Page 52 of Darkest Desire
“What if I need to go the hospital? Shouldn’t you take me to your doctor? Just to make sure I’m all right?”
I narrow my eyes. “Why does it sound like you’re trying to stall me? Like you don’t want me going down there. Is there a reason you don’t want me to torture him?”
“I don’t want you torturing anybody.”
“Even though he just tried to kill me?”
She sighs, ducking her chin so I can’t make out her eyes and her eyes are so expressive. They usually tell me everything I need to know. “I know he did. But I don’t like the idea of you torturing anybody. That’s why I’m trying to stall you. It just makes me uncomfortable.”
I stare at her for a long moment but she seems to be telling the truth. It could be the truth mixed in with some lies. Sometimes it is hard to tell with Sasha – not that I would ever tell her that. She doesn’t need to know that she’s an enigma to me. It would give her too much power.
“Fine,” I say. “But I’m doing this, Sasha. So go upstairs. Go to bed. If you need a doctor, then come get me. But you seem fine. Sleep is what you need.” I have the urge to kiss her like we did earlier tonight. God, it was the best fucking kiss of my entire life.
And it was all because Sasha was drugged.
I’m a fucking monster but I don’t regret that kiss. Now, if only Sasha would let me kiss her like that while she’s sober. I’d die a happy man.
I turn her towards the stairs. “Go.”
Begrudgingly, she goes up the stairs. It’s not until I see her disappear down the hallway that I finally allow myself to headdown to the basement. It’s through a secret room in my office. I don’t need just anybody finding it.
My feet clap on the stone steps. I love knowing my victims can hear me coming closer just by the sound of my footsteps.
The dungeon isn’t really a dungeon. It’s just one dark, creepy room with a table in the middle of it. Strapped to the table is Lorenzo, the guard I had hired for the honeymoon. I made sure to vet everyone and Lorenzo came back clean.
So why the fuck did he try to kill me?
I motion for Alan to leave and he does his duty. I point after him as I speak to Lorenzo. “See? That’s a guard who knows what to do. How to be respectful. Now tell me, Lorenzo. I am giving you one chance before I start to hurt you. One chance to just tell me right away.” I lean in close to his ear. “Who sent you?”
Lorenzo doesn’t say a word.
I step back to see that he’s glaring at me. “Who sent you, Lorenzo? I did an entire background check on you and nothing came up. So why is that? Who sent you? How does a man with a squeaky clean record go on to kill his own boss? I thought I could trust you.”
He spits in my face.
“Now you’re just being petty,” I chuckle, wiping the spit off my cheek. “Fine. If you won’t tell me upfront, I’ll have to do this the hard way.”
A smaller table is off to the side of the room with scalpels and knifes and many other torture methods. One my favorites is the bamboo sticks under the fingernails.
I pick up one of the sticks, inspecting it. “No one would think something as small as this would do so much damage. But it hurts like a motherfucker when placed underneath fingernails.” I grab Lorenzo’s hand and he tries moving away but he’s trapped to my table. He’s not going anywhere.
“I gave you the chance to tell me who sent you,” I say, lining the bamboo stick up to his nail. “But you chose not to. So you’re going to tell me after I torture you. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But eventually, you will tell me. You seem like a strong man. Are you really one or is it just bravado? I guess I will find out soon enough.”
Then I jam the bamboo into his nail and Lorenzo’s screams fill the entire room.
I smile in victory. He will tell me in time. I just have to be patient. Just like I am with Sasha.
It will all work out in the end.
Sasha
Maybe because of the drug inside of me, I manage to fall asleep right away and when I wake up in the morning, I feel terrible. My head is pounding and my throat is sore. My body feels like it ran a marathon last night.
After a shower and a change of clothes – a simple crop top and loungewear pants – I head downstairs to find Nico in the kitchen, enjoying his breakfast.
He looks so… mundane that it’s almost scary.
I’m struck with the memories of what we did last night. How nice our kiss was. Well, it was more than nice but I will never tell him that. That can never happen again. If I let myself fall intoNico, I’ll start to care for him and what will that say about me? That I care for a murderer? Does that make me an accomplice?
