Present
The relief I felt when I heard Sloane’s voice as she finally woke up slowly faded once the reality of the situation hit me in the face. No man ever wants to be in a situation like this with the love of his life beside him, unconscious. But awake? Jesus fuck. I don’t want her to have to go through this. She’s suffered enough pain already, and I’m not sure how much more she can take before she finally breaks.
Sloane was out for hours while this asshole hung me up from the beams above me and sliced my skin with his knife. I didn’t feel a single thing. No, the only thing I felt was increasing worry the longer Sloane was out of it. The worst part was that I couldn’t even see her. I couldn’t see how badly she was injured, I couldn’t see whether he’d tied her up the way he had me. I couldn’t see the rise and fall of her chest to assure me she was even still breathing. Though I knew in my gut that she was.
My little warrior isn’t so easy to kill.
I don’t remember much of what happened to get us here. One minute we were driving along the road heading to my dad’s just fine, and the next I was waking up to a bucket of water being thrown over me as this asshole stood over me, droning on about how we’ve been playing with him for far too long.
I’m not sure even he understands what the point of all this is. He seems delusional. I’ll never call Enzo crazy again. This guy takes that status by a landslide. Though I could use Enzo right now. That little fucker would come in useful when taking care of this guy.
And I wish I knew where the fuck we were. Since I’m not sure how long I was out of it, I have no idea if we’re even still in the city.
I hate that we’re here.
I hate that Sloane is here.
I hate that she’s going to see what’s about to happen, that she’s here for what I’m about to say, but it’s the only way I can think of for us to get through this and come out in one piece.
“I want what belongs to me,” the guy says in response to my question, and I raise a brow.
“And just what do you think belongs to you? Because I sure as fuck don’t,” I grit out, the pain of hanging here quickly catching up to me. I’ve been up here for about twenty minutes already, and I need to find a way to get this idiotic fuck to let me down before my arms are ripped from their sockets.
“My brother’s empire,” he states. Sloane’s eyes widen as she stares at him, her mind working as she figures something out.
“You’re Nolan,” she mutters, making him turn towards her. I clench my jaw to stop myself from telling her to stop talking. I don’t want his attention anywhere near her. Though I can’t for the life of me figure out what’s going on, but clearly, she seems to know this guy. Now if someone could fill me in, it’d be much appreciated.
“That’s right, princess,” he says with a smirk and a kind of child-like giddiness to him that only makes him seem more unhinged. “I’m your uncle Nolan.”
Well, I guess that answers that.
I didn’t even know Sloane had an uncle, considering she’s never once mentioned him. And for her to not recognize him straight away shows he’s estranged from the family.
“What the fuck does that have to do with me?” I ask, bringing his attention back to me. I barely hold in a sigh of relief when he starts to approach me, Sloane seemingly forgotten behind him.
“You’re here because your family is the reason I was pushed out of mine. It was your father who caught on to the fact that I was going behind my family’s back, and it was your father who made sure I was fucking exiled or he would’ve started a war!” he roars, spit flying from his mouth. My face screws up in disgust.
“So if it’s me you wanted, why bring her into it?” I ask, deliberately keeping Sloane’s name out of my mouth.
“I always planned to come after your family, and then I was going to go after that pussy of a nephew of mine. But then Sloane just had to come back to the city where she rekindled her relationship with you, the fucking Italian scum. So I figured… two birds, one stone,” he mutters with a grin. “I can use her to destroy you, and then Finn, too.”
I raise my eyebrows and give him a disinterested look. “You really think I give a shit about her?” I’m sorry, baby. “I didn’t care then, and I’m only using her for an easy fuck now. She knows she’s nothing but a piece off ass, and that’s all she’ll ever be.” I’m so fucking sorry. I chance a quick glance behind him, expecting to see pain or horror on her face directed at me because of my words, only to find her grinning.
She’s fucking enjoying this.
My little psycho.
He huffs and crosses his arms, knife from earlier still in hand. “Do you really expect me to believe that?”
If I could shrug my shoulders right now, I would. I keep my expression a mask of disinterest as I stare at him with blank eyes. “I don’t really give a fuck what you believe. She loves me, she always has.” This I know in the very depths of my soul. “But I’ve never returned her feelings. You may as well of brought my neighbor’s dog along.”
