74. Chapter 74
After having a quick supper, we’re on the road again. The kids weren’t exactly happy with us leaving, but there’s no way I’d ever allow them to witness what we’re going to do tonight.
Well, unless one of them wants to work for Abuelo (Grandpa) or join the club at some point, then they might find out some of the things they do behind closed doors.
After the guard clears us, Judge drives the van up the winding driveway and straight up to the garage. Another guard lets us in and it isn’t until the door is closed that the guys all file out of the vans. With the number of us present tonight, we brought three vans. One of them is holding our ‘guests’ who have been bound, gagged, and blindfolded. Four men that work for Abuelo (Grandpa) step forward and grab Stephan and Derrick before disappearing into the house.
Patch gets my chair out and once I’m situated, I follow him and Thor into the house as another man that works for Abuelo (Grandpa) leads us to the men who went ahead. While I know the upper levels from my times here before, I’ve never been allowed into the basement until now. Though something that’s surprising is that Levi and Sasha are coming this time.
And can I just say… I want their boots!
They are both wearing killer boots, that overall look the same with them being red leather, but whereas Levi has the normal boot sole one would expect, Sasha’s has what looks like metal stiletto heels. I wonder if the difference is because boots like Sasha’s would be extremely uncomfortable for a pregnant woman. My gaze wanders over their outfits and I realize they are both dressed completely in black and their long hair has been braided and wrapped into a bun on the top of their heads.
I have a sneaky suspicion that they’ll be getting dirty tonight.
Sasha sees me staring at her boots and winks. “I’ll hook you up after this. Levi and I have these and some black ones that are like mine, whereas Mae just got some black ones. Right now though, with her being about to pop and all, she got regular boots but they have a compartment in the heel that has little metal spikes should she need them.”
Choosing to ignore that little tidbit for now, I cock an eyebrow at her and concentrate on the rest of what she said as I feel my lips twitching as I try not to smile. “Red for work, black for play?”
Levi grins from the other side of Sasha. “Like I said before, I knew you were a good egg and a perfect fit for us.”
Returning the grin, I feel a sense of belonging fall over me.
And this time, I don’t question it, unlike I did in the past when I was still battling the demon voices in my head from Stephan and Eileen.
In a matter of minutes, we’re led into a large room where we find Abuelo (Grandpa), Tío (Uncle) Mateo, and Tío (Uncle) Lorenzo. Half of the room is covered in plastic. In the middle of that plastic, Carmen, Eileen, and Phillip are strung up on one side, and on the other side are Diego, Carlos, and Isaac in a similar position. There’s enough room between the two rows that our group will have no problems watching everyone’s reactions, especially since they are angled slightly so that the two on the far ends are closer together than the two closest to us. Though, I am curious as to why they left a space between Diego and Carlos, but I’m sure I’ll find out soon enough. All of them are stripped naked and I’m sure it’s to make things easier tonight. I already know Leon is being held somewhere else here in la casa de mi abuelo (my grandpa’s house) because we’re saving him for the feds. Well, unless Creed has already been by to pick him up.
My gaze snags on a pile of bodies in the back corner of the room that are laying on the plastic and have already been, uh, handled it appears. My guess is it’s the guards that Patch told me Diego had lured away from Abuelo .
Movement has me looking back toward my so-called family to find that they are being stringing up Stephan and Derrick alongside the others—Stephan next to Carmen and Derrick opposite Carmen, between Diego and Carlos.
Raised voices have me turning and my jaw drops in shock when I realize Levi and Sasha each have a guard that work for Abuelo pushed up against the door with a knife to their throats. My gaze darts to Thor, Dragon, and Cowboy who are just barely holding themselves back from going to their women. However, I also see the respect and heat in their eyes toward their respective women.
“Maybe you should have talked to your fucking boss before putting your hands on me, you fucking asshole,” Levi snarls as she presses her blade tighter against the man’s throat.
“This is family business, no non-family women allowed,” he grits out through clenched teeth.
“We are here under invitation to deal with matters the club way regarding the women. Again, you should have fucking talked to your boss before trying to manhandle me. Or maybe you thought I’d be too weak and easier to manipulate since I’m fucking pregnant.”
“Since when are women allowed in MCs? You’re probably just a piece of ass, the random flavor of the week.”
“My sister is the President’s and Enforcer’s Old Lady, and our club’s decisions are none of your concern,” Sasha grits out as she tightens her blade against the man’s neck. I’m not sure if the guy she’s holding said something else or if she’s replying to the guy that spoke.
A growl comes from behind me before Abuelo (Grandpa) strides past me toward them. Levi flings the guy around and removes the blade from his throat right before Abuelo wraps his hand around his neck.
“How dare you fucking touch my guests in this manner, Martin? They are here because I invited them and because the club deals with women a certain way. How dare you question my authority?”
Martin’s eyes widen and he shakes his head as much as possible. “I was just trying to uphold the no non-family women rule we’ve always had, Boss.”
