Page 74 of No Mercy
“Did you know, the human skin burns at around 150 degrees?” Marco asks, crouching down to meet my eye level. He points towards the blow torch, “But this… well, we’ll go much higher. Should we bet on how long you can last?”
He clicks his fingers and the minion steps closer as the heat grows.
Don’t break Axel. Don’t fucking break.
I clench my fists as sweat pours down my face. “You won’t win.” I spit through gritted teeth. “No matter what you do to me, you’ll lose.”
“We’ll see about that.” Marco replies before stepping back.
For a third time, another scream tears through the warehouse, this time more coarse as I feel the inside of my throat rip apart.
The smell of burning flesh fills the air as I try to fight against the restraints holding me down. The screaming doesn’t stop as Marco laughs. They move the flame down my arm and across my chest.
I squeeze my eyes tighter as the pain grows. It’s like every nerve in my body is shouting at me to tell them where Eva is, but this is my fight.
The heat melts into my flesh, combining me with a top that no longer exists. The smell turns my stomach as I throw my head forward, my vision beginning to blur.
“Still not talking?” Marco says, his voice distant and distorted, like I’m underwater. “You’re tougher than I gave you credit for, Axel. I’m impressed.”
My body trembles as I try to focus, but my silence is the only weapon I have. It’s the one thing he can’t take away.
My vision darkens at the edges as my breathing becomes shallow. I can feel my body giving up, my mind failing.
I can’t see anything around me as everything blends together, my head rolls to the side, telling me that soon it will all be over. Despite it all, a small smile creeps on my face at the thought of keeping my family safe.
It’s worth it all if it means they come to no harm.
I hear Marco shouting something as his footsteps draw closer. “Don’t pass out on me yet,” he growls, his voice dripping with hatred. “We’re just getting started.”
His words fade into a high-pitched ringing, drowning out everything else.
Is this what dying feels like? Because if it is, it fucking sucks.
A blinding light floods the room, cutting through the suffocating darkness. With what little strength I have left, I force my head up, trying to focus as the light blinds me. Blurred figures move through the doorway. Marco’s voice rises above the noise, barking orders at his men, but it’s too chaotic to make out his words.
Then it happens.
Gunshots.
The sharp sounds bounce off the warehouse walls, each one rattling through my body. Another shot rings out, silencing Marco mid-shout.
The air erupts into chaos, but I can’t focus, can’t make sense of what’s happening.
I try to move, to fight one last time against the restraints, to see what is happening, but my body has already surrendered.
My vision blurs, the edges darkening as the weight of exhaustion pulls me under.
Blackness creeps in, my head slumping forward, my breaths shallow and uneven.
And then, faintly, through the noise, I hear it.
“Axel!”
The voice cuts through everything, through all the noise, clear and desperate. The voice feels like home.
Eva.
CHAPTER 34
