9. Chapter Nine
Chapter Nine
Nico
“ W here are you taking him?” Sasha asks. Despite the drug in her, she still sounds worried.
I drag Lorenzo back to the house and let go of his arms so his head slams into the ground with a heavy thud.
“I thought you wanted to question him,” she says. “Not kill him.”
“One little thud won’t kill him. Alan,” I call out to my guard near the back door. “Bring him downstairs.”
Alan nods and without question, drags Lorenzo to the basement.
Before I can follow him, Sasha halts me with her hand on my chest. It feels warm and right there but I know that everything we did tonight was because of the molly inside of her and not because she truly wanted it to happen.
But my god, if Sasha wanted me to claim her like she did tonight while sober, I think I would lose my fucking mind.
“Where are you taking him?” she repeats.
“You seem to be sobering up,” I comment, trying to walk past her but she plants herself right in front of me.
“Where are you taking him?”
“Why do you care? He just tried to kill me. I’m going to question him for answers.
Why did he, my own guard, try to kill me?
Was he working undercover? And if so, for who?
I have a lot of enemies. Any one of them could have sent someone to kill me.
I need to find out so I can go deal with whoever sent him. ”
“But where are you taking him exactly?” she snaps.
I sigh and cup her face with my bloody hands. Sasha leans into my touch – something I can’t help but notice. “I’m taking him down to my basement. I sort of have a torture dungeon down there.”
Her eyes widen. “Are you for real?”
“Yep.” I pat her face then let her go. “It’s not an actual dungeon but I do like to do my investigations down there. Anyone who I need to question goes to the basement. Care to join me?”
She flinches back. Some of the drug seems to be leaving her system. She’s starting to sound like the Sasha I know. “Why would I do that? I don’t want to see you torture someone.”
“Fair enough.”
“How long will it take?”
“As long as it takes. It could take hours. Days. Depends on how soon he tells me the information I need and then I’ll verify it before he dies.
I don’t need him dying before I know if he’s telling me the truth or not.
Time to see how much of a coward he is. He tried to kill me in my own maze when no one else was around.
I hate him already. My maze is a fun place. ”
“But you hunt people in your maze. You told me so.”
“I said it was fun… for me. Not necessarily fun for anyone else. Now, I have to go deal with him and since you don’t want to join me, I suggest you go back to our room and sleep off the drug inside of you.”
“What if I need to go the hospital? Shouldn’t you take me to your doctor? Just to make sure I’m all right?”
I narrow my eyes. “Why does it sound like you’re trying to stall me? Like you don’t want me going down there. Is there a reason you don’t want me to torture him?”
“I don’t want you torturing anybody.”
“Even though he just tried to kill me?”
She sighs, ducking her chin so I can’t make out her eyes and her eyes are so expressive. They usually tell me everything I need to know. “I know he did. But I don’t like the idea of you torturing anybody. That’s why I’m trying to stall you. It just makes me uncomfortable.”
I stare at her for a long moment but she seems to be telling the truth. It could be the truth mixed in with some lies. Sometimes it is hard to tell with Sasha – not that I would ever tell her that. She doesn’t need to know that she’s an enigma to me. It would give her too much power.
“Fine,” I say. “But I’m doing this, Sasha. So go upstairs. Go to bed. If you need a doctor, then come get me. But you seem fine. Sleep is what you need.” I have the urge to kiss her like we did earlier tonight. God, it was the best fucking kiss of my entire life.
And it was all because Sasha was drugged.
I’m a fucking monster but I don’t regret that kiss. Now, if only Sasha would let me kiss her like that while she’s sober. I’d die a happy man.
I turn her towards the stairs. “Go.”
Begrudgingly, she goes up the stairs. It’s not until I see her disappear down the hallway that I finally allow myself to head down to the basement. It’s through a secret room in my office. I don’t need just anybody finding it.
My feet clap on the stone steps. I love knowing my victims can hear me coming closer just by the sound of my footsteps.
The dungeon isn’t really a dungeon. It’s just one dark, creepy room with a table in the middle of it. Strapped to the table is Lorenzo, the guard I had hired for the honeymoon. I made sure to vet everyone and Lorenzo came back clean.
So why the fuck did he try to kill me?
I motion for Alan to leave and he does his duty.
I point after him as I speak to Lorenzo.
“See? That’s a guard who knows what to do.
How to be respectful. Now tell me, Lorenzo.
