67. Chapter 67
After checking on Mary and Sasha, we leave them, the kids, and the other ladies topside with a skeleton crew before heading into the clubhouse. The rest of us follow Thor down into the sticks along with Mateo. He stays silent through our checkpoints, but I do notice his look of appreciation at each step.
As I walk, I lock away the part of me that screams at me that what I’m about to do goes against my nurse’s oath. However, I justify my motives by getting revenge for Mary as well as finding out more information to save more unsuspecting victims from Diego’s and Oasis’ reach.
Once inside, my lip curls in disgust. Like I had suspected, I can smell the growing infection in Leo’s wounds. I keep giving him antibiotic shots each day and flushing out the wounds, but other than that, I don’t try to stop the inevitable.
Leo’s still hanging from his arms, but now, he’s positioned along the longer wall and facing our new guests. Opposite him hangs Stephan and Derrick from their wrists, their toes barely touching the ground and they’ve been stripped naked. Dragon and I walk over to the toy chest in silence, both picking up our weapons of choice.
“Ah, looks like the vagrants have decided to grace us with their presence,” Stephan sneers and I shake my head at his antics.
He might not think it, but I can see him shaking from here, and it isn’t from the cold, though we are equipped to use that technique if we wanted to. His high and mighty view of himself isn’t going to gain him anything down here.
Dragon steps forward and Leo whimpers slightly when he passes behind him as he tries desperately to keep Dragon in his line of sight. His whimper makes Dragon’s dark smirk deepen.
“Don’t worry, Leo, ol’ buddy. Today’s focus is on these two scumbags, unless of course new information comes up that damns you into enduring some more time with my more treasured toys.”
My lip curls again as Leo pisses himself, and for the first time, Stephan’s and Derrick’s armor cracks a bit as they both pale slightly.
Dragon gives me a chin lift. I walk over to him and we each take out the serrated knives that we picked out. Silently, we each walk toward the men—me to Stephan and him to Derrick.
Stephan smirks smugly at me. “So, you’re the lowlife that got my wife pregnant before I could take her cherry like I was promised.”
Even though it kills me and takes most of my restraint, I don’t react to his taunts, knowing that’s what he wants.
He hums, a semi-blissful look on his face despite what I’m doing to him. “Yes, she was always a satisfying lay because she fought me so much, especially at first.”
I almost crack at that and I force myself to tune him out, otherwise I’ll end up killing him before we get answers out of him.
Instead, I focus on inflicting a fair amount of pain for what he’s done to Mary. With how many times I’ve worshipped her body by now, I know every single scar he’s given her.
It takes me ten minutes of meticulous cutting, but when I step back, a sick part of me is pleased at seeing his pale face sweating. His head drops and I scoff.
“What’s the matter there, Stephan? Can’t take what you dish out?”
With great effort, he lifts his head to look at me better, and I’m kind of surprised he’s this weak.
“Every cut I just gave you mirrors the scars you left on my Mary’s body.”
You could have heard a pin drop in the room at my words and even Dragon stops what he’s doing and looks at me, rage filling his eyes. When he takes in all of the cuts on Stephan’s body, his eyes darken even further.
And he hasn’t even seen the back of his body yet.
Stephan’s lip curls before he leers at me. “That fat bitch was worth taking off Diego’s hands. I got to have a regular side piece to breed and do whatever the fuck I wanted to her. The more she fought, the more enjoyable it was for me. The more I hurt her, the more I got back. Not to mention, I rose in his ranks once they saw how well I made her bleed. How I broke her.” The sadistic grin he gives me has my hackles rising, but he’s talking so I don’t hurt him further.
Yet anyway.
“Why did Diego want her taken off his hands to begin with?”
“Because E ordered him to get rid of Mary. She was getting in E’s way of regaining what was hers to begin with. When Diego approached me, we discussed the contract for Mary and E laid out specific clauses that if I were to do certain things and make her bleed regularly, with proof, that she’d dish out even more to me.”
Instantly, I think of the polaroids Mary mentioned.
“And what exactly did you get back for what you did to Mary?”
He looks at me like I’m crazy for asking. “Money. Power. Status. The more I did to her and to the others, the better I was taken care of by E. They made sure my bank accounts never went dry so long as I made that cunt bleed and hurt.”
I’m pretty sure I know who this E character is, but I need to verify. “And who is this E person?”
