AllFreeNovel
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If you can’t rein in your fury…you’re destined for failure.
“Please.” I look in the middle of the arena at the kneeling man wearing jeans.
A chain tight to the ceiling is wrapped around his neck, holding him in place while he breathes heavily, his chest rising and falling as he shakes his head desperately, trying to see through the tight blindfold covering his eyes. “Please help me.” Taking out the cigarette pack from my back pocket, I put one in my mouth and light it up, inhaling it deeply. Welcoming the taste of nicotine hitting my tongue, I puff the smoke all around me. “You have the wrong person.” He swallows hard, exhaling heavily as he shifts to the side and cries out in despair when he digs his knee into one of the countless spread nails hammered to the floor around him. “I’m a wealthy and respected man.”
Ah, the stupidity of humankind never ceases to amaze me.
Or their delusions.
If a monster caught you in his trap, he has no intention of letting you go because the high of killing you is far greater than that of the reward.
“Please stop. Please. My dad will pay.”
A sadistic laughter rocks off the walls while fear sweeps over me, and I shift closer to my brother, who wraps me tight in his arms. “Of course he will, boy. But who said I have to keep my promise?”
A sob slipping past my victim’s throat pulls me back to the present as I blink the memories away, although the newfound fury boils my blood and spreads fire through me, pushing my devious nature to the surface. I go to the table and throw the lighter and the pack of cigarettes on it.
Focusing on the array of blades, I trail my fingers over the finest steels and grab one of them with the sharp edges glistening under the light. Lifting it, I wink at my reflection in it and spin around to march toward the man who continues to yap, his every word grating on my nerves because he’s a waste of space. “If you let me go, I’ll pay.”
“How much?”
He sighs in relief and relaxes. What an idiot. “Any amount. Just name your price. Save me and help me get the hell out before they come back.” He licks his chapped lips. “I have several businesses.” My palm flexes around the blade’s handle, and I barely resist the desire to pierce it through him so he won’t brag about his businesses. He uses humans as his favorite toys, and he sells them to everyone who’s willing.
Money, the source of the greatest power in this world, and if someone tries to convince you otherwise…they’re either lying to you or never had it in the first place.
However, money is a powerful resource only when you offer it to someone who doesn’t have it, and me?
I possess it in abundance.
But if I haven’t?
I’d sooner shove it down his fucking throat than accept it.
My boots thump loudly on the granite floor as I move closer to him. “I’m afraid money won’t cut it for me.”
He sits up straighter, taking a deep breath, and his voice becomes more authoritative as he orders, “Tell me what you want.” A beat passes. “You messed with the wrong guy.”
He freezes at my laughter as I finally reach him and put the tip of the blade on his cheek, making him jerk as I slowly cut the blindfold.
When it slides down his nose to his chest and on the floor, I puff more smoke while he blinks several times and looks at me.
His eyes widen, shock etches on his features while fear blankets his gaze, and he shakes his head, as if doing so would change his reality.
Surprise, motherfucker. I’m still here.
“Florian,” he whispers on an exhale, scooting back a little, only to bite on his lip when another nail stabs into his knee. “Florian.”
“Alex,” I greet him back and grin. “You still remember me. I’m flattered.” Inhaling more nicotine into my lungs, I tap on the cigarette, watching the ash fall to the ground as endless flashbacks play in my mind.
Over and over again, for there is no reprieve from them, just temporary numbing sensations in the form of murdering someone.
Blood, among other things, has the power to wipe away the nightmares, if only for a moment in time.
“Florian, please.” He puts his hands on the collar, pulling at it, but all his efforts are useless. “It was a long time ago.”
“Twenty-six years, to be exact.” I cock my head to the side and click my tongue when he shifts farther back. Maybe the idiot truly believes he can escape my wrath and save himself from the payback decades in the making. “It’s a pity you wasted all this money on countless plastic surgeries that could never hide your rotten nature from me anyway.”
He swallows, still holding on to the chain, and I can almost see the wheels spinning in his head, searching for a solution and finding none if the devastation crossing his face is anything to go by. “I had no choice. He blackmailed me.” His breathing speeds up as I step closer toward him, and goose bumps break on his skin while the pulse on his neck beats wildly, the prey already dreading what the hunter would do. “He had all the power. We just followed his lead.”
