Chapter 5

AZELIÁ

Damn!

I know, I know what you're thinking but I'm not stupid and no, I haven't lost my mind either. But damn seemed to be the only word that came to my mind at that Moment.

Cillian. Damn Cillian.

How someone so beautiful could be so cruel and evil was beyond reason.

"Who turned on the switch?" He barked, anger, so much anger evident on his face. He turned to look at the soldiers stationed at the door but they both looked down, from shame I presume.

"I did" I said, pointing a finger at myself after a while, scared someone else might get hurt for what I'd done.

"I told Miss Catherine to help with the lights, I was going to turn it off but then".. I lifted my tied hands, trying so much to justify the lights being on.

He moved so fast I didn't notice him until he was right in front of me, holding onto my chin with so much pressure.

"You do nothing until you're asked to do so, you don't eat, move an inch from where you're sitted, you don't even fucking breathe if I don't permit it, you hear me?" He spat.

I nodded, scared to my bones but couldn't just let him know how scared I was, people like Cillian I've come to realise feasted on people's fear, and I wasn't going to be a meal for him.

"You don't look scared, you don't fear me anymore, right?" He asked, smiling like a bloody maniac.

"Let's rectify that shall we?" He said and before I could ask what he meant by that, he snapped his fingers and a man was pushed into the room, on the floor, bleeding and tied up.

A soldier walked in with a chair and Ethan walked in a moment later with a black box which he dropped on the floor too. He opened up the box and extracted things that looked like they belonged to a mechanic shop.

"What's happening?" I asked but only got a death stare from Cillian.

The man was finally tied to a chair and Ethan walked up to him holding a plier in his hand, snapping it like a scissors. Cillian crossed his leg over, seated like someone who was in the Opera show, waiting for the best performance of the night. I knew deep in my heart that there was no happy ending to this but what I witnessed that night was beyond horrifying.

"Now, you watch and learn" Cillian said through gritted teeth. My whole focus was on the man in the chair, wondering what he must have done wrong to have gotten brutalized like this. Was he also accused of being a spy just like I was, I thought to myself. I was drawn back to reality by Ethan's voice, a voice that once sounded sexy as hell, sounded vile and repulsive, knowing what he's done and what he's yet to do makes my stomach churn.

Cillian signaled Ethan with a nod of his head and in a second Ehan changed completely transforming into something I've never seen before, if I thought he was vile and repulsive before he was the devil now. The smile on Ethan's face could've scared the shit out of anyone, but the man on the chair just looked at him hopelessly, like he also knew how this was going to end. Ethan enjoyed this all too well, he was literally buzzing with so much excitement one would think he'd won the lottery.

"So Bernardo, what's it going to be?" He asked the broken man. "The hard or easy way, you've been in this business long enough to know which to pick" he continued.

The man, Bernardo continued staring like he wasn't bothered by what was happening around him. I was. I wasn't the one tied to a chair, beaten to a pop and about to be tortured some more, but I was fucking scared..I was terrified, how Bernardo seemed to remain so I bothered in that moment was one thing that has always plagued my thoughts.

I heard it before I saw it, a blow to the chin so strong I'm sure Bernardo lost a tooth or two. He tumbled over from the impact of the blow, a soldier rushed over to pick him up, Bernardo sat unmoving for a while, I was sure he died from impact on the floor but then he started laughing so hard it echoed around the big empty cell.

"You're testing my patience, little Ben, and you know patience isn't one of my virtues" Ethan barked.

"I'm giving you until the count of three, you know what comes next" he continued while snapping the plier again.

"One"

"Two"

"Three"

And "Fuck you, mate" came Bernardo's reply. He really did have a death wish which Ethan was more than happy to fulfill. Ethan holds firmly onto Bernado's hand and places the plier between his ring finger and Middle finger and snaps it shut. It was like a volcanic eruption, Bernardo's screams must have been heard from a thousand miles away. Ethan wouldn't let go and he kept screaming. I couldn't place my hands on my ears as a form of protection, I had to listen to it all, the agonizing screams of a dying man because we all knew how this would end.