He shrugs like he isn’t hanging here, naked and carved up. Like he doesn’t have a care in the world. Honestly, I’m surprised I haven’t had to do more to get him to loosen up and talk.
“I never met them,” he says. “We only talked via secure email or a secure line, and they spoke with a voice scrambler.”
I frown at that. It sounds a lot like that voicemail Mary got. Deciding to play devil’s advocate, I cross my arms across my chest. “So, who’s to say that you really are getting the power that you wanted if you never met this E person? They could be selling you an illusion to use as a scapegoat. Kind of like what’s happening here.”
Stephan gives me a confused look, as if he’s never thought of that before. From what Mary’s told me before, he really isn’t that smart, so it wouldn’t be a hard stretch to think he’d never be double crossed.
Then he gives me an incredulous look. “You’re lying. I know I got power because I kept getting better positions. Diego kept giving me more and more jobs. Jobs that he’d usually have his trusted men do in the past, which meant he trusted me.”
I decide to play along. Maybe we’ll get something useful out of him. “So, what jobs did Diego give you?”
A sick gleam sparks in his eyes and it makes my stomach churn.
“Most recently, it was fulfilling orders for X to send to his team of Masters who break and train the product. In exchange, I got to take part in some of their sessions, both at the homesteads and in Diego’s clubs.”
“And before that?”
“Taking care of people that got in Diego’s or E’s way. Those that crossed them. Those who wouldn’t bend to them. I also helped them move their product around. Brought them people that no one would miss.”
He shrugs again like it’s no big deal. No doubt there were many innocents in that lot who just didn’t want to give up everything they’ve worked for their entire lives. Or just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“Who ordered you to come here last night?”
He smirks but doesn’t say anything.
“Suit yourself.”
Walking back over to the toy chest, I make a show of pulling out various tools and setting them on a table for him to see.
Crowbar. Pliers. Acetylene torch. Barbed whip. Boards filled with rusty nails with the pointy sides up. A couple of leather bondage cuffs, but these aren’t the fun ones. No, Dragon modified these so that the cuffs have barbs and pointy metal spikes that will bite into your skin with every movement.
However, first, I grab the pliers and walk back to Stephan. Giving Dragon a signal, he lowers Stephan’s arms but then immediately spreads them out so they are straight out at the shoulder. Gripping one of his hands, I clamp the pliers down on his nail and yank hard. Once again, Stephan’s cries fill the air as I rip each of his nails out, one by one.
When I’m done, I switch out the pliers for a different sort of punishment. Picking up the boards, a spreader bar, and two of the cuffs, I walk back over to Stephan but stop in front of him. Dragon goes over to the controls and lowers Stephan to the ground so that his feet are flat on it. Then Ryder steps forward and he and Dragon each take hold of one of Stephan’s calves, preventing him from kicking one of us or moving too much.
Ignoring Stephan’s protests, I lay the boards on the ground. Kneeling down, Dragon lifts his leg and I slide the first board under Stephan’s foot, making sure the straps securing the board to his toes and feet and are just a smidge too tight. Then I do the same to the other foot. Around each ankle, I strap the modified cuffs, but unlike with the boards, I don’t strap them in too tight. I don’t want them to dig in so deep that we risk nicking an artery.
Once the cuffs are secure, I connect a spreader bar to each cuff so that he can’t spread or close his legs. Standing, I walk over to a contraption that Smithy had made for us and wheel it over to Stephan. I stop it right in front of him, locking the wheels in place. So that it won’t tip with movement, I secure it to the floor, attaching metal chains that connect to eyebolts that are drilled into the cement. When I have the table secure, Ryder comes up to me and I look over my shoulder, seeing Dragon at the controls. Giving him a nod, both Ryder and I grab one of Stephan’s arms.
As soon as there’s slack in the chains, Stephan tries to wrestle his arms out of our hands. Giving him a dark look, I lift my foot, settling my boot on the top of one of Stephan’s feet before applying pressure, pushing his feet into the rusty nails. He cries out in pain, momentarily stopping his fight against us which allows us to secure his arms in the metal bracelets as Levi calls them. Half of the bracelets are welded secure to the table. The other half, clamps down onto the station section, securing someone firmly to the table.
