Chapter 21
Vienna
As we walked into the garage, we heard the unmistakable sound of skin hitting skin, and the pained grunts from the Riders vice president.
“Having fun?” Dante said casually, watching as Hacksaw repeatedly punched Sam in the stomach.
“Our little birdie here doesn’t want to sing,” Hacksaw replied, his breathing heavy. “I was just warming him up for you.”
He punched Sam across the jaw, hard enough to loosen a few of his teeth. Sam’s only response was to spit blood on the floor and glare at us.
“We got it from here, brother, thanks,” Dante said.
Hacksaw nodded once, unwrapping the tape from his knuckles.
“Let me know if you need me to come back in. It’s been a while since I had this much fun,” he grinned. He went to leave, slapping me on the shoulder as he did so.
When the sound of the door closing behind him echoed into the garage, Dante walked over to Sam, grabbed one of the foldable chairs, and sat in front of him, straddling the chair and leaning his arms on the back of it.
I stayed where I was, close, but not too close, waiting for instructions. Usually, our roles were reversed. I was the “good cop” sitting in the chair, and Dante was the “bad cop” ready to torture out the information if our captive didn’t answer my questions.
He hadn’t needed to ask me if things were changing this time. He knew this was more than just a job for me. This was personal, and I would get my pound of flesh before the session was over.
It was just a case of biding my time until we extracted the information we needed. I could wait a few minutes longer.
“Sam,” Dante said casually, resting his chin on his hands. “Have you enjoyed your time with my secretary?”
“He’s a bitch,” Sam spat, clenching his hands behind his back and testing the strength of the rope.
Hacksaw had done a good job tying him up. I had no doubt he was stuck there until one of us decided to free him. I quickly glanced at his wrists, seeing that the rope had dug into him, and chuckled under my breath.
Shame.
“I’ll be sure to pass that on,” Dante said. “Hacksaw loves the feedback. Do you want some water or anything? Vienna, get the man here some water. What must he think of our hosting skills?”
I did as he asked, going to the mini fridge that was always kept under the desk, and pulled out a bottle of water. Unscrewing the cap, I walked back over and handed the bottle to Dante.
Sam looked at me warily and I grinned back, rocking on the balls of my feet, my hands in my front pocket.
He knew who I was. The bruises on my face—the bruises he had helped give me—were giveaway enough. But our paths had crossed often enough outside of the attempt on my life.
“Thank you. You remember Vienna, don’t you, Sam?” Dante asked with a frown. “Where is it you would have seen him before? Oh,” he clicked his fingers. “I remember. It might have been when you hit my vice around the head with a metal pole and allowed your president to attack him?”
“I—”
“Water under the bridge,” Dante waved him away before he could say anything else.
“We know how it is. President makes an order, you follow the order.” He got up from his seat and walked closer to Sam.
“We’re a club, too. We know the rules. And as you can see, Vienna has no lasting damage.
Besides, that’s exactly what Vienna will be doing today.
I make the order, he’ll be following. So we get it.
Here,” he said, putting the bottle of water near Sam’s lips, ignoring the way his eyes slightly bugged out at his words.
As Sam gratefully accepted the water, Dante subtly nodded to me.
Pulling the knife from my back pocket, I marched forward, seized Sam’s hand and flattened it. In the next second, his index finger was on the floor, and he was spluttering behind the water bottle.
Dante grabbed the back of his head and pulled it back, tipping the water into his mouth as Sam tried to scream.
Gargles filled the air as he spluttered, trying to catch a breath, trying to yell his pain, but Dante pushed the bottle further and further down his throat.
Sam’s eyes widened, the front of his shirt now soaking, and I saw that as my opportunity to slice off his middle finger as well.
“Settle down,” Dante hissed, breaking his composure for a split second as he snapped Sam’s head backwards, away from the bottle.
And in the next second, he was straddling the chair once more and looking at Sam with mock patience.
Sam began to shiver, the adrenaline surging through his body. He panted through the pain and gritted his teeth, his eyes looking anywhere but at the hand that I had mutilated.
“Now that we’re all hydrated, I have a couple of questions for you.”
“F-fuck you,” Sam shuddered.
“Not right now, but thanks for the offer,” Dante said. “Let’s cut to the chase, shall we? Where’s Nico?”
“F-fuck y-you.”
I knew it wouldn’t be as simple as that. Sam would take much more to crack, but Dante knew that. He was simply warming him up.
Dante sighed. “Vienna.”
“On it.”
Walking behind Sam, I wrapped my arm around his neck, squeezing tightly, keeping his chin tucked on top of the crease in my elbow so that he couldn’t attempt to bite me.
Then I brought the knife to his ear and sliced, ignoring the anguished wails.
Less than a minute later, his ear had been halved, and thick globs of blood were pooling around my wrist and in the crook of Sam’s neck.
I let go of him and went back to my place near the workstation.
“I’m going to try this again, Sam. And this time I would appreciate a little bit of co-operation. We’ve been good to you, wouldn’t you say?”
“No,” Sam gasped, his teeth gritted so hard the veins in his neck were protruding.
“Come now, that’s not very nice. We’ve given you water, we’ve made you warm and comfortable. That’s more than Gabriella got most days. Isn’t that right, Vienna?”
Sam shivered harder at the mention of her name.
“So I’ve heard,” I said, deliberately keeping my tone cool, even though rage was simmering under every inch of my skin.
“I’ll ask again, Sam. And I’ll know when you’re lying. Where is Nico?”
“I don’t… I d-don’t know,” he gasped, his entire body shaking and his knees bouncing up and down as the pain from his missing body parts really kicked in.
“Would you lie to me, Sam?” Dante asked.
“N-no.”
“See, the thing is, I feel like you are lying to me. And I can’t stand liars.”
