by K. J. Dahlen
People of all ages, colors, and ethnicities stand against the wall of a cold, dank, dark room.
Giving me a soft push, Zerro leads us out onto the cement floor. All eyes are on us, and all I want to do is run to the nearest exit.
“Welcome. I hear many of you have failed to come up with the money that you owe to my family.” The devil has come out to play. I know it and so do all the other people in the room. Their faces morph into undeniable fear in front of me.
“You see, Toni, a beloved salesman of mine, was found stealing from me. STEALING!” he yells, his words echoing off the walls. I find myself backing up with every word that falls from his lips. Instead of hitting the wall, I fall against a warm chest.
Mack. His hands clamp onto my shoulders, holding me firmly in place.
“Do you know what I did to him?” The dim lighting makes it hard to see his face, but as he reaches for his gun, I catch a glimpse of it in the light. It is hard, dark, and cold. Evil, pure evil.
No one says a word. It’s pin-drop quiet. I know this is just the calm before the storm. He will end all their lives, and for that, he has no soul.
“I killed him. You know why?” His gun is being swung in every direction and had Mack not clamped onto me, I would have been running up the stairs by now.
“Because the money was mine. Mine! He was supposed to deal for me and give me the money he made. It seems as if some of you have decided to follow in his footsteps.”
Zerro’s footsteps can be heard crossing the concrete floor until he stops in front of a middle-aged man. His hair is slick with grease like it hasn’t been washed for several weeks, his eyes are red and jittery. He looks as if he is waiting for his next hit.
“Is that what you do, Zach?” Zerro questions, his words coming out like a verbal slap.
Zach doesn’t answer, though. He simply stares ahead waiting for his time to come, probably because he knows it has.
“No answer?” Zerro cocks his head to the side, mocking him. It is sick and twisted, and I worry that if I have to watch even one more second of this degrading shit, I will puke all over the floor.
Silence falls before the booming sound of a gun being fired fills the air. My ears ring fiercely as I become slightly disoriented. I watch between blurred eyes as he walks to another person, his gun pointed at point blank range.
A woman in the corner begins crying. Her body is shaking while she says a prayer in a language I don’t understand. I watch Zerro cross the floor and come to a stop directly in front of her. She draws back from him as much as she can with the wall directly behind her. He is truly the devil in human form.
“You cower in fear, yet days ago you came begging to me, pleading that you needed help.” His voice is rising with every word that leaves his mouth. “Yet, here you are now, pleading and begging not to die. People like you will beg and plead for everything your whole life.”
I am not sure how much more I can take. If I can stand idly by watching him tear these people to shreds, what type of person does that make me?
“We have children…families,” the woman sobs. She could be a single mother or a college student. Her mother could be dying, and she could be doing everything in her power to stay afloat. That single thought forces so much anger inside me, causing me to see red.
“Stop this insanity right now!” I scream at Zerro. My voice doesn’t shake, and I am not afraid to stand up to him. I don’t know how, but I am filled with an inner strength that spurs me to try and help these people.
He spins around so quickly, my head is reeling. Mack gives me a harsh shake as if to say ‘shut your mouth, you crazy bitch.’ But it isn’t me who is crazy. Zerro’s eyes zero in on me like I am prey. With precision, he crosses the room, his body gliding across the ground. I should be scared, I should be begging, pleading, crying, wanting nothing but mercy from him. I am not, though. I am standing tall, and I will look him straight in the eyes and tell him what a crazy fuck he is.
His fingers dig into my arm painfully as he drags me out into the center of the basement so all eyes are on us. I don’t even try to stop him since I know it will be useless. His scent surrounds me, making me forget where we are for a second.
All those things disappear the moment I feel the warmth against my skin. The barrel of his gun is pointed at the side of my head, and for one tiny second, I wonder if he will actually pull the trigger this time.
Pain registers in my mind as he grips me harder, twisting me around to face him. His eyes are black, and there is a bleak chance that I will not walk away from this.
“Does anyone want to explain to this girl what happens when someone defies me?” My heartbeat skyrockets, and is the only thing I can hear in my ears. Everything else seems far away as I stare into a pair of eyes that see nothing but death.
The room remains silent, and I don’t dare look away from him. It is as if it is a contest to see who will give mercy first. I have the strength my mother had given to me.
“You cannot kill all these people simply because they owe you money,” I grind out. It is a whisper, but I know he hears me. I know he understands what I am saying.
My words mean nothing to him, though. I know it the moment he throws me to the ground. My body falls hard as my head smacks off the concrete. My vision blurs when the popping noises begin from a machine gun going off. I hear their screams but am in too much pain to get up. Instead, I roll over to look up. What I see causes my heart to break. My stomach coils in pain as I hold back the vomit that wants to escape.
Blood splatters across the walls as bodies sag to the ground. He has shot every single person… My body goes limp as tears spill from my eyes. How can someone be so fucked up? So uncaring? They were human too.
A hand reaches out, gripping my arm and pulling me to a standing position. I can’t respond to anything, I can’t process the cruelty surrounding me. My mind is off in la-la-land, and my body isn’t responding. I feel as if I am outside of my body watching the carnage take place.
