Page 9 of Corrupted Deception

“Get his arms up, Vito.”

“Sì,signor,”Vito retrieved the handcuffs stored neatly in my briefcase and dragged Marín’s arms up, cuffing his wrists to the headboard.

“It seems like you’re having a difficult time concentrating, Daniel. I’m going to help you with that,” I said as I glanced at the assortment of tools in the briefcase, each one of them gleaming under the dim light of the room.

Vito retrieved a rag from the briefcase, and I nodded to him, giving him the go-ahead.

When the gag was in place, I retrieved a long, thin needle from my collection, meticulously sorted by size and thickness, and inserted it into the axillary nerve beneath Marín’s exposed armpit.

He screamed, and his fingers and toes managed to jerk like fish out of water, the mind-numbing pain breaking through his drug-induced stupor as a single drop of blood welled up around the needle and dripped down onto the navy blue bedspread.

His face was red, and tears and sweat were dripping down it by the time I withdrew the needle and signaled for Vito to remove the gag.

A trickle of dark red blood dripped from the wound onto the bedspread.

Red, like Charlotte’s plump lips, like her nail polish. The color had matched her tanned skin well. There’d been faint streaks in the polish, though—brush strokes. It hadn’t been applied professionally. A budget-conscious assassin?

“No more. Please,” Marín cried.

I swear, they were the three words I’d heard the most in my life. “Oh God” came in a close fourth and fifth. It was a wonder I didn’t have a god complex.

His pupils were still fully dilated, but there was a little more focus in them now.

I smirked.

The sooner we wrapped this up, the sooner I could findher. And her budget-manicure. Her silver eyes. The tanned column of her throat that I still wanted to wring.

“I’ll ask you one more time before this gets unpleasant, Daniel. What did the woman want?”

Daniel stared at me, eyes widening like he was trying to focus.

“Finley,” he panted. “She wanted to know about Cade Finley.”

I looked up, exchanging a glance with Vito, but he shook his head.

“She was supposed to suck my dick,” Marín rambled as his eyes began to glaze over. “Man, that would have been fantastic. She had these lips… Fucking perfect, you know?”

Vito laughed. “Your blowjob days are over,amico.”

I sighed and retrieved another needle, this one’s gauge slightly larger than the last.

“No, you don’t have to do that,” Marín whined while he tried to lift his head up off the pillow for a better look.

Thanks to the lingering effects of the paralytic, his pleas had all the enthusiasm of a last-minute tax return.

Vito gagged the man as I inserted the needle, penetrating the axillary nerve once again.

Marín screamed and his body shook, but this time, even after the initial agonizing shock had worn off, I left the needle in place, the shrieking pain a constant reminder to keep his drugged-up mind focused.

Vito removed the gag, and I took hold of the needle’s end, a promise of sweet relief.

“Why was she asking you about Cade Finley?”

“She thought…” he panted. “She thought I’d sold him out.”

I withdrew the needle.

“And you did, didn’t you?”

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