephanie.

  Her cheeks flushed in embarrassment as the men manhandled her, my father laughing with the men as they complimented how beautiful her body was, how they wanted to feel how tight her pussy was and asking if she was good at sucking dick.

  My mind focused when Aurora whimpered. I ground my teeth as I watched Solomon squeezed Aurora’s nipple so hard that she jerked away from him, resulting in a slap across the face.

  “The things I’d do to a slut like—”

  My gun went off and warm, sticky blood hit Aurora’s face and chest. She screamed in horror as the large man slumped against her before falling to the floor, holding his neck.

  “What the fuck?! Solomon!” Sergio bellowed as he struggled to get up. He pointed to me. “You’re fucking finished! You’re a dead—”

  I shot him between the eyes and grabbed Aurora’s arm. “Let’s fucking go,” I snapped.

  “Like hell you will!” Wilson bellowed, grabbing her other arm.

  The other men in the room jumped up from their seats, guns raised. The door to the room burst open, and Bruce, Kyler, and Nyxin entered with guns drawn as well.

  I raised my gun and pointed it at my father’s head, completely unmoved. I couldn’t trust this man. My gut was right; this meeting was a set up from the beginning. He’d taken note of how I’d reacted to Aurora before and planned to use it against me. Now two men from the Russian mafia were dead, putting a large target on my back.

  “Let go of her fucking arm,” I snarled.

  “Who the fuck do you think you are?” Wilson taunted. “I can break you the same way I made you.”

  “I’m not going to tell you again,” I stated, ignoring his threat.

  “Or what? You’re going to kill me?” he asked with a sinister smile.

  I hit him in the nose with the butt of my gun, hearing the cartilage crunch upon impact. He howled and held his face, blood pouring from his nose.

  “You’re fucking dead to me, Bennett Moreno!” he roared as I rushed to the door with Aurora in tow.

  I stopped long enough to look back at him. “Good. It’ll make it easier to kill you later,” I said and exited as my men covered me.

  Bullets rang out as I ran down the hall. “Get in front of me!” I yelled to Aurora.

  She yelped and moved ahead of me, holding her dress up as she ran down the hall. Bruce, Kyler, Nixin, and I shot at the men who ran out of the room and into the hall.

  “Saint, get here now!” I yelled into my earpiece.

  “Already on it, boss. KC is tracking you. You’re approaching an exit that will lead to an alley on the side of the building. I’ll get Joseph to meet you there to get the girl, and I’ll be right behind him to get you guys.”

  “What fucking exit?!” I exclaimed, quickly approaching another short hallway with an exit at the end of the it.

  I yanked Aurora’s arm before she could go much further, guiding her down the other hall. I tossed her over my shoulder and sprinted for the door, the bullets sounding closer than they had a minute ago. She kicked and screamed in my arms as I ran, which didn’t make it any easier to transport her.

  I firmly smacked her on the ass. “Cut it the fuck out!” I bellowed.

  “Get her to the car!” Bruce yelled from behind me.

  I pushed the door open and put Aurora on her feet just as Joseph skidded to a stop at the end of the driveway. “Get in the car. I’ll meet you at the safe house,” I ordered.

  She looked at me with confusion and fear. “But—”

  “Get in the fucking car, Aurora!” I snapped.

  She gasped and turned, running down the dark alleyway. The clicking of her heels echoed in the s
mall dark alley. She looked back one more time before she got into the car and sped away. Saint screeched to a halt in Joseph’s place, waiting for us.

  “Ready when you are,” he said in my earpiece.

  I focused back to the gunfight in the hall and realized there were more men approaching than I remembered being in the room.

  “We’re about to be outnumbered. We need to get the fuck out of here,” Nyxin said, firing his gun and taking down two men.

  I fired a few shots, hitting two men in the head and one in the neck. “Then let’s retreat. Saint’s outside now,” I said as I backed out of the door and into the dark alley. My signature blacked-out SUV sat at the end of the alley, unable to come down because it was too narrow.

  “Don’t turn your backs as you make your way to the car. Keep your eyes on these fuckers!” I ordered, discharging my empty magazine and pushing another into my gun.