“Take her.” I hear his voice but can’t place it. I can’t figure out how I have gotten to this dark and dismal place.
“What do you want me to do with her?”
There is a moment of silence that makes the pounding in my head and heart stop.
“Put her in the dungeon,” he orders emotionlessly. I feel my body being lifted and carried. It means nothing to me. In the end, I know what my fate will be. It will be the same as these people.
Death.
5
Alzerro
Did she have a fucking death wish? My body is built up with aggression and anger. She will be lucky if I don’t kill her tonight. I rip my suit jacket off, throwing it against the wall. How dare she try and tell me what I can and cannot do!
You’re more than this, Figlio… my mother’s voice enters my mind. Fuck. I can’t handle this…
She still shouldn’t have defied me. She should have listened. Kept herself quiet. Now I’m forced to teach her a lesson.
Pulling my slacks and dress shirt off, I slip into a pair of jeans and head down to the dungeon. My steps are heavy with anger, madness even. I am not sure if I want to fuck her into submission or kill her.
I grip the key in my hand tightly, begging for the pain to release some of the anger I have within me.
Sliding the key into the door, I scrutinize her. The anger I felt moments ago disappears. It is still there, but it has eased. She is lying on the bench seat, her dress clinging to her.
I take slow and steady steps toward her. I’m still not sure if I will hurt her or not. I want to. I want to shake the hell out of her for making a fool of me in front of my men, in front of the people who owed me and my family money.
Her face is turned toward me, and it is then I see the bruise on the side of her face. It is black and blue and against her creamy skin, a dark reminder of what I am capable of doing.
My stomach sinks as realization dawns on me. I did this to her! Suddenly, I want to laugh. I hav
e killed women, countless ones, ones who were mothers, daughters, aunts, it didn’t matter. I ended their lives, but the mere thought of blemishing Bree’s skin in any way has me sinking to the ground on my knees.
This is fucked up, and I am fucked up for thinking such thoughts.
A cut marks her top lip, and I know if I look at other parts of her body, I will see more bruises.
Gripping my hair, I take a step back. I am feeling conflicted. I have never in my life felt conflicted. I always know what to do. There is never a doubt in my mind if someone deserved to die if someone deserved pain.
A whimper leaves her lips, and I find myself kneeling down by her face before I can even stop myself. I cup her face in my hands. The blank look in her eyes and that bruise make something in me snap.
I wonder if she can be the exception to it all. She is paying a debt, though. I remind myself. I have never allowed anyone to get close to me. No one. Not since my mother. Losing her was the nail in my coffin; it closed the door to my heart.
But she has to pay for what she has done… It is weak of me to think this way, to want to keep her and do things with her that are not like myself. I hope she learned her lesson tonight. Forcing myself from her angelic face, I stand. She will have to pay.
Turning, I walk out, shut the door and lock it. She will learn no matter how much she tries to sway me from evil or tells me that I can’t do something, I am damned and will be this way forever.
It has been four days since I have gone and checked on Bree. I force myself to stay busy with business, but it does me no good. My mind still wanders to her…
“She’s begging that we release her,” Mack explains, entering my office. I don’t look up from my computer.
“She was begging yesterday, too.” For the past four days, she has begged and pleaded to be released. I am not sure if she thought she would get away with what she did, but this is teaching her otherwise.
“She screams and cries every time we go down there.” There is a sappiness to his words, and when I finally looked up, he looks kind of heartbroken.
“When did you grow a heart?” I joke. Mack has been one of the most ruthless of my family friends. That’s why he is still here and no one else is. In this business, you can’t bless someone with mercy because if you do, they will take it and run. Plus, if you do it for one person, you have to do it for everyone.
“I didn’t grow a heart. I’m just not immune to a beautiful woman’s cries.” The smile he shoots at me sends a rage deep within me to the surface. Does he want her too? She is mine, and I won’t have any problem putting him in his place.
“Are you attracted to my debt?” I demand an answer. We won’t be leaving this office until I got one.
“No, sir… I didn’t mean it…” I cut him off, not wanting to hear his stuttering.
“Good. Leave her be. I will go down there in a few and take care of her.” Along with dealing with her and obtaining payment for debts owed, I have to contact Luccio and ask him if he has found anything out about my mother.
I slam the laptop closed and pull myself from the office. I can hear her pleas as I draw closer to the basement. If she doesn’t want to be punished, why the hell does she act out in ways that she knows will get her punished?
I push the key in the lock and throw the door open. She has hit a nerve. My eyes land on hers, and her pleas stop immediately as her eyes widen. She drags herself to the far wall of the cell as if she is repulsed by my presence.
“I heard your pleas and my cock came to fulfill them,” I announce, smirking at her. I take a step closer and watch her body shake. She is afraid of me, as she should be.
“You’re a sick asshole…” Her words are flung at me with such intensity, I can practically feel her anger against my skin.
“I already know all those things. You’re not the first to say it and won’t be the last.” I am being a cocky bastard because her pissed off and angry demeanor makes me want to fuck her into oblivion.
“Don’t. Touch. Me,” she snarls. There is a fire in her eyes, something I have never seen before. If I were a betting man, which I am, I would bet she is slightly turned on.