Ethan moved to his toes and this time he didn't just clip a toe he kept pulling until….he pulled off a toe, I couldn't hold it in anymore, I've felt nauseated from the beginning but now I was full out puking my life away, I couldn't even hear Bernardo scream anymore, everything felt blurry. I think I'm going to pass out. Cillian just sat on the chair looking unfazed by anything happening, we made a brief eye contact and that was it, even looking at his eyes felt scary, it felt like looking into a bottomless pit, this guy could pass as the devil.

Blood, blood was everywhere, on the floor, on Ethan's hands, and on my bloody shirt.

"Please stop, I'd say anything you want me to say" I pleaded, I just couldn't bear this anymore.

"This isn't about you girl, we're just settling scores" Ethan replied.

I looked to Cillian pleadingly, begging with my eyes that he stops this, I could see he was getting impatient too, he wanted this to end too. Fucking Bernardo should just given them the information they wanted. I heard the agonizing screams again. I turned to look at Bernardo and saw Ethan holding another toe.

Fuck, this was worse than the horror movies I've seen, at least with them I knew nothing was real. Breathing was a struggle, I felt pain, I was in anguish when I wasn't even the person being punished.

"You can make this way easier Bernardo, you already know how this ends. Why go through so much pain for someone like Ricci Morenó, he's not worth it" Cillian said. This is the most he had said in a sentence since I met him. Ethan picked up another tool, one I didn't know, and waved it in the air. I could see Bernardo's throat bobbing. I could see how scared he was but I just couldn't phantom one thing, why he was going through all this and who the hell Ricci was to him.

"I've done this same thing a thousand times too to other men, I'm ready, is this all you've got Ethan?" Bernardo prodded. At this point I think Bernardo was better off with his mouth shut, I've never seen someone who enjoyed pain so fucking much it was disturbing.

"Ricci is going to come for you, he's already started right under your nose, everything is happening right under your nose and you can't even sniff it out" Bernardo spat, literally on Cillian Shoes and started laughing hysterically. Ethan shut him up with another punch and more blood spattered out of his mouth and on me, it was a bloodbath in the literal sense.

"I'm getting really impatient, Bernardo. You know patience isn't something we made men have, This is your final chance" Cillian said to him, and then he raised a brow at the soldier at the door and he disappeared And came back a minute later carrying a bowl in one hand and holding a small bag in the other hand.

He gently dropped the bowl and then emptied the content of the bag on the floor. Nails, the man brought nails and boiling water. What has Nails and boiling water got to do with anything?

"You know what these are used for" Ethan said, "you said it yourself you've done this to a thousand or more men, don't let it get to this Little Benny" Ethan said while patting his head like a man would his dog.

"Ricci doesn't care about you, or your family. I can have your mom and sister killed if I wanted to" Cillian moved his finger a few times across the screen of his phone and then showed it to Bernardo who turned pale in an instant.

"I don't know much about Ricci and the only thing I know is he contacted me from my home in Peru and asked me to help him in exchange for covering my sister's medical bills, he has something on you, something he doesn't really talk about but just hints about" he released a breath.

"Please don't hurt my mom and sister, kill me if you want but let them be, please" he pleaded. I had tears in my eyes not from pity for Bernardo but from how much he loved his family.

"That wasn't hard. Was it?" Ethan asked.

Cillian stood up from where he sat and moved towards the door, with Ethan and the soldier right behind him. Ethan turns around and nods at the soldier and then walks away. The soldier brought out a gun from his back pocket and pointed it at the back of Bernardo's head. I looked at Bernardo , shaking my head slowly wondering if he knew what was about to happen and the look I saw on his face killed me further. He knew, he was waiting for it. I let out a scream as the man fired the gun at him and Bernardo tumbled over to the floor, the second time tonight, but this time was different, he's never getting back up again.