Chapter 16
Damien
The Next Day
“Damien?” Ashia’s voice echoes, forcing my heavy eyes to flutter.
My entire body aches, and the left side of my chest feels like it’s on fire.
Every muscle is pulling and twisting with pain, and it all comes flashing back.
The car speeding up behind me, the other car in front swerving into my lane, and then tiny glimpses of being weightless—little blips of flying through the air.
“Baby, get up…” she whispers, but I can’t tell where it’s coming from.
Her voice seems to be everywhere at once, and it bounces back at me from every angle. Her scream follows. “DAMIEN!”
My heart hammers in my chest, and I fight to regain consciousness.
She needs me. She’s in trouble. I can hear her.
Fuck, everything hurts. Did they get to her after I wrecked?
No, no. She’s with Zeke. She’s got to be okay, but fuck, I hear her screams. They’re everywhere.
It’s almost as if the pain isn’t even mine, and I can feel her through the space around me.
I finally force my eyes to open, but the room immediately spins.
It’s cold here, like it’s a completely different season, and it’s that type of dry-cold that’s only given off by an electric unit of some type.
It makes my body tremble, which only worsens the pain.
I try and force myself to move, but either I can’t, or my hands are bound behind my back.
I’m sitting up against something hard. Perhaps a chair, or a pole, but I can’t quite tell yet.
The floor, from what I can make of it, appears to be cobblestone, and it’s either very dark in here, or the room is encased in a shadowy ambiance.
There are multiples of everything, even of my feet as I stare downward, and it takes a few moments to piece it all back together.
Two sets of footsteps, or at least I think that’s what I hear, approach me just before they step into my field of vision.
One looks to be female, and is clearly wearing some type of closed-toed heel, while the other is obviously a man by the size and shape of the shoe.
A deep voice makes its way through the ringing in my ears, and I shock myself with the way my spine rattles.
“What is this, cagnolina?” the voice says in low, rough tone. His accent is clearly Italian.
Fucking. Italian.
“This is the new pet, cagnolino. He’ll be quite the addition.
” The female chimes in as well, and she’s laced with the same heavy accent.
I’m not sure what ‘cagnolino’ is, but I’m assuming from their harsh and unamused tones that it’s not an endearing pet name.
The feet appear to step closer, and I try my best not to make any sudden movements.
“Where did you find this one?”
“Technically, he found us first,” the female replies. The bigger set of the two feet stops in their tracks and turns towards the smaller pair.
“Explain. Now, Gianna.” My heart hardens to stone, then drops and merges with the floor. I figured by the Italian that they were behind this. They’ve evaded us for so long, and now I’m in front of them, set up for slaughter.
“This…” She trails off. “Is the Hartley boy.”
“And what is he doing here?” the man, who I’m now assuming is Saccone, asks angrily.
“I got him. With his skills and blood, do you not think he will be a fine addition? A glorious pairing with our new Direttrice?”
“Your games are becoming too reckless, cagnolina. The Direttrice is not even fully trained, and you want to give her a pet?”
“She will fall in line, Alessio. She has no choice. Just as he won’t.” There’s a short silence, and I’m assuming they’re staring at me until Saconne steps up even further to DeLuca.
“Your obsession with this family will be our end.”
“Why not finish rebuilding with the son of the man that tried to destroy us? Don’t you see the poetic justice behind it, cagnolino?
It’s marvelous. The Society is running at full once again, and we too shall rise back to our full potential.
He was the last piece, and now we have him.
” Her heels click in my direction, and I’m caught off guard by a harsh smack to the side of my face.
My head whips to the side, and the muscles along my neck and shoulders scream in pain.
“Time to stop pretending, feccia. Your fate awaits you.”
Sharp nails scrape against my scalp, and as she yanks my head backward, I attempt to thrash. The chair is clearly bolted down, though, and my hands are much more than tied. I can’t lift them up in the slightest, and even as my body tries to wrangle, she keeps my head in place.
My eyes immediately meet hers, but I take the time to focus on my surroundings.
I know who they are. It’s everything else that’s still unknown, and I’ll be at even less of an advantage unless I can get some more information.
My assumption was correct, and the floors and walls are made of stone.
There’s one overhead light directly above me that’s not very bright.
