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"He won't be able to tell you anything if he's dead!" I remind them, but they don't seem to care about that fact. They're too blinded by anger and the pain of being betrayed to see beyond the present moment.
"Lucas," I whisper.
He turns his head to face me, and I swear I see a darkening in his eyes.
My gasp is audible as I run towards him, dropping to the floor beside him and becoming more familiar with the grim floor than I ever wanted to be today. "Just tell them. Just tell them, please."
"No," he mutters, and despite his facial wounds, I can see the pain in his eyes.
"Please," I repeat forcefully. "You have to."
Lucas is shaking, his hands resting on his knees now as he tries to draw in deep breaths. "Go ahead and kill me then," he says through heavy panting. "What the hell do I care?" He lets out a small laugh.
Go ahead and kill me.
The words play over and over on repeat inside my mind while I try to make sense of the situation.
I stare at Lucas, his face mangled and bloodied from the merciless beating, and feel a cold fear grip my heart. This isn't right. None of this is right.
I turn to Xavier, who is still standing with arms crossed, a look of impatience on his face. "You can't do this," I say, my voice barely above a whisper. "He's a human being."
Xavier snorts. "A human being? He's a traitor, Mia."
"He's still a person," I insist, my eyes pleading with him to understand. "He deserves to be treated like one."
"You're too sentimental," Antonio interjects, grabbing my arm and pulling me towards him. "You always have been."
He sighs heavily, closing his eyes for a moment before looking back at me with sympathy written all over his face. "Sweetheart, I know you don't want to believe it. I know you think you care about him, that he cares about you. But he's a liar."
"I love her," Lucas coughs out before finding the swift consequence of Xavier's kick to the gut.
"Please," I beg with tears welling up in my eyes. "I'm begging you, let him live."
"That isn't an option," Xavier tells me grimly.
Lucas is hunched over, blood now dripping down his chin and making a trail down the room's floor as he struggles to breathe.
"Antonio," Xavier continues, his voice cold and commanding despite it being only a whisper. "Hold him down."
Antonio forces me to sit down on the sofa and walks over to Xavier, holding Lucas down against the floor.
"You're going to tell me everything you've told them," Xavier instructs as he grabs his shirt and tears it open, pulling a knife out of his boot. "Every single thing. You won't leave out a single detail. Do you understand?"
Lucas spits a bloody glob onto the floor and says nothing.
"Do you understand?" Xavier asks, his eyes darkening as he places the knife against Lucas's bare abdomen.
My eyes stay focused on the floor as Xavier slices into Lucas's skin, following up with more questions that do not in any way deserve answers from Lucas.
"How long have you worked for them?"
"What information did you obtain?"
"Tell me who your contacts are," Xavier demands loudly, his voice raising until it feels like it's too loud to possibly contain within our small living room.
Antonio, frustrated, lets go of him and steps back. "He won't break, Xavier. I'm telling you now, you're wasting your time with him. He's been trained to withstand this."
Xavier is still holding the knife against Lucas's neck, steeling himself for what needs to be done. Then, shouting with fury, he throws the knife across the room and stands up.
