Page 40 of A Game of Survival

I continue to stay silent, he doesn’t know my little mouse very well if that’s what he thinks of her, but I fear that I have already cemented that door shut myself. I don’t give him the satisfaction of knowing that though.

He nods to Marcus who pulls some duct tape from his pocket and tapes it firmly over my mouth, giving me a look I can’t quite decipher as he does.

“Nothing to say, Cole?” Ronan sneers. “I wonder what your brother will say, let’s see shall we?” Reaching for his phone, he dials a number before he places it down on speaker phone. It doesn’t ring for long until I hear him.

“Ronan,” the deep voice that belongs to Silas answers, echoing around the room.

“Ahh Mr Salvatore, it's so kind of you to answer my call.” Ronan mocks.

“What do you want, Stronzo!? Are you ready to face me, one on one?” Silas barks. I groan against the tape, trying to tell him to put the goddamn phone down. But he can't hear my pleas. Finn kicks me in the shin to try to silence me.

“No, no I don't need to do any such thing. I have someone here who I think you’d be very interested in keeping alive. But alas you have to do one little thing and maybe I’ll send him back to you in one piece.” He taunts.

“What exactly do you want in exchange?” he asks. I grunt more to get his attention before Finn slams his fist into my face. I feel the force of the impact crack my nose, and the warm stream of blood that oozes from my nostrils makes my head spin. For a moment I think I might throw up.

“What was that? Cole? If that's you I’ll come for you. Just hang in there.” he yells. I can tell he's losing his cool. He hates being unable to control the situation.

“Let's put this on video call shall we? So you can see just how well your dear brother is doing, Silas.” Ronan smirks, nodding to Finn to hold the phone up to my face. My nose is pouring with blood and the knife wound in my leg isn't looking too great but I refuse to look at the phone.

“Come on now Cole, your brother wants to see you. Maybe hear you, too.” Ronan demands as he rips the tape from my mouth, it stings like a motherfucker and I hiss as it rips at my skin. He grabs my face forcing me to look at the phone, I can see Silas, his eyes full of worry as he takes in my wounded state. “I've looked worse, Fratello.” I smirk, winking at him. He doesn't look amused, I can't say I blame him.

“Your brother doesn't look so hot.” Ronan explains.

Silas interrupts him in a stern tone and I can see the way his jaw tightens as he talks into the video. “I'll ask one more time, what do you want?”

“Simple really. I want your empire. Give me that and he's all yours. I’ll let you think it over. 24 hours and we will be in touch.” He says before hanging up. I glare at him, I can’t wait to kill this fucker.

“Ahh Cole, see how he cares? We’re going to make both of you suffer in the end. But first, let's send him a little message shall we? Make sure he understands exactly who is in charge.” Ronan snarls at me.

The next instant, Finn grabs my hand securing it for Ronan. He brings the blade to my little finger, forcing the sharp edge of the blade into my flesh. Pushing it hard until I feel the blade cut through bone and cartilage. My little finger is cut clean off from my hand and the scream that erupts from my throat is animalistic. “You motherfucker!” I roar. My previously calm composure is gone as I fight the restraints of the chair, fighting to kill everyone in the room.

Ronan laughs and he picks my finger from the floor, ignoring the blood that's pissing from my hand. He nods to Marcus. “Clean him up and then we need to send this to his little mouse.”

I shout at him, throwing insults and threats in his direction but it falls on deaf ears, as Ronan and Finn leave the room leaving me alone with Marcus.

“Cole, I did warn you that if you got caught, I wouldn’t be able to help you” Marcus whispers into my ear before I feel the sting of a needle piercing my skin. It doesn’t take long for my eyes to close and I fall head first into the abyss, not wanting to know what I will wake up to next.

Chapter 22

Max

I’ve been sitting in an interrogation room for over an hour now. It’s like every other one I’ve been in in the past. Fixed metal table in the middle with a chair either side. The clock forever ticking on the wall gets louder and louder the longer I’m left in here. The fluorescent strip light is doing nothing to help my pounding head either. It’s like a torture chamber, without any physical torture. The one way mirror on the wall reminds me of how bad I look. I know they’re watching me, assessing me, waiting for me to crack. Normally they cuff me to the ring on the table but for some reason they cuffed me to my chair. My arms went dead a while ago now. My ribs are twinging from the lack of movement but I refuse to show pain. They can fuck off if they think they’re getting anything from me.

I glance up at the clock, watching as the hands tick by and wonder just how long they plan to keep here. They can’t possibly pin that cunts murder on me, and no matter how much I wish it was me who choked his last breath from his body for everything he put Lucille through. I have to settle with the fact that it was actually Silas who sent that fucker back to the pit he crawled from. But knowing that sick pervert felt every single hit makes being here worth it.

I’m lost in my reverie, coming up with ways I could’ve made Vinny suffer before ultimately taking his life when the door slams closed behind me. I only realize someone else is in the room when he clears his throat, bringing me back to reality. The violence and blood clears and I see a man sitting opposite me dressed in black fitted jeans and a casual black shirt. A man I recognize, but I know it can’t be him. I’m on my feet and lunging forward with my arms behind my back and the chair in tow. “You fucking cunt! Now I’ll give them a reason to fucking arrest me. I’ll kill you with my hands behind my back!” I roar, ramming into his body before he’s able to sidestep me, pulling my elbow up with enough force to connect with his jaw. But the chair tethering my arms together leaves me at a major disadvantage and he pushes me back with such strength that the chair legs become tangled with my own and I fall backwards, slamming into the floor, knocking the wind right out of my lungs.

“Mr Costello,” he says in too calm of a manner before spitting the blood from his mouth at my feet as I choke on nothing but air, trying to regain myself. “I am not who you think I am.”

I manage to steady myself on my feet and get my breathing under control before taking a long hard look at the man standing before me. “I KNOW EXACTLY WHO YOU ARE, VINNY!” I snarl, ready to finish the job Silas obviously wasn’t able to complete. “You abused my sister. Tried to kill her too and you have the fucking balls to show your face to me, here?”

Vinny huffs out a small chuckle and shakes his head, mirroring my footsteps as I circle the room, like two predators stalking one another before lashing out with their claws. “Like I said, Mr Costello. I am not who you think I am. My name is Marcus… I’m Vinny’s twin.”

I falter slightly, “Impossible.”

“How so?” The Vinny lookalike questions with a smirk, cocking his head to the side as he watches me fight with the possibility of truth behind his statement.

“He never had a brother, Lucille would have said something. I would have known.” I blurt out, racking my brains for any sort of memory of Lucille or Vinny mentioning that Vinny was a twin.

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