Page 25 of Benedict’s Rejuvenation (Dark Patriots #5)

“The man’s name is Joshua Wynne. He’s fifty-five, divorced, with two teenagers—a son and a daughter.

He has full custody, but the kids live in a boarding school, so they rarely see their dad.

Their school is on the mainland, in Greenwich, Connecticut.

He also has a house there. His tech company does various things, but it’s big in AI, artificial intelligence, applications.

Wynne has investors and subsidiaries worldwide, requiring him to travel frequently.

It’s so easy for him to snatch a woman and spirit her away when he goes to so many countries,” Undertaker snarled.

“And the woman, do you know her name? How did you discover her?” Beau asked.

Sean glanced over at the other men and then at me.

“We’ve been working our way through the names of women who went missing from Hope’s Dignity.

Whenever we rescue one of them, we debrief them, as you know, looking for more clues.

The last one we rescued told us about a woman she was held with, and it went from there.

We’re pretty confident Boyko was behind her kidnapping, not just involved in holding her, even though she wasn’t taken from Hope,” Griffin added.

“What makes you so sure?” I asked.

Slowly, Griffin pushed a file folder across the table to me.

I eagerly flipped the cover open. I skimmed the written report.

Her name was Aimée Ferrante. She was around the same age as Kensy, twenty-four.

She was so young to have lived through what she undoubtedly had faced, just like my woman and so many others.

The last page of the folder caused me to inhale deeply and hold it.

“What is it?” Beau asked.

He’d been patiently waiting for me to finish it. Without a word, I pushed it over to him. When Beau saw her, he inhaled loudly and slammed his fist on the table.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” he growled.

“When do we leave?” I snarled.

“Hang on. You see why we think it’s likely.

It was impossible to disregard the likelihood of it.

There was also evidence that Wynne and Boyko had attended events that the other had also attended, including various fancy fundraisers and galas.

You know. To keep up the appearance that they’re not a bunch of sick fuckers,” Gabe replied.

“Why wait? The sooner we get there and get her out, the better,” Beau said before I could. I kept seeing Kensy’s face.

“This assignment isn’t a regular snatch and go. To get onto the estate, you will need to find a way inside. He has to want to invite you in. And you can guess he doesn’t entertain much, at least not there. He says it’s his vacation home,” Griffin explained.

“Cut to it. What do we need? You’re reluctant to tell us,” I observed.

“Because we know you’ll hate the idea. And believe me, if we had another way, we’d never suggest this one. After what Beau said, we know you’re going to detest it and say no, Ben. I would,” Undertaker bluntly said.

My stomach clenched, and I shook my head. “No, don’t tell me you want us to ask Kensy, not after what she survived. You can’t ask her to put herself in danger. She’s strong, but even she has limits,” I snapped.

“You’re right, she does. And like I said, if we had another way, we’d take it. We don’t want to spend months finding someone to play the role. Ms. Ferrante could end up being resold or killed. You know we’re right, Ben,” Sean stressed.

I was back to staring at the photo. Aimée Ferrante could be Kensy’s twin sister.

She had the same long, straight dark hair, golden skin, kissable mouth, and irresistible body.

If Boyko hadn’t procured her for Wynne, or were somehow involved, I’d kiss everyone’s ass.

Though I was surprised he didn’t keep her for himself.

Boyko had remarked on how much Keeley and Kensy looked alike and how he’d love two pets.

“What exactly would Kensy be expected to do?” Beau asked quietly.

I whipped my head sideways to glare at him.

“You can’t think I’ll ask her to do this, right?

No way. There are no guarantees when we’re on a mission.

And even if there was, think of the psychological damage it could do to her.

She might never be able to come back from this.

I’m not exposing my woman to that possibility.

You can’t make me or her risk that,” I snarled.

I was no longer seated. I came to my feet and shoved my chair out of the way. I paced restlessly between the door and the conference table. I knew they were my bosses, but they couldn’t order me to risk Kensy. My life was one thing, but hers was another.

“Ben, come sit down and let’s talk about this calmly. Listen to what we have to say.” Sean couched it as a request, but I knew it was an order.

