“B-but I’ve been cooperative. I haven’t done anything wrong. It’s all a big?—”
"A misunderstanding?” I finish for him.
“That isn’t exactly true, is it?” Brew says, then moves to face ID Barry and unlock his phone.
“Uh, oh, better fess up now, bozo,” I say. “You don’t want this motherfucker gettin’ angry. He’s got a kid already, and one on the way, so he doesn’t take too kindly to child trafficking. None of us do.”
Brew doesn’t answer, he just turns and punches Barry straight in the nose. Blood spurts everywhere and he howls as I jump back. I don’t want his fucking DNA on me.
“That’s for bein’ a seedy motherfucker.” Brew turns to Haze. “Get the hammer.”
“W-what for?” Barry asks, blood pouring out of him as he squints his eyes open and closed.
I don’t like the sight of blood, but I hold in my repulsion. “Like I said, I gave you the opportunity to be honest, and you weren’t.”
“Those girls consented,” he fires back. “They’re younger than thewomenwe usually pimp, but they’re into it. I swear to god I didn’t know they were kids…”
This guy is so full of shit.
“They’re children,” I shout. “How can a child consent?” The anger raging inside me feels nuclear. “Where do you find them?”
“We, uh, some of them are homeless, or taken from their homes, or in foster care, given a better life?—”
Taken from their homes?What the fuck does that even mean?
“A better life?” Logan scoffs. “How the fuck is forcing a child into sex work a better life?”
“They’re not little kids!” he argues. “Some of these women really are older than they look?—”
I slam my elbow into the side of his jaw, happy when I hear it crack. Brew grunts with satisfaction. “Now that’s a really shitty thing to say.” Brew hands me the hammer. “How many fingers do you think I can smash by the time I get to my next question?”
“I’ll talk!” he cries. “I didn’t wanna do it, but you know, times are tough right now, and you gotta do what you gotta do. I have a family, too, and mouths to feed. Work dried up, and I didn’t know when my next paycheck was coming in. This was easy money, and all I had to do was look the other way.”
He’s a fucking piece of shit and I can’t wait to kill him.
“Love how they make it all about them,” Logan mutters. “Fucking asshole. There are lots of other things you can do to make money, fat ass, without using little kids to pay your bills.”
“Looks like he has a whole folder dedicated to young kids,” Brew announces. “You sick fuck.”
“Now wait, those are pictures from my boss, not me,” Barry argues.
I swing the hammer around in my hand. “Hmm, which reminds me, who is it you work for?”
“We work independently,” he says, but I shake my head as he balks. “No! Please!”
I swing the hammer down on his pointer finger and he howls like a little pussy. “Oops, think I broke that, you good, buddy?” I shake his shoulder. “Got seven more fingers and two thumbs to go before we get to the feet, and we have pliers for that.”
“Boon!” he yells. “A guy called Forest Boon.”
The man next to him squirms in his chair, and it’s the first movement I’ve seen from him since we brought him in. Clearly, he doesn’t want his buddy here to talk, but that’s too bad.
A sickening feeling washes over me. These children are being trafficked, and they just walked right on into Big Papa’s thinking they could get away with it. What kind of sick fucks are they? Desperate ones, clearly.
“Know a guy called Reginald Bluff?”
He shakes his head, spit and blood dribbling down his chin. He’s disgusting.
“Never heard of him?” I ask again. “Are you sure?”