My knuckles cracked when my fist made contact with his face. The sound was deafening in the silent room. I didn’t feel anything, and the poor bastard at the receiving end of my furious fist was whimpering in pain.
When I pulled away and sat down on the chair, he looked at me through swollen eyes. His cracked lips were bleeding profusely, and his cheeks were red and oozing with blood from several cuts. They weren’t deep, but they were enough to cause him blinding pain.
His mouth opened, but the sounds that came through his lips was almost too soft to hear. “If you’re going to kill me, just do it. I don’t know where he is.”
It had been two hours since he was tied to the chair. One of Alberto’s men. But he knew nothing of Alberto’s whereabouts.
It had been one week since Ayla was taken away. It didn’t matter that I had already killed eight of Alberto’s men. Tortured them until they begged for death. No one knew where he was.
Reaching forward, I grabbed the index finger of his right hand. I looked into his eyes as I bent the finger backward. His body shook as he tried to escape my cruel ministration. But he had nowhere to go.
He was at my mercy.
I heard a pop sound; his finger cracked, his bone crushing. I let the broken finger go as he wailed. His screams still resonated around the room when I grabbed two more fingers, bending them into an impossible angle until I heard another crack. Or several cracks, I should say.
This time, the bones broke through the skin. They stuck out, taunting him.
“Where is he?” I said through gritted teeth.
“I don’t…don’t…kn…ow…” he sobbed, looking at his mutilated fingers.
Viktor wrapped his hand around the man’s hair and pulled his head backward, his neck pushing painfully against the back of the chair. A wet cloth slapped against his face before he could protest.
Viktor held the cloth, heavy and wet with freezing water, over the fucker’s face. He spluttered and fought against the invasion as Viktor pressed harder, stopping his circulation.
Then the cloth was gone. He panted for air but could barely breathe through his swollen nose.
“I’m going to ask one last time. Where is Alberto?” I snapped, pushing the chair away as I stood up.
He shook his head several times. “He…didn’t tell…me…pl…please…beli…eve me.”
My fist hit his stomach as Viktor placed the cloth over his face again. It was wetter this time, and I knew the water was filling his mouth and nose, suffocating him.
When I saw his body slowly giving up on life, I nodded at Viktor to take the wet cloth away. I loomed over the man’s body, glaring down at him with all the hatred I felt.
My fingers wrapped around his hand, and I pressed hard, twisting until his wrist snapped under my hold. His eyes widened as a scream tore out from his throat.
“Please…kill…me…” he begged, struggling but too weak to fight.
He knew his death was coming. And he begged for it. What a fucking coward.
My eyes narrowed on him. It always came to this, Alberto’s men begging me for death without giving me the answer I wanted…needed.
Alberto was smart. He went into hiding without telling anyone. I went after his right-hand men, and even they didn’t know.
But there must have been someone helping him stay hidden this long. Whoever it was, I wasn’t going to stop until I found him.
Pulling my gun out, I aimed at his knee. A shot was fired, a bullet piercing his knee cap. He screamed in agony, and I chuckled. I only chuckled on the outside—inside, my monster was roaring with laughter. It demanded more blood to be shed.
More blood from my Angel’s tormentors.
Another shot. Another bullet. Right in his other knee. His scream pierced through my ears, but it wasn’t enough. It was never enough.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out my spiral knife. The man’s eyes widened, and he shook his head, his whimpers getting louder. He thought I was going to end his life easily.
How naïve of him.
Viktor smiled and pulled out his knife, too. One slice across his neck. Quick and swift. So deep that his blood poured around us and his bones were showing.
The man made a gurgling sound, blood oozing from the cut at an accelerating rate.
But it wasn’t over. Not yet.
Holding my knife tight in my hand, I pulled back and then plunged it into his chest, right in his heart. His mouth fell open in a silent scream, his blood squirting around us. The floor was covered with it. The air smelled of death and the copper smell of blood.
