Chapter Five
Time had lost all meaning. She’d no idea how long she’d been in the basement. She didn’t know how long it had been since the guy came down and beat her. Her whole body ached from where the man hit her, especially her face.
Bonnie knew it had to be badly swollen. Whenever she moved her mouth, it all felt tight and like there was so much extra fluid in her skin. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling, and she knew it was only going to get worse.
The man said he was coming back to interrogate her. That was a couple of hours ago, she thought, and it had instilled fear into her. She didn’t know how much time had passed between each visit. Was it a day and she was losing track of time? Had it only been a couple of minutes but it felt like eternity?
So many things were going through Bonnie’s mind. When was he going to come back? Was Rogan ever going to come? She was starting to think she would die before that ever happened.
Bonnie had always heard that Rogan and his men didn’t hurt innocent women. That’s why she’d figured that despite, being her brother’s biggest rival, The Ricci Crime Family was her best bet for safety. Was everything she’d heard about him wrong?
A single tear slid down her face. She was hurting and hungry.
No one had come down to give her anything to eat or drink. Maybe this was her punishment for sneaking into his car. That and being put down in the basement to be beaten and screamed at.
Bonnie moved her arm to the side as much as she could, and hissed in pain.
The man had come in here earlier, asking the same question, demanding to know her ulterior motive. She didn’t have one besides wanting to have help hiding from her brother. That was it, but the man didn’t care.
He seemed to enjoy inflicting pain on her. Any time she didn’t give him the answer he wanted, he would make a little cut on her arm or legs.
“Oh, honey,” he called out as he shut the door.
Bonnie cried when she heard his voice. She couldn’t take any more abuse. No matter what he did to her, it wouldn’t change her answers. “Please,” she whimpered.
“I told you, if you answered my questions, I would let Rogan know and we could be done,” the guy said as he turned the light on.
“I have answered them.”
She felt the tip of the blade go against her arm and her whole body stiffened. Shit.
“Answer them honestly,” he said.
“But I have!” Her voice raised a little. “I have answered honestly!”
Before she knew it, the blade plunged into her skin. Bonnie screamed out in pain as the man applied pressure to the knife. Tears ran down her face.
“You aren’t trying to be kept safe from your brother!” he sneered. “You’re a fucking liar. He sent you here to spy on Rogan and the Ricci Crime Family. Probably didn’t think we would question you like this,” the man said as he pulled the knife out.
She screamed as the pain intensified. Bonnie felt the blood running down her arm and all she could do was scream and cry.
“Now, why did your brother send you here?” the man asked again. “Think long and hard about this before you answer. Unless you love the pain.”
Bonnie started to feel lightheaded. She’d never been good with pain and this right here was her limit.
“P-please,” she weakly begged.
“Answer my fucking question, you stupid bitch!”
“Ethan h-had n-nothing to do with this.” Bonnie’s head rolled to the side. Her eyes were starting to feel heavy and all she wanted to do was take a nap. Was it from blood loss or was it because of the pain? Maybe it was from lack of food, or dehydration. Probably a combination of all of the above.
Searing pain flashed across her cheek as the man slapped her. She cried out as the other side of her face hit her shoulder.
“Pl-please,” she begged. “Ethan d-didn’t send me. He d-doesn’t kn-know I’m here.”
“Liar!” the man yelled. “And stop fucking crying!!”
Tears continued to stream down her face as she stared at the man. There was no point in telling him again that she wasn’t lying. He wouldn’t believe her anyway. He was livid right now and she was worried he was going to kill her.He’d gotten angry several times, but nothing like this.
“Stop fucking crying, you piece of shit,” the man screamed. “Or else I’m going to go get Rogan and he’ll give you something to cry about.”
She shook her head. “Please, no.” Bonnie didn’t want Rogan to come down here and torture her. If his men were this bad, he must be worse.
Bonnie wished she had a little voice inside of her head before she got into the car telling her to stop and think about it. Why hadn’t she thought about it before she acted on it?
