9. Chapter Nine #2
Nico muses on my words. “That’s not a bad idea. But I trust Adrien. We’re friends. I don’t believe he did this.”
“You trust easily?” I hedge, picking at the remainder of my pancake.
“Are you asking if I trust you?”
“No.”
He laughs, more to himself, as he skims his fingers along the back of my hand. I rip my hand away and stuff it into my lap.
“I don’t trust you,” he says. “You’ve tried to leave me too many times now for me to trust you. But if I knew I could trust you, then I would easily trust you.”
“You’re a mafia man. I can’t believe that you could trust anyone. You live in a world full of backstabbers. Aren’t you afraid anyone will turn on you at any moment?”
“There’s still a code in the Mafia. Honor to some degree.”
I scoff. “I’ve seen you kill men left and right who were associates.”
“That was because they broke that honor. They tried to hurt you and I cant have that. I’ve made a lot of friends in the Mafia.
Not many of them would want me dead. But I can think of a couple who might.
Because of the majority I do trust, I can fall asleep easily at night.
Most of them know how ruthless I can be.
Most do not want to mess with me. So why did Lorenzo mess with me?
Who has the fucking balls to mess with me like this? ”
I swallow hard and stare down at my plate. Mikhail has the balls to do it. I guess I do too in a strange sort of way.
Will Nico hurt me once he finds out that it was Mikhail who sent Lorenzo to save me from him?
Will his code of honor apply to me when I let Lorenzo try to kill Nico and I did nothing to stop it?
“I will find out,” he states. “Sasha? Sasha, look at me.”
I force my gaze up. “Yes?”
“Are you hiding something?”
“What could I be hiding?”
“I know you lied about not being a virgin. You told me so last night. You told me I would get all of your firsts. Is that still true? Or was it the drug talking?”
My face turns to flames. There’s no point in lying about that anymore. The truth is out. “It… wasn’t the drug talking. I did lie to you about all of that. I just didn’t want you to have any power over me, thinking you would get all of my firsts.”
“So you let me think you were a whore instead?”
I gasp and without even realizing I’m doing it, I stand up and smack him across the face. “I am no whore. And even if I wasn’t a virgin, I still wouldn’t be a whore.”
Slowly, Nico stands up and towers over me. “Careful, beautiful. I may be your husband but that doesn’t mean I won’t spank you for that.”
“So you get to spank me but I don’t get to smack you? How is that fair?”
He stands so close to me, chest to chest, that I can feel the warmth radiating off him. It’s addicting. “I can do whatever I want with you.”
“No. You don’t get to do whatever you want with me. If you truly believed that, you would have taken me already against my will. But you want my consent. You want me to want you. That gives me power.”
“I’m thinking I’ll spank you right now for this.
” In one quick motion, he grabs my waist and presses me against the table, my ass in the air.
Before I can react, he brings his hand down in quick succession.
Thankfully, this time, he spanks me over my pants instead of my bare skin like he did back in the maze that night of the orgy.
Nico doesn’t spank me today to hurt me. He spanks me as a warning not to test him.
And I hate how my body responds to his power. To his strength. It’s something I never thought would happen and yet, here I am.
Shame creeps into my mind and I’m not sure there’s any way of getting it out.
Nico spins me back around to face him. “I have power over you.”
“Yeah? And where is that getting you?”
He smirks as he tilts my chin up, forcing me to look him straight in the eye. That’s always the hardest part. “I’m going to ask you once, Sasha. Do you have any idea who might have sent Lorenzo?”
“What? Why would I know that? I don’t know who all of your enemies are.”
“Mmm. But you do know one.”
I frown and pretend that I don’t know what he’s talking about. Then I pretend to have the realization. “Are you saying that… Mikhail sent him?”
“I don’t know. Mikhail doesn’t know where I live. It’s not possible. But I just have to ask.”
“I don’t know anything.” Another lie straight to his face. Nico was able to pick up on my lie about me not being a virgin. Will he be able to pick this one up too?
After a long, tense moment, Nico lets me go. “I have to head back to Lorenzo. I will get him to talk.” He gives me a wink before he leaves the room. A wink, like it’s a casual fun day instead of a day where he’s going to torture Lorenzo/Alek into telling the truth.
And then Nico will know I flat out lied to him again.
I’m in danger but I’m not sure exactly how much and that’s the scariest part.
I can hear the screams of Alek through the floor but I can’t find the door to the basement. Where is Nico hiding it?
Not that it matters. Even if I did find it, I would… what? Save Alek from torture? There’s nothing I can do. Alek lost the fight to Nico when he should have killed Nico.
Though, there is a small part of me that is relieved Nico isn’t dead. I hate that I feel this way but I can’t seem to let go of it.
I’m forced to spend the day, listening to Alek’s screams, and knowing I’m powerless to stop it. Knowing that the more Nico tortures Alek, the closer he gets to finding out the truth.