  As more bodies dropped, more appeared. Anxiety raged in me. As my eyes scanned the approaching men, some of them looked familiar. They wore the Moreno emblem on their tuxedos as they returned fire with the other men. My father had called his own men to help take me out. It wasn’t a fight we could win, and we were quickly running out of ammo. There were only four of us and a shit ton of them.

  We all dashed down the alley, firing bullets at as many men as we could.

  “Fuck!” Bruce growled, holding his arm as he fired again. “A bullet just grazed me.”

  “Get in the truck,” I ordered, opening the back door for him as I fired a few more bullets. Bruce, Nyxin and Kyler hopped in the back and shut the door as I hopped in the passenger seat, Saint speeding away as bullets pinged off the bulletproof glass and exterior.

  “You guys good?” Saint asked, looking in his rearview mirror at the guys in the backseat.

  “Bruce got grazed. We need to get to the safe house,” Nyxin replied, reaching in the back for the first aid kit at the back of the truck.

  Saint looked over at me. “You good?”

  “I’m fine. Just get to the fucking safe house. I need to make sure Aurora got there safely,” I muttered.

  The longer it took us to get to the safe house, the more anxious I became. All I could think about was the last time I’d left Stephanie alone and how I came home to find her gunned down in our bed. I closed my eyes and rested my head against the headrest.

  If my father wanted a war, I’d give him one.

  And I promised I wouldn’t lose.

  AURORA

  Just when I thought Bennett couldn’t ruin my life any more than he already had, he proved me wrong.

  After what felt like an eternity, the driver finally pulled up to black iron gates. I was beyond fatigued now that the adrenaline had worn off. The sound of their guns, the bullets whizzing past us, and all the shouting replayed in my head as the driver sped us to safety.

  Part of me was torn regarding Bennett’s safety. The emotional side of me didn’t care whether he made it out alive or not. I’d wanted him dead ever since he stepped into my life. The logical side of me, however, reminded me that if Bennett died, I’d end up in Wilson’s clutches. Considering everything Bennett had done to me, I didn’t even want to imagine what kind of life I’d have if I became one of Wilson’s whores.

  I looked down at my ruined dress, nausea rolling in my belly at the dried blood and only God knew what on my skin. The sooner we arrived at the safe house, the sooner I could wash this disgusting night from my skin and hopefully my memory.

  The driver spoke in hushed tones on the phone before he stuck his arm out the window and entered a code into a keypad. Within moments, the gates creaked open.

  Aside from the high beams on the car, everything around us was pitch black. The gravel crunching underneath the tires was the only sign we were no longer on the long stretch of highway. Lights popped on before us, revealing a wraparound porch on a beautiful ranch-style home. My heart jumped in my throat.

  Was someone already here waiting to kidnap me?

  As if sensing my anxiety, the driver looked at me in the rear-view mirror. “Miss, Bennett gave specific instructions for you to go inside, lock the door, and follow rule number one in the living room until he arrives,” he said.

  I fought the urge to scoff. There was no way in hell I would bow while covered in someone’s dried blood and tissue. When the driver continued to stare at me as if expecting an answer, I nodded.

  “I understand,” I said, lowering my eyes.

  He got out of the car and opened my door. I carefully stepped out, the gravel crunching underneath my stilettos. The house was large; it wasn’t as massive as the mansion Bennett resided in full time, but it was perfect for a beautiful getaway in what I assumed to be the country.

  White rocking chairs and white wooden tables decorated the porch. Flowerpots with dead flowers hung around the edge of the porch roof. At least it showed that no one had been here in a while. I walked up the stairs, turning to look back at the driver. He stood beside the driver’s side door watching me, which made me a bit nervous.

  “Am I supposed to go in by myself?” I asked.

  He nodded. “I’m to wait inside my car until Bennett arrives. You’re to go inside with the instructions he’s given to you,” he said.

  I gave him a tight nod and moved to the front door, finding it unlocked. Lights clicked on in the living room as I stepped inside. They reflected off the shiny hardwood floor and burned my eyes which had become used to the darkness of night. The lock clicked behind me as soon as I closed the door, which made me wonder if the house was fucking possessed.