I made one more lap before reluctantly retaking my seat.

I sat straight, making eye contact with them as my hands were clenched in my lap.

I waited to see who would say what. Beau was sitting quietly, scowling.

He wasn’t happy about their asinine idea either.

If Keeley were here, she’d probably punch them in their faces.

“We don’t want to expose Kensington to anything that will negatively affect her mental health. With that said, we find ourselves in a bind. We have no one here who can do what Kensy can. And it might take us months to find someone,” Sean explained.

“And what is it you think she can do?” Beau asked.

I was fighting not to yell that it didn’t matter what they thought she could do. Kensy wasn’t doing it. Even when I disagreed during my Army days, I always respected the chain of command. Until now, I’d never needed to push back on the bosses. But if they pushed me too far, I would.

“We want her to go with you to Hawaii. A huge charity event is taking place there, and we know Wynne will be attending. He’s one of the top donors.

He goes every year. We’d like to get Ben, Kensy, and at least one other person into the event, with the others serving as lookouts.

You’d mix and mingle and get yourselves seen by Wynne.

In particular, Kensy would need to be seen.

There’s no way Wynne can pass up the opportunity to speak to her and undoubtedly talk privately.

Not based on how much she and Aimée Ferrante look alike.

When he suggests it, you’ll wave it off as not the time and place to do it, but state that you’re both interested in his charity efforts, and suggest a meeting somewhere you can concentrate.

When he takes the bait and asks you to his estate, you accept,” Sean explained.

“And then I take her into the lion’s mouth on an estate where he has an unknown number of guards and we’re at his mercy,” I snipped.

“No, you’ll go alone the day of the meeting and explain to him that she’s sick and unable to attend, but she insists it’s too important to miss, so she begged you to go.

You know how to lead one of these. You’ve worked undercover enough to know how to improvise.

You need to get him talking about Kensy and see if you can get a tour of his home.

We need to know the layout so we can return with a large contingent of people and take him down and free his captive,” Undertaker explained.

The plan wasn’t unlike others I’d done in the past. And it was true.

I could usually improvise my ass off and get us what we needed.

However, none of those were with my woman at risk.

She might not be attending the meeting with me, but by allowing this man to know she exists, I could be putting a target on her.

And Aimée Ferrante, if she was procured and was with Wynne as the one victim indicated, deserved to be liberated regardless of whether it was Boyko who had her kidnapped.

As we’d worked on this disgusting venture of Boyko’s, we found that at times he wasn’t the one behind the kidnappings, but he was willing to allow victims of others to be held with his victims for a price.

He had the setup that other procurers might not have.

It was mindboggling how casually they’d held and sold so many people like cattle.

Undertaker and the others were watching us closely. I saw that Sloan wore a troubled expression. When her gaze met her man, Undertaker’s, she shook her head. Undertaker merely raised an eyebrow.

“What is it you’re not liking, Sloan? I can tell you don’t. And Undertaker isn’t backing down on whatever it is. At this point, spit it out. It’s not as if you can make it worse or make me angrier,” I told her.

“Ben, I wouldn’t say that. Yes, I’m not sure we should broach the next part.

And please know, we get why you don’t want Kensy involved.

Undertaker was the same way on that first mission we did together.

And even though he knows I’m more than capable of taking care of myself, he’s never thrilled when I still do them.

However, I have to do what I believe is right, and if I can help, it’s my duty to try,” Sloan replied.

“But you’ve been trained for this. You were a Marine. Kensy works as an accountant,” I reminded her.

“Kensy hasn’t been formally trained, but she has training, Ben.

And from what we’ve learned and observed in Keeley, their dad did a thorough job.

She wouldn’t be defenseless. If we thought there was any other way to do this mission and free that woman without involving Kensy, we’d do it,” Sean tacked on.

“Even if I were willing to ask her to do this job, which I’m not, I can’t think how I would broach the topic.

I won’t stir up her pain and horror. She’s finally sleeping through the night most of the time.

Ask Beau. She’d wake him and Keeley up with her screaming most nights from nightmares.

I heard them whenever I stayed with them. ”