I smirked as he convulsed and then collapsed against the chair, eyes wide open. They were full of fear until he was lifeless. Just another dead body.
Another step toward finding my Angel.
“Now what?” Viktor asked, his lips curled up in a sadistic smile. He rubbed his gloved hands together in anticipation.
“The next man on the list,” I answered, my voice chilling. Anyone else would have pissed their pants at that tone, but not my men. After all, we craved the same thing.
The blood and death of our enemies.
Turning my back from the dead corpse in front of me, I walked out of the room. But not before I saw Nikolay taking his lighter out.
By the end of the day, the corpse would be nothing but ash.
As I stepped into the sunlight, I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Like always, I saw Ayla’s smile and shining green eyes. She radiated beauty.
I felt my lips tilt up at the thought of her.
I’m coming, Angel. Wait for me.
***
1 week later
I walked into the room, and the man trembled at the sight of me. He was on his knees, and Nikolay had his arms twisted around his back. Another captive. Another of Alberto’s most trusted men.
“Let’s see what you have to say,” Phoenix said beside me.
“Please…I don’t know anything,” he begged.
My chest rumbled with laughter. What else could I have done?
I didn’t even do anything yet, and he was already begging. I wondered what he would do when I got started.
“I…have…a wife,” he stuttered, pleading me with his eyes. “And a daughter. Please, they need me.”
Scoffing, I walked forward and pulled him up by the hair. “You should have thought about that before messing with the Ivanshovs.”
Nikolay stepped away, and I slammed the man against the wall. His head banged with a crack, and he winced.
“Where do you think Alberto would hide?” I snarled, my fingers wrapping around his neck. I pressed against his windpipe, my thumb moving up and down. He struggled to breathe, his face turning a shade of purple.
His fingers grabbed at my hand, pulling, scratching with the attempt to dislodge my grasp, but it was all for nothing.
I heard a gasp behind me and then a cry. Looking over my shoulder, I saw a horrified woman standing at the door; in her arms was a sleeping baby.
Ah. The wife and daughter.
I turned back toward my captive, and his fearful eyes met mine. He tried to glance at his wife, but my body was hiding his view.
His body started to shake from the lack of oxygen. But that wasn’t all. It was also from fear. For his wife and daughter.
I couldn’t help but smirk. Interesting.
“Come in, ladies. I’m sure you would want to stay with your husband as he takes his last breath. We wouldn’t want him to die alone. Keep him company,” I taunted without glancing away from the man’s eyes.
Releasing my hold on his throat, I stepped away. He fell to his knees, and my heart soared with power. Yet another of Alberto’s men on their knees, bowing down to me.
I turned around to see Phoenix escorting the woman and her baby to a chair. She sat down, but her whole body was trembling like a leaf.
“Who are you?” she whispered.
“I am your husband’s executioner,” I replied, my voice deadly. She flinched and held her baby tighter to her chest.
“But…he…” she stuttered, but I cut her off quickly.
“He deserves it.”
Tears streamed down her face as she shook her head. “Please don’t hurt him.”
“Your begging only makes me want to hurt him more.” I laughed, pointing a gloved hand at her husband, who was still gasping for breath.
Viktor chuckled, crossing his arms over his chest as he regarded the woman with keen interest. “Please keep begging. It’ll only be more fun,” he goaded.
“You’re evil. All of you. Monsters. How could you do this?” she cried.
“Ah, I never said I wasn’t evil.” I shrugged when she shrunk back into her chair. Phoenix kept a hand on her shoulders, and she shuddered.
“I’m not that repulsive,” he muttered under his breath.
Shaking my head at the poor frightened woman, I turned back toward her husband. I saw Nikolay holding a baseball bat. He shrugged. “We need to get creative sometimes.”
And then he smacked the bat against the man’s back. “Here you go, Boss,” Nikolay said, giving me the bat as he stepped back.
“Are you going to talk or not?” I asked, looking at the man at my feet.
