I was here? Did you bug my phone?”
Wearing a haughty smirk, I wink and pull the leather tight in my hands, straightening it out. I lash out and swiftly whip it across Roberto’s face. He moans while my fiancée screams with shock. It’s exactly the response I wanted to gain from her and it sets my heart to beating rapidly.
“Ah, there it is. The fear I so desperately crave from you. Finally.” I slap Roberto with the leather again, relishing in the snap of leather meeting skin. “It’s far overdue you’ve realized I’m not the superhero in this, darling, but the villain. Always the bloody bad guy. I’ve come to relish the part.”
“I don’t understand.” Her forehead wrinkles with worry, and she’s so fucking adorable I could bite her nose. “You’re the villain…here? You’re responsible for those guys taking me and then tying me up? I don’t understand why you’d do something like that. We live together.”
“Ding dong,” I chime mockingly. “Not just a pretty face after all, are you? It’s a shame, really, that it took you this long to realize as much.”
“Why are you doing this? I don’t understand. This makes no sense.”
“You thought you’d sneak out on me this morning. I want to punish you for it.” I tuck the leather into my trousers pocket and let my fist fly next. The tosser’s nose cracks, blood swimming over his lips. A grin tickles my lips but I hold back. This is serious business, no matter how much joy I find in handling it.
“You’re punishing me by hurting someone else?”
My teeth grit together as my fingers sink into the man’s neck. I begin strangling him, wanting him to become more pliable beneath my touch. The fellas already questioned him where his relatives are before I showed up. Roberto is fully aware I’m here to hurt him until he coughs up a location. I allow his face to change colors before I eventually let go, reaching for my gun. I shoot him in his foot. The shot echoes loudly and the bloody fool wails in pain. He’ll give me a headache if he keeps this nonsense up.
“That must sting, huh, ya bloody wanker? Care to share where your cowardly uncle’s been shacking up? I need a location, and you’ll be offering it.”
“Mnmnhr,” he cries around the material shoved in his mouth, and I can’t understand a damn word.
“I can’t quite make out what you’re saying. It’s a bit of tough luck, I suppose, that we couldn’t have this chat over a proper cup of tea like civilized gentlemen.”
“Maghh!” he shouts as I aim my gun at his other foot and pop a shot off.
“I’m a fairly decent shot, if I do say so myself. Practice does make perfect, after all.”
Ismerlda finally interrupts me, “How do you expect to get anything out of him if you leave him gagged? Work smarter, not harder.”
“Well, you’re not muzzled, and I’ve gained absolutely no new knowledge from you. You can see where I’m a tad jaded on the aspect,” I retort smartly.
“If you tilt your nose down a bit, you may find that you’re not the only person in the room that knows something.”
“Did you just refer to me as a snob? I have your arse bound to a chair while torturing this bloody fella and you’re being cheeky with me?” I shouldn’t be surprised. The woman is off her rocker with the bollocks she’s got towards me.
Her shoulders shrug, though she can’t move them much as the hoodlums have strung her to the chair securely. I’ll admit, she’s being far too calm about this from the get-go for my liking. I was expecting begging, sobbing, and some good old-fashioned outrage from her. I want to push her limits and see what she does when she’s at the breaking point. I’ve learned it’s the best time to see someone. You get the real version of them and not the mask. I sleep next to this woman at night and share my flat with her. I need to know what she’s made of, what she’s hiding behind that moody façade.
I step on Roberto’s foot, grinding my heel down over his bullet wound. He screams, choking against the gag, and I finally allow my grin to break free. “Tell me what you’d do differently then, considering you seem to be the one who knows everything,” I mock Ismerlda.
“Why should I share anything with you when I’m stuck here, tied up? This chair sucks. You could’ve