Rodrigo's POV I opened my eyes to find myself in an unknown location. My head still felt very fuzzy, and everything spun around me as I tried to get my bearings. I didn't move, however, not wanting anybody to know I was up. I needed a complete survey of the place and my predicament before deciding. I tried thinking, I did, but it was much too tricky. Whatever drug I had been given was still affecting me, even though I was awake. After putting in all my efforts to make out a compelling thought, I decided it wasn't conducive. Instead, I directed my energy towards remembering. At the thought of her, I immediately felt better. At least, that was a good start. I reminisced about the events between us, from the beautiful confession that had taken a lot out of me to the lovely time we had spent together in the morning. The memories were becoming increasingly cogent, and my thoughts together with them, until things started getting dark. I remember entering my car and noticing the
Tanya's POV I recognised the voice instantly the moment I heard it. I looked up, my eyes wide in disbelief. I knew this somewhere, somehow. I couldn't place a finger on it; however, the feeling remained. "Who are you?" I asked, looking around and trying to assess the surroundings. When I was given a moment, I realised it was some broken-down factory. The particular environment we were in was dark and dismal. It was probably in some effect. Suddenly, I was dragged without any warning. My hands were pulled behind my back, and I was led somewhere by force. I gripped the document tightly; it was my only leverage. I was now in their hands, and from the looks of things and the violent approach they had taken all of a sudden, it seemed to be the only thing that I could use to keep them in check. I was forced into a chair, but I wasn't tied. The environment was even darker now, but I could make out the outline of some men standing at the perimeter of our room. "Get your hands off
Tanya's POV I was more than scared now, looking at the man smiling like a maniac. I had no idea how to react. The guards came towards me without hesitation, now realising that I couldn't do anything in response. They pulled me back into the chair and applied pressure to keep me there. "Let go of me," I said. Luciano raised his hands, and they did so. "What is it you want?" I asked, trying to figure out why one of his trusted men would betray him. With the document out of the question, nothing made sense to me anymore, except that he thought Rodrigo was weak. "Don't worry, it's not that bad," Luciano said with a demonic smile. "I don't want to hurt you, not yet. If not, I would have done so long ago because I don't need anything from you." I waited for him to continue, looking at him intently and trying to figure out his true intentions. Personally, there was a pretty good chance that he would tell me something that was related to what he wanted but not the complete truth.
Tanya's POV "There's only one consequence," he said with a laugh, shaking his head. "How could I forget? Death. Death of you and your dear Rodrigo. You can either climb up to the position of power with me, or you can go down with him. He's a drowning man already, and there's no way you can save him even if you want to. If you try to do so, you will only end up like he is." He looked at me with a stern expression on his face. "Do you understand what I said?" "I understand," I told him in a meek voice. He went back to his seat with a smile. He seemed actually to think that I was going to betray Rodrigo. "I heard about how you betrayed him," he said. "You don't seem to have any regrets doing it again?" I looked at him, trying to figure him out. He was reckless; I saw it now. I had not even told him I would betray Rodrigo, yet he was already assuming I made a wrong decision. With that overly forward personality, he was not careful with what he did, and I could use that against
Rodrigo's POV No matter how much I tried, I couldn't free myself. I gave up after a couple of long minutes of trying and feeling. I needed a blade, at least, or maybe some sharp piece of glass, but I had nothing. It was during times like this that I wished I was some superhuman. Imagine someone as powerful as I was being held down by nothing more than ropes; it was utterly ridiculous. I still heard his voice but couldn't place it, no matter how much I tried. Something told me things would conclude, and I had to leave. If not, it would be too late when I was ready. I continued struggling after that, but it was no use. If anything, it brought me some trouble when I wasn't ready for it. "I see you are awake," I heard. I froze immediately after hearing the voice, hoping the person would not come closer. I listened to a couple of footsteps, and no, they weren't going away. They were getting louder and louder, indicating that the person was coming closer and closer to me. I rema
Rodrigo's POV The most that I let them hear was a hiss from my teeth. I didn't cry out in pain, no, not once. I wouldn't give them that satisfaction, especially Luciano, who looked honestly disappointed by the results. I was weak, however, which was probably a win for him. He looked at me with an unreadable expression on his face. I could tell that he wasn't delighted by the outcome of his torture, but he was tired of it already. "Don't worry; we have a lot of time to break you," he responded. "You can act tough all you want. I wonder whether you will still be able to do that when I come at you with knives and cut through your skin to torture you." "Why don't you do that now?" I asked him with a smile on my face. "Are you scared or something?" His eyes narrowed at my provocation. "You don't seem to understand that you can't do anything to object to whatever I want to do to you," he told me. "If you understand that, then you'll know that if I want to, I can take you by your
Tanya's POV I thought he meant for everything to happen in just one day. Simply put, I wanted to see him as soon as possible, but he instead waved me off. "We will continue this another day," he said. "I still have some work to do with Rodrigo. It was better to see him when he was broken. You see, I don't know what it will take to break him." I wanted to shout that he shouldn't torture him to break him. There was no purpose in doing that. But if I said so, he would think I still had some affection for him, which I did, and then everything would be scattered. I needed to put up an awe-inspiring act if I was to save him. There was no way for me to do it without that. "Do what you have to do," I said. "I think it's going to be very interesting to see how he acts and talks when you are done with him." "That's the spirit," he said. "I'll communicate the date and time to you, and then you'll get to see him one last time. After that, we can kill him and confirm our deal." My he
Tanya's POV The next couple of days passed quickly, but none of them went by without me thinking about what he was going through in his captivity. I knew that he would be subjected to torture, and the thought of that alone was enough to make me feel nauseous. It was difficult for me to focus on anything, but luckily, there wasn't much to focus on. I went about my daily routine slowly, waiting impatiently for the one message to move things forward. Finally, it came to me about two weeks after that, a cryptic message, but I didn't need anyone to translate it for me. I already had a clear understanding of what it meant. "It is time," I thought in relief, suddenly realising that I had wasted all the time I had been given. Instead of looking for a solution like Dante had suggested many times, I had spent the time cooped up indoors, wanting everything to blow over. Now that it was time, I was not prepared for an attack. "What am I going to do now?" I asked myself, suddenly knowing