Page 55 of Darkest Desire
After a long, tense moment, Nico lets me go. “I have to head back to Lorenzo. I will get him to talk.” He gives me a wink before he leaves the room. A wink, like it’s a casual fun day instead of a day where he’s going to torture Lorenzo/Alek into telling the truth.
And then Nico will know I flat out lied to him again.
I’m in danger but I’m not sure exactly how much and that’s the scariest part.
I can hear the screams of Alek through the floor but I can’t find the door to the basement. Where is Nico hiding it?
Not that it matters. Even if I did find it, I would… what? Save Alek from torture? There’s nothing I can do. Alek lost the fight to Nico when he should have killed Nico.
Though, there is a small part of me that is relieved Nico isn’t dead. I hate that I feel this way but I can’t seem to let go of it.
I’m forced to spend the day, listening to Alek’s screams, and knowing I’m powerless to stop it. Knowing that the more Nico tortures Alek, the closer he gets to finding out the truth.
Nico
It takes around to the second day of torturing Lorenzo for him to finally tell me who sent him.
“Ok, ok,” he gasps out, covered in sweat. Everyone of his fingernails is trashed from where I’ve stabbed the bamboo sticks. Red wounds adorn his body from where I expertly cut him just enough to hurt him but not enough to kill him.
I pause with my knife raised. “Yes?”
“I’ll tell you. Just so you can kill me. Just so you can end this.”
“Great. Tell me. Who sent you?” My blood is rushing with excitement. I knew I would break him down eventually. I will admit though that I’m sad it’s coming to an end. I enjoyed torturing Lorenzo. It’s given me more excitement than I’ve felt in a while – the excepting being when I’m with Sasha. It’s always exciting being around her. I never know what she’ll say or do at any moment.
“Just kill me after I tell you.”
“No. I’ll have to verify it first. But then I’ll kill you. I promise. You’ll be released from this torture. Just give me a name.”
Lorenzo nods and sniffles. “Ok. Mikhail Novikoff sent me.”
Fuck. I honestly hadn’t been expecting that. I did ask Sasha but it was more just to tease her. Not in a million years did I truly believe it was Mikhail.
But it all makes fucking sense. He would send a guard to kill me and save Sasha.
But how did he find out where I live?
“Thanks for the information.” I pat his cheek. “I’ll be back soon enough.” I storm upstairs and find Sasha in the library, pouring over the Italian language book I got her. I rip the book out of her hands and press my hands on either side of her chair, locking her in.
She flinches. “What are you doing?”
“Lorenzo just told me that Mikhail sent him. Interesting since I just asked you yesterday if he was the one who had done it. So tell me what you know, Sasha.”
“Or what?” she challenges. “You’ll torture me? You’ve made a point of trying to save my life. You won’t torture me.”
“I don’t have to torture you the way I did Lorenzo to make you tell me. So just tell me and we can get this over with.”
With a heavy sigh, her shoulders slump, and all the fight leaves her. “Fine. Mikhail did send him. I didn’t find out until the night of the dinner party. Lorenzo… Alek is his real name. He pulled me aside and told me. But I didn’t know that he would try to kill you. I just thought he would try to help me escape. That’s all.”
“So, you stood there while Lorenzo or Alek or whatever the fuck his name is tried to kill me?”
“You can’t sound so shocked. You know how I feel for you.”
Her blunt words make me rear back in pain. I knew Sasha didn’t exactly care for me but I thought I was getting through to her. Knowing she was fine with my death hurts more than I ever thought it would.
“So how did Mikhail find out about this place?” I motion to the room around us. “He doesn’t know about my house here.”
Guilt flashes across her face before she nods. “When we were at the doctor’s house… I snuck away and found a phone to call my sister. Natalya promised to help me. I… gave her the address. I didn’t know fully what Mikhail would do. I swear. I didn’t know Alek would try to kill you.”