“You tell me not to touch you, but your body says differently…. Your body says fuck me. Long. Hard. Strokes.”
I didn’t come down here to fuck her, but if the situation is right…
“I want nothing to do with you. Nothing. What you did to me…to those people…” Her eyes glaze over as she is reliving the whole scene. I am sorry for hurting her the way I did, but I am not sorry I did my job. People had to die. She doesn’t understand the business, and I am starting to understand where her distaste comes from, but she isn’t me and she needs to understand there are rules that must be obeyed.
“Those people made a deal with me. I have explained how this works many times…” I stop myself from calling her ‘little one.’ “Bree. I understand that you can’t comprehend any of this, and that’s fine. But you had to be punished for your actions. My job is simple. I’m a leader. If I didn’t follow my own rules, no one else would. There would be mass chaos, and more people would have to die.”
I am trying to be gentle, which is new to me. Her face lightens just a bit as if she is finally digesting what I am saying. Her bruise is lighter, and it looks like she is using the creams I had sent down with Mack. Even though she is being punished, I make sure she has clean clothes and food every day.
“You still killed people. People who had families, who could have been working hard to pay you off. People who come to you are in dire need. You’re their only hope. Just like my father…” Tears well up in her beautiful, brown, doe eyes. My chest constricts as I take another step forward.
“I don’t have to justify my….”
“You’re right. You don’t,” she agrees, cutting me off. “But you shouldn’t just go around killing people. You shouldn’t kill people without knowing their struggle.”
“Their struggle isn’t my problem. Not everything in this world is rainbows and fucking sunshine, Bree. Sometimes life is hard. Life is a bitch and no matter how many times you hit it, it gets back up. I could guarantee that none of those people would have my back if our roles were reversed. No one out there has your back as much as you do.”
She sniffles, her eyes filling with more tears, “I don’t fucking care. Kill me or let me go. I refuse to stay here with you. You’re a mindless, disgusting bastard who gets off on bloodshed, and that’s not okay with me. I didn’t sign up to be shacked up with some lunatic.”
I laugh, because, well, it’s funny, and if she thinks I’m crazy, she should see some of the sick bastards who walk freely in the world.
“You didn’t sign up for this? Well, neither did I, darling. But I can tell you now, your father did sign for money, and he made a blood oath to pay it back. You’re the payment. So, no, you cannot go, and no, I won’t be killing you… Yet. What good is money if it’s dead?”
I smirk because I am a fucking prick like that. I watch as her eyes skim the cell. There is nothing for her to throw at me. Her bed is shackled to the wall. The small toilet and sink can’t be moved, and she wasn’t given any sharp objects.
“Then I’ll just do it myself…” She lunges forward as if she is going to do something. Except I am faster and more experienced when it comes to fighting. If a fight is what she wants, she doesn’t stand a chance.
I grab her, my touch gentle. She struggles against me, her elbow coming to land on my stomach. It doesn’t affect me, though. I have been shot at, punched, kicked, and beaten many-a-time.
“Stop,” I demand, pushing her back onto the bed. She squirms even more as if she thinks she can actually get away. She needs to stop—she is making me hard with every scrape of her thigh against my cock.
Since she won’t stop, I decide to take matters into my own hands. I push my weight onto her, which in turn pushes my cock against her thigh. A gasp leaves her lips as her heart races under her shirt. I can hear it even without
being against her chest.
“Get off me!” she cries out. It sounds like a cross between need and hate. It’s as if she wants me at that moment, but at the same time, wants me to go away. If that’s the case, I completely understand.
“I know you want it. You want me as much as I want you. You want my cock inside your tight pussy, don’t you?” I push my arousal against her again, thrusting my hips in an upward motion.
She shakes her head no, but with every small thrust, she sighs as if it alleviates some of the pressure deep within.
Her eyes darken, and her tongue dips out onto her bottom lip. She wants me. I know it, and she knows it. It’s getting there that is going to be the hardest part.
“Let me fuck you… Let me satisfy all those desires deep inside that pretty little head of yours.” My hands caress her as I leave a kiss against her neck.
“You’re demented,” she hisses. She is on the edge, at the point where she wants it, but she doesn’t. I just need to give her that last push into wanting…
“Yes, I fucking am,” I murmur against her ear as I suck it into my mouth. I hear her cry of pleasure, and I’ll be damned if my heart doesn’t speed up a little bit.
“This is wrong…” she utters between pants. I know why she thinks it is wrong, but I don’t care. She will have to understand and learn if she ever plans to make it in this life.
“Nothing is wrong. It’s merely your perception of what you believe is right and wrong that has you confused.” I push her down, parting her legs with my own. Devouring her neck and ear, I wait for her to say the final words.
I may be a bastard, a ruthless killer even, but I am not one for taking women against their will. There is always a tight, warm pussy that wants my cock. There is no need to take when it can be given by others.
She shudders, her hips gyrating against my own. She whimpers again, her eyes opening. They shine brightly back at me as I slide my hand down to her sweatpants, cupping her there. Her head falls back, and her eyes close for a brief second.