Chapter 35 Sandro
SANDRO
The clank of metal echoes through the dungeon, and I tense, instincts screaming as the cell door creaks open.
Evi presses closer to me, and I hold her tight, my hand gripping her waist as I push her behind me, shielding her with my body as best I can.
She’s trembling uncontrollably now, and I can feel her heart racing as she leans into my back, peering around me like a frightened child.
“You really should have stayed home, Sandro. But since you didn’t…
here we are.” Kenji steps into the open doorway, his shadow stretching across the stone floor.
His smile is slow, predatory, and it lands on Evi with lazy approval.
“What a beautiful prize you won—truly. She is spectacular,” he murmurs, his voice low, oily, dangerous as his eye roams down the parts of her he can see.
“I can see why you’re fond of her. I could have fun with that body for hours. ”
Evi stiffens, her nails digging into my biceps, but she stays deathly silent.
My muscles coil, and I growl low in my throat without thinking. “Don’t even think about touching her,” I grind out, every word a threat. If I were free, I’d claw out his last good eye just for daring to look at her.
Kenji’s gaze flicks toward me, glinting with amusement. “Possessive. I like that. But you’ll find, Sandro, that I don’t respond well to orders.”
Snarling, I jerk forward, snapping my chains taut as I try to get to him, even though I know I’ll never make it.
Kenji laughs softly, amused by my useless ferocity. “Ah… that’s fine. I don’t need her just yet, anyway. I know convention says ladies first, but in this regard, it seems only polite to start with you.”
“No,” Evi breathes, clinging to my arm like she intends to protect me by sheer force of will.
Kenji’s gaze darts back to her, and I step forward, removing her from his sight completely.
“You want me, here I am,” I growl, and my heart wrenches as Evi chokes back a soft, terrified sob.
“How about this?” Kenji proposes with as little concern as if we were discussing the weather. “You come willingly, and I promise I won’t lay a hand on your wife—as long as she stays inside the cell.”
I know how little Kenji’s word is worth, but down here, with my arms chained to the wall, there isn’t much I can do to ensure Evi’s safety, so I’ll take what I can get.
“Done,” I state flatly before Evi can voice an opinion.
Then I turn to meet her eyes, silently warning her not to question my decision.
She steps forward, her hands finding my chest, tears streaming openly down her cheeks now as she shakes her head. “Sandro, I—”
I can hear the plea in her voice, and I cut it short before she can object. “I love you,” I rasp so quietly only she can hear, and I dip down to steal a quick, hard kiss.
Then his men are grabbing me, hauling me away from her before she can respond.
I catch Evi’s wide, fearful eyes one last time as they move with precision, unlocking the cuffs around my wrists from the chains they’re padlocked to.
Then they shove me back, forcing me out of the cell.
She follows for several steps, her bare feet quiet against the cold floor, and my heart lurches as she reaches for me, as if unable to let me go.
“Evi, no!” I bark, freezing her in place.
She cringes back, her arms snapping defensively around her waist. And the last thing I see is the devastation on her face before the barred door slams behind me, the bolt clanking into place.
Her sob, muffled and raw, cuts me like a blade as Kenji’s men steer me forward, their movements leery, as if they expect me to snap at any moment.
It takes all my willpower not to fight as they haul me to the center of the room-turned-torture-chamber. But if I struggle, Kenji could easily decide to drag Evi out right alongside me. And I can’t allow that.
They stop me just beneath the chains that hang from the center of the ceiling like stalactites. Kenji’s grin spreads, his black eye gleaming as his men grasp my manacled wrists and haul them upward to hook them to the chains above my head.
“Up you go,” he commands, and the men turn to the wall, reaching for a lever that cranks my arms higher until I’m stretched into a Y, my joints straining from the tension.
I can still see Evi standing at the nearest corner of the cell, her body pressed against the bars, tiny and exposed.
She looks so vulnerable, wearing nothing but her flimsy cream silk slip, her nipples puckering against the sullied fabric now that she no longer has my body heat to warm her.
My chest tightens with a mix of rage and helplessness.
I want to reach her, to shield her, but I can barely breathe with the chains pulling at my arms.
Kenji strolls around me, slow, deliberate, eyes drinking in every detail. “See?” he says softly, almost reverently. “I like warming up first. Nothing gets me ready like breaking the man who thinks he can protect what’s his.”
The hair lifts along the nape of my neck as—for one agonizing second—I think he’ll go back into the cell and grab Evi now that I can’t stop him.
But he doesn’t—even if he does come to stand next to her on the outside of her cage, as if to keep her company.
Or maybe he just doesn’t want to get my blood on his suit.
Then the blows start. His men step forward, fists and kicks raining down. I grunt, the chains jerking violently with each strike. My muscles burn, my ribs ache, but I hold myself upright, refusing to give them the satisfaction of my collapse.
“Where did your brothers go?” Kenji asks as one of the men lands a sharp kick to my side.
I grit my teeth, flexing my muscles to avoid the worst of the damage. “You’ll never get the truth from me,” I growl.
But even as they pummel me harder in response, relief surges through me—because at least I’m getting information, which is more than I’ve had for days. And that one simple question tells me so much more about what’s going on outside than I’m sure Kenji realizes.
Raf and Miko are safe. They’re alive. They must have seen Kenji’s forces coming for them and mobilized before he could hurt them or Miko’s family.
And that can mean only one thing. They’re on the yacht. Safe. Out of reach.
Kenji laughs from the shadows, his voice low and satisfied.
“So stubborn, Sandro. I have to admit I rather enjoy your defiance. It’s a shame I can’t put you to better use.
But that damn loyalty of yours would only get in the way.