Stepping back, I grab the crowbar off the other table and circle around Stephan while the others step back. He’s whimpering even more than before from the pressure his body is putting on the rusty nails that are biting into his feet and the barbs biting into his ankles.
“Last chance, Stephan, who ordered you to come here last night and kidnap Mary.”
Sweat drips down his temple as his face tightens with pain, yet still, he says nothing.
Without warning, I bring the crowbar down on his right forearm, twice, breaking it in the same spots that he broke Mary’s arm. The injury that sent her to the ER for the first time here in Forest Creek. That day was the first time I’d seen my Siren in person in nine years.
I steer clear of his ribs, not wanting to take the chance that I could puncture a lung if I hit him just right. Then I go to his left leg, breaking it where he’d done the same to her on Thanksgiving night.
For a moment, my mind wanders, and I wish I had the ability to heal him so I could keep breaking his bones over and over again. But that’s the stuff of fairytales, so this will have to do.
The howls he cries out have Leo and Derrick wincing in pain, but my brothers and sister don’t even flinch as I hit him a few more times.
Setting down the crowbar, I grab the acetylene torch and make a show of adjusting the flame before bringing the flame to Stephan’s chest and slowly drag it over his body. He cries out as it passes over his sensitive nipples, but since he isn’t giving us any information, I continue, burning sections of his chest and arms. Then, I move on, circling him and burning sections of his back, legs, ass, before moving to his front again. This time, I move even slower as I burn a trail over his thigh as I head toward his dick.
When I’m an inch from his dick, he finally talks.
“D-Diego. Diego ordered us. I h-had to get Mary back o-otherwise he was going to k-kill me.”
“See, that wasn’t so hard.” I grin darkly when he looks up at me, tears are spilling out of his eyes.
“Why does he need her back?”
“H-He’s got another buyer all lined up for her. I was limited w-with what I could do to Mary because she’d have to go to a regular h-hospital when I fulfilled the clauses of my a-agreement with E. But this g-guy is a whole new level. He has his own d-doctors on call and won’t be l-limited like I was. Though, to f-fulfill Diego’s own agreement with X, X gets one m-month with M-Mary before Diego ships her off to her new owner.”
Rage fills me and my vision narrows. Its only Thor’s hand on my shoulder that stops me from beating Stephan to a bloody pulp right then and there.
“Who’s her new owner?” Thor asks, but Stephan shakes his head back and forth.
“I-I don’t know. I swear—I d-don’t know. A-After she was shipped off, we were going to s-stage an accident to ensure Mary would become a g-ghost. Then, I was s-supposed to play the d-dutiful widow before taking a new wife, another w-woman who E said needed to be b-broken in for her upcoming role.”
“What else can you tell us about this E person?”
“J-Just that they are insanely p-powerful in this region. Even D-Diego answers to them. And rich. Filthy rich. They’ve got c-clubs all along the G-Great Lakes for their legit and illegal activities.”
Thor and I share an uneasy glance at that.
Shit.
Diego’s not the one really pulling the strings? I thought Diego owned those clubs. Or are these clubs in addition to the ones that Diego owns?
A grunt has us looking over at Derrick and at some point, Dragon had gone back to cutting into him.
“And where do you fit into all this?” I ask him as I stop in front of him.
His face is pale but he gives me nothing. No reaction at all.
“Dragon, I think you can have a little fun before Mateo takes over with this one.”
Derrick’s eyes widen a fraction as Dragon’s dark grin turns almost feral as his beast nears the surface even more than it had been before.
Without a word, Dragon walks over to the wall and grabs his go-to weapon when he’s allowed to fully unleash. A barbed whip that he made himself.
He walks in front of all three men, and Leo and Stephan both let out whimpers when they see it. Derrick, on the other hand, doesn’t look at it. He keeps staring ahead.
Dragon walks behind them, and all three flinch when they hear the barbs hit the floor. One after the other, Dragon whips Stephan’s back, and then Derrick’s back before repeating the process.
After nine strikes each, he coils his whip and walks around them, letting them see their blood dripping off the barbs.
Mateo grabs a knife from the toy chest before walking over to Derrick.
As he walks, the air in the room starts to feel stifling, and I realize Mateo’s changing into Don Mateo with each step. Well, he hasn’t been named the Don yet, but he will be soon.
For a moment, he just stares into Derrick’s eyes and finally, Derrick lowers his gaze, swallowing thickly. With the tip of the knife, Mateo makes Derrick look up at him.