“Well, that rule is forever going to be changed due to our ties with the Steel Archangel’s. Any women they bring here, you are to consider them as my guests and you will treat them as such. Get out of my sight. Both of you.”
Levi clucks her tongue. “Or they can stay and maybe they’ll learn a thing or two about why they shouldn’t fuck with us.” She steps back and reaches into her cut. “Oh, and here, Antonio.”
Martin scowls before patting himself down, growling when he realizes that she somehow lifted his gun.
“Why I outta — ”
“Martin,” Abuelo barks out before he turns and gives a curt nod to Levi. “Very well,” he replies, though the glare he levels Martin and the man next to him that Sasha had just released would have made me extremely worried about how much longer I would be living.
Martin’s gaze narrows when he notices the back of Levi’s cut is the same as the other guys and a calculative look enters his eyes. I hope he doesn’t try to do anything after this.
Thor and Dragon both go up to Levi, kissing her senseless, and Cowboy does the same to Sasha. When they pull back, all three men send glares at the guards which has the guards shifting slightly on their feet.
Abuelo smirks, recognizing the claiming, and gestures to the cabinets behind him. Without a word, Levi, Sasha, Patch, Thor, Dragon, Ryder, Timber and Trip all walk over and take inventory of what tools are available. Though, I do notice Dragon and Ryder setting down some large boxes on the table. Guess they wanted to bring some of their tools as well.
While they decide what they want to use, Abuelo and mi tíos (my uncles) take off their suit coats and roll up their sleeves. All three of them are wearing sheaths that I bet contain their eared daggers. My own is burning against my side, and I hope Levi helps me with my one special request for tonight. Not even Patch knows about it, despite the fact that though we discussed earlier what questions I wanted answered, if possible, and what I wanted to have done to everyone.
Patch walks up to Diego and then to Isaac before standing in the middle of them all.
“To quote something Dragon said during Leo’s initial session, though I will be modifying it a bit, the only control you have right now is how much pain you endure. We can make your end relatively painless, or we can make your pain endless. Right now, that is the only control you have. How much pain you endure before you die. Those that tell us what we want to know will earn a less painful death. Refuse, however, and we will make it extremely painful until we get the information we need.” He pauses and looks between Diego and Isaac.
“Which of you two killed Nikos?”
My eyes burn, but I refuse to let them fall as Patch asks one of the questions that has plagued me the most.
They both smirk, but neither one of them talks.
“Suit yourself.”
Dragon steps forward and takes Isaac while Patch goes to Diego. They both begin to carve into each of their bodies and even from here, I can see both of them straining to not let on how much it hurts. Timber steps forward and starts working on Phillip while Ryder takes Stephan, Tripp takes Derrick, and Thor takes Carlos.
While they get to work on the guys, Levi and Sasha walk up to Carmen and Eileen, and as they pass people, they drop little wooden boxes on the ground in front of everyone. Levi looks up at the chains in the ceiling and follows it along the track to the control panel. Sasha walks over and lowers the women’s arms until they are horizontal, when both women breathe a sigh of relief, Sasha grins wickedly and starts moving the chains out, stretching out their arms. Both of them cry out at the new pain and when Levi gives the signal, Sasha rejoins her.
“ Обычный (The usual)?”
“ Да (Yes).” Levi pauses as she tilts her head and studies the women. “ Заставим их извиваться (Let’s let them squirm).”
Soon the sounds of more harsh Russian words fill the room as Levi and Sasha stalk around the women while making contemplative gestures and looks. Sasha had told me what those three phrases meant earlier on the ride up here. Levi also shared that one of the techniques they use to make the guests squirm is to just talk about random shit in Russian. As Levi and Sasha continue, I have to give them credit — it looks like it’s working just the way they wanted it to because it’s not just the women getting on edge.
Then without warning, at least that I know of anyway since I don’t speak Russian and I don’t have one of the translator devices, they both pull out pliers and start bending Carmen’s and Eileen’s manicured nails back. Screams tear out of both women as they beg them to stop. My gaze stays on Levi and Eileen since she’s the one I want to watch the most out of the two women.
Once the nail is bent back enough, Levi rips it off and drops it in the bin. She grins a wicked and dark grin at the sound of the nail hitting the bin. “I do so love the sound of my trinkets bouncing around my trophy boxes.”
Glancing over at Abuelo , I see him and both mi tíos (my uncles) watching Levi and Sasha closely. Looking around the room, so are most of the men that work for Abuelo . And I don’t mean that in a sexual way. I think the ladies may be starting to open their eyes to other ways of handling women traitors.
And they’ve only just begun.
When they are each done with one hand, they move to the next.
I also notice that Derrick is oddly interested in what’s happening to Carmen. Since nail Sasha ripped out, he’s been getting more and more agitated, ignoring his own injuries and focusing on hers.
A growl rips out of Derrick as he tries to thrash harder in his restraints. “Leave her alone,” he yells, which surprises me, but it doesn’t surprise the rest of the club or my family.
