A moment later, I was face to face with the person who had taken everything from me.

He hadn’t changed much over the years. He still looked like a spoiled, rich kid, one who felt entitled to whatever he wanted. He was bigger than he was when I lived under his tyranny, but oddly less intimidating. I chalked that up to the fact his nose was taped up like he’d recently had plastic surgery and the twin yellow and green circles around his eyes a visual reminder of the man who always had my back. It had been weeks, but Stark’s calling card was clear all over the man’s face.

Stumbling in the dimness, I heard something fall as he tripped his way into the living room. He pulled up short when he caught sight of me, his eyebrows shooting up and his mouth falling open. It would have been a comical reaction if years of agony and suffering hadn’t flashed through my mind as our eyes met. His briefcase hit the floor with a thud and I saw him swallow. His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down as he reached up to pull on the knot of his tie.

His gaze darted away from mine and started to skate over the pilfered room. His eyebrows furrowed. “Did you steal all my stuff?” He was distracted by his empty home so he didn’t see the weapon I was clutching.

I tapped the Taser against my open palm and stared at him unblinkingly. “Not exactly a fair trade, if you think about it, Aaron. You took my virginity, my innocence, my youth. I took your belongings.”

He swore and raked his hands through his hair. “Does this have something to do with Goddard? I recused myself from the case. I’m not going anywhere near him.”

He took a step closer to where I was sitting on the floor and I tensed. “No. This is about you and me. About what you did to me.”

He snorted and rolled his eyes. “I didn’t do anything. You were mine, everyone knew it except for you. My parents brought you home for me.” Suddenly, he paused and cocked his head to the side. “Did you hear that Mom died? Are you suddenly popping back up because you think you’re entitled to something? You aren’t. You were never their daughter. She didn’t leave you a dime.”

He wanted the words to wound, but I was immune to them. He was right. I was never their daughter. If I had been, they wouldn’t have let him touch me.

“No, Aaron, I’m here for you, just you.” I got to my feet and braced myself as I aimed the Taser at him. The bars flew out faster than I could blink and hit him square in the chest. He fell to the ground, flopping like a fish on land.

His tongue lolled out to one side and his eyes rolled up into his head. I dropped the thing on the floor and stalked over to the man who took everything from me. I pulled the switchblade I’d started carrying out of one of my cargo pockets and lowered myself so that I was hovering over Aaron’s twitching, supine form. I dragged the razor-sharp blade over his throat and bit back a smile of satisfaction as he choked and tried to wiggle away from me. The current that hit his body kept him from being able to control his muscles. He was trapped, stuck, unable to escape. I could see the fear working its way through his eyes as the blade kissed his skin.

“I’m not scared of you anymore, Aaron. You took everything, but I got it all back. I have more than I ever imagined I would, but I think it’s time you know what it feels like to lose it all.” The knife slipped under the knot of his tie and sliced through the silk like it was butter. I held the expensive fabric up in front of his panicked eyes with a smirk. “I think you should leave town. You should run away when it’s dark, scared and alone. You won’t know where you’re going or how you’re going to survive because you won’t have any family or friends to help you. You’ll be all alone, constantly looking over your shoulder because you’ll never know if the person you’re running from is looking for you.”

I moved the tip of the knife to his cheek and let the point dig in just enough to draw a cherry red drop of blood. It beaded and trickled down his quivering face, chased by a tear he couldn’t hold back. He was gasping, struggling to get his faculties back, but it was a losing battle.

“You can stay here, but if you do that, know I’ll be watching you. Everything you do, every move you make, I’ll be all over you, Aaron. It was so easy to get inside your house, so easy for my guy to get to you when you were at the police station. I can get inside your life without you even knowing I’m there.” I smirked at him. I was channeling a bit of Stark’s badassness and decades of my own pent-up need to put him in his place. “I’m going to ruin your practice. I’m going to destroy your career. I’m going to let everyone know what you did to me, what your family let happen, and when I’m done with you, I’m going to let the man who fucked up your face do so much worse than that. If you think he’s scary when he uses his fists, just wait until you see what he can do with his mind. I’m going to make your life a living hell.” I moved to the other cheek and gave it a matching mark.

