Chapter 22
A few hours earlier…
I come to slowly, my head pounding like someone’s been using it for a punching bag.
The air is damp, metallic, and smells like rust, blood, and old screams. My arms are stretched high; my wrists are bound in steel cuffs that bite into the skin.
My feet barely touch the cold, wet concrete.
I notice I'm also naked. Not for pain. For humiliation. A message: you’re nothing here.
A voice cuts through the haze. Smooth. Amused. "You’re finally awake."
I lift my head. Aurelio Valverde stands a few feet away, perfectly dressed, not a hair out of place, like he just stepped into a boardroom instead of a goddamn torture chamber.
"Now, puta," he says, the word dripping with contempt, "why did you plan to break into my home?"
It comes back to me in a rush.
Sophia.
Fuck.
The chains rattle as I lunge forward, the metal bites deep. But they hold. Tight. Secure. My breath turns ragged.
My men.
Are they all dead?
Mario?
Pierre?
Fuck.
Most of all, Sophia.
I failed her. Again.
Aurelio steps closer, studying my face like he’s reading a map. Then, without warning, his fist drives into my gut. Pain explodes, forcing the air out of my lungs in a hard, choking gasp.
"Habla," he says. Speak.
I shake my head, tasting blood, but his voice turns sharp, the calm gone.
"Puta mierda," he spits, and the next blow comes even harder.
I double over as far as the chains will let me, dragging in air through my teeth.
My ribs ache like they’re about to splinter, but I don’t make a sound.
If Aurelio doesn’t know I was coming for Sophia, it’s better that way.
I might have failed her already, failed to rescue her from whatever the hell has caused her to walk into this hornet’s nest, but I can still keep it from getting worse.
I straighten slowly, allowing the metal to bite into my wrists.
My shoulders burn, and my head’s pounding.
I have no clue how long I’ve been down here.
Hours? A day? Maybe more. The place has no windows, no sense of time—just the constant drip of water somewhere in the dark and the stink of damp stone.
Aurelio studies me, his head tilts slightly, and the faintest smirk pulls at his mouth.
"Ah. The strong, silent type." He circles me slowly, and the tap of his expensive shoes echoes in the chamber.
"Men like you think silence makes you noble.
Or dangerous. But here?" He gestures around us at the bare concrete walls, the drain in the floor. "It just makes you a longer project."
He snaps his fingers, and one of his men steps forward with something in his hand, a length of rubber hose, thick and heavy. The first strike lands across my ribs, lighting fire under my skin. The second hits my thigh, and I grit my teeth so hard I hear them creak.
"You came into my country," Aurelio says, his tone conversational, almost friendly. "You hired my enemies. You gathered weapons. You studied my home." His voice drops, dark silk over a blade. "Why?"
The hose slams into my back, driving me against the chains. My shoulders scream.
I say nothing.
"Hijo de puta," Aurelio mutters, stepping close enough that I can see the flecks of gold in his eyes. "You think you can protect something—someone—by keeping your mouth shut? That’s not how this ends for you."
I don’t respond. Can’t. Because the only name in my head is hers.
Sophia.
I’m not giving her to him. Not while I’m still breathing.
Aurelio steps in front of me again, head cocked, studying me like I’m a puzzle he half-wants to solve and half-wants to smash.
"Let’s start simple," he says, voice smooth. "Who are you?"
I don’t answer.
His smile tightens. "What’s your name?"
Even better. He has no clue who I am. I lift my head, meeting his gaze dead-on. "The man who will kill you."
For a beat, silence hangs between us. Then Aurelio throws his head back and laughs, a deep, rich sound that makes his men grin. He wipes an imaginary tear from the corner of his eye.
"?Carajo! You’ve got balls. I’ll give you that." He glances over his shoulder at his guards. "This one thinks he’s a lion, boys."
The nearest guard answers by driving a fist into my ribs. The breath rips out of me, but I bite down on any sound. Aurelio’s face comes back into view, closer now. "I asked you a question. And in my house, we answer questions."
He nods, and two men step forward. They move with the casual rhythm of men who’ve done this a hundred times before. One of them disappears into a corner and comes back with a car battery, the kind you could start a tank with, setting it down on the slick floor between us.
The other unspools a set of cables, the clamps opening and closing with metallic snaps that echo off the stone walls. Aurelio watches me the whole time, his hands folded neatly behind his back, like a man admiring art.
"You know the thing about pain, amigo?" he says. "It’s a language. And eventually… everyone becomes fluent."
They fasten the first clamp to my ankle. The cold metal bites into my skin. The second one snaps against my other ankle. My heartbeat is suddenly in my ears, loud, steady, waiting for the strike.
Aurelio nods once.
The jolt rips through me like fire and lightning fused into one.
My back arches, the chains scream as they take my weight.
Every muscle seizes. My teeth slam together hard enough to taste blood.
When it stops, I’m left hanging, chest heaving, sweat already mixing with the water dripping down my face.
Aurelio tilts his head. "Still nothing?"
I breathe through my nose, slow and deliberate, and say nothing.
He sighs, almost disappointed. "Then we try again."
Another jolt. This one is longer, riding the edge of what my body can handle. My vision flickers at the edges, and the room swims in and out of focus. I keep my head up. If I go down now, he wins.
When it ends, Aurelio steps forward, so close I can see the little lines around his eyes that don’t come from laughter. "You’ll talk," he says quietly, "because I will make sure you need to."
He turns his back, giving the order to keep going, and the men go to work, each strike blurring the line between pain and white noise.
I don’t know how long it lasts—minutes, hours? Time’s gone. But one thought stays clear through the haze: If Aurelio doesn’t know why I’m here… then Sophia’s still safe from him.
That’s the only reason I’m still breathing.