by Lylah James
Shaking my head, I looked down at Maddie. She had to pay the price. Ayla had to pay the price of my stupidity.
Maddie cried in my arms, her entire body shaking with how heavy her sobbing was. She placed her hand over her stomach, right over where the bullet went through.
Closing her eyes, she whispered. Her voice was low, her words so softly spoken. “My…baby…”
What—?
I stared at her, completely horrified.
I heard her wrong. My mind was playing tricks on me. I wanted to ask her, try to clear this confusion, but my tongue felt heavy.
She opened her eyes again. “Baby…my…baby…” she cried in my arms.
There was no mistake. No confusion. My mind wasn’t playing a trick on me. I heard it clearly, and it hurt. The words hurt, and I couldn’t imagine how badly it was hurting Maddie.
My lips didn’t move. I just stared. Even when Maddie was taken from my arms, Phoenix screaming, crying, begging her not to leave him, I didn’t move.
My eyes slowly made their way to Maddie’s stomach, where she was bleeding profusely. There was no way the baby would make it. It was impossible.
Would Maddie even make it?
I didn’t fucking know anything.
I was snapped out of my thoughts when Sam came running into the room. Phoenix carried Maddie to the bed, and I quickly got to my feet.
My blood roared at the unfairness. No, it roared with anger, with the need for answers. I was raging, my body shaking with the force of my fury.
My eyes moved around the room, making contact with Viktor as he rushed into the room again.
I saw the fury, impatience, and worry in his expression. I also knew he was wrestling for control. I was too. We all were.
Artur wasn’t going to make it out alive.
Viktor stared at me and gave me a single nod before walking out again. One nod was all it took to drive me to the point of insanity.
Artur had been captured, and my control had snapped.
Giving Maddie a final glance, I walked out of the room. I didn’t call Phoenix. There was no point. He wasn’t going to leave Maddie’s side now.
Making my way to the basement, I let the fury boil. I let myself feel the anger, knowing it would serve me well later.
Only the anger would keep me going. There was no time for weakness. I pushed the image of Ayla frightened and hurt, Maddie bleeding and close to death, to the back of my mind.
Viktor was waiting for me in front of the door, his expression fierce. He didn’t say anything. There was nothing to say. One of our own betrayed us. Someone we trusted and treated as a brother.
But we couldn’t dwell on that betrayal now. There was no time for it. Our only purpose was to get answers and find Ayla.
Viktor opened the door, and I walked inside, my stride confident and purposely. Slow even through my anger.
Artur was tied to a chair, facing me. His head was cast down, but I knew he heard me come in. The way his body tightened gave him away.
Nikolay was standing behind him, a murderous look on his face.
I walked forward, stopping just two feet away from Artur. The room was filled with silence. No words were uttered, but the air was heavy and tensed. Almost suffocating.
I let the silence drag for a few more minutes. Artur grew more tense. It was all a game, a game of dominance, and in that moment, I held the power and Artur was just a pawn.
When I felt myself barely hanging on the thin thread of control, I moved forward. I’d give him credit. He didn’t move or flinch.
Grabbing his chin, I raised his head. He stared at me blankly, completely void of emotion. Fueled by deep hatred and anger, I pulled back and punched him. I heard his nose crunch under the force of my knuckles.
I craved his scream, his blood. When he didn’t make a sound, I punched him again, harder than before. There was a very satisfying sound. Another broken bone. This time he winced, his eyes shutting tight in pain.
I grabbed his throat and squeezed, watching him fight for his breath. His face turned a shade of red and then purple. The cells broke across his skin, tiny red dots as his wide eyes stared at me in panic.
The whites of his eyes turned red as he suffocated under my grasp. His pupils enlarged, and I smiled, watching him struggle for his life, for another gasp of air.
The corner of his mouth was swelling, and there was a laceration over his cheekbone. His nose was already swelling, turning an ugly shade of green.
