Chapter Thirty-Eight #2
He carefully—like he had all the time in the world—placed the cigar between his lips as he spoke. “We did not ask him anything. He has been moved to the compound. I was in no mood to torture, so I only have him locked up.”
I frowned. “No mood to torture the guy who knows the person responsible for Casmiro’s condition?”
“Hm,” he voiced, lighting the cigar, sucking smoke in, and blowing it out, sending that erotic smell of vanilla my way.
“Elio, what—don’t you know you’re wasting time? These people could be recruiting more men to attack again as we speak.”
He nodded, picking up his drink. “Maybe.” Then he frowned and looked at me. “My manners—would you like a drink?”
Why the fuck is he so calm?
“No.” I gave a humorless laugh. “I would not like a drink when we are sitting ducks and might probably be blown to crisps at any second.” I grinned.
“Okay,” he said, cigar between his fingers as he picked up his whiskey glass and brought it to his lips, downing the contents in one go before he put it down and got the cigar between his lips again.
“What is going on, Elio?”
His gaze lifted to mine, and his brows dropped as he stared at me with confusion and blew out another smoke streak.
“We came back from Turin, I talked briefly with Angelo, I came home, you followed me. I asked if you would like a drink, you gave an odd laugh and refused, and I said okay, and now you’re asking what’s going on. That is what is going on.”
I blinked at him, my mouth gaping open, lost for words. “You are like a fifteen-year-old teenage boy who just can’t help but be annoying, just for the sake of being annoying.”
He paused as if thinking about my statement, and then he nodded. “Okay.”
Jesus—
“Elio, can we get back to this time and this day and age when Casmiro is still unconscious and you’re not actively trying to find the people responsible?”
“We are indeed in this time and day and age. And I will find them. I do not rush. I take my time because I like to enjoy it, Zahra. What is the best way to inflict worry on your enemies?”
“I don’t know, torturing them?”
He shook his head. “Let me tell you a secret.” He placed both his elbows on the counter, bending and leaning in so he could look me right in the eye, his cigar burning away. “I do not like to torture physically—”
“You shot me.”
“Your voice bugged me. And I didn’t like your tone. Don’t interrupt me again.”
I rolled my eyes but let him continue.
“When I said I do not like to torture physically, I did not mean that I refrain from doing it entirely. Sometimes I like to do it, but ninety-nine percent of the time, I enjoy playing with the minds of my victims. I love painting images and scenarios in their heads. I don’t seek fear; I seek terror.
Fear is so little compared to the pure smell of terror you can get from a human body when you meddle with their mind. ”
I gulped down a bitter taste in my throat.
“I left the man to his mind. I want him to think of all the things he will go through, all the questions he’ll be asked, all the lies he’ll have prepared for them.
I want him to second-guess everything. I want him at the peak of his mind, thinking of the first words I’ll say, the first question I’ll ask, and the first look I’ll give him; I want him to get very comfortable with his situation.
I want him to prepare, to be ready … Only then will I visit him.
” He said it all with his eyes flickering between mine, searching, waiting, learning.
I swallowed again, my throat beyond dry. “And what if his people are recruiting? What if—”
“They would never dare it. Not without thorough preparation. Not without starting a war that would most likely affect each man and those who share his last name, not without ensuring they can take down this empire. I would like to think it would take years of preparing. Because if it doesn’t, and they storm in here with guns and bombs at the ready …
existences would be wiped out; they know that, and this reason alone is why I will win. ”
A cold chill ran down my spine. “Why do you have to be so intense.”
“I am under the influence, and I am in your presence, so yes.” His eyes searched mine.
“What has my presence got to do with your intensity?”
His lips lifted a little at the sides. “You arouse me, Zahra. Mind, body, and soul. I am always ready to talk when you’re here; your influence on me is … highly delectable.”
Something was melting in my chest, sinking and rubbing against the walls of my stomach with a tickle that made my insides feel excited.