Nico
It takes around to the second day of torturing Lorenzo for him to finally tell me who sent him.
“Ok, ok,” he gasps out, covered in sweat. Everyone of his fingernails is trashed from where I’ve stabbed the bamboo sticks. Red wounds adorn his body from where I expertly cut him just enough to hurt him but not enough to kill him.
I pause with my knife raised. “Yes?”
“I’ll tell you. Just so you can kill me. Just so you can end this.”
“Great. Tell me. Who sent you?” My blood is rushing with excitement.
I knew I would break him down eventually.
I will admit though that I’m sad it’s coming to an end.
I enjoyed torturing Lorenzo. It’s given me more excitement than I’ve felt in a while – the excepting being when I’m with Sasha.
It’s always exciting being around her. I never know what she’ll say or do at any moment.
“Just kill me after I tell you.”
“No. I’ll have to verify it first. But then I’ll kill you. I promise. You’ll be released from this torture. Just give me a name.”
Lorenzo nods and sniffles. “Ok. Mikhail Novikoff sent me.”
Fuck. I honestly hadn’t been expecting that. I did ask Sasha but it was more just to tease her. Not in a million years did I truly believe it was Mikhail.
But it all makes fucking sense. He would send a guard to kill me and save Sasha.
But how did he find out where I live?
“Thanks for the information.” I pat his cheek. “I’ll be back soon enough.” I storm upstairs and find Sasha in the library, pouring over the Italian language book I got her. I rip the book out of her hands and press my hands on either side of her chair, locking her in.
She flinches. “What are you doing?”
“Lorenzo just told me that Mikhail sent him. Interesting since I just asked you yesterday if he was the one who had done it. So tell me what you know, Sasha.”
“Or what?” she challenges. “You’ll torture me? You’ve made a point of trying to save my life. You won’t torture me.”
“I don’t have to torture you the way I did Lorenzo to make you tell me. So just tell me and we can get this over with.”
With a heavy sigh, her shoulders slump, and all the fight leaves her.
“Fine. Mikhail did send him. I didn’t find out until the night of the dinner party.
Lorenzo… Alek is his real name. He pulled me aside and told me.
But I didn’t know that he would try to kill you.
I just thought he would try to help me escape. That’s all.”
“So, you stood there while Lorenzo or Alek or whatever the fuck his name is tried to kill me?”
“You can’t sound so shocked. You know how I feel for you.”
Her blunt words make me rear back in pain. I knew Sasha didn’t exactly care for me but I thought I was getting through to her. Knowing she was fine with my death hurts more than I ever thought it would.
“So how did Mikhail find out about this place?” I motion to the room around us. “He doesn’t know about my house here.”
Guilt flashes across her face before she nods. “When we were at the doctor’s house… I snuck away and found a phone to call my sister. Natalya promised to help me. I… gave her the address. I didn’t know fully what Mikhail would do. I swear. I didn’t know Alek would try to kill you.”
“Alek,” I hiss. “You speak of him like you were friends. Did you like him?”
“What? No! Like I told you, he pulled me aside the nigh of the dinner party and told me who he really was and what he was hear for, which was to save me. I didn’t have feelings for him. He’s a stranger to me.”
“So the reason you didn’t want me to kill him had nothing to do with feelings for him but because you didn’t want the truth coming out?”
She nods once. “Yes. I have no romantic feelings for him. He’s a stranger to me.”
“A stranger you were trusting would get you to safety.”
“Because I trust my sister. Mikhail would only have sent a man who would protect me, not hurt me, for my sister’s sake. I didn’t know he was going to try to kill you.”
“You didn’t try to help me when he tried to kill me,” I snap.
“Why would I have? I was drugged! I wasn’t in my right mind.” She stands up and pushes me back a step. Even now, she’s still not afraid to show me her anger. I like that about her. “I was scared. I didn’t know what to do. I am sorry I didn’t help you, Nico, but can you honestly blame me for that?”
Some of my anger dissipates. She has a point.
“Fine,” I grit out. “I get it. I won’t blame you for that. But I’m still angry. You were going to leave me.”
“Can you also blame me for that?”
“I haven’t hurt you once! In fact, I have saved you on multiple occasions. I knew you weren’t happy about our marriage but do you honestly hate me, Sasha? Or are you just being stubborn?”
Her mouth opens but nothing comes out. Slowly, she closes her mouth and glares at me.
“Stubborn then,” I say. “Which can sometimes be fun but, right now, is getting on my fucking nerves. Come with me.” I grab her arm and haul her out of the room.
“Where are you taking me?” she gasps.
I take her to my office and through the hidden door down to the basement. She goes rigid when she sees Alek on the table.
I pick up a knife and place it in her hand. “You had a part to play in this. So you’re going to kill him for me.”