I pressed my fingers just a little harder, feeling his windpipe. He choked against the pressure building in his throat as it traveled up into his face.
I fought against the urge to laugh at his suffering.
Ayla was suffering because of him. She was innocent, yet paying for something she didn’t deserve. All because of this man in front of me. Whatever was going to be handed to him would never be enough. I would never be satisfied.
When I saw Artur’s eyes rolling back into his head, I pressed one more time before releasing him. His head fell forward, and he coughed dangerously, desperately gasping for his next breath.
His whole body shook with the effort to take in as much air as he could.
When I noticed him getting in control of his labored breathing, I grabbed his hair and pulled his head back. I held his neck against the back of the chair and glared.
“Why?” I simply asked.
One word. One question. Artur was one of my men. He understood how I worked. He understood what I wanted without even asking.
I thought the betrayal would hurt. It did hurt, but I was mostly consumed by anger. The fury clouded my vision and every other emotion.
I had to find Ayla, and Artur was my only hope. The thought of her being in danger and hurt because of someone I trusted sent a wave of pain through my body.
Was it my fault? It was a constant thought in my mind, something that slowly killed me every day since she was taken from me.
“Why the fuck did you do it?” I snarled into his face. He didn’t flinch, but the way his eyes darted to the side betrayed his fear and pain. I knew my gaze promised violence and revenge. My voice shook with it.
When he didn’t answer, I punched him again, quickly losing my patience. “Answer me!”
There was a gash next to his eye, and he winced when my punch landed on it. It looked like Nikolay had already done a number on him.
I looked down at my hand and saw his blood. I wasn’t wearing my gloves, and in that moment, I didn’t want to. I wanted to see his blood on my hands, knowing that he was suffering and in pain.
At the thought of Ayla, I landed another furious punch on his face. I felt my jaw tighten and heard my teeth grinding together. If I could, I would string him up by his fucking intestines for what he had done.
Artur coughed and choked, spitting out the blood that accumulated in his mouth. He glanced up at me through swollen eyes. “You killed my father.”
Oh, I knew this was coming. There was only one reason why he would betray me.
His father betrayed my life, my father, and when I took over as Boss, I killed him. Without any remorse or even an ounce of guilt. I left him on the cold ground, bleeding to death. When I came back at night, his body was already gone and buried.
Artur had been kicked out of the house. He was seventeen. When I found him a few days later, he was starving. Homeless. And alone.
I brought him back into my house. We were friends, brothers not my blood, but still brothers.
I never thought it would come to this. But all this time, I was getting betrayed. For ten years, he betrayed me.
Shaking my head, I pulled away. With my hands behind my back, I glared down at Artur. He finally flinched under the weight of my murderous stare. I felt the corner of my lips twitch with satisfaction.
“You were the traitor all this time?” Viktor growled behind me.
Artur glanced at him and then chuckled. He broke off and whimpered in pain before replying. “Yeah. All this tim
e…it…was me…but…you were too…blind…to see it.”
Nikolay’s face thundered, and he reached forward, punching Artur in the stomach. He doubled over in agony and wheezed through his broken nose.
“Fuck,” he muttered under his breath.
Rubbing my face in frustration, I took a deep breath. I couldn’t kill him. Not now. Not until I found Ayla. And I knew he wasn’t going to tell me easily.
My fingers itched with the need to kill him. But for now, I was going to hurt him until he would feel the weight of the pain he caused my Angel.
“Why Ayla? Your enmity was toward us…not her,” Viktor asked, coming to stand beside me.
Artur shook his head. “You are…right. My enmity was with you.” He broke off and gasped. Sucking in a deep breath, he continued in a low painful tone. “I didn’t even know who she was until the day we went to the beach. Alberto might have trusted me, but he was smart. I was never allowed into his house. Only his clubs. But that day, he called me to his house. I saw Ayla’s picture there. I put two and two together, and there you go. She was an Abandonato.”
“That doesn’t explain why you handed her over,” Viktor snapped. When I saw him moving forward in anger, I grabbed his arm, stopping him.
