Page 85 of Under Control

He screams in agony as I leave the utility room and shut the door behind me.

All noise is abruptly cut off.

I consider heading upstairs, but instead I find a big, complicated remote, make myself comfortable on one of the media room couches, and start figuring out how to put on a movie while I wait for my husband to finish talking with my cousin.

Chapter 31

Valentin

Ihave to admit, the boy holds out longer than I expected.

When I caught the kid, I figured he was just some pampered fucking asshole.

But as I carved him up, careful not to remove any fingers or mark him in any visibly permanent way, I got a feel for his mettle.

Arsen’s not soft. No, he’s not soft at all. He’s got other scars from a dozen other painful sessions, possibly sessions like the one we had. I don’t ask him about those, because I don’t care, but it’s clear he’s not weak, and that wasn’t his first time, far from it.

I can respect that.

Unfortunately, sooner or later, everyone breaks.

I’m tired when I finally emerge from the basement after finishing a second session with the young man. Anton’s waiting for me at the bar with a cup of coffee brewed and ready, though it’s only lukewarm at this point. A college football game’s playing on TV.

“You’ve been busy,” he comments.

“The boy gave me some good information.” I drink my coffee and sigh. “Where’s my wife?”

“At the hospital visiting her mother. She left a little bit ago.”

“That’s good.” I crack my back and lean forward on my elbows. “There’s going to be more blood.”

“Did he give you locations?”

“And names. Lots and lots of names. I’ll pass along everything to the brigadiers and they’ll follow it up. If the boy’s lying?—”

I shrug slightly. Karine showed him mercy, but I will not. If Arsen lied to me, again and again, and sent me chasing after ghosts, he’ll pay for it very dearly.

My wife is not soft. I watched her stand up to a hardened Bratva killer at a table of other ruthless monsters. She didn’t balk when she saw her cousin tied up down in that basement, even though she knew what would happen to him. Instead, she curled up and fell asleep outside the door, and didn’t seem bothered when I emerged smelling like sweat and blood.

No, she’s not soft at all, but she cares about people still.

There’s a crucial piece of me missing. I’ve always known it. Where most people care about their fellow humans, I find myself bored by them more often than not. Anton’s the rare exception; beyond him, I’ve had few friends.

Maybe it’s what I love about Karine. She has a little of my darkness in her, but she’s still more human than I’ll ever be. Because she’s something like me, we can have thisrelationship. And I get to experience normal humanity through her sweetness.

Still, I wonder if I should’ve just killed the kid for her, just so she understood the depth of my obsession.

I give Anton everything Arsen told me. He writes it down without comments and proceeds to pass it along as instructed. I stay in the basement and drink my coffee, staring at the TV without seeing it, ready to catch a few hours of sleep when my phone starts to ring.

It’s Karine. I answer immediately. “How is your mother?”

“She’s gone.” Her voice is frightened and I’m instantly on edge.

“What do you mean?”

“She’s missing, Valentin. I got here a few minutes ago and when I went in to visit, she wasn’t in her room. The nurses looked all over the place, but she’s gone. Right now, they think she got transferred somewhere else, but, Valentin, I don’t think that’s what happened.”

“I’m coming,” I tell her. “Stay there. Delay them if you can.”

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