Chapter 20
Bento
“Ialready know everything I need to know,” Rico informed us as we sat in his office.
Well, I was sitting. Niran was standing behind me, his hands braced on the back of my chair, and Alfonzo was leaning against the wall near the door eating a breakfast sandwich that smelled more like plastic than actual sausage, egg, and cheese.
“You can choose to play with them or not. I really don’t fucking care. But they need to be dead today.”
“What do you know?” Niran asked.
“That he’s my father, and the younger one is my half-brother, born seven years after me. My mother took off with me, and my father didn’t work very hard to keep his rights to me. I believe he and I have met once before, but I sent him on his way. He was unimportant, so I don’t remember well.”
I bit back a snort.
“Should have just dealt with him then,” Alfonzo commented.
Rico shot him an annoyed look, to which Alfonzo only smirked. “He was running a very small gang,” Rico continued. “I’ve already sent men out to dispose of the remaining members. Once those two are dealt with, the entire tiny organization will be nothing but history.”
“Taking the fun out of my job,” Niran drawled.
Rico grunted. “You still get to torture them for what they did to him,” he said, pointing his pen at me. My dark skin flushed. “Had it been Anurak they’d done that to, I’d have made them bleed out fucking days ago.”
“I had other things to deal with,” Niran reminded him. “And Bento thought it would be ironic for them to be dealt with today.”
“It is Halloween,” I remarked.
Rico snorted. “Kill them right before the Day of the Dead, huh? It is a bit ironic. Knew I kept you around for a reason, kid.” He gestured to the door.
“Anurak will be up soon. I need you three gone. I’m going to distract him for the day.
Don’t take too long down there, or he’ll grow suspicious despite my distractions. ”
“Just use your dick,” Alfonzo suggested, pushing off the wall.
Rico scowled at him. “One day, I’m going to fucking stab you with this pen,” Rico growled. “Get out, Alfonzo.”
Alfonzo laughed. “Yeah, yeah. I’m going. Have a clean-up crew on standby.”
“Isn’t that your job?” Rico snapped at Alfonzo’s back as Alfonzo walked out of the room.
“It is, but you don’t seem to be doing much, so I thought I’d give you something to do,” Alfonzo called back. Rico gritted his teeth. Alfonzo was the only person who dared to talk to Rico like that, and Alfonzo was also the only person Rico allowed to do so.
Niran pressed his hand to my lower back, leading me out after Alfonzo. “The clean-up crew is already on standby,” Niran assured Rico. “Ignore him.”
Rico sighed, and when I glanced back at the man, he was pinching the bridge of his nose, looking like he had a headache coming on. “I don’t know why I put up with him,” Rico sighed.
“Because you loooove meeeee,” Alfonzo sang.
I couldn’t stop my laugh from bursting free even if I’d tried. “My eardrums are bleeding,” I called after him.
Niran grunted as we neared the basement door. “Do not egg him on, kon-dii. He will not fucking stop if you do.”
“I know.” I grinned at him. “Why do you think one or both of us always ends up bloody in some form in the ring when we spar? We egg each other on.”
Niran sighed. “I’m very aware,” he muttered. “I’m aware of everything pertaining to you, kon-dii,” he reminded me while Alfonzo did the eye scan and fingerprint scan to get the basement door open.
“Will I ever have access to this room?” I wondered.
Niran hummed. “Maybe. That’s ultimately Rico’s decision.
” His hand left my back, and I frowned as he quickly began making his way further down the hall to where the training facilities and his office were.
“Be right back,” he called over his shoulder.
I didn’t have time to wonder where the hell he was going because the scanners beeped, turned green, and the door clicked unlocked.
The basement was fucking cold. As soon as Alfonzo opened the door, chills swept through my body, my teeth clamped together hard, and goosebumps erupted along my flesh.
Before I could turn to go get a jacket because fuck those freezing temps—been there, done that—Niran was already settling a jacket on my shoulders that smelled like him.
“Two steps ahead of you, kon-dii,” Niran murmured as I slid my arms through the sleeves, wincing when doing so made my shoulder burn with pain.
Alfonzo flicked on a light, and we began descending the staircase into the basement. My breath fogged in front of me, and I quickly zipped the jacket up before stuffing my hands in the pockets.
“Did you do this?” I asked Niran. When he arched a brow at me, a silent demand for me to clarify, I added, “The temperature.”
He smirked. “Nice little touch, don’t you think?” Fuck, I could have kissed him. “I figured it was only right considering they’d kept you in a literal fucking meat freezer.”
The two men who’d kidnapped me were naked and tied to wooden chairs.