Artur continued speaking. “Alberto wanted her back, and I wanted to make you pay. It was easy. Two birds with one stone. The best way to bring you down was by hitting you with your weakness. And she was your only weakness.”
I stayed silent, forcing my anger into control. If I moved, I would kill him.
“For years I waited, planned. I looked for your weakness. You were a strong motherfucker. Your motto was kill or be killed. And then Ayla came into your life. It was almost too easy,” Artur said through his harsh breathing.
I saw his lip twitch in a small smile as he chuckled dryly. “You only made two mistakes. The first one was to trust me.”
He took a deep breath before delivering the final blow. “The second was falling in love with Ayla. So, you see, in the end…it was your…fault. You let her…become your weakness.”
Viktor reached forward and pummeled Artur with three furious punches. “You fucking bastard!” he roared.
He reached back for another punch, but Nikolay was quicker. I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. When I heard Nikolay’s voice, my eyes snapped open.
“Did Alberto know I wasn’t betraying Boss?” he hissed into Artur’s ears.
Artur laughed through his pain. “Fuck…yeah…he knew everything. It was our plan. We’d make you think he believed you, while I was behind your back, giving him the correct information. How did you think he always knew your moves when Nikolay was giving him false information?”
“So it was all for nothing?” Viktor snarled, pulling away in frustration.
Artur nodded. “It…was…obvious. Nikolay was…too…loyal. Even when he was…close to…death…he never spilled…anything.”
He paused, taking in desperate air through his compressed lungs. “He…knew you…would never betray Alessio.” Glancing back at Nikolay, he smiled through his broken lips. “You are…like…a…fucking loyal dog.”
Nikolay’s eyes glowed fiercely with fury. “You little shit,” he spat.
“It doesn’t matter anymore,” I finally spoke. “Where’s Ayla?”
Nothing mattered. Why Artur betrayed me or how…only Ayla mattered. I fucking hated that I depended on Artur to find her, but there was no other way.
He raised an eyebrow at me. “Did you…really…think…it would be this…easy?”
This time, a smile crept his way across my lips. In no way was it a gentle smile. No, it promised only pain.
“No, I didn’t think it would be easy.” I shrugged a heavy shoulder, leaning forward until our faces were mere inches apart. “It’s not going to be easy for you. Not at all.”
I leaned back and nodded at Nikolay. He pushed a white cloth into Artur’s mouth and stepped back, looking at his handy work.
Viktor walked over to the back table and came back with his favorite equipment. Clippers. They usually chopped off the fingers clean and without much effort.
Nikolay also came back with a spiral knife. My favorite.
He handed it to me while I watched Viktor get to work. It started out slow. A few punches, choking Artur, and when he still didn’t talk, Viktor moved to the nails.
It hurt like a son of a bitch. Artur’s screams were muffled by the cloth, but the way his body trembled, it was obvious he was in terrible pain.
He hadn’t lost any fingers yet. Only three nails.
I raised my hand, and Viktor immediately stopped. Nikolay tore the cloth from Artur’s mouth, and he screamed as the pain coursed his fingers and traveled its way through his body.
His hand was strapped to the arm rest, and I saw the way his fingers shook. They were covered in blood, and I chuckled at the sight.
“You want to talk now?” I wondered, looking at his bloody mess.
“Fuck…you…” he wheezed.
“No? You don’t want to?” I taunted. “Okay then. Enjoy.”
Viktor held the clipper over Artur’s index finger, just below the first knuckle.
He waited. Waiting was a form of mental torture. The best way to break someone. Waiting made them tense, more alarmed, and their fear would hold no bounds.
I counted the seconds in my head.
One. Two. Three. Four. Five.
Artur screamed. He bellowed so loud my ears rang. His pain was music to my ears, and I sat down on the chair behind me.
“That was barely a finger,” Viktor muttered as he stared at the bloody knuckle on the floor.
