Thank you all for your continued interest in this story. I apologize for the long wait for a new chapter!
This is my longest chapter so far, I hope you all enjoy it! Please leave me a comment if you can.
Thank you to Silraen for taking time to beta! Your input and suggestions are so appreciated! Much love to you!
Lizzington forever!
**** I do not own the Blacklist or any of its characters.****
Chapter12
"Raymond, we found Keen."
Red turned around and looked up at his most trusted friend and associate Dembe, who was just shutting his burner flip phone.
"Baz just called. They found Tom at the Port Authority with a one-way Greyhound ticket to Nebraska," Dembe elaborated. "He was waiting to board the evening bus heading west. Seems like he wanted to skip town quickly. Where do you want us to take him to, Raymond?" he asked. Dembe was calm, as usual, but deep down he was satisfied the man had been found and would get what he deserved.
"Take him to the warehouse out by Newark," Reddington replied promptly. He knew exactly how he wanted to handle Tom.
"Make sure he's no longer sedated and that he is conscious. I want this man to know exactly who he is dealing with and that he messed with the wrong person. I want him to feel everything."
"Of course, Raymond," Dembe answered him and grabbed his phone again to speed dial Baz.
Red took another sip from his Scotch, put his glass down on his desk and responded calmly, "I'll be there in a few hours to deal with this cockroach."
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Liz opened her eyes gradually after hearing a soft sound of someone coughing. She noticed Reddington was sitting on a chair next to her. He was looking at her, his head tilted in his typical mannerism. When their eyes met, he smiled at her. She had a splitting headache but tried to smile back at him a little.
"Hi there. How are you feeling?" he quietly asked her as he slowly rose from the chair to come closer. "How is your head? Do you need anything?"
"Everything hurts and I am so tired," she replied with a sleepy moan. Liz struggled to sit up straight and Red helped her to adjust the pillow behind her back so she would be more comfortable.
"Mr. Reddington, why am I here? How did you know what happened to me?" She gazed at him and Red noticed Liz still seemed rather dizzy from all the pain medication she had been getting.
"Elisabeth, you have taken quite a beating. You are strong, but you need to rest and get better. Don't worry about anything. I will explain all in due time," Red comforted her.
"OK," Liz replied, a little weary but at the same time feeling at ease by the sound of his voice.
"Remember our first dinner when I made you a promise about us working together?" he asked with a gentle smile. "Do you remember that evening?" At her nod, he continued, "I said I would never lie to you. I intend to keep my word on that."
"Yes, I remember that evening, I enjoyed it very much," Liz confessed. She felt a little embarrassed admitting she still remembered, but lost that feeling immediately when he gazed at her.
"Right now I want you to know you can trust me. Do you trust me Elisabeth?" He tilted his head again, smiled and waited for her answer.
"Yes I do," she replied quietly. She glanced at him and added "Actually, I've trusted you since that first dinner."
"Mr. Reddington, I'm scared though." Her voice changed in tone and she sounded genuinely frightened. Red wondered what sort of other acts that man had done to her, to make her feel this fearful all of a sudden. "What if Tom knows where I am and comes back to finish what he started?"
"Elisabeth, you don't have to worry about Tom," Red responded and felt his left eye twitch. He felt uncomfortable that she was feeling so frightened and wanted nothing more than to hold her and comfort her. The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to kill this man. "Let me worry about Tom," he rumbled.
Liz noticed a change in his tone, and knew deep down Reddington was serious about what he just said. She had read all the FBI files and knew about the many crimes he had committed. She also remembered from her research that he had never hurt a man who didn't deserve it.
"If you want to kill him for what he did to me, you can, you know," she said softly. Tears were forming in her eyes. She couldn't believe she was almost pleading with a criminal and allowing him to take her ex-boyfriend's life. "He has hurt me so much during the last two years of high school."
She shook her head, grabbed her blanket a little tighter and shuddered as she started sharing more of what was going on inside her.
"I always thought it was my fault. That I did something to provoke him and that it was ok to let him hurt me," she cried as tears rolled down her cheeks.
Red looked at the girl in front of him and started boiling inside. He turned his head a little to the side because he was afraid he would break down and cry as well if he watched her tears continue to fall.
How come he was never told about any of this?
"I never told anybody about him, because I was so embarrassed. I was so happy to have moved here to New York and to have gotten away from him… and now he has found me again." More tears rolled down her cheeks and she reached out her hand to him, even though her arm was still in pain from the beating.
Red swallowed and gazed her back in the eyes. He took her fragile palm in his and cautiously kissed her fingers. Liz flushed and looked away timidly. She had not expected him to show her that kind of affection.
"Elisabeth, look at me. I want you to know that it's never ok for a man to hurt you no matter what you say or do. In no instance is it ever ok," he stressed gravely. "Don't ever forget that."
Feeling relieved at the sound of his words and his voice, Liz slowly stopped crying and shaking and gave him a tiny smile.
"There's that pretty smile. Now try to get some rest and let me worry about Tom," he murmured while he wiped away the lingering tears from her cheeks with his thumb. Then he leaned down and kissed her forehead.
Elisabeth closed her eyes and realized she enjoyed the feeling of his lips on her skin.
He pulled back from her and looked her in the eyes again. "I have to go now and take care of some business. Claire is in the other room and she will be here to keep you company. You do not have to be scared. I will be back shortly."
"Mr. Reddington?" she asked him before he turned around to leave.
He paused in his getting ready to exit the room and looked at her.
"I've been wanting to ask you..." She smiled at him and for the first time since she woke up he could tell she was feeling more confident. "Would you call me Lizzie from now on? All my friends do."
