As if I were one to talk.
He clenched his jaw.
“It won’t take me long to find out. All I need is to give my man Nero a quick call, and I’ll know everything I need to.”
“I’ll steal a life,” Contestant B interrupted. All our heads whipped towards him, and I smirked. I knew he’d crack first. But the most interesting thing of all... he spoke in English. Not Italian. And was that an Irish accent I detected? I needed him to speak more to be sure. “Sadie is the reason he won’t talk. He’ll protect her with his life.”
Callum threw his head back and laughed. I frowned, unsure what he could find so amusing about this situation. I stepped towards Contestant A and cut the upper part of his ear off as he hissed at me. Yeah, this bastard would sooner die than ever utter a word. But that was useful to know. Sadie, who I could only presume was the love of his life, would die if he betrayed whoever he was working for, so he’d stay silent until the end.
I bypassed Contestant B, holding my end of the deal for stealing a life, and moved straight over to Callum.
“You told Aria you came to Italy to settle a score. What score did you settle?” I growled in his face. His gaze hardened as it flicked over my shoulder and landed on Giovanni. There was hostility there. Deep-rooted anger.
“Your family betrayed mine,” he growled through clenched teeth, talking directly to Giovanni. My brother stepped forward, standing beside me.
“So you are a Leone. Whose bastard were you? Riccardo’s? Or his son, Lorenzo?”
Callum chuckled, his chest convulsing as he leaned his head against his bicep. “That’s a lot of questions. I answered the first one. It’s not my turn.”
I ran my tongue along the front of my teeth, and Gio turned away to let me carry on. But I was finished with the petty games. It was time to show them exactly who they were dealing with.
“Round six. Bring in the mirrors.” My men wheeled in the standing mirrorsand positioned them in front of each of them. “I’ll cut off your eyelids. So you have no choice but to watch what happens to you from now on.”
Contestant B squirmed in his chair against his restraints, growing increasingly pale.
“Contestant A. Where were you taking my wife?”
He heaved erratically, glaring at me. I glanced at Contestant B, waiting for him to steal another life to save himself from the torture. His whole body was trembling, but Callum cut across.
“Don’t you fucking dare.”
Contestant B glanced at Callum before lowering his head and whimpering.
I grasped the top of Contestant A’s shaven head and pulled it back. Gio stood behind him, holding him steady as I carefully cut away both his eyelids. This time, he screamed.
Contestant B was a blubbering mess as I approached and repeated the question.
“Please… pl-please. If I tell you anythin’, they’ll kill my kids.” I glanced at Gio. That was definitely an Irish accent.
“Okay,” I sighed, cocking my head. “Instead, tell me who ‘they’ are?”
He shook his head, tears streaming down his face. “I… I can’t.”
Gio yanked his head back by clutching a handful of his brown hair, and I straddled his lap, carefully cutting off his eyelids as well.
When I reached Callum, I spun the knife in my hand, studying him and piecing together the fractured parts of what I knew so far. Callum wasn’t working alone. He was working with someone. Maybe an Irish Mafia family? But one that used to have links to the Leones and helped Callum get his revenge on my family. But… he said my family betrayed his… that would suggest at one point we were allies or had some loyalty. We never had any loyalty to the Leones…
It was pointless asking Callum about Aria or where he intended to take her. It was obvious those soldiers refused to speak because they knew if they revealed anything about who they worked for, their families would suffer. But if Callum wouldn’t talk either, it raised a question... who was he protecting if his family was already dead?
“Did you murder Aria’s mother?”
He stared at me with indifference, but I caught a flicker of something in his eyes. Either he did it, or he knew who did. I nodded at Gio, cracking my neck as he stood behind him and seized his head, holding him still. I’d enjoy this. He finally reacted, crying out as I sliced off his eyelids, making his eyes resemble bulging, slimy balls that could fall out at any moment.
“We’ve reached the final round. It only gets worse from here,” I snarled, walking back in front of them all. “Starting with you.” I pointed my knife atContestant A. “I will break every bone in your body. Cut every inch of your skin. Scalp you. Skin you alive, one body part at a time. And you’ll be forced to watch it all.” I moved my knife to Contestant B, who was now sitting in a puddle of his own piss. “Then you’ll get the same treatment. Unless someone starts fucking talking.”
I unleashed my depravity upon Contestant A, fulfilling every promise I had made. Even Cher couldn’t save him from me. Amidst each new torment and scream echoing through the bunker, I bellowed the one question I needed the answer to. “Who thinks they can take my wife?”
The red haze had appeared over my vision, and it was only when Gio’s hand landed on my shoulder and tugged me back that I realised Contestant A was dead. I heaved, chest rising and falling with every ragged breath as I tilted my head towards Contestant B. He was staring at the skinned, mangled corpse next to him with horror and pure fear as I stepped towards him. He flinched back, blubbering.