“I’m not. I-I wouldn’t.”
“Oh, but you would. You see, every person has a tell—unless they are trained, of course. See Vienna? When he lies, he sniffs. It’s the craziest thing. He doesn’t even realise he’s doing it. When my daughter lies, she sucks on her bottom lip. What do you think you do, Sam?”
“I—”
“When you lie, you have a little catch in your throat. I’ll admit, you’re good. You have no physical tells, but that catch in your throat—almost like you need to cough. It’s there. How do you think I know that, Sam?”
Sam’s eyes glanced back and forth, as though there was a way out of Dante’s intense scrutiny.
“I know because you’ve just lied to me. So, I’m going to tell you what’s going to happen here. You can answer our questions honestly and to the best of your ability, and we’ll release you back to your club to be dealt with as the betrayer you are,”
Sam blanched at that, his eyes widening.
“Or, you can remain silent. Which is fine. But as much as silence and lies annoy me, they really, really piss Vienna off. And I just can’t control him like I used to do.
Which means I’ll be unable to stop him from taking those scissors over there and snipping deeply into your Achilles’ heel.
I’ll be unable to stop him from undoing your ties and letting you attempt to run.
And I definitely won’t be able to stop him from picking his favourite dog and hunting you through this compound.
I can’t guarantee what will happen after that, but it’s either going to end with the dog savaging you—and I happen to know the Rottweiler is Vienna’s favourite—or it’s going to end with you hogtied and dragged through this compound strung up to Vienna’s bike.
Neither of which sounds ideal for you, does it? ”
“F-fuck you,” he spat, kicking out at Dante and missing completely.
“Fine,” Dante shrugged. He nodded at me, and I grabbed the scissors.
“Hey, hey, w-what are you doing?” Sam gasped, twisting his head to try to look at me as I crouched down beside him. I grabbed his leg, pinning it to the leg of the chair, and sliced into the back of his foot.
Sam screamed again, but I simply grabbed his other leg—a bit more difficult this time as he was thrashing wildly—and waited for Dante to give the order.
“I can only assume you thought I was joking. I assure you, I wasn’t. I know it’s difficult to tell, because unlike your fine self, I don’t have a tell when I lie. I did have that shit trained out of me. But I assure you, I wasn’t lying. Vienna finds shit like this amusing,” Dante shrugged.
“R-rot in h-hell,” Sam shivered, closing his eyes and exhaling slowly through his mouth.
“I plan to. But in the meantime, I have a job to do. And luckily for you, I’m feeling generous. I’m willing to give you another opportunity, Sam. All I’m asking for is Nico’s location. It really is that simple.”
“H-he didn’t say. You drove him o-out.”
Sam’s knees continued to bounce, his forehead breaking out in sweat that trickled down his cheeks.
“The first half of your statement was a lie. The second was the truth,” Dante smirked.
“I know what you’re trying to do. You’re hoping if you pepper enough truths into your words, it will disguise your tell.
It won’t. He may not have told you where he was going at the time. But you know now. Where is he?”
“F-fuck off!”
Dante didn’t need to give me the command that time. I shot to my feet, my hand snatching up the pliers. Before Sam even realised what had happened, I brought the pliers to his mouth, forcing his mouth open and ripping out one of his teeth.
I was back on the floor, waiting next to his other leg before his first howl had completed.
“Is this worth it, Sam?” Dante asked, inspecting the dirt under his nails, looking utterly bored. Even though Sam was still howling and causing a fuss, Dante had no reaction to it. “This can all end the minute you give the location.”
“B-Barnsley,” Sam gasped. “H-he has a w-woman in Barnsley.”
“We know that. What we don’t know is where. Do you know where, Sam?”
“N-no, I—”
“Vienna.”
I sliced into his other foot. Quick and smooth.
“Carlton!” Sam screamed. “Sh-she lives in C-Carlton! Please. P-please s-stop.”
I stood up behind him and patted his shoulder. “There. That wasn’t so difficult, was it?” I asked, using my knife to slice through the ropes at his wrists.
“Y-you’re letting me g-go?” Sam stuttered, stumbling over his words.
“I’m a man of honour, Sam,” Dante said, looking completely innocent. I smiled at him and he smothered his own in return. “I said I would let you go, and I will. You’re free to leave at any time. I trust you know your way back to your compound?”
Sam looked at him in confusion.
“But—”
“Oh, your feet?” Dante sucked a breath in through his teeth. “Yeah, that’s unfortunate. But not to worry, I’m sure you can crawl your way back.”
He nodded at me and without a word, I grabbed my riding gloves out of my cut and pulled them on.
“Oh, one more thing,” Dante smiled. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to declare an emergency.”
“An… emergency?” Sam asked.
“Unfortunately so, yes,” Dante nodded in sympathy.
“You see, you’re an enemy, and you’re on our territory.
There’s only so much I can do. I’m duty bound as president to report any threats I can see.
And you are a threat, Sam. Even in your current state.
You yourself know how clubs work—didn’t we come to that agreement earlier?
So you know that I’ll be unable to stop my men from eliminating said threat.
You should be okay though—maybe try sticking to the shadows as you leave? ”
Dante went to leave, but at the last second he turned around, tutting to himself.
“I’m so sorry, Sam, I forgot to mention something else,” he clicked his tongue and pulled a sympathetic face.
“The timing is really unfortunate on your behalf. You see, we’re currently hosting a whole bunch of other charters.
That may make your escape that little bit more difficult, but you’re resourceful.
I have no doubt you’ll figure it out. In fact,” he said, grabbing a knife from the tool station.
“Here.” He tossed the knife onto Sam’s lap. “Take this.”
And then he pulled out his phone, pressed a few buttons, and alarms blared out throughout the entire compound.
“Happy hunting,” he said to me, closing the door behind him.