  My gaze swept the living room. The house didn’t look like what I thought a safe house would look like. I thought it would be some kind of shack, not something that looked as if it were pulled out of a home magazine.

  The decor obviously had a woman’s touch. The brown and cream colors of the space made it feel cozy. It certainly wasn't the kind of house you hid in when someone was after you.

  A large brown sectional with cream throw pillows took up most of the space in the middle of the floor, and there was a massive television mounted on a wall before it. Next to the couch were matching vases on glass end tables. Pictures hung on the wall, which caught my attention.

  I strolled over to them, a bit shocked at what I saw. Bennett and a woman with blonde hair were in all of them, and he was actually…smiling. A genuine smile that made him look more normal and less psychotic.

  “So, this is Bennett in love,” I murmured to myself.

  My eyes fell on the woman, her beauty shining even without a drop of makeup. I took the picture off the wall and examined it closely. Since I’d been with Bennett, so many people had mentioned his previous lover, noting how I looked so much like her. After seeing a picture of her, I couldn’t say they were wrong. I’d always heard stories of people having celebrity doppelgängers and such, but I never knew I had one. If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve thought she was my sister.

  Putting the picture back on the wall, I looked at the rest. Some with Bennett caught off guard, more with Bennett and Stephanie in blissful happiness and love. Tears burned my eyes as I looked at them. The love they portrayed in the photos reminded me so much of my love with Heath. Like Stephanie, he was gone also. There was a light in Bennett’s eyes in those pictures with Stephanie that was no longer there.

  Carrie had been right; a part of Bennett definitely died when Stephanie did.

  I wiped the stray tears from my eyes and continued exploring the rest of the house. The kitchen was gorgeous. It had dark stained wooden cabinets, marble counter tops, a large double refrigerator, and a gas stove. The recessed lighting reflected off the shiny floor and counter tops.

  It made me wonder if Bennett and Stephanie used this house to get away from the madness. I wondered if they cooked meals here together. I couldn’t even imagine Bennett cooking anything himself.

  Moving over to the refrigerator, I pulled it open to see it was completely bare. Duh. Bennett pr
obably hasn’t been here in a while, I thought to myself as I closed the door.

  I looked around the kitchen. Someone had to have been here recently. From everything I’d seen so far, the house was entirely too clean for it to have been vacant for long. Either Bennett still had it routinely cleaned or someone else had been here.

  I shook the nervous thoughts from my head. Bennett wouldn’t have sent me somewhere if someone else was here, would he? But can you really trust the driver though? I mused.

  I rushed back into the living room and crept over to the window. The driver sat in his car in the dark. The lights on the porch were out. Had it not been for the moon reflecting off the roof of the car, I wouldn't have seen it at all.

  I sighed deeply and closed the window curtain. Bennett wouldn’t have sent me to a place I wouldn’t be safe in. Considering that I was chipped, no one could get away with kidnapping me. With that thought in mind, I continued wandering through the house, reaching a master bedroom.

  The lights clicked on, revealing a canopy bed against the wall. It had sheer, wispy curtains bound to the four posts. A cream colored comforter and fluffy pillows were carefully placed on the bed, not even a hint of a wrinkle in sight, with a matching bench at the foot of the bed. The dressers were also cream, contrasting against the dark brown rug on the floor. More picture frames sat on the dresser, but each one held only photos of Stephanie.

  The moment I caught sight of myself in the mirror on the dresser, I nearly wanted to throw up. Blood was all over my chest, my cheek, and even in my hair. Clumps of body matter had dried on my dress and in my hair, reminding me that I was in serious need of a shower.

  I finally stepped out of my shoes, placing them on the bench near the bed before taking myself into the master bathroom. Like all the other rooms in the house, the lights automatically clicked on in the bathroom while the bedroom light clicked off. Everything in the bathroom was so white that it was nearly blinding. It was almost sterile and cold, a complete contrast from the coziness of the rest of the house.

  I got out of my dress and panties, my skin tingling at the thought of finally getting clean. The shower was enormous; enough room to have nearly ten people in here at once.