Page 84 of Lie to Me

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 tomake 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.

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