Chapter 24
R enato comes to his senses on the third slap to the face. In his disoriented state, he takes in his favorite torture chamber, where the lucky target is none other than himself. He pulls at the chains his arms dangle from, attempting to kick the shackles on his feet simultaneously as he takes in a sight out of his very own nightmare.
The guys are standing behind me, concealed by the shadows. We each hold a different weapon in our gloved hands. Marco holds pliers in one hand, Luci has a butcher knife in his, and I have a hammer in my left hand.
Incoherent words are muffled by the tape on Renato’s reddening face. Shaking my head side to side, my finger rises over my lips, hushing him. When he’s quiet, the tape is ripped off his face and discarded on the floor.
“No use in struggling or screaming. You designed this place, you know it won’t help you,” I taunt.
In a strained voice, he scoffs. “Think you can stomach it without covering up your face like the coward you usually are?”
“You’re wrong.” My voice betrays no emotion as I prowl closer. “I plan to be the last face you ever see. No mercy is ever given . Remember?” I echo his favorite phrase back to him.
Luci steps forward, voice booming. “You know why you’re here, Renato. It’s your day of reckoning.”
Marco is next to come forward, getting in his face. “Where the fuck is she?”
Instead of deigning any of us a response, he lets out a demented laugh that grates on my ears. Hurling my hammer at his stomach shuts him off with a groan. As much as I’ll enjoy picking him apart until he’s nothing but dust, something tells me we’ll need a Plan B if we want answers. Renato’s anger and greed overpower anything else in his life.
I should have stayed with her. She would still be here if I didn’t let my own anger get in the way and drive her right into Renato’s trap.
Luci looks at me inquisitively and I nod once, jaw tight and brows furrowed. Reaching Renato, he slaps his face with the flat side of the knife.
“You’ve caused an awful lot of damage.” With the tip of the knife, he slips it under the lowest button on his shirt and slices clean up, leaving his sweaty chest exposed. Luci remains calm and collected during their stare-off while Renato looks like his head might explode.
Renato’s nose twitches. “I won’t give up shit. Do you know how many years I’ve waited to ruin the last of the Rojas family? I’ll die knowing I won.”
Luci slices his outer thigh in quick succession. “Tsk. Wrong answer, try again.” Deep, long cuts on his chest and stomach drag out Renato’s barely-contained screams as Luci spells out the word PIG with the edge of the knife.
Walking up with a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, I squeeze it over his first fresh tattoo. “You won’t win,” I say. “If you ever thought I was crazy before, that’s nothing compared to the insanity that will consume me until this world is burnt to the ground as I search for her.”
When he finally catches his breath, he pants out, “Kylo, you are,” he pauses to groan again, “pathetic.”
Reflexively, my hand runs through my hair and I'm tugging it again.
“You can’t fucking keep her from me,” I growl at him. Even in pain, he struggles to twist his cruel lips up in a mocking grin. My hands reach for his neck and squeeze tight until his face turns a dark shade of red and his eyes bulge out a bit. I stop myself and shove myself off him.
“Marco, stay with him. Luci, come with me,” I nod my head towards the mostly empty table in the far corner, Renato’s shrieks following our every step.
We reach the table and I pull out a laptop from one of the rusty drawers, setting it in front of Luci.
“We can’t waste more time hoping he’ll give in. He’s the most stubborn person I know. Call Benito and have him work even harder on this; it should be his main priority. Maven runs that NGO for women in danger, Fenix, see if she can help us out here, too. Anything you think of, try it.”
Luci nods, the wheels in his head already turning. He takes a seat and I leave him there to focus my energy on Renato. I want him to suffer, truly suffer. I want him to feel every drop of pain without being able to hold it in. On my way back to him, I pick up a handful of the dirt that’s been sitting in here for years with ants crawling around the debris.
I see that Marco peeled off each one of his fingernails with the pliers. “Grab me a piece of tape,” I tell him in passing. Renato’s tired eyes widen when he looks at my hand, then my face, and back again.
