Redemption

  Suddenly, Tyler flung open her front door and came rushing out. Her eyes watered as she gazed upon her friend, gently placing a hand on Tara’s cheek. “What kind of a person does this to another human being?” Tyler looked over at me. Although there was nothing said, I understood every word.

  Tara placed her hand on Tyler’s arm, pulling her gaze back to her. “I’m fine. It looks worse than it is.”

  “Come inside, Tara. We need to get you cleaned up and comfortable.”

  With my arm around her, we rushed inside. Once the door was shut, I helped Tara sit on the sofa and pulled her sandals off. I pulled her feet around so she could lay down and Tyler appeared with two tablets and a glass of water.

  “For the pain and swelling.”

  Tara nodded and took the tablets, sighed, and closed her eyes. “I’m so sorry.”

  I was about to say something, but Tyler beat me to it. “Don’t you dare apologize, Tara. We love and care for you and would do anything for you. Don’t you ever apologize for that. And don’t ever apologize for what that arsehole did to you.” Tyler suddenly turned to me. “Tara is okay with me. I will take care of her, Jimmy. I promise. You go do what you have to do.” She placed a hand on my arm and squeezed with a nod. Reading the message loud and clear, I nodded.

  I turned back to Tara and cupped her face in my hands. “I need to go now, but when I get back, we’re going to have a little chat, okay? I need to hold you in my arms and tell you something—something that you need to know.”

  She smiled and nodded. “Where are you going, and when will you be back?”

  I sighed. I hated leaving her, but she had to see that I was doing this for her. I was doing this for any woman who was unfortunate enough to come across a man like that.

  “I’m going to make sure he doesn’t hurt you ever again. I’m going to make sure you’re safe. I’m not sure how long I’ll be, but just relax and concentrate on getting better.” I looked deep into her eyes, trying to convey my message.

  She searched my eyes for a moment, then nodded. “I’ll be waiting for you.”

  I breathed a huge sigh of relief and smiled at her, then kissed her head and got up. Tyler smiled and nodded, as I made my way out the door, Tyler following. Once I was outside, I turned to her.

  “I’ll put Tara in the bedroom to the right of the bathroom. When you’re done, come back and stay in there with her. Dean has my keys. Just make sure you two do come back, okay?” She grabbed my hand and squeezed.

  I smiled and nodded. “Don’t worry. We will. Dean’s lucky to have you.”

  Tyler smiled. “And Tara’s lucky to have you.” She pulled on my hand and wrapped her arms around me. “Please be careful.”

  I nodded, pulled away, and squeezed her hand one more time. “Don’t worry. It may take a while, but we’ll be back before Jeremy gets up for his pancakes in the morning.”

  Tyler laughed, then saw me look back at the house. “Don’t worry. She’ll be fine. I’ll take good care of her until you get back.”

  I smiled. “I know. I don’t want to leave her, but I have to do—”

  “I know,” she interrupted. “I know you do. Just make sure you both come back.”

  I let go of her hand and nodded. I was halfway to the car when Tyler spoke, “Tell Dean I’ll be waiting for him, too.”

  I looked back and nodded. Then she turned and went back into the house. I knew that she was now fussing over Tara. I just wished it were me.

  I shook my head and got into the car. Taking care of Tara would have to come later. First, I had to deal with an inconvenience. Something that shouldn’t even be breathing the same air as Tara.

  I got back to the house within twenty minutes. Once Dean opened the door, he led me into the room he kept the scumbag in. He was tied, gagged, and out cold. It also looked as though Dean had beaten him a few times. He was already bleeding and bruised.

  “What did you do to him?” I looked at Dean and he smiled.

  “Well, every time he woke up, I just put him back to sleep again. I think he needs to be asleep for this part because he needs all the strength he can get for later.” He winked at me, then his smile disappeared. “How’s Tara?”

  “Not good, but she’ll heal. Tyler’s looking after her.” Dean smiled affectionately at the mention of her name. “Tyler’s a great girl.”

  Dean nodded. “I know.”

  “She told me to tell you to hurry home. I think she’s worried about us.”