“Make sure he doesn’t bleed to death,” I snapped. We weren’t done with him yet. Not until we had our answers and Ayla safe in our room.
A few minutes passed, another finger lost. One on each hand.
I waited to see if he would talk, but Artur stayed stubbornly quiet. Shaking my head to repress my frustrated growl, I got up and Viktor moved out of the way.
Leaning forward, I grabbed Artur’s chin. “If you talk, this is going to be easy on you,” I warned.
“I…know…you…” he gasped. “Doesn’t…matter…if I talk…or not…I won’t…make…it…out alive…either way.”
I cocked my head to the side, regarding him with curious eyes. “Smart. You’re right. You won’t make it out alive either way. But I’ll make your death quicker if you speak.”
Another lie and he knew it.
When he didn’t speak, I sighed just for a good measure. Taking my sweet time, I strolled around his chair, giving him some time to catch his breath.
I stopped in front of him again. He was staring at his feet, his swollen lips set in a tight, stubborn line.
I lightly dragged the spiral knife down his cheek, not enough to break his skin. But it was enough to let him know what was about to happen next.
When the knife reached his other cheek, I pressed it harder, and blood oozed through the broken skin. He winced but stayed quiet, biting on his lip to stop the scream.
I knew the spiral knife burned where it cut and Artur was probably in agony.
I dragged the knife to his neck, leaving trail of blood. The skin turned red, and I pulled away. His breathing was harsh and labored. Each breath appeared difficult to inhale and exhale.
I moved the knife to his thighs, making cuts as I went. The cuts weren’t too deep, just enough to cause pain that would be unbearable after a few minutes.
“Are you ready to talk now?” I asked after his screams calmed down.
He hissed and glared at me. I shook my head. Nikolay paced the floor while Viktor got to work again.
Two more nails and fingers.
And then I made cuts over his body.
Sometimes we walked out of the room, leaving Artur alone to breathe through his pain. And then we were back. It kept going like that…for hours. Until I started to feel helpless and completely hopeless.
The next time we wa
lked into the room again, Artur’s head was hanging low. It was already morning. For an hour, I paced outside Maddie’s room, debating if I should go in or not.
But guilt weighed heavily on my heart. Instead, I stayed outside.
Then, I was in the piano room, wishing Ayla was there. Another pang of guilt. Another wave of pain.
After an hour of wallowing in self-pity, I walked away and made my way into the basement.
The fury was back in full force. The air smelled of blood. It felt heavy with death and uncertainty.
I stared at Artur, waiting for a reaction from him. When I started toward him, he slowly lifted his head. His face was almost unrecognizable. Swollen, red, a mix of green and purple. Several cuts. Some deep, some barely there.
He stared at me through swollen eyes, and I saw his jaw working. He opened his mouth, but no words came out.
He tried again, but it sounded like some gurgling noise. Artur tried to clear his throat and coughed a few times before taking a deep breath.
I saw his throat moving as he swallowed and then tried again. “She…”
My eyes widened, and I stepped forward. “Where is she?” I demanded, my heart accelerating and beating as wildly as a caged bird.
“She…is…” He choked before continuing slowly. “Is…at…my house.”
“Your house?” Viktor growled.
Artur nodded slowly. “That’s…where…Alberto…is hiding.…My house…he u…ses it…hiding…place.”
I raked my fingers through my hair and swiveled around, punching the wall. All this time. She was right under our fucking nose.
“Move out,” I ordered Viktor and Nikolay.
“For your sake, I really hope she’s there,” I told Artur.
He stared at me blankly, but I saw something in his eyes. It almost looked like regret. “She…is…there.”
“Why are you telling us that now? Why wait until you are half dead?” Nikolay questioned.
I wondered the same thing. Artur didn’t answer. He glanced down, and I saw his lips move. No sound was made, but his lips told me what I needed to know.
Maddie.
With a deep breath, I nodded toward my men. They walked out, and with a final glance at Artur, I walked out too.