That was when Elias stepped in.
Elias crouched in front of him, studying him like a problem already solved.“I need you to understand that you are not leaving this place alive.I know what you have done to help your employer.”The man paled, and Luca had a feeling it was pretty fucking bad.
“You’re married,” Elias continued “That tan line tells me that despite having no ring on.You’ve got a habit of rubbing your finger with your thumb like you’re checking it’s still there.”
The man went very still.
“You’ve got children,” Elias’s voice turned even colder.“Or you want them.I am guessing based on your age that your parents still live.A sister, maybe a brother, perhaps both.People you love.People you like.”
Elias smiled.It didn’t reach his eyes.
“I will find them,” he said quietly.“I will learn their names, their routines, the places they feel safe.I will take them piece by piece—quietly, carefully—until there is nothing left but memory.I will do it in front of you, slow enough that you understand every second of it, and I will keep you alive to watch.I will tell them that this pain that they are experiencing could have been stopped, that this did not have to happen, but it was because you were hellbent on protecting your employer, a man you are not related to, a man I am sure you do not fucking love.And I will make sure you hear every scream.Every ending.Every.Single.One.”
The driver broke.
“Okay—okay, fuck—okay,” he gasped, words tumbling over each other, slightly mumbled due to the fact he bled profusely from his mouth and a few teeth were missing, and Luca suspected he might have broken the man’s cheekbone.“I’ll tell you.I’ll tell you everything.Just—just don’t—”
Elias didn’t move.He didn’t have to.
“She’s not here,” the driver blurted.“She’s at a secondary location.Old industrial property—cold storage on the river side.Two guards inside, one outside.Rotating every four hours.”
“Names,” Mateo said.
“I don’t—I don’t know their real ones.Call signs only.”He sucked in a wet breath.“They’re paid to keep her quiet.Not hurt her.Not yet.”
Luca leaned in.“Why, what happens next?”
“Before dawn,” the driver said, voice breaking.“They’ll move her.Burn the trail.New papers.New place.”He shook his head violently.“After that ...after that she stops being leverage,” he said, voice cracking.“He’ll break her down slow.Fear first.Isolation.Making her cooperate.Then he trades that silence—access, compliance, obedience—bit by bit, to people who will pay for it.And when there’s nothing left they want from her ...he makes her disappear.”
Luca felt something inside him go cold and lethal.
When it was done, Elias stood, and true to his word the driver didn’t leave the street alive.
They got back into the vehicle without a word.
Luca exhaled, long and slow.“You’re a scary motherfucker.”
Elias glanced at him.“You have no idea.”
They turned toward the place where Mara was being held.
And this time, there would be nothing left standing when they were done.