This man is fucking with my mind.
And I … like it.
“Have I finally succeeded in shutting you up with something other than my cock, Querida?”
I swallowed, clearing my throat and straightening.
Amusement lingered in his eyes as he watched me. “You didn’t shut me up,” I lied. “As embarrassing as it might sound, I was trying to understand the meaning of delectable.”
“Mm-hmm.” He hummed mockingly, still watching me.
“I’m being dead-ass serious.”
“Did I counter it?”
“Not with words—your little mm-hmm sound did all the countering I needed to hear.”
He nodded, bringing his cigar to his lips again, sucking in smoke before placing the cigar on the ashtray, letting the lit end burn away, not once looking away from me.
He turned his head to the side a bit, dark gray eyes still on me as thick white smoke danced out of his mouth, caressing my cheek and increasing the dull thumping between my legs. “You need to talk to your team members; they might wonder why you are not back.”
“They don’t—”
“I am going to try to get some sleep. Things blur when I’ve been awake for more than seventy-two hours … I get a little … light in the head.”
I nodded, my teeth pressing on my bottom lip before I released it and spoke. “When do we see each other again?”
His lips twitched as he watched me. “I will call.”
“Or I could just sneak out whenever I can? Cause you have so many drinks, and your house is huge?”
“Would dropping by now and then make you satisfied?”
I nodded.
“I will let security know you’re allowed to come in whenever.”
Just like that …
I chucked aside the feeling of unease for later as I grinned instead. “Awesome.” I placed both my hands on the counter. “I’ll go now, and I would have kissed you if it wasn’t ‘banned,’ but yeah, you have your ‘reasons.’” I put air quotes around banned and reasons.
“Hm.” He didn’t take those eyes off me.
I shook my head, leaning away. “I’ll see you, weirdo.”
With that, I turned and walked away, knowing his eyes followed my every move.
My mind slipped back to his words to me in the car after I’d asked him to give me the benefit of the doubt.
When I was out of the house, I let my mouth and brows fall into a stern frown as I pulled out my phone and muttered, “I believe you, my ass.”
I knew something was wrong the moment I entered Street’s quarters.
Everyone except Upper stood in front of the kitchen, speaking in hushed voices. They were arguing about something, their faces etched with hard frowns.
“What’s going on?”
The argument stopped, and they all looked up at once. The deer-in-a-headlight looks I caught on their faces calmed down when they saw it was me.
“Thank fuck you’re back,” Dog said. “Shit went down.”
Milk nodded hastily. “Big shit.”
“Where’s Upper?” Devil asked, eyes narrowing behind me.
I walked up to them. “He’s with Casmiro; he’s fine. What’s going on?”
Devil sighed. “When you both left, we got an anonymous email.”
That got my attention. “What?”
“Yeah,” Milk said. “Dog tried to trace it, but it was fruitless.”
“What was it about?”
“The damn chihuahua,” Dog supplied. “They sent us a location with a short note that said, ‘The package you find is the key to finding the original painting.’ There, that look you’re giving right now is the very one I had after reading it.”
I frowned. “Who the fuck would send us that? Or try to help?”
“That’s not even the worst part,” Milk said.
I narrowed my eyes at them.
“We went to the location, and we did find something,” Devil said.
Oh …
“What did you find?”
They all exchanged wary looks; the silence stretched, doing wonders to heighten my already heightened nerves. “What is it? The suspense is killing me,” I urged.
Milk backed towards the kitchen. “Right here in the kitchen; promise you won’t freak out.”
“I can’t promise when I don’t even know what it is.”
“Well, come on.” Devil gestured with his head as we went into the kitchen. Milk stopped behind the counter, her gaze on the spot by the fridge and the cupboard a few inches above the ground before she looked at me.
I approached, preparing myself for the worst as I followed Milk’s gaze and looked—
A gasp left my parted lips, and my whole body went completely frozen.