“Why did you betray mi familia (my family)? Go against the orders of mi familia (mi family)? You know why we don’t deal in skin.”
“Because I’m in love with her. I love her and I’d do anything she asked.”
We all freeze at that and for a second, a look of shock crosses Mateo’s face before his Don persona is back. He lowers the knife and draws it across the Vasquez family crest that Derrick has tattooed on his chest. He had asked Dragon ahead of time not to touch the tattoo so that he could handle his family business. A whimper escapes Derrick, but he quickly covers it.
“Who?”
“Carmen.”
Bile rises in my throat at the thought of their relationship and what she’s putting Antonio through. A murderous look comes over Mateo before he makes another slice across the tattoo.
“So, you disgrace your Don by bedding his wife?” he grits out through clenched teeth, even though I know he has never liked Carmen.
“He knew I was in love with her and still he pursued a relationship with her, eventually marrying her. She was having his babies when she should have been having mine,” he snarls.
Mateo scoffs before drawing another line across Derrick’s chest. “And yet still you love her?”
“Always. A few years ago, after Eileen had disappeared and turned into a ghost, she came to me and said she realized what an awful mistake she’d made in choosing Antonio over me. However, the Vasquez family does not divorce. So, we started seeing each other on the side, spending as much time together as we possibly could.”
“So why were you with Stephan the other night?”
“Because Carmen asked me to make sure Stephan got the job done right this time. Her and E were tired of Mary causing a shit ton of problems for the family and for not giving into their demands to return what she’d stolen.”
“Who is E?”
He shrugs. “I’ve only ever heard them over the phone, and like Stephan said, they used a voice scrambler. “
“What do they think Mary stole from my family?”
“Eileen’s eared dagger and being the heiress to Heritage Roots. Also, Eileen doesn’t consider Mary her child because of what she’s done, so she wants Mary’s eared dagger as well. She wants to destroy it. As for her dagger, Eileen needs it to prove her connection to the Vasquez family, otherwise she’s not able to marry her intended.”
I frown at that. Well, at least that’s one part confirmed. But what’s Heritage Roots?
Mateo’s nostrils flare, the only sign that he’s getting even more pissed off. “Who is Eileen’s intended? And why does Eileen think that she deserves to be the heiress to Heritage Roots? Heiress to la compa?ía de mi madre (my mother’s company)?”
Oh, so that’s the company Lucia had meant in her note. Fuck, I knew there was something I was forgetting to follow up on. Looking over my shoulder, Smoke inclines his head toward me. I’ll talk to him later about the company.
“I don’t know who her intended is. As for the company, it’s because she’s the only one in the family who hasn’t been allowed to work for the family. Her and Carmen both think Lucia wormed her way into Antonio’s graces and that’s why he gave it to her after Esmeralda’s death. It should have been offered to Eileen. Carmen’s been trying to convince Antonio to give Eileen another chance, but he isn’t budging.”
Mateo growls as he digs the blade deeper into Derrick’s shoulder. “That’s because Eileen lost her place in the family for what she’d done to Mary and Nikos. Her own daughter and husband. She disgraced our family and was told she needed to earn her place back. So far, she has not. You don’t know the depths of what Eileen did to them both, but I do. Her punishment was justified. She starved and beat her own child repeatedly. She sold her child to a known womanizer and abuser who beat her to a bloody pulp multiple times. Forced himself on her countless times. Eileen should have been thankful that she wasn’t banished to the old country and forced to live in a hut and sustain herself instead, with no contact to the outside world. Forced to live out her years in poverty.”
Derrick curls his lip. “And I know what Eileen has been through. Shunned by your family since birth because she wasn’t the perfect and precious Esmeralda’s daughter. She wasn’t seen as worth knowing. She had to prove over and over again that she belonged in the family and you, your father, and your siblings ignored her. Each and every time. When she tried to follow in your family’s true footsteps, she was shamed even more and was forced to marry a man she loathed instead of the one she loved. Forced to have a child, even though she hated children. You and your siblings should have been the ones shunned for what you’ve done to her.”
Mato scowls at him. “Seems mi hermanita (my younger sister) has been continuing her manipulating ways. Doing everything she can to worm her way into the family by any means necessary. Contrary to what you think, I know mi hermana (my sister) very well, and the garbage you just spewed is just that. Garbage.
