Chapter 43
Diesel
M y head hurt, it hurt bad , but not as much as my left hand. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, I could feel the broken bones. The pain was nearly unbearable, drilling through me like needles to my nerves. Adding to that, after the beating I took to my rib cage, every breath made me hurt a thousand times more, to the point I tried wheezing as little air as possible into my lungs. By now, I’d bitten my lips so hard I was bleeding, not that I had anything to do about it, as my hands had been tied behind my back for… I didn’t know how long I’d been sitting here with my head covered in a hood. I could only guess it had been a couple of hours since Gale and his men stormed into my house without explanation, but that was just a guess. The only thing I knew was that for the past however long I’d been here, I was thanking God Shay-Lee wasn’t home when those thugs came. If he were… fuck . The thought struck me with gutting fear, and I squeezed my eyes hard in an attempt to chase away the thought.
I perked up at the sudden sound of a door opening and kept still upon hearing footsteps getting closer. Knowing better than to speak, I kept my mouth shut when someone lifted the hood off my head. Blinded by the sudden light, I squinted while looking around the room. Recognizing this warehouse as a place we often took people to investigate , I understood how fucked I truly was.
There were three men in the room, none of whom I recognized, which meant they were low-ranked thugs and worthless of my questions. Therefore, I stayed quiet until the man I was waiting for joined the room, escorted by Gale. With a smile, Dion walked toward me and stopped only when the tip of his expensive shoe bumped into my bare feet.
Yeah, those fuckers also took my shoes.
Without a word said, Gale grabbed a wooden chair from the wall, similar to the one I was tied to, and placed it in front of me. With my eyes set on Dion, I watched the fucker rolling up his sleeves before sitting down and crossing his legs like the bitch that he was.
“Why am I here?” I hissed, looking straight into his malicious eyes.
Dion’s lips stretched into a crooked smile as he tilted his head and scratched his jaw. “If you’re still wondering why you’re here at this point, I must admit that I’m quite disappointed with myself for ever thinking so highly of you.”
Fury raged through me at his mockery, and I ground my teeth. “That’s a fancy way to call me an idiot, don’t you think?”
“As long as you got the message, who cares?” He leaned closer, his eyes studying me in detail. “I always saw so much potential in you, Camilo. And you know why that is?”
“Please.” My face hurt as I forced a smile. “Enlighten me.”
Dion found me amusing, as he shook his head with self-satisfaction. “Clearly, it wasn’t your charming personality, nor was it your ability to kill, as, for some reason, you always showed mercy to your prey.” His lips quivered, and his eyes glinted with something . “Well, minus that one time . ” He tapped his chin while showing off his white teeth in a sickening smile. “But back to my point, as I tend to get carried away with my thoughts… I kept you because of your loyalty, Camilo. ”
My brows pulled close because what the fuck was he talking about?
“First, it was the loyalty to your brother that brought you to me. The good, old, brotherly-love type of loyalty that lasted, well, until he parted this world.”
Pure anger shot through me, and I fought hard to stay calm at his words.
“Then, you were loyal to him. To that little putain you claim to love so much.” His smile slipped for a mere second before it returned. “And your loyalty to your sweet, blond lover was useful beyond words. It made it easy to bend you over and fuck you as much as I pleased because you never fought me back. Not really, anyway.”
“You son of a bitch—” A sudden blow to my temple cut me off mid-sentence, and my head jolted aside as the whole room spun around me. Blood ran down the side of my face, and I glanced aside to see one of Dion’s men gripping a gun. My throat dried, and my head throbbed, and I felt like passing out, not that Dion cared, as he continued spitting his shit.
“Your loyalty to me came from him, from the fear of losing another loved one. Don’t get me wrong, fear is my favorite type of loyalty, as no personal vendetta ever gets in its way… or so I thought.”
A shiver ran down my spine while the room slowly got colder. Feeling tired, I closed my eyes when Dion grabbed my jaw and forced my head up.
“ On ne peut jamais faire confiance à un chien qui mords la main de celui qui le nourrit. ”
“W-what?” My brows pulled close while I tried focusing on his face, which I was currently seeing double of.