  Dean got a sparkle in his eyes. It was the first time I had seen him like that. “Telling you to tell me to hurry home to her… She doesn’t realize what that means to me.”

  Tara’s ex stirred and I kicked him. God, that felt good.

  “Do you think she’s finally letting you in?”

  Tara’s ex grunted and moved a little. Dean quickly punched him and he fell back down. “I hope so. I don’t know what I’d do if she turned me away now. I thought I was broken before, but that would completely crush me.” He looked down at the heap on the floor and sighed. “We’d better get started before he wakes up.”

  “Where are we taking him?”

  Dean smiled mischievously at me. “I know just the place. And Jimmy, my friend, I think you’re going to love this.”

  I pulled the car into the garage and we dumped the scumbag into the boot. Dean drove about a half-hour into a dense forest. Pretty soon, we stopped outside a warehouse. It was in the middle of nowhere and not a person could be seen.

  “How the fuck did you find this place?”

  Dean smiled. “I always scope places, Jimmy, just in case. You never know when you might need something in a hurry.” He winked and I shook my head.

  “You’re un-fucking-believable, do you know that?”

  Dean laughed. “To be perfectly honest, I came here a few days ago to see about getting a new fence fitted around Tyler’s yard. The first day I went to her house, I noticed it wasn’t very safe. I’m getting one designed here. I met the owner and we started chatting. He told me about his rats.”

  I raised my eyebrow. “Rats?”

  Dean smiled. “Yeah, he keeps rats. Some of them are the size of cats. He showed me a couple in his office. Fucking huge bastards.”

  I looked at Dean and quickly caught on to what he was saying. “I like your style, man.”

  Dean laughed. “I knew you’d love it. This place is fucking perfect. He also let it slip that there was a pig farm about a mile down the road.”

  That got my attention. I knew Dean had a huge affection for pigs. He loved them simply because they cleaned up the evidence. They eat everything…even the bones.

  Dean opened the boot and a pair of terrified dark eyes greeted us. He was a little older than Tara and, for the life of me, I couldn’t seem to fathom how he had it in him to beat women up. Seeing him like that made him look every bit the pathetic creature he was. He was so fucking scrawny, his insecurities probably made him lash out. I bet he had never felt in control so he decided to take it out on Tara.

  Now it was time to make him feel a little bit of what Tara felt. Now it was time to make him sweat.

  Both Dean and I took one end of him and dragged him out of the boot. He struggled and grunted, but that just made me squeeze him tighter. “Stop fucking struggling, arsehole. You’ll only waste energy.”

  We got to the door, but there was a padlock securely fastened. “What are we going to do? If we break that thing, the owner will know someone’s been here.”

  Dean lowered him down and pulled out a lock pick. He smiled, bent down, and went to work unlocking the padlock. I looked around and made sure no one was coming. Nothing.

  Pretty soon, I heard a click and Dean looked up. “See? No need to break it.” He bent back down and grabbed his legs to hoist him up, so I bent and wrapped my arms underneath his again.

  We walked inside and I was careful to shut the door behind me. Inside, it was vast with machinery everywhere. It was a steelworker’s warehouse, and I unders
tood straight away why Dean suddenly favored this place. It was the perfect setting for the ultimate torture.

  “Stay here. I’m going to look around. We have to prepare and we have to be quick.”

  Tara’s ex was grunting, mumbling something through his gag. I kicked him. “Shut the fuck up, wanker.” I bent down and grabbed his neck. His wide eyes stared back at me. “Tara is my lady now, you got that? Anyone who hurts what’s mine has to pay. You made the biggest mistake of your life coming back for her. You made the biggest mistake of your life the day you raised a hand to her. I don’t take too kindly to men hitting women, but I especially don’t take too kindly to someone who thinks they can hurt what’s mine.” I gripped and tugged harder on his neck. “I’m going to show Tara what it’s like to be loved by someone who will take care of her. Someone who will never, ever fucking hurt her. I’m going to show her that loving someone can come without pain. And the first way I’m going to show her that is by making sure she never has to worry about a fucking scumbag like you again. You’re going to regret the day you ever fucking dared to lay a hand on her.” I shoved him down to the ground. I needed to walk away for a moment because I could feel myself about to fucking lose it. I knew Dean was going to make him suffer a slow, agonizing death, and I had to make sure he got that.

