Tension-filled anxiety consumed me for the whole journey.
We went to the casino. The minute we turned down to the castle courtyard a lump swelled in my throat.
It swelled my throat right up and I couldn’t even swallow.
I’d been in here only once and that was when Pa was refurbishing and I had to take the fitters in. I never went inside the whole place per se, just the foyer. Not behind the doors to the actual courtyard. I wasn’t allowed beyond that point. It seemed like the rules had been bent for me today.
Something had happened indeed.
Something bad.
I wouldn’t have just been allowed down here like this.
We walked down the hallway and into a large room.
I saw Frankie first and his face was suffused with a type of sadness I couldn’t quite describe. He looked away from me.
Vinny too. Freddo did not acknowledge me at all.
Pa stood by a little balcony and crooked his finger to me.
“Come here,” he said, voice cold.
I hesitated and stopped in my tracks.
“What is this Pa? I’m not usually allowed in here.” I had to ask.
“Today is different. There are exceptions today.” He nodded and beckoned me to come to him.
I went and as I got to him I saw that the balcony overlooked something that resembled a pit.
When I heard a low groan, curiosity made me go faster than my legs.
When I beheld what was down in the pit, I screamed.
It was the instinctive response to seeing Xander attached to a metal-like structure covered in blood.
He had on his boxers That was it. He’d been stripped of his clothes and blood literally took their place. Ropes bound his arms either side to the metal, his face was a complete mess.
Behind him was a guy I’d never seen before carrying what looked like a cat of nine tails. Attached to the ends were sharp knife-like blades. It was the kind of stuff you’d see in a horror film or a nightmare.
From the look of Xander it was very clear the instruments had been used on him over and over again.
This was insane. Pa had gone fucking insane.
“Pa, what are you doing, let him go!” I wailed.
Pa just laughed. “Jia, think of this as a parting gift I’m allowing. Your cooperation means he might die a little slower than intended. As in, I won’t pop a fucking bullet in his head in front of you.”
As I looked at my father I could see the monster in him was out in full force. There was no form of humanity left in him.
But then was there ever any in him to begin with?
Could never. A person could never do this to another.
Not after yesterday when Xander asked him to protect me.
This was not what you did to a man like that.