Because she wasn’t one to think things through—at least not in stressful situations. Ethan normally was the thinker, which left her relying on him.
“Rogan’s going to have so much fun with you,” the man taunted, his tone sinister. “If you think I’m bad, he’s ten times worse.”
Fear went through her body thinking about Rogan coming down here. Ethan saidthe only thing they had in common was not hurting innocent women.Had something changed?
“I’m going easy on you,” the man said.
Her eyes went wide. He was going easy on her? It didn”t seem like he was going easy at all. Leaving tiny little cuts all over her exposed skin. Punching and slapping her in the face and stomach. It didn”t seem like he was going easy on her.
Bonnie”s mind went to what Rogan could do. What could be worse? He could pull her fingernails, break bones, hit her so hard she would suffer a concussion, and so much more. He could do a lot worse.
Rogan probably knew how to torture somebody, leave them on the brink of death and continue torturing them. Not giving them the satisfaction of dying.
“Ah, I see you”re thinking about what he could do to you.” The man gave a sinister-sounding laugh. “Lucky for you, I”m not done yet. I still want to have my fun. Maybe in a couple of days Rogan will come by.”
Bonnie shook her head. “Please just kill me.”
The man took a step forward, grinning wickedly. He carefully touched her cheek with his finger. “And why would I do that? Why would I kill you when I”m having so much fun playing with you?”
Tears filled her eyes and went down her face. If she was struggling and begging for death now, with Rogan it was going to be so much worse. She knew she wouldn”t survive if Rogan was to torture her.
“I bet your brother”s done some of this,” the man said. “Has he ever let you watch as he tortured somebody?”
Bonnie closed her eyes. She wasn”t going to answer his question. Ethan would never let her watch him torture someone. He wanted her as far away from the life as possible.
“Answer my fucking question!” the man yelled as he slapped her.
How much more of this was she going to have to endure? How much more until they let her go or killed her?
Bonnie didn”t know if she wanted to be let go after Rogan tortured her. The recovery would be long and hard and everything would remind her of this moment.
“Bitch! I said, answer the fucking question!” the man yelled again.
She shook her head. “N-no,” she stuttered.
“What a shame. He should have let you watch an interrogation. Maybe then you wouldn”t have said yes to the mission and gotten into the Boss”s car.”
She shook her head again and anger flared up in his eyes. Bonnie knew no matter what she said, he wasn”t going to listen. He wanted one answer and one answer only, but it wasn’t the truth. It was a lie, and she wasn”t going to betray her brother, in any way.
“If you just tell me the truth, I”ll make sure to put in a good word to Rogan. Let him know that you’re finally cooperating. But I won”t be able to do that unless you tell me the truth,” the man calmly said, trying to reason with her.
“I am telling the truth,” she whispered through her swollen lips.
It was getting harder and harder to talk and see.
The man punched her in the stomach, knocking all the air out of her lungs. She gasped for air, but nothing went in.
He gripped a chunk of her hair, pulling it hard as his lips came close to her ear. “You better think twice before you answer again. You”re on thin ice and the next false answer will earn you a couple broken bones.”
Tears continue to flow down her face at a rapid rate. She didn”t think she would be able to survive the bone-breaking, but she couldn”t lie. She wouldn”t lie.
“But maybe you should lie. Then I could break your pinky fingers and work my way toward your thumb. Every false answer you give, two fingers get broken. Then once I”ve broken all ten of them, I”ll move on to your toes. And then I”ll let Rogan have his way with you,” the man said. “Once he sees how much I”ve done, he”ll know that he”ll have to do his worst to get answers out of you. He won”t go easy on you.”
Bonnie was trying to suck in air with every word he said. It was getting harder and harder to breathe as the fear paralyzed her body. She was going to die an extremely painful death and she wasn”t ready for it.
“But that won”t be right now. I”ll give you a couple of hours to relax and gain your strength back. I”ll be back to have some fun with you later.” The man dropped his grip on her hair and walked away.
She watched as he disappeared, shutting off the light and leaving the room. Once again she was left in the darkness alone with her thoughts.