“Open up,” I sing-song, whistling as I walk closer to him. Frantically dodging my hands, I latch onto his nose to hold him steady. Marco returns with the tape and Renato looks apprehensive. It’s a rare sight I revel in. Eventually, his mouth opens slightly to take a breath and I take advantage, shoving the dirt into his mouth, quickly replacing my hand with the tape and releasing his nose.
Moments later his face pales slightly, taking on a yellowish tint. “Aht, aht. Swallow it,” I chide. Marco brings over a blindfold and noise-canceling headphones, placing them on Renato as I walk to my toy box and pull out my electric prod. With the butcher knife now in hand, Marco stands behind a trembling Renato. We look at each other, and on my nod, strike at the same time. The prod shocks his throat, holding for a few seconds, and Marco makes a deep incision on his backside.
Dirty chunks of food and blood spurt out of his nose and leak from under the tape. My gloved hand rips the tape completely off, allowing Renato to hurl the rest of his insides to the floor.
“Guys, I’m in. I have the location and time of the auction, but we need to move soon. It’s hours away from here.” Luci pops back in, ignoring the mess behind me. Relief strikes me and all I care about is that we’re one step closer.
I’m coming, baby.
“Thank fuck,” I breathe out. “You guys meet me in the car with the chest of weapons, I’ll wrap this up.”
They head outside while I remove the blindfold and headphones, strolling back up to him with my trusty bat. He’s hanging on by a thread and it shows. This might be the best I’ve seen him look.
He coughs, lifting his eyes to mine. “I should have killed you, too, when I got rid of your mother.”
In all the turmoil, I never even stopped to wonder…
The unexpected bomb he dropped sends an electrifying jolt through my body, rendering me speechless. Chucking the bat at him, I forgo it, walking straight up to the red jerrycan against the wall. My eyes sting as I allow the emotions pouring through me to wreak havoc. Pouring the majority of the gasoline all around the floors and wall, I toss it aside and release him from his chains. Going for the flamethrower, his body tries extra hard to move away upon seeing me. It gets him nowhere.
I loom over him at a short distance. “Look at me, bastard.” There it is. The tear streaked, sick looking face of defeat.
“Burn in hell,” are my last words before I let the flame rain down on him, incinerating the monster from all my nightmares. The flames spread quickly throughout the warehouse, forcing me to run out before I get trapped in their wake. Coughing up all the smoke that entered my lungs, a shout pulls my attention to the right.
“Get in, lunatic. The place is going to blow.” Luci’s face hangs out the window as he drives up to where I stand. Jumping in the backseat, Luci speeds off right on time. Seconds later, the building blows, nudging the car with the force of it.
“Well, you definitely wrapped it up,” Luci comments playfully.
“No need for cleanup, either. Nice exit,” Marco adds.
At my silence, Marco turns, cocking a brow at my dazed expression.
“It was him.” I’m barely audible. The confusion written on Marco’s face is confirmation of it.
All these years…
I clear my throat and look into Luci’s eyes through the rearview. “He killed Mama. While I was asleep, oblivious to the monster he truly was.” Despite my best efforts, my voice cracks halfway through speaking.
Dropping my eyes to the steering wheel, the death grip Luci has on it shows me he feels it, too. Marco’s brows raise to his forehead, his face dropping as he faces forward.
“ Figlio di puttana ,” Luci hisses.
We drive in silence for a few minutes until I break the silence. “We won’t let him win. He can’t take her, too. We need a plan.”
Marco and I glance at Luci, waiting for him to give us what he has so far.
“Have either of you heard of Seraphina Hall?” We turn to each other with the same puzzled expression, then back to Luci.
“No. What is it?” Marco asks.
“Figures. That’s more Dario’s style,” he responds more to himself than us. “They call it a pleasure playhouse . It’s supposed to be a sort of BDSM retreat for people to pay money to indulge in all different types of fantasies and kinks. Underground is where they hold the girls they keep captive until it’s time for the monthly auction, but they also use some of the rooms above in the club.”