I am giving you one chance before I start to hurt you.
One chance to just tell me right away.” I lean in close to his ear. “Who sent you?”
Lorenzo doesn’t say a word.
I step back to see that he’s glaring at me. “Who sent you, Lorenzo? I did an entire background check on you and nothing came up. So why is that? Who sent you? How does a man with a squeaky clean record go on to kill his own boss? I thought I could trust you.”
He spits in my face.
“Now you’re just being petty,” I chuckle, wiping the spit off my cheek. “Fine. If you won’t tell me upfront, I’ll have to do this the hard way.”
A smaller table is off to the side of the room with scalpels and knifes and many other torture methods. One my favorites is the bamboo sticks under the fingernails.
I pick up one of the sticks, inspecting it. “No one would think something as small as this would do so much damage. But it hurts like a motherfucker when placed underneath fingernails.” I grab Lorenzo’s hand and he tries moving away but he’s trapped to my table. He’s not going anywhere.
“I gave you the chance to tell me who sent you,” I say, lining the bamboo stick up to his nail.
“But you chose not to. So you’re going to tell me after I torture you.
Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But eventually, you will tell me.
You seem like a strong man. Are you really one or is it just bravado? I guess I will find out soon enough.”
Then I jam the bamboo into his nail and Lorenzo’s screams fill the entire room.
I smile in victory. He will tell me in time. I just have to be patient. Just like I am with Sasha.
It will all work out in the end.
Sasha
Maybe because of the drug inside of me, I manage to fall asleep right away and when I wake up in the morning, I feel terrible. My head is pounding and my throat is sore. My body feels like it ran a marathon last night.
After a shower and a change of clothes – a simple crop top and loungewear pants – I head downstairs to find Nico in the kitchen, enjoying his breakfast.
He looks so… mundane that it’s almost scary.
I’m struck with the memories of what we did last night.
How nice our kiss was. Well, it was more than nice but I will never tell him that.
That can never happen again. If I let myself fall into Nico, I’ll start to care for him and what will that say about me?
That I care for a murderer? Does that make me an accomplice?
Nico looks up from his phone and gives me a cheeky smile. “Hello, beautiful. How was your sleep?”
“Did you join me?”
“Why? Were you hoping I would?”
With an eye roll, I grunt and sit down across from him. Maria gives me a plate of pancakes.
“It will help soak up everything inside of you,” she explains.
I flush. I was really drugged last night and acted like a fool.
“Thanks, Maria,” Nico says, dismissing her.
My stomach growls so I scarf down the food, not even caring what Nico thinks. The sooner I’m back to my normal self, the better.
“I didn’t spend the night with you in our bed,” Nico says. “I was busy all night with my prisoner. And then I spent the night in one of the guests rooms down here as I didn’t want to disturb you. You had quite the night last night.”
I grumble into my pancakes. “Because I was drugged.”
“I know.” His eyes darken. “And I made sure to kill Antonio for doing that to you.”
I remember the way he had killed Antonio and the way I had laughed. I almost remember the arousal I had felt being near Nico. Despite all his faults, he is insanely handsome and his persona, while annoying, is also sort of charming.
“So, what’s happened to your prisoner?” I ask, trying to keep my tone careful. “With… Lorenzo? Was that his name?”
“Yes. And he hasn’t said anything yet.”
“So, you’re still… torturing him?” I ask in a breathless voice.
“I am. I plan on doing it all day until he speaks. I’ll admit, he’s a tougher man to crack than I thought he would be but I’m having fun.”
“Oh, so at least you’re having fun,” I say, infusing sarcasm into my voice. “Then it’s all good.”
He sets his fork down. That one simple gesture holds a lot of power. “The man tried to kill me, Sasha. Of course I’m having fun trying to hurt him.”
“You’re not trying. You are hurting him.”
“That’s the plan. He can put himself out of this misery if he just tells me who sent him. There’s no way he alone wanted me dead. No. Someone higher up sent him to kill me and I need to find out who. It’s someone who knows where I live. Someone in Italy, I suspect.”
“Why Italy? Why not… anywhere else?”
“Because no one in New York knows about this place. Only my Italian enemies know about this place. Maybe a few others in different parts of Europe, like Adrien. But I doubt Adrien did this. He’s benefiting too much from our alliance to want to kill me.”
“Unless he does want to take you down,” I offer. “Maybe he secretly doesn’t like you and wants to be more in charge. Take your assets for himself.”