Considering I love her with everything I am, and that I don’t even have a neighbor, never mind one that has a dog, I’m guessing I’m a pretty good liar because he nods along with me, seemingly believing the lies spewing from my mouth.
“Fine,” he mutters. “If that’s the case, then I’ll just have to use you as a way to hurt her. Then at least I’ll still get to play with you and she’ll have to watch the man she loves die.”
He approaches me and starts to unhook me from the beams. I look at Sloane to finally find that look of horror on her face. I silently try to tell her that it’s okay—which it is, because I’m finally being let down—and that she needs to stay quiet.
One arm free, I sway a little from the one still attached before I’m dropped to the floor when my other arm is released. I land on the concrete flooring with a thud. Pain reverberates through my body, though I do my best not to let it show.
Not just because I don’t want this asshole to think he’s winning, but because I don’t want Sloane to feel a single second of my pain. And if she knows I’m hurting, then she will, too.
Nolan stands over me, sporting a sadistic grin as he reattaches the chains to a hook in the wall. I have no idea where we are, but it seems to be well equipped for its current purpose. He isn’t too much of an idiot after all, since he seems to have enough sense to make sure I’m chained, though I’m not sure how good I would be in a fight right now.
“Are you seeing this, girly?” he calls out to Sloane, but he’s met with silence.
Good girl. Don’t give him what he wants, baby.
“I see how it is,” he mutters and drags the knife up my arm, slicing it in the process. He only puts a small amount of pressure on the blade, making the cut deep enough to sting, but not enough to do any lasting damage.
I don’t react to him, and it only seems to rile him up more because he ups the ante, pulling the knife back before slamming it into my thigh. I grunt as pain flows through me, and I hear Sloane cry from the corner of the room, which only adds to my agony.
“How do you grow up in the Mob,” I say between pants, “and yet still end up this fucking bad at torture?”
I figure the more I rile him up, the more he’ll focus on me and forget about my girl behind him.
His eyes turn black as he hears my words, and I see the moment the rage takes over. He grabs me by the throat, pulling me forwards before shoving me back so that my head meets the wall behind me. Stars blur my vision as Sloane’s scream echoes in my ears, but I still mask my reaction.
I don’t react as he grabs the sheet that was keeping Sloane hidden from me and covers my face with it before pouring a bucket of water over me.
I don’t react as he continuously slices my skin.
I don’t react as he threatens to kill my father, my brothers, or their wives.
I don’t make a single sound as his hands wrap around my throat and he squeezes until my vision goes white.
I stay quiet when he rants and raves about everything he wants to do to me.
I manage to only hiss as he puts his thumb in the wound on my thigh and twists.
I don’t scream or cry out when he brings a baseball bat down on my torso.
The only real reaction I give him is when it’s finally over and he turns to do the same to Sloane.
I can’t help but call out to him, wanting to do anything and everything I can to keep him away from her.
“Is that all you’ve got, asshole?” I call out, somehow channeling Enzo.
“What? You still not had enough?”
I’d had enough an hour ago, but I’d rather die a thousand deaths than watch my girl go through what I just have. I just need to stall him. To keep him busy. I know my family will realize that we’re missing and they’ll be doing everything they can to find us. I just need to keep Nolan’s attention on me and away from Sloane, for however long it takes them to find us, since it’s clear I’m in no fit state to save us.
I keep my own attention away from Sloane. I haven’t looked at her once since his real torture began, because I know that one look in her tear filled eyes and I’ll break. Her heartache is more painful than anything he could ever do to me, and I need to keep fucking strong right now.
“You know what I think?” he asks. I don’t respond, knowing he’ll keep talking anyway.
“I think you’re trying to distract me from my pretty little niece, and I think you’ll keep running that fucking mouth of yours each and every time I go near her, am I right?”
Fuck.
He chuckles. “Just how stupid do you think I am?”
Well, considering you fucked up on multiple occasions when you attempted to come after me and mine, it was a fair assumption, I think to myself.
“The thing is, Romano, I think you’re head over heels for that girl over there,” he says and gestures towards Sloane. “And I think that no amount of physical torture will ever compare to seeing her in pain. And you know what else I think? I think you’d rather stay awake and watch, so that you can keep using these feeble attempts to distract me from her.”
He storms back towards me, swinging the baseball bat he used on me previously around in the air until he’s right above me.
No.
I can’t leave her alone in this.
“Don’t you fucking d—”
