Chapter Nineteen
Sergio
I’d gone insane. At least that was what my brothers thought, who had left countless voicemails and sent dozens of text messages.
It seemed the only person who agreed with my tactic was Phoenix according to Gianni, who kept leaving messages that he was praying for me and that I’d come to my senses.
But once again, he shot me and killed our father because we were threats to Phoenix and his son.
What I was doing was no different. I was trying to protect the woman I loved, too.
Hypocrites. Every one of them. Preaching loyalty but calling me insane because I was loyal to the one person who had always stood by me even when I didn’t deserve it.
I was mourning a friend I had no other choice but to kill, and I had no fucking clue where Seraphina was.
My plan had fallen apart, and I had no one to blame but myself.
I trusted the wrong person even after Seraphina had warned me because I was a loyal goddamn person.
I can’t say the same for someone I trusted with my life.
And hers.
I’d been in Greece for weeks and I couldn’t get anything out of anyone.
I knew Vasilas had ordered a blackout on the city.
A blackout meant anyone caught saying anything against or about the Drakos family would lose not only their lives, but their entire bloodline would be wiped out.
I couldn’t be mad at anyone for keeping their mouths shut, but it still pissed me off.
The only thing left to do was to paint the streets red and because if Vasilas ordered a blackout that meant Dorian had Seraphina and he was trying to keep me from finding her.
There was no telling what he was putting her through.
And I didn’t trust Vasilas to deal with his brother.
A grunt escaped the man hanging from the ceiling, and I was pulled from my thoughts as I declined yet another call from Lorenzo.
He definitely wasn’t giving up trying to get me to back off Drakos.
But that wasn’t happening. If he wouldn’t send me the men that I asked for to get this shit done, then there wasn’t shit we needed to talk about.
“I don’t know anything!” the man screamed just before Finley pushed the stun baton against his torso, sending nine million volts surging through his body.
We captured two Drakos soldiers with the help of the lady Finley had been fucking for information and took them back to a slaughterhouse that was no longer in use in the next town over.
There was no way we could interrogate anyone in the Drakos’s territory without being attacked.
I was shocked there was a small organization who were more than happy to help me out for the right price.
Money, and a favor I’d owe them in the future.
That part of the deal I didn’t like because I didn’t enjoy owing any fucking body, but I did what needed to be done to get Seraphina back.
One of the men, Petros, hung from large stainless-steel hooks by his wrists.
Leather restraints were looped through the same rails once used for cattle, lamb, and pig carcasses.
The other man, Nikos, sat slumped against the wall, wrists and ankles bound, eyes darting between the hooks and the drain.
He was next.
The room was tiled in aged ceramic The floor was grooved for blood runoff, and the air thick with iron and mildew.
Both men’s naked bodies glistened with sweat.
And the heat made every breath more difficult.
This defunct slaughterhouse, although uncomfortable for me, made this interrogation worse for them.
I pushed my phone inside my blazer of my suit before removing it all together. The metal chair scraped against the ground as I tossed it on the chair. I walked to Finley and the man. I yanked up the sleeves of my white dress shirt, the damn thing was plastered to my skin in the suffocating heat.
Finley had done most of the work, but I always got my hands dirty.
“I just want to know where she’s at.”
I crossed my arms over my chest.
Petros glared at me. “I have no fucking idea what you’re talking about.”
The moment the stun baton contacted his bloody, sweat slicked skin, Petros’ body seized up.
Muscles locked, jaw clenched, and his eyes went wide as panic and pain collided in a silent scream.
Every nerve lit up like a fuse and when the current stopped, his body uncoiled, his breath was ragged, and his limbs trembled.
“I don’t like liars.”
I tried to remain as calm as I could. However, despite the calmness I portrayed, a storm of rage, panic, and overwhelming fear warred inside me. It was like my soul was broken in two weary pieces and I struggled to breathe almost like I was drowning.
Dorian had proven he had no problem hurting her. I’d seen the evidence for myself. The bruises, the aftermath of the rape, all of it. And it gutted me to know she was going through it all again because of me.
“He’s not lying,” Nikos said from his seated position against the wall.
“Vasilas doesn’t even know where she’s at.”
I tilted my head. He might not know where Seraphina’s being held, but he knows where Dorian was at. And if I get my hands on Dorian, I’d find Seraphina.
I’ve been asking the wrong questions.
I turned my attention back to Petros. “Where’s Dorian?”
His eyes widen. “I don’t know.”
“Liar.”
Once again, his body locked up when Finley hit him again with the stun baton.
His muscles tensed, a visible ripple beneath his skin, and his jaw clenched, his teeth grinding together.
Drool dripped from the sides of his mouth mixing with blood.
He wouldn’t be able to take too much more before he passed out.
“Wait! Wait!” Nikos shouted, his voice cracking with panic. “I’ll tell you. Please just don’t kill us!”
Finley yanked the stun baton away from Petros’ ribs.
His body sagged like a puppet with its strings cut, head slumping sideways, and his breath rattling inside his chest. He was still alive, technically.
But that wouldn’t last. After I got what I needed, both would be made an example of.
I didn’t have time to bargain, and I didn’t have patience for fucking theatrics.
Seraphina’s life depended on my actions.
“You talk.” I stepped closer to Nikos. “Or he dies choking on his dick.”
Nikos eyes slid to Petros who gave a subtle shake of his head. I knew why, but I had to convince them that the blackout wouldn’t affect them.
“I can protect you.” Nikos attention came back to me. “Vasilas will never know it came from you. So, your family will be safe.”
“Don’t do it,” Petros mumbled. “He’ll kill us anyway and our families will die.”
“Last I heard he was on the island of Ikaria,” Nikos said, ignoring Petros even when he should have listened. “But that was weeks ago.”
I’d get the information I needed but their bodies would send a message to the entire Drakos Syndicate. They needed to know I was a threat to their entire existence.
“You fucking fool,” Petros mumbled. “Now our entire families will die because of you.”
Nikos looked at him with wide eyes, but I didn’t think he understood the gravity of the decision he made. He thought he could save himself and was doing the right thing. Doing the right thing in this world didn’t exist.
“Never heard of it,” I said, drawing his attention back to me.
“You wouldn’t have. It’s isolated. Mountainous. Wild. You could live in one of the villages and never see another soul.”
“Are you sure that’s where he’s at?” I asked, not sure if he told me the truth.
“Positive,” Nikos replied. “Now could you get us out of here?”
I stared at Nikos, letting him feel every ounce of what was coming. There was no way he thought I’d let him go.
He flinched when I stepped closer, like he already knew I’d show him no mercy. I crouched in front of him, close enough to smell the fear wafting off his body.
“No can do, Nikos,” I said, voice low and taunting. “I need you to send a message to the Drakos.”
His eyes widened as panic bloomed fast in his eyes. “W…what kind of message?”
I smiled, but it didn’t reach my eyes. “The kind they’ll feel in their throats every time they speak my name.”
I pulled the knife and drove it up beneath his chin. His breath caught in a wet gasp, eyes bulging, body jerking like a fish on a hook. I ignored Petros’ screams as I held Nikos there, watching the terror come to life and the message take shape in blood.
Once Nikos went limp, I stood, then faced Petros. He had pissed himself, again.
Pathetic.
“You’re next.” I tilted the blade toward him, letting the light catch the blood still clinging to it. “Then I’m going to string you and Nikos up in the street by your guts. Let them watch your corpses sway in the salty breeze. How does that sound?”
He whimpered, shaking his head, mouthing something I couldn’t understand through his pleas and tears.
I stepped closer. “Think they’ll get the message then, Petros? Or should I carve it into your chest letter by letter?”