Their lips were already turning blue, and frostbite had settled into their toes.
I imagined their fingertips, which were hidden behind their backs, didn’t look much better.
Alfonzo made a tsking noise, shaking his head in something akin to disappointment.
“I imagine we don’t have much time,” Alfonzo said. “We let them freeze just a bit too long.”
Niran scoffed. “And to think Bento lasted fucking longer. ?ā s?ngs?ār,” Niran spat.
I had no clue what he’d said, but my dick twitched anyway.
It was rare Niran spoke in his native tongue, but when he did, it was hot as fuck.
He could talk to me all day in Thai—hell, he could read the fucking dictionary to me in Thai—and I’d be ready to suck his dick, bend over for him, whatever the hell he wanted me to do, really.
The younger man lifted his head, looking at us. “P-please,” he stuttered.
“Already begging?” Alfonzo asked. “I thought you had bigger balls considering the way you beat and kidnapped Perez in broad fucking daylight in a crowded parking lot.”
Niran set a chair beside me. “Sit,” he ordered. “You still shouldn’t be on your feet too much just yet.”
My stomach swooped at his compassion before I took a seat, not fighting him on it.
My abdomen was particularly tender after using my muscles there to fuck myself into Niran’s fist that morning, and my shoulder was burning a bit more than usual, probably from sleeping on it last night.
I knew a couple of times, I’d woken myself up trying to roll onto that side.
It hadn’t been a pleasant feeling.
Niran slid the sleeves of his long-sleeve black shirt up to his elbows, then grabbed his knife from his boot.
Without warning, he roughly slapped the older man awake.
The man made a noise of alarm, looking up at Niran.
Immediately, his teeth began to chatter.
Niran gripped his hair and yanked his head back.
“Name,” he growled.
“F-Fuck you,” the man hissed, his teeth chattering so hard, he damn near bit his tongue off.
“That’s your name?” Niran deadpanned, making me snicker. “Give me your fucking name, old man, or I’ll start cutting off your fingers. I’m not in the mood to play goddamn games.”
“Joaquin Martinez,” he choked out.
“You’re Rico’s father, no? Where the fuck were you his entire childhood?” Alfonzo asked.
“His mother took off with him,” the man rushed out, teeth still chattering.
Blood spilled down his chin. He’d no doubt bitten the inside of his mouth a couple of times.
“I didn’t have the money to find him, and when I did, he shut me down.
Turned me away. Told me I was a piece of shit who didn’t try hard enough. ”
That sounded about right.
“So, now that Rico’s made something of himself, built this empire from the ground up, you think he fucking owes you and your piece of shit son some of it?
” Alfonzo demanded, true anger on his best friend’s behalf bleeding into his voice.
“Rico doesn’t owe you a fucking thing. But you know what you do owe him?
” Alfonzo leaned in as Niran stepped back, bringing his face so close to Joaquin’s, the older man went cross-eyed. “You owe him your fucking life.”
“And you owe it to Bento, too,” Niran growled.
“You damn near killed my man, and that?” He looked between the two of them, his mask slipping.
The true monster that lived beneath Niran’s skin came out to play, making my dick hard all while a chill swept down my spine.
“That will be paid for in fucking blood. For every drop he spilled, I’ll make sure you both drop just as much. ”
“It was all his idea!” the younger guy blurted, looking truly panicked. “I told him to leave Rico alone, but he—”
“If you didn’t agree, then you should have cut ties,” Niran told him, not an ounce of sympathy in his voice. “Instead, you held my man at knife point and went along with this dumb fucking idea anyway.”
Without warning, Niran stepped forward and began strategically cutting into the younger man’s skin. Blood gushed from the wounds, and the man screamed. Rico’s father pleaded with Niran, but it fell on deaf ears. Niran had no interest in stopping. In fact, my man looked to be enjoying himself.
Blood splattered Niran’s face and soaked his hands and forearms. And he looked the calmest and most at peace I’d ever seen him. And fuck, he looked like mine. Getting revenge for me, angry on my behalf, making those mother fuckers pay for trying to take me from him…
Yeah, Niran was all mine.
When the younger man finally slumped, his skin a ghastly pale color from blood loss, Niran moved on to Joaquin. A smirk curved his lips, and he leaned in, pressing his lips to Joaquin’s ear.
Joaquin sobbed, his fear so strong, I could taste it on my tongue.
“I’ll see you in hell, and when I eventually get there, I’m going to make you fucking pay for this shit there, too. You’ll be dealing with me for eternity.”
And then, he proceeded to do the same thing to Joaquin that he did to Joaquin’s son.