“I’m telling the truth. Alberto…didn’t…tell me…anything,” he wheezed through the blood pouring from his mouth and nose.
My patience had run thin, and I snapped. I rammed the bat into his legs until I heard bones crunching. He screamed. His wife screamed. The baby cried.
But that didn’t stop me.
It spurred me on. The bat came in contact with his stomach. His ribs broke under the solid wood, and his body convulsed in pain.
“Please stop. Stop!” the wife wailed.
Stop! Please stop! Ayla’s voice resonated through my ears, and I stumbled back in shock. My chest grew tight at her voice as it rang in my head.
Angel. My Angel.
I looked at the man as he writhed in agony, his body beaten up and swelling under the pressure. I stepped away and faced the woman. She was sobbing heavily, and the baby continued to cry.
Phoenix caught my eyes, and he nodded. I didn’t even have to say anything. He understood what I wanted. He grabbed the woman by the arm and started pulling her away and out of the house.
The wife and the baby would be given a safe place to stay. The innocents would be safe, while the evil would be chained.
“One last chance. Anything you might know. Tell me and I might let you go back to your wife and daughter,” I hissed into his face.
It was a lie. He wasn’t leaving this house alive. He knew it was a lie. We all did.
“I don’t…kn…ow…I rea…lly don’t know. But…please. Don’t…hurt…my wife and daugh…ter.”
I sighed and shook my head. I stood up and faced my men. Viktor looked pissed. Nikolay was ready to murder someone. Artur was glaring down at the man with venom.
Phoenix came back inside, and he rubbed his hand over his face, a sign of fatigue. We were all tired. Dead on our feet. But we were still not giving up. Not until we found Ayla.
I saw Viktor’s eyes widening and then Nikolay’s. “Alessio!”
Guns were drawn, and I swiveled around, my gun pointed at the man in a split second. Five shots rang through the air and the sound resonated around the walls of the house.
Five bullets.
And all five had pierced the man’s body.
One in his chest, two in his stomach, one in his neck, and the last one between his eyes.
One bullet from each of my men. And one from me.
He sunk to the floor soundlessly, the gun he had drawn on me falling limply through his fingers.
“Another stupid man dead,” Viktor spat.
Without a second glance at the dead body, I walked out of the house. My phone rang in my pocket, my eyebrows shooting up in surprise.
When I saw the caller ID was unknown, I picked up the call, knowing already who it was.
“I left another gift for you,” I spoke before Alberto could say anything.
“Killing my men won’t get you to me,” he mocked.
“Maybe you should stop being such a coward and face me,” I hissed through gritted teeth.
Every day I got a call from him. Every day he taunted me. And every day I was helpless as I listened to Ayla’s cries.
If only his phone wasn’t untraceable. The bastard enjoyed playing with me every day.
It was a game. We were both playing it. It was a dangerous game, and one of us was going to lose in the end.
And I was going to make sure it wasn’t me.
“Ah, why would I do that? I’m enjoying my time with my woman here. We’re making up for lost time.” He chuckled cruelly.
My blood ran cold as my anger burned like lava. It burned under my skin, and my body shook with it.
“I’m not going to let you break her,” I said, my fingers folding into a fist at my side.
“Ah,” Alberto tsked and then laughed. “You’re too late. I have already broken her. I have plucked every single feather off her wings. I took until she had nothing left to give, and still then, I kept taking.”
My heart ached, my stomach rolled, and I almost doubled over in pain. Ayla. Ayla. My sweet Angel.
“So you see, in the end, I have won.”
I refused to believe it. I just had to get to Ayla. I would cast away all her nightmares. I would take away all the bad memories. I had done it before. I would do it again until she’d be whole again.
“No,” I snapped. “You haven’t won yet. Your death is coming, Alberto. Start counting your days.”
I hung up before he could say anything else.
Throwing my phone against the car, I closed my eyes.
I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Angel. I’m sorry for keeping you waiting, but I’m coming.