“But don’t worry. We’ll keep you on ice and you can see for yourself how much she’s lied to you and everyone throughout her pitiful life. However, you’re done. You signed your death warrant when you first bedded my stepmother, your Don’s wife. He will take great pleasure in dealing the final blow, but for now, I’ll take care of the rest.”
With that, Mateo slices through Derrick’s skin, ignoring his cries and pleas as he shaves off the family crest tattoo and drops it, bit by bit, onto the plastic covering the floor underneath all three of them.
Mateo steps back as he and Thor share a look. Thor gives me the signal and I go to my bag that I brought with me and pull out two sets of three syringes as well as one more. I give each of the men a shot of antibiotics and then a sedative. The last one is tetanus shot for Stephan.
Those of us that had a hand with things shuck off our boots and head to the locker room to shower and clean up.
Ten minutes later, Dragon, Ryder, Mateo, and I emerge from the locker room and slip into our boots that someone cleaned up for us before trudging upstairs to Church. As we take our seats, Thor bangs his hammer on the table.
“What the fuck is this Heritage Roots thing?”
Even though Thor’s looking at Smoke, Mateo’s the one who raps his knuckles on the table and answers. “It is a cooking and cookware company that mi madre (my mother) started not long after marrying mi padre (my father). I think what they want, besides the money, is the distribution network that comes along with it. Products made at the company are shipped around the US as well as to some international locations.”
“Fuck,” I groan, as I scrub my face and Mateo nods.
“They haven’t succeeded in using the rest of the distribution networks of nuestra familia (our family), so they’re trying to gain the next best thing. Heritage Roots.”
Thor frowns. “Do you think this E person could be Eileen?”
Mateo shrugs. “That’s my guess. The things they kept saying is similar to the notes, letters, and voicemails you’ve been receiving. It also makes sense. If Eileen is trying to wed another within the other mafia families, she will need her daga de oreja (eared dagger) for the ceremony, otherwise they will not accept her.”
“So, is there some special thing that this dagger is used for besides showing you’re worthy of representing the family?” Phoenix asks, and Mateo nods.
“The main purpose of the daga de oreja (eared dagger) is to show that the family deems you as worthy of representing the Vasquez family name. That the family deems you as trustworthy, backs your decisions, that they believe you are capable of acting on the family’s behalf and that you are loyal. While those deemed worthy also wear our family’s crest on a ring as an easier show of our place in the family, the daga de oreja (eared dagger) is used in special ceremonies, and weddings are one of them.
“Since you may not know, I will give you an overview seeing how we are now familia (family). If the wedding is between two mafia families, then first there are meetings between the heads of the families to tie them together, regardless of if it is an arranged marriage or not. Sometimes the exchange happens in private, and others are during a public wedding.
“Presenting our daga de oreja (eared dagger), which is part of our family’s crest, to the head of our intended’s family is a sign of respect. It shows the head of the family that the person presenting the dagger is giving them their loyalty as well. They are swearing to uphold their family’s ways as well as carrying on their own family ways. Then, as a sign of them accepting you, they tie silk ribbons of their family’s colors onto the hilt of the daga de oreja and pass it back to the owner. If Eileen is trying to marry into another mafia family, they will not deem her trustworthy without the daga de oreja . Even more so because she also is no longer allowed to wear the family ring either. When Padre (Father) took back her daga de oreja , he also took back her ring.”
I shake my head. All this hurt and hatred toward Mary could have been avoided if Eileen could have acted like a decent human being in the first place and not lost her place in the family.
“Alright, Patch, Mary and the kids are on partial lockdown still. We don’t know who this other buyer is that Stephan mentioned. We also need to keep tabs on whether X comes sniffing back around since he also wants Mary,” Thor says before turning toward Timber. “Might not be a bad idea to limit Mae going into town either, since X could also still want to get his hands on Mae.”
Timber and I share a look that promises no one will hurt our women.
Thor straightens and levels a hard look to everyone. “Stay alert. No one rides alone. We’ll get back together when we know more about what the fuck’s going on.”
He bangs his hammer on the table and everyone stands. I’m slow to rise as I mull over everything, trying to figure out what we’re missing.
There has to be a clue somewhere in all this mess to give us a leg up on who wants Mary.