Chapter 25
STONE
Ice cold water splashes over me, and my eyes spring open, finding myself dangling from chains in a dark cell, bars lining one wall of what could only be described as a cement block.
Just fucking great.
Talon Wilder, second in command of the Bone Reapers, stands before me, the empty metal bucket dangling from his fingers before he tosses it aside.
The sound echoes through the building, or maybe I should say basement.
My guess is that I’m in some kind of underground prison system.
I wouldn’t be surprised if multiple cells lined each wall, probably filled with men just like me—assholes who dared to step against their precious little gang and light a fire under their asses.
Three men hover behind him, smirks on each of their faces.
Two of them being more than familiar. Collaroy Munroe and Nico Vega.
Fuck, I almost catch myself smiling. What are the chances that three of the men on my kill list are standing right before me?
It’s almost like an offering. I might currently be dangling from chains connected to an oversized meat hook, but that’s a temporary situation.
Now all I need is for Lux to show his worthless face, and I’ll have the full set.
Collaroy stands to Talon’s left, the four Polaroids clutched in his worthless hand.
“What’s this?” he spits, looking at me as though I’m the piece of shit in the room before tossing the Polaroids on the ground below my feet.
“Why have you been carrying our pictures around? Been jerking off to them the past seven years?”
A wiser man would know exactly why I’ve held on to these pictures, but unfortunately for Collaroy, there’s nothing wise about him. He’s a moron, and I hate that he reminds me so much of Ash. They were two peas in a pod before they fell into the Bone Reapers. It was all downhill from there.
I don’t bother responding; it’s not necessary.
Instead, I turn my attention to Talon, and seeing the scrutiny in his stare, it’s clear that he’s the wise one in the room.
He knows exactly why I’ve carried those pictures around, knows exactly why I submitted back at the warehouse, and knows exactly why I haven’t tried to make a move yet.
“Where is she?” I say, my voice level. Calm.
Talon watches me a moment longer, his dark gaze narrowing as though trying to figure out my game plan.
“Oh, you’ve got much bigger problems than the whereabouts of your little girlfriend,” he says, a filthy grin stretching across his face as he attempts to bait me.
“But don’t worry, we’re taking real good care of her. ”
Rage cuts through me like a serrated blade, and as my blood boils from within, I keep a calm exterior, not letting him see how his words have gutted me.
If they’re hurting her . . . fuck. I don’t know what I’m going to do, but one thing is for sure, I’ll be the only motherfucker walking out of this shithole alive.
“Where’s Lux?”
Talon scoffs. There’s no way in hell he’s about to hand over that information, but his little sidekicks clearly can’t read the situation as well as he can.
“He’s around,” Nico says with a smirk, as though that’s supposed to intimidate me, but clearly an idiot like him doesn’t understand what’s truly intimidating to a man who’s spent years in a maximum security prison.
Nothing. Well, that’s not entirely true.
There’s only one thing on this earth that has the potential to intimidate me, and she’s a fiery redhead, but she’ll never know that.
Talon shoots a hard glare at Nico, a silent message passing between them, and if I were a betting man, I’d guess Talon is warning Nico that he’s about to have hell to pay for that. And judging by the look on Nico’s face, he’s got no idea why.
While Nico can’t see how letting me know that their boss is close by is a threat to their whole operation, Talon sure as fuck can. His gaze roams over me with a deep suspicion. “Whatever you think you’re going to achieve here, Blackthorne, you’re going to be sorely disappointed.”
I just watch him, my silence making his hands twitch at his sides. He’s too obvious. All four of them are. They’re easy to read, and despite hanging in chains from an industrial-sized meat hook, they’re not the threat in the room.
Getting uneasy, Talon glances toward Collaroy and gives a subtle nod, and the moron steps out from Talon’s flank and moves across the cell to where a large, heavy-duty crowbar rests against the bars of the cell.
Well shit. This is going to be inconvenient, but who am I to sit out on a fight? Albeit a one-sided fight, but a fight nonetheless. Besides, until I get more information on where they’ve stashed Aria, I can’t raise suspicion.
Collaroy makes his way to me, dragging the crowbar along the blood-stained floor as though that’s supposed to scare me, and if I were the laughing type, I’d be howling. This motherfucker has watched one too many horror films.
“Let me be very clear,” Talon says as Collaroy settles in front of me.
“You’re gonna pay for the six men you took from us.
Not all at once. Not quickly. Piece by piece until the debt feels heavy enough to crush you.
It might take days. It might take months, but by the time we’re through with you, you will understand why you don’t cross the Bone Reapers.
Only then will I take your miserable life. ”
“Wow. Not even going to take me to dinner before you offer to fuck me up,” I say.
“But I have to admit, I’m concerned. None of you looks like you’ve got what it actually takes to crush me.
I mean, shit, Collaroy. Look at those scrawny little arms. Can you even lift that crowbar?
Is that why you’re dragging it across the ground like that?
You know, they make them in all sizes. You could have gotten one that was a little more . . . your speed.”
Collaroy’s face turns a flaming red, his little pinchy eyes burning with rage as he lifts the crowbar and swings it back. “You’re gonna rot in hell with your brother,” he spits, already teetering on the edge, proving that he’s still just a kid who lacks self-control.
