Page 25 of Alessio DeLuca

“I’ll leave you alone to think about that for a while. Let it sink in how fucked you are.” He pauses in the doorway, throwing me one last mocking smile over his shoulder.

“Don’t go anywhere, Maty. I’ll be back… and I’ll be bringing some friends who are just dying to play with you.”

And with that, he’s gone, slamming the heavy metal door shut behind him with a resounding clang.

I slump in my restraints, my whole body shaking with terror and despair. Tears stream down my face as hopelessness crashes over me in suffocating waves.

Oh God. Oh God, what is he gonna do to me? How long will he keep me here, torturing me, before he kills me?

And even if by some miracle I survive… will there be anything left of me to save? Or will Ghost succeed in turning me into an empty shell he can use as a pawn in his sadistic game?

I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore, except that I’m in hell.

A hell of my own making.

I should have known my past would catch up to me someday. Should have known that the sins of my youth would demand their pound of flesh, and that flesh would be mine.

I think of Alessio, of his strong arms and beautiful eyes, his fierce protectiveness and the way he makes me feel cherished, treasured. Safe.

How could I ever have thought I could escape my demons and build a life with him? How could I have been so naive, so selfish?

Now he’ll also pay the price. Ghost will use me to hurt him, to burn his world down. And it will all be my fault.

A wail builds in my throat, tearing itself free in a cry that seems to go on and on. I scream until my voice gives out, until I’m gasping and retching and limp in my bonds.

But no one comes. No one hears.

I’m alone in the darkness, with nothing but my torn hopes.

And so I do the only thing I can.

I close my eyes… and I pray for the end.

* * *

Alessio

“Talk.”

I shove the trembling, bleeding mess of a man against the wall, my Glock pressed hard enough against his temple to leave a bruise. “Where the fuck is he keeping her?”

“I swear, I don’t know!” he babbles, tears and snot mingling with the blood pouring from his shattered nose. “I just deliver messages, run errands. Ghost doesn’t tell me shit!”

“Fucking useless!” I snarl, my finger tightening on the trigger. The urge to paint the wall with this scumbag’s brains is a living thing, clawing at my insides. But I force it down, knowing I need him alive. For now.

“Boss.” Luca’s voice is low, urgent. “We have a new lead - a possible location on Maty.”

I pivot instantly, letting the sobbing wreck crumple to the floor. “Where?”

“The old meatpacking plant down by the docks. It’s been abandoned for years, but our sources say there’s been activity there in the last 24 hours.”

He hands me a file, his jaw tight. “It’s thin, but it’s the best we’ve got right now.”

I flip through the grainy surveillance photos, my gut clenching at the sight of armed men moving in and out of the graffiti-covered building. It’s not much, but it’s more than we’ve had in the two days since Maty disappeared.

Two fucking days. Two endless, agonizing days of not knowing if she’s dead or alive. Two days of scouring the city, calling in every favor and threatening every lowlife. Two days of slowly losing my fucking mind, imagining all the ways that sick fuck could be hurting my woman.

I’m gonna rip Ghost apart with my bare hands. I’m gonna make him scream for mercy, fucking beg for death. And I’m gonna fucking smile while I do it, knowing every second of his agony is retribution for what he’s put Maty through.

---