Let’s be honest, I could never trust you enough to make you one of mine, could I? ”
Another strike lands, sharp and sudden, and I feel a flash of pain across my side.
A broken rib. I recognize the familiar pain.
But I don’t scream. I can’t. I don’t want Evi to see any signs of weakness, and I know she’s watching.
Her slender hands grip the bars so tight they’re pale.
Her eyes are wide, terrified, but she’s staying strong, stoically silent—as if she’s trying to hold herself together for me too.
I glare at Kenji. “I’d rather die than work for you.”
He tilts his head, the movement bringing him automatically closer to Evi, and even the shadow of his presence in her cell makes my gut twist.
“I can admire your devotion,” he murmurs, letting the words roll from his tongue like venom. “So delicious. So… self-destructive.”
Destructive it might be, I think, jaw tightening. But it’s not going to break me.
The blows keep coming, and my body is raw, every nerve screaming in protest. My arms ache from the chains, my ribs burn from the strikes, but I refuse to yield. I force myself to breathe, to keep my focus narrow and sharp, to remember why I’m enduring this.
Evi. My brothers. My family.
“Where would Raf have gone?” Kenji’s voice cuts through the din, quiet but sharp, carrying more menace than the physical strikes ever could. “Not home. Not the Novikov compound. Where?”
I grit my teeth, twisting my head against the punch that lands across my jaw. “I–I don’t know what to tell you,” I growl, tasting blood. “If he ran, you’ll never find him.”
Kenji’s laughter cuts through the dungeon air like a knife. “Oh, I think you know more than that,” he says. “But you’re too proud, too stubborn. That’s alright. I’ll enjoy drawing this out.”
The blows stop suddenly then, and in the momentary reprieve, I know that something worse is coming, even if I can’t see what Kenji’s men are up to behind me. Because the blood drains from Evi’s face.
“No. Please,” she begs, shifting closer to Kenji as she speaks to him directly, her eyes wide with fear and anxiety.
Kenji turns to study her thoughtfully, and my heart hammers against my ribs. If he goes after her now, I can’t stop him.
“Evi, stay silent,” I snarl through gritted teeth, wordlessly willing her to stay out of this.
Her gaze snaps to mine, her pupils blown wide with fear, turning her irises closer to green than their usual golden hazel, and her chin wobbles dangerously. “I’m sorry,” she breathes, her eyes squeezing shut, and thick tears form tracks down her dirt-smudged cheeks.
“It’ll be okay,” I promise, but before I’m done talking, rough hands grip the collar of my cable-knit sweater, pulling tight against my throat, and a knife cleaves through the fabric behind me, carelessly nicking my skin along the way as it exposes my skin to the damp, frigid air of the dungeon.
The man throws the severed folds of my sweater wide, baring my back and shoulders, and I barely have time to clamp my mouth shut before the sharp sting of a whipping cane lances across my spine.
Tensing, I bite back the groan that wrenches from me and grind my teeth.
The sting of my flesh tells me he wasn’t holding back.
But if Kenji thinks this will break me, he’s sorely mistaken. I’ve known this kind of pain before. And as his men set a grueling pace, taking turns drawing lines across my back, I sink into the familiar numbness that lingers in the darkest corners of my mind.
My shoulders burn, my bones ache, and sweat mixes with blood on my skin. My body screams, but I focus on Evi, on the small, frightened figure in the cell, on the warmth of her presence that I can’t reach but can feel. I won’t break. Not for him, not for anything.
She cries softly, low and heartbreaking, but she refuses to look away. And even if I want her to, I’m grateful that she doesn’t.
The lashes keep coming until I’ve lost track of time and space. Then my skin lights on fire as the raw, angry welts start to split open, my flesh tearing beneath the relentless barrage.
“Stop, you’re killing him!” Evi screams, snapping me back to consciousness, and my head jerks up as I realize I must have passed out for a second.
That’s what happens when you go days without food or water, followed by a brutal torture session. I’m familiar with the tactic, but Kenji’s pushing past the line—probably searching for the limits of my pain.
And yet, the terror that grips me from my wife’s attempt to interfere is far greater than any pain. My chest tightens, even as my head spins nauseatingly, but I force myself to find her gaze. “I’m fine,” I rasp, though I know the words aren’t true. “I’ll be fine.”
Still, the blows stop as suddenly as they started, and I cling to consciousness in case Kenji decides that now is a good time to turn his fury on Evi.
But he doesn’t. Instead, he approaches me and leans close to whisper in my ear. “You’ll find, Sandro, that there’s no such thing as fine down here. Only choices. And right now, your choice is whether to talk… or watch your strength and pride be shredded with your back.”
I’m near delirium now—which is probably why I’m stupid enough to grin at him, blood dripping from my lips. “You’ll get nothing,” I whisper. “Not from me.”
This time, Kenji punches me, and I grunt through the pain as my teeth loosen beneath the force of his hit. My chains rattle. My vision blurs. My muscles scream. But the thought of Evi keeps me upright.
“You’re a stubborn fool,” Kenji says, almost gently. “But I like that. So let’s see how long you can keep it up before you beg, before you break. Don’t worry. I’ll take my time. I have all the time in the world.”
I clench my jaw, every sinew coiling. “You’ll never break me, not while there’s still breath in my lungs.”
“You’ll break eventually,” he counters, almost conversationally. “Everyone does. But I appreciate your grit. It will make the end… sweeter.”
He steps back, giving his men a nod, and I feel the tension shift, the next stage of the night looming. Every nerve screams in anticipation. My chest heaves, my arms tremble, but my gaze never leaves Evi.
Then, to my astonishment, the lever cranks, releasing the tension in my chains so suddenly that I drop like a rock onto my hands and knees.