What’s going on? Do they know something I don’t?
Everyone ignores Derrick and they keep their focus on their person of interest, since Derrick isn’t giving any useful information, just yelling threats.
The ladies continue ripping out each nail, one by one. When that’s done, they raise the women’s arms back to where they were before. Then they pull out their blades and begin slicing into their skin.
After a few minutes, and Derrick’s pleas for them to leave Carmen alone, Abuelo walks forward. When Tripp steps back, Abuelo draws his eared dagger, tracing the tip of it down Derrick’s chest.
“Why should they stop, Derrick? Is there something you’d like to share?”
Derrick’s jaw clenches as his gaze bounces between Abuelo and Carmen as Sasha continues to sink her blade into her skin, cutting her and sometimes shaving sections of skin off.
“How about the fact that you’ve been bedding my wife for the past five years?”
My hand flies to my mouth as both Carmen’s and Derrick’s gazes lock. Both of them pale slightly as they realize their secret is out. Then Derrick’s face morphs into anger as he stares at Abuelo .
“You knew. You knew I loved her and yet you pursued her and married her. Flaunting your new family around in front of me every chance you got. Hell, you even assigned me to her security detail, which was fucking hell on earth until she told me she regretted her choice to pick you over me.”
La cara del abuelo (Grandpa’s face) face darkens. “I knew no such thing. I thought you two were just friends, not lovers. Your friendship is why I put you on her security detail, knowing you’d make sure she was safe when I was not with her. Why the fuck didn’t you say anything to me? I never would have pursued someone that a person I had considered my friend also liked.”
Derrick’s anger falters some in his confusion, but he shakes it off. “No, I told you many times I wanted to make her my wife, and yet you still went ahead and courted her yourself. She felt pressured into saying yes to you. That she didn’t have a choice.”
“Not once did you ever tell me you loved her and wanted to marry her. You might have told others, but not me.” Then, strangely, Abuelo chuckles darkly as he digs his blade into Derrick’s skin. “As for pressured? She was the one that pursued me in the beginning. Not the other way around. Looks like you too have fallen to her manipulative ways. And since finding out of your dalliances, I took a closer look at the security cameras. You weren’t the only one to warm her bed.” He pauses and jerks his thumb over his shoulder. “Those assholes were also getting a piece of her. She was rotating all of you through her bed during the day and then slinking into mine at night, and it seems only you were the one that didn’t know of her intentions.”
Derrick’s shocked gaze flies to Carmen’s and he blanches at seeing the smug look on her face.
“Why else did you think I seduced you, Derrick? I needed to keep tabs on my husband so we could make sure our plans wouldn’t be foiled. As for the others, my needs weren’t being met, so I found willing men to do the deed.” She pauses and turns, snarling at me. “However, you just couldn’t ever stay down. You always had to keep pushing back and kept ruining everything. I should have just let Eileen kill you all those years ago, and then none of this would have gone to hell. My worthless, lazy-assed husband would have been dead and then Diego and I would have been ruling this family.”
Abuelo walks over to her and she curls her lip at him, as she stares defiantly up at him.
“Was there ever a time that you loved me, Carmen? Or was it all just a game to you?”
She scoffs. “Of course, I never loved you after you choose Es over me. It was all about the power and money you could give me. Do you honestly think I would have killed my best friend over something trivial? No. I met you first. I should have been the one that you chose as your wife from the beginning. Maybe then I could have loved you, but no, you had to choose Miss Goody Two-Shoes and go on to have eight kids with her. All the while, you both rubbed everything in my face since Es just had to include me in everything. I took great pleasure in watching her life fade from her every day for months. I would have preferred to have done it longer, but the new doctor you brought in was getting suspicious. So, I had to end her earlier than I originally wanted to. That was her punishment for taking you from me.”
La cara del abuelo (Grandpa’s face) turns thunderous. “Sasha?”
“ Да (Yes)?”
“Make it hurt, but don’t end her. That’s for me.”
“It will be my pleasure,” she purrs right before she walks over to the tool chest and comes back with a serrated blade and some other pincher-like pliers. As soon as she’s back over by Carmen, she starts cutting into her even worse and periodically, she’ll pinch and rip some skin off with the pliers.
Abuelo moves over to Eileen and Levi pauses before stepping back slightly.
“Why, Eileen? Is all of this still over the fact that I said our family would never again work in skin?”
Eileen juts her chin out at him. “Of course it is. With my ideas, I grew my clubs and Diego’s ten times over. If we had been doing it since I brought us back into the business, we would have been rolling in money by now.” This time, it’s her turn to glare at me. “Then she came along and ruined it all. Because of her, I lost Raul.”
“No, Eileen. You knew as well as I do that the Guerreros have an even larger hatred of the skin business than we do. They never would have stood for your involvement in the business.”
She shakes her head. “No, I would have proven what could be had from it. Money drives everyone. Money, power, and status. I would have changed their minds when they saw what I was bringing in.”
“That is not true, Eileen.”