I’ve heard of those places—clubs for people to enjoy their kinks—mainly from Dario. They definitely are going to have heavy security on the main floor. How will we make it under?
“My guy got me a spot on the floor, I’ll be on the inside posing as a buyer. Hopefully, I’ll be able to bid on as many girls as possible and they can go straight to Maven’s team. Ky, once I’m inside, Benito and I will help you sneak in. You’ll have to be stealthy moving around. A lot of these people will know who you are and we need to avoid getting found out, at least until the girls are out of the building safely.”
“What about me?” Marco asks.
Luci pauses to make a turn. “You will stay with Maven and her team around the perimeter. We’ll each have an earpiece, so wait for mine or Kylo’s signal.”
Nodding, he agrees. “I can do that.”
A quick search shows a sprinkling of pictures from the interior of the mansion. Going down the rabbit hole of comments and information on the place doesn’t take long. Only about an hour and a half into the drive, we’re pulling into a parking garage.
“Where are we?” I ask Luci, looking around the empty lot.
Not a minute later, a Jeep pulls in packed with men, a blacked out van, and truck following closely behind. Luci steps out of the car as Marco and I wait and watch. It isn’t until Maven jumps out of the truck that realization dawns, pushing me out of the car.
“That’s Maven. Let’s go introduce you,” I tell Marco on my way out.
She greets Luciano and I with a smile and a gracious nod. “Boys. It’s been a while.” Catching sight of Marco, she adds, “And you must be Marco. I’m Maven, it’s nice to meet you.” Offering her hand, he takes it, shaking it and cracking a smile of his own.
“The pleasure is all mine, ma’am.”
They stare for a second too long, then let go and step back. Maven waves us in the direction she walks in, saying, “C’mon. We have to go through the plan.” We get to the back of the van and follow her in.
Benito usually works remotely from his office, so I’m partly surprised to find him sitting in front of all the computers. We shake his hand in greeting and he hands us our ear pieces.
“Ky, you’re going to want to hold on to these night vision goggles.” Maven hands me a pair of black goggles, similar to the ones snowboarders wear.
“The rest of my team is already heading to Seraphina Hall to scope out the area and report back to me. Benny is going to be in your ear guiding both of you, mainly Ky, from the van.” Benito stops his typing to confirm with a head nod. “Alright, take a seat. This is what we’ll do…”
Benito signals for me to enter through the back doors while the two guards step out for their smoke break. The hallway is dark, the dim lights from the main room acting as the only illumination. Sensual music grows louder as I near the flashing lights while people are partying or fucking.
The room I need to find is on the opposite side of the building. Luckily, most of the people here are too drunk or drugged up to worry about me.
“One is about to turn that corner.” Benito’s voice sounds in my ear, halting my steps. The guard passes by me and I slink behind him, hurrying down the hall.
“Ky,” Luci’s panicked voice filters through. “Someone outbid me.” There’s a short pause. “They’re taking her upstairs to one of the rooms.”
Even after studying the layout, I have no idea where I’m standing right now or where to start looking. But she’s here. She’s close.
I’m close.
“Benito,” I shout.
No response.
Searching the crowd frantically, green catches my eye. Without another thought, I’m prowling closer until I catch a glimpse of her face. I catch blue, dilated eyes that don’t belong to Amaris.
“I’ve got eyes on her. Take the exit next to the statue and turn left at the end of the hall.”
My head whips up at Benito’s voice. A gray statue of Medusa sits next to an open corridor, only she has flowers and vines instead of snakes. When I reach the hall, all the lights in the building go out. That’s my cue to slip on the goggles and hunt down the jackass who tried to steal my girl.
Gun in hand, cocked and ready to remove anyone who gets in my way, I make my way down the hall leaving the commotion behind. Turning the corner, I’m met with two guards who walk right into me, one with a small flashlight in hand. He reaches for his gun, but I unload two bullets in his head before he makes contact with it. His friend aims, but I shoot him once and he drops to the ground next.
Then, that’s when I see it.