A single camera is posted in the far-right corner of the room.
In the other is a screen that appears bolted to the wall, and while it doesn’t seem to be plugged in anywhere in here, I don’t notice a cord trail either.
“You really are quite the specimen. Almost exactly like your father.” She aggressively releases my head, and I snarl at her.
“I’m not really into taboo situations, but thanks for the flattery.”
In a flash, her hand whips across my face again, flinging my head in the opposite direction. It’s only another second before her talons dig into my jaw, forcing my face back to look at her.
“That smart mouth will have you broken in even faster. I love a challenge,” she seethes while her mouth is only about two inches from my face. We stare at each other in a war of hatred until a thick hand grips her shoulder.
“I thought you said this was the Direttrice’s toy, cagnolina?”
“I still hold that title,” she hisses back, never taking her eyes off of me.
“For now,” Alessio replies and forces her back. “You will have your fun, tesoro. We both will,” Alessio says ominously, and as his hand moves to gesture behind him, she comes into view. The woman who’s lived the past year as if she was dead, and seeing her here only makes my blood boil.
Victoria Avery.
She stands tall and stoic, like she’s never felt an emotion in her life. Her dark blue, almost purple, eyes appear hollow in this light, and her long, curly hair cascades around her in an unkempt, but maintained way.
“Victoria. Come meet your new pet,” Alessio demands and holds his hand out for her to take.
She does without hesitation, and steps in front of the two ringmasters.
While she’s taller than Ashia, she couldn’t be above five-foot-seven, and she’s not as skinny as my wife either.
She’s of average size, although it’s clear she has to maintain a certain image with her professional clothes and toned muscles.
“He’s yours to train, bambina. A gift from us and your father. With him by your side, you’ll be unstoppable,” DeLuca says directly in her ear, but loud enough for the rest of the room to hear. Victoria doesn’t move. She doesn’t flinch. It’s like there’s no reaction to anything she’s saying.
“Have your fun, cagnolina. Teach the girl how we train our pets.” Saccone drags his finger along Victoria’s jaw, and that’s when I see something behind those purple eyes flare to life. A fire buried so deep that it’s concealed from everything. The question is…what kind of fire is it?
“Il piacere è mio, tesoro,” DeLuca replies and snaps her fingers as Saconne walks over the far-right corner, like he’s waiting to witness my demise.
Immediately, a tall, muscular man, who could be about fifty under all of the scars on his face, walks into the room.
On his neck lies a tattoo of a snake slithering its way out of a broken skull.
The same. Fucking. Tattoo.
I recognize it instantly. It’s the one from the footage of when Ashia was taken, and the one that was on Dranan Hugo’s arm.
It’s also the same tattoo as the man from the car crash.
How could I have been so stupid? It should’ve hit me then.
I should’ve known that wreck was more than an accident, but it’s too late to focus on that now.
I need to figure a way out of here, and hopefully kill them before I go.
“Cinque? Set the tools as close to Victoria as possible. I don’t need her getting distracted from her lesson,” DeLuca commands.
Cinque? I think that’s five in Italian. His name is Five?
“Tools? If you needed a handy man, you didn’t have to go through all of this trouble,” I tease, wanting to get under her skin. The more erratic she gets, the easier it’ll be to escape, and if it’s one thing I’m good at, it’s pissing people off.
“You really are quite the smartass. We’ll see where that mouth gets you by the time we’re through. You’ll be the perfect little puppet soon enough.”
“If you think I’ll do anything for you, you’re more delusional than I thought,” I retort as she walks over to the rolling table. She just shakes her head and makes a ‘tsk tsk’ noise. As she walks back over, there’s a newfound amusement behind her devilish smirk.
“Oh, you stupid boy. You’ll do exactly as we say.”
I scream out as an intense shock hits me, and somehow, I’m frozen.
My mouth is locked open, and I can’t control my movements.
Every part of my body is shaking erratically.
So much so, that even the screams leaving my mouth are wavering.
Strobe lights go off behind my eyes, and suddenly, all I can see is either blinding white or a dark void.
Even as the source is taken away from my side, my body doesn’t release the tension.
I’m stuck in a violent cycle of muscle spasms that is fading torturously slow.