  Pretty soon, Dean emerged with a heater and a cage holding two of the biggest fucking rats I had ever seen in my life.

  “Shit. What is the owner feeding those fuckers?”

  Dean laughed. “I’ve seen bigger, but they’re pretty big, aren’t they?”

  I shook my head with amusement.

  He grabbed the rope and looked round. Finding a wooden crate, he kicked it over. “We need him to lie on this so his back is off the ground. We need to saw a hole into it so that the rats can escape.”

  I looked over to the scumbag and saw his eyes widen. He looked at me and gave me a pleading gaze. There was no way I was helping this fucker. He was pleading with the wrong person.

  I looked at Dean quizzically and smiled before turning my attention back to the scumbag. “Looks like he knows what we’re doing.”

  Dean nodded. “Looks like he messed with the wrong woman, doesn’t it, Jimmy?”

  I scowled at Mark. “Yes, it does.”

  The scumbag strained against the gag. Dean looked at me. “I think he wants to say something. Shall we grant him this request before the rats play with him?”

  I nodded. I had no doubt he would plead for his life. It was something I would get a lot of enjoyment out of.

  Dean bent down and undid his gag. Scumbag breathed heavily and looked at both of us. “Look, man, I’m sorry. I promise to go away and never come back. Tara never has to see me again.”

  I growled. “You got that fucking right. I’m going to see to it.”

  He shook his head. “I didn’t mean to. I just get so angry.”

  I balled my fists. “That’s no fucking excuse.”

  “I know. I know. But she killed our baby. Did she ever tell you that? She was pregnant with our child and killed it. What kind of woman does that?”

  His eyes were wide and angry. The revelation shocked me, but I knew Tara must have had her reasons. He probably thought this would shock and anger me. He was right, but it was him I was angry at. Not Tara. I could never be angry at Tara.

  Instead, I bent down and grabbed his shirt. “She was probably saving the child from a miserable future she knew the baby would have with a fucking scumbag like you for a father.”

  His eyes narrowed. “What, by killing it? No child deserves to be killed. I was brought up in a pro-life household. Tara knew this and she knew it would fucking kill me. She wanted to get me back and she did it in the most evil, sadistic way possible. How could anyone forgive someone for that?”

  I couldn’t take much more of his shit. Tara never told me anything about this baby, but I knew what kind of heart she had and I trusted that the decision she made to abort the baby must have been a difficult one. I also trusted that she made that decision because she felt it was the right thing to do. What drove her to do it made my head explode in anger. This shithead wanted me on his side, but all he did was make me angrier than ever. He made her come to that decision. She must have been heartbroken, but he made her do it.

  Without hesitation, I placed the gag back around his mouth, making him scream around it, and turned to Dean. “I don’t want to hear anymore from him, Dean. Let’s just get to it. We’ve wasted enough fucking time on him as it is.”

  Dean nodded and we got to work making a hole in the wooden crate. With a heave, we placed his back over the hole. Dean found some mesh and formed it into a cage with the bottom and top missing. He grabbed a knife from his pocket and handed it to me.

  “Make an incision in between his ribs. The rats will do the rest.”

  I smiled back at him. “It will be my pleasure.”

  I knelt down and scumbag’s muffled screams could be heard. It wasn’t going to help him now. He sealed his fate the day he came back for my Tara.

  I pressed in the knife and cut the middle of his torso. The blood came pouring out at the same time his screams intensified. I knew he was in pain, but I didn’t care. I also knew I should have been worried because I was enjoying this moment. I tortured people, but I never got enjoyment out of it. It was just a job, pure and simple, but this was personal. This man needed to pay for making Tara suffer all these years. It wasn’t just the physical abuse she had to endure. It was the daily torture she lived, wondering if he would find her. It was the nightly torture when she would sometimes scream out in her dreams for someone to help her, rescue her from a man she would never be free of. I was going to free her. I was going to give my Tara her life back. She would never have to worry about whether he would find her. Tonight, we’d make sure of it.