“You cannot trust a dog that bites the hands that feeds him…” His smile dropped. “You were the mole all along.”
My heart paused as shock overtook me, enough to give me the power to shake my head.
“No.” I swallowed hard. “I gave you the man who was— ”
“You gave me a scapegoat to cover your ass, Camilo,” he hissed, his words dripping with raw danger.
“I didn’t. I gave you the right man!”
Pain struck me as he held my jaw tighter until he let go, only to fist my hair by its roots. Tilting my head back and exposing my neck like he was ready to slit it, Dion bent close, pure madness written in his insane eyes.
“ Non, non, non, très cher … Now’s the time to speak the truth, so you better start telling me where the information you stole from me is.”
The information I’ve stolen from him?
Dion locked eyes with me as he waited for a confession for a crime I didn’t commit. And so, even though my whole body hurt and I could hardly keep my head up, it didn’t stop me from spitting in his face.
My spit, mixed with my blood, landed right on his left eye, and I watched it slowly slide down his face.
“Kill me if you want, but don’t call me a traitor. ’Cause I ain’t one,” I rasped through gritted teeth. “Besides, I’ve got no fucking idea what you’re talking about. I didn’t steal shit.”
Dion wiped my spit off his cheek, then looked down at his hand. “Kill you?” He snorted. “Now, why would I do that when there’s still so much I need to know?”
He wiped his hand over my face, smearing my blood and spit all over it. He then, in a sharp move, grabbed my jaw and forced my head still before pulling a switchblade out of his pocket. Sweat dribbled down my forehead as I focused on the silver knife in his hand, and I tried pulling away when he only kept me closer.
“See it as a little souvenir for all the good times we’ve spent together.”
Digging the tip of the blade into my right cheek, he stuck it in good until he reached the bone. My lips parted in a scream as he slowly moved the knife across my face, the blade drawing over the bridge of my nose as he carved me from ear to ear. Blood oozed from the freshly cut wound, some of it getting into my mouth while I gritted my teeth against the pain. Dion ignored my protest as he pulled the knife out, only to dig it back in and carve another cut, this one going from my jaw all the way up to my eyebrow.
“Not so handsome anymore, are you now?” He laughed before looking behind me. A second later, they covered my head with the damn hood and pulled it back, choking me.
I had no time to focus on the cuts to my face as my body went into defense mode, and I started to move and struggle in an attempt to get loose when they kicked the chair to the ground. A violent scream erupted from me after I landed on my injured hand, and while it hurt beyond words, I had little time to adjust to the pain before they poured water on my face. Water got into my mouth, and I struggled to breathe through the wet cloth and aching pain. I tried fighting my restraints to no avail because each time I attempted to move, I got either kicked or punched.
Out of air, I coughed and gagged, and when I was done, I tried calling Dion’s name. In response, another bucket was poured on my head, causing me to shut my mouth so water wouldn’t get into my lungs. I only managed to hold my breath for brief moments, and eventually, I couldn’t help but choke. The pain was almost unreal, to the point of being unbearable, when it all stopped. Silence spread around me, and I didn’t hear a thing until someone punched my stomach, causing me to puke all the water out. They waited until I stopped coughing before pulling the hood from my head.
Tears welled in my eyes while I attempted to ease the pain with breathing, only each intake of air stabbed me from the inside like the dagger of a sharp knife.
“J-just kill me,” I panted.
The lights on the ceiling blinded my sight until someone moved to loom over me, blocking them away.
“Didn’t you hear the boss?” Gale nudged my cheek with his shoe. “Nobody’s dying on my watch.”
Having nothing to do but to accept this was God’s fate for me, I closed my eyes. Funnily enough, Shay-Lee’s face was still all I could see. His wavy blond locks, the beauty spots above his lips, every shade of blue in his eyes—I saw it all, as if we were lying next to each other on our bed. This heaven couldn’t have been further from the hell I was stuck in, but somehow, it felt so real. So close . Almost a breath away… Perhaps this was what dying felt like, although I doubted it. After all, they’d just told me death was a luxury I didn’t deserve. But they fooled no one, and since I knew I wasn’t stepping out of here alive, I prayed. I prayed to God to keep my angel safe because I couldn’t anymore.