I grin at him. “I’ll say hi to him for ya.”
Collaroy snaps, the rage in his eyes taking hold as he swings the crowbar toward me with everything he’s got, landing a blow against my ribs.
I won’t lie, those scrawny little arms must have some muscle packed in there somewhere because fuck, that stung like a bitch, but he’s not going to know that.
He’s already huffing and puffing after one swing. I’ll outlast this moron by hours.
“That’s the way, really put your back into it,” I encourage.
He hits me again and again, and I let out a sigh of frustration.
“I’m disappointed, Collaroy. You can do better than this.
It’s pitiful. You’re embarrassing yourself in front of your little friends.
If you’re gonna fuck me up, then do it properly,” I tell him.
“Fix your stance. Back up straight. Widen your hands like you’re swinging a bat, and fuck man, bend those goddamn knees. What is this? Amateur hour?”
Collaroy spits at me, and I choke back a laugh as he fixes his stance, widening his grip before letting the crowbar swing free. And fuck me, the moron fumbles, letting the crowbar fly right out of his fucking fingers.
“Seriously?” I say, looking over at Talon as Collaroy rushes to get the bar. “This is what you’ve got out here representing the Bone Reapers? This is your future? Fuck, man. I’d get out while I still could.”
Talon clenches his jaw, and as Collaroy spares him a glance, he looks as though he’s about to lose his shit.
“Come on,” I continue, catching Collaroy’s stare. “Why don’t you hand it over to Nico? He seems to have a little more meat on his bones. Perhaps he could make a little progress. Rest those little scrawny arms of yours.”
Collaroy loses control and lifts the bar up before whipping it toward me, hitting me square in the ribs, and shit. I think he might have even managed to break one. “Now we’re talking,” I grin, egging him on. “Hit me again.”
He swings the bar over and over again, quickly losing control. Sweat beads on his forehead, but no matter how many times he hits me, no matter how many times he rams the end directly into my chest, or when the bar tears deep into my flesh, I don’t break.
There might have been a time this kind of torture would have broken me, but not now. Not after spending seven years in a maximum security prison. In comparison, this is a fucking breeze.
Collaroy quickly gets exhausted, and the moment it starts to show, Nico steps in and effectively takes out another two ribs. It goes on for hours, but nothing is going to break me, not when Aria’s life is on the line.
Nico switches up the game. Putting out cigarettes on my chest, burning me with a lighter, and carving a blade across my skin. Blood covers the ground beneath me, but it’s a fucking walk in the park compared to the mere idea that Aria is scared and alone in here.
“FUCK!” Talon roars, clearly frustrated by my lack of participation in this little performance.
They’re more exhausted than I am, but just because I could keep doing this for hours, doesn’t mean that their abuse hasn’t taken a significant toll on my body.
I won’t hold on to consciousness for much longer.
It’s inevitable, but until then, I’ll continue to push, because the longer they’re focused on me, the less they’re worrying about Aria.
My arms ache from dangling from the chains, but I no longer have the strength to try and break through them, not like I could so effortlessly do with the prison chains.
This is different. My lungs burn with every sharp exhale, my bruised and broken ribs threatening to end it all.
But I won’t beg for my life. I won’t give them the satisfaction.
Why’d I have to put Aria in this situation?
I should have found somewhere safe for her to stay, somewhere far away from this bullshit, where she would have had everything she needed.
Fuck, I should have just let her go. She’d be home by now, safe in her apartment, watching all this shit unfold on the news, instead of having her face plastered all over it.
I’ve stolen her life out from under her simply because I couldn’t fathom the idea of ever being without her.
Talon strides toward me, dragging his hand over his face as though having absolutely no fucking idea where to go from here.
He hadn’t anticipated that I’d outlast all of them.
Sure, he might have thought he’d have to put some effort in.
But just like every other motherfucker he’s tortured, he assumed after the first ten minutes, I would have begged for mercy. Over my dead fucking body.
It would be easier if he were to just kill me, but he’s too fucking sick for that. To end my life without watching me break will never be enough. He wants to watch me die inside. He wants my suffering. He wants me on my knees begging for my life. He’s going to be very disappointed.
The second I can get one of these motherfuckers alone, it’s game over.
I will figure out where she is, and when I do, I’m getting us the fuck out of here, broken ribs and all.
Talon watches me, frustration burning in his vile stare as dark spots appear in my vision. My head spins as Talon reaches up, releasing something in the chains and making me drop.
I hit the ground hard, my vision swimming as my body begins to swell, but I’m too exhausted to move, and as if knowing that, he risks stepping even closer and crouching down, that wicked stare locked on mine.
“You won’t break. I can respect that. Seven years in prison changes a man,” he murmurs, leaning in as his voice lowers.
“The question is, what’s it gonna take? Your girlfriend, perhaps?
Will you be begging for more when she’s the one screaming? Let’s find out, shall we?”
Fear detonates in my chest, claiming every inch of me, but the darkness hits harder, fading my world in and out as four blurred bodies begin to retreat.
The heavy clang of the cell door slams closed behind them, echoing through the underground.
But just as fast as the echo appeared, it fades, taking me along with it.