  Once I made the incision, Dean pulled the rats out of their cage and set them down over his torso. They didn’t waste any time. They started gnawing into him the minute they smelled his blood. The scumbag screamed in agony and I knew he would soon pass out from the pain. It was only a matter of time.

  “Here, make sure the rats can’t escape.” I placed my hands over the mesh that now caged the rats in and looked up at Dean. He had found a halogen heater from somewhere. He placed some batteries in it and moved over to the mesh. I moved my hand away and he placed it on top.

  He looked at me. “This will make the process go quicker. The rats will get too hot and their only way of escape is…” He motioned down with his finger. That was the reason for the hole at the bottom. “I don’t know how long it will take. He’ll be dead soon anyway. We need to wait it out for a couple of hours to see how it progresses.” I nodded and watched as Dean tied the heater to the top of the mesh. “I won’t put it on too hot. Just hot enough to make the rats work faster.”

  Dean got to work. It made me realize just how strange this situation really was. Normally, it was me who was capturing and torturing people for Dean, not the other way around. I normally got paid a handsome wage for doing so, too. However, Dean wasn’t asking for anything and I knew he wouldn’t. He was doing it to help a friend, which was something I never thought Dean and I would ever become. Sure, we had known each other for years, and despite the odd banter we had now and then, Dean always kept it strictly business. He actually revealed to me once that he didn’t like people to get too close to him. If he let anyone in, his weaknesses would soon be revealed, making him vulnerable. Back then, I understood that side of him, but I also knew he didn’t need to be that person anymore. It wasn’t truly him. It was the huge misunderstanding he had with Tyler that made him into that man. Day by day, I could see Tyler bringing out the boy she once knew him to be. And, day by day, Dean was letting her. He was welcoming it.

  That’s why I knew tonight was a big deal for him. To help out a friend, he was again being the man he had been trying to run away from. I knew it was taking a lot for him to do this and I knew he was going to worry about Tyler a
nd what she was going to think of him once he got back. Because, no matter how far Dean ran and hid, his roots would always catch up with him.

  “Do you want to get some coffee? I know an all-night diner we could go to?”

  Dean’s voice pulled me from my thoughts. “Fuck, man, do you know where everything is now? You’re like a fucking Sat Nav.”

  Dean smiled, then frowned in annoyance at scumbag’s muffled screams. “At least that’s better than being called fucktard.” He smiled. “Come, let’s go. This piece of shit’s giving me a headache.”

  Dean turned and I followed him to the car. “Aren’t you worried that someone will come whilst we’re away?”

  Dean shook his head. “If someone does come, he’ll already be dead and we won’t be here. We can come back later. Don’t worry. I’ll be careful when we drive back. I’m sure the flashing lights of police cars will alert us first.”

  I nodded and got in the car. As we were driving down the dirt road we had come in on, I looked at Dean. “Thanks for tonight, Dean. I know that took a lot for you to do, you know…with Tyler and everything.”

  Dean looked worried for a moment, but shook his head with a smile. “What are friends for, eh?”

  I regarded him for a moment as a question whirled around in my head. I wondered whether to ask, then just blurted it out, “When was the first time you saw a dead body?”

  Dean laughed. “Shit, Jimmy, you just go in for the kill, don’t ya?”

  I shrugged. “I’m just curious, I guess.”

  Dean sighed and looked out the window. “I was brought up in a long line of Scozzari’s. Every member was a criminal. It was just the life they led. But when my parents had me, they wanted to try and change. We moved when I was eight and tried to settle down in a better area. Little by little, they tried to worm out of jobs, but the ties were too strong. As you know, we had enemies.” He looked over at me for a second before focusing back on the road.

  “The Pinzanos.”

  Dean nodded. “The Pinzanos. They were a rival family out to get to the top. They wanted to rule, but first they wanted to devour. They heard that my family was trying to move away from that way of life, but instead of embracing that, they wanted us all eradicated. They wanted to remove every last Scozzari so there was never any chance of us taking over again in the future.