I scrunched up my nose when I smelled urine and rose to my feet. I glared down at him, his body still quivering from aftershocks. “You’re pathetic. You don’t matter. What you did ruined me, but it also taught me how to survive. I’ll fight you, Aaron. I’ll be loud about it. I learned how to make people listen.” I showed him the knife that was now decorated crimson. “So, what’s it going to be? Are you going to stay or go?”

His mouth gaped as he tried to form words. I kicked him in the side and he groaned. “G-o. I’ll go.” It was garbled and broken.

I nodded and stepped away from him. “You’ll go and you’ll stay gone. You won’t ever practice law again. You can feel what it’s like to be ruined. I’ll know if you reach out to someone to help you. I’ll know if you weasel your way back into town. You’re a ghost, Aaron. You vanish and you do it tonight with nothing.” I wiped the blood from the knife off on my pants and gave him one last sneer. “I’m going to have all those convictions you won overturned. You’re a shitty person but apparently a good lawyer. Of course, you put monsters back on the street. It made you feel less alone, less ugly. You couldn’t bear to see animals like you in a cage. Fuck you, Aaron; I was never yours.”

I stepped over him like he was nothing more than garbage in the gutter.

I was shaking from head to toe when I got outside and I didn’t think my legs were going to hold me up any longer.

I put the knife back in my pocket and was pulling in noisy lungfuls of air when strong arms were suddenly around me. I didn’t fight him when he picked me up and walked with me away from everything that had ever held me back and haunted me. The past was where it belonged, behind me, and all I could see in front of me were sharp, slate-colored eyes and man who came for me whenever I needed him.

“It’s done.” I whispered the words into the side of his neck as he carried me to his truck that was parked as bold as could be behind Aaron’s BMW. He wasn’t worried about being subtle. He wanted everyone to know he had my back.

He kissed the top of my head and slid the fake glasses off my face. “You’re wrong, little thief, this is just the beginning.”

As usual, he was right.

I’d rebuilt his heart, but he’d fixed all the parts of mine that stopped working. Now we’re both running smoothly, comparable to the high-performance machines we were always supposed to be.

No more rust and wear, we were all polish and shine.

Stark

It was late.

I was tired and my eyes were heavy, but inside I was settled. I was as close to happy and satisfied as I’d ever been. I wasn’t saving the world the way my mom always wanted me to, but there were moments when I was saving my little corner of it. Days when I could be a hero to someone who really needed one. I’d been at the police station with Titus for the last two days. He’d gotten a lead on a child pornography ring and wanted to know what I could do to help bring the organization down. It only took a couple hours to work on a program that would search all the major keywords and language patterns used by the perpetrators in the chat rooms, the ones spending money on their dirty perversions, across all social media platforms. Everyone was on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Snapchat. Even pedophiles. The program did its thing and searched all those platforms and more. Within twenty-four hours, we had names and addresses of over fifty adults who were using the site. It only took a couple hours after picking up the offenders until Titus had the names of the people in charge of finding the kids and filming the filth. They couldn’t wait to pass the buck and the responsibility.

I could have gone home hours ago, but I wanted to watch them do the perp walk. I wanted to see them dragged through the media circus out front. I wanted to hear what they had to say for themselves. As it turned out, it was a whole lot of nothing. No excuses. No remorse or regret. It was nothing more than business to them. They didn’t see the faces of the children they’d destroyed, or the lives they’d stolen . . . just dollar signs. It was infuriating. The world and the Point would be better off when they were dumped in a deep dark hole, and I was proud of myself for having a part in putting them there. Titus was already in line for one hell of a promotion, but a bust of this scale, one that would bring national media attention, meant he was going to be the face of all the major changes happening in our city. The good guys were finally keeping up with the bad guys even though every single day was still coated in cloudy, murky gray. Titus King was the war-hardened, battle-scarred general who was leading them to victory. It all made for a fantastic byline and a lead story on the evening news.