He couldn't even describe his own emotions at that moment, but felt his eyes must have been gleaming as he heard her say those words. He wasn't even sure he heard her right.
"Absolutely, Lizzie," he replied, feeling suddenly more cheerful than usual. "And I would be happy if you could call me Raymond."
She watched him grab his coat and his fedora. As he walked towards the door, she quietly called after him, "I trust you, Raymond. Thank you for everything."
Lizzie then laid back down in her bed, turned over and slowly started drifting off to sleep again.
Reddington had stopped in the doorway for a second on her last words, but reminded himself that there was business waiting for him and it needed to be taken care of. He couldn't wait to spend more time with Lizzie during her recovery time.
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"Where is he?" Reddington called out to his associates as he briskly walked into the empty warehouse. The building was located on a deserted industrial area with no living creatures around. Besides storage, Red also used it as a location to take care of unwanted individuals.
"Right over here, boss!" Morgan, another one of Red's associates, called out. "We are in the old office. Our new friend can't wait to meet you!" Morgan added sarcastically.
The soles of Reddington's shoes clipped and scuffed on the cement as he made his way into a smaller room of the warehouse. As he entered, his eyes fixed immediately upon a man slightly slouched down on a chair with a potato bag over his head. His hands were tied behind his back on the chair and each one of his legs was tied to the feet of the chair.
"So this is the man responsible for beating up Elisabeth?" he seethed as he tore the potato bag off from Tom's head. "He doesn't look like much of a man to me!"
Tom looked like he had already been to hell and back. He was unshaven, had uncombed hair and smelled like he hadn't taken a shower in three days. A sock was stuffed in his mouth to prevent him from speaking. He blinked his eyes, trying to adjust his vision to the light, and then gazed at both Reddington and Morgan.
"No, he's not," Morgan replied in disgust. "He cried like a baby when we picked him up at Port Authority to bring him here. He squealed like a pig when we tied him up."
Red smirked at Morgan's comment and assessed the situation. The warehouse was empty besides the three men in the room and two more associates waiting outside. There was an old desk near the wall and two chairs face to face. Tom was sitting in one of those chairs.
"We didn't even hurt him, just like you asked. You would think a man capable of beating up a young woman for no reason at all would be a bit more of a man when he is in a similar position," Morgan laughed.
Tom remained motionless upon hearing the comment.
"Anyway, boss, he's all yours now," Morgan continued. "If you need, there's a variety of tools in the storage room and Brimley is on standby."
"Thank you, but that won't be necessary. You did well, men. Now go have a drink and go home," Reddington replied while not taking his eyes from Tom.
"I'll take care of this cockroach."
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"So, Tom Keen, huh." Reddington calmly approached the young man who was still slouched in the chair. Standing behind him, Red continued talking.
"I knew a Tom once a few years ago. He was married to a nice, sweet girl from the Midwest and they were about to adopt a baby."
Reddington took out his gun and a silencer while he proceeded to speak.
"The girl was a daughter to a very dear friend of mine. Unfortunately, she was too sweet and believed every word her husband said. She was blinded by her love for him."
Red slowly walked around Tom's chair and came back to stand in front of him. He looked at his gun and the silencer and carried on with his talk. Tom couldn't do anything but listen.
"As it turns out, Tom lied about his job and his past. He was a cheating bastard and he liked to beat up his wife," Red growled as he moved back around the chair.
"Much like you seem to enjoy beating up your ex-girlfriend. I suppose you know who I am talking about? Does the name Elisabeth Milhoan ring a bell?"
Reddington was close to the younger man's head when he spoke her name and he could hear Tom skip a few shuddering breaths.
"Anyway, his wife called for my help after another episode where Tom went ballistic. He beat and kicked her as if she were a piece of trash. Furniture was strewn all over the house and broken dishes laid all over the floor. Even the dog was smart enough to run away through a broken window."
Red quietly screwed the silencer on his gun and started filling the barrel of the gun with bullets, one by one.
"When I arrived, she had found the courage to grab the gun I had given her for protection and shoot him in the stomach, but she was terrified to finish him. I tried to convince her to let me kill him, but she wouldn't allow it and insisted we take him to the hospital instead."
"A few months later, I received news that the girl was found dead in her house. Her husband was found drunk hanging over her with the gun I gave her and that killed her. He was later sentenced to death."
Red's mouth curved into a snarl.
"She died because she was scared of going through with what he deserved."
He shook his head slowly.
"I should have killed him when I had the chance," Red admitted quietly. "A mistake I will not make again."
Reddington stepped in front of Tom and ripped the sock out of his mouth. He put the tip of the gun's silencer on the younger man's forehead.
Sweat poured down the frightened man's face as his eyes strained to glimpse the weapon.
"Do you think I should have killed him when I had the chance, Tom?" Red furiously questioned the man in front of him.
Tom Keen stared up at him in shocked surprise. "I...I...don't know what you are talking about!" he stuttered desperately. "I'm just a tourist in New York!"
Red laughed gaily and replied, "Oh, who am I kidding?" His white teeth flashed in the half-dark room. "I'm really not that interested in your opinion."
Red fluidly sat down on the chair facing Tom, pointed his gun at him and fired six shots into the younger man's body.
He remained seated for a couple of minutes thinking back to the events that happened a few years earlier and then looked at Tom's dead body. He grabbed his phone and called Mr. Kaplan to clean up the mess.
Then he got up from his chair, turned sharply on his heel and walked away from the dead cockroach and the warehouse.
Tbc