I gulped, shivering under his gaze. There was nothing in his eyes other than anger and betrayal.
"What happened?" He snapped. I held the sheets against myself more tightly, looking away from him. He obviously didn't care what happened to me. He was just looking for clues.
I looked away from him, trying to stop myself from shivering like a drenched chicken.
"Answer me!" He demanded. His eyes were dark and held a dangerous glint in them. His hands were tucked in his pockets as he glared at me.
"You want to know what happened," I suddenly snapped, my voice coming out squeaky due to my screams. "You left me in the hands of a criminal who tried to rape and kill me."
His eye darkened even more. "Don't you dare talk to me like that. Tell me what happened before I make you."
The harshness of his words drew me back to reality. He wasn't some sort of knight on shining armour. He was the evil itself. And if I as much as let a loophole appear in my story, it could cost me my life.
"Well, I was supposed to be headed for dinner when your bodyguard told me that you asked him to give me something from this room. I innocently followed him, but I sensed something was off when he shut the door behind him and tried to have his way with me."
Luca stared at me sceptically. The silence that hung in the hair was heavy with unspoken words.
Then, he stood up and pulled me up with him. My breathing was fast and laboured as he led me out of the room and took me in a familiar direction that made my insides curl into tiny knots.
"Where are you taking me to, Luca?" I asked, trying to bring myself to a stop, but he only pulled me ever further.
Recognising the familiar gates that led to his torture rooms a few feet ahead, I dropped the device I had taken into a flower vase on the hallway subtly. My sobs were getting louder this time.
"Plesse, Luca. Don't take me there. I don't want to see you kill anyone."
But my pleas fell on deaf ears as I was seated in a chair and tied to it with a long cord by Hugo.
In a chair opposite me was Ricci. His was almost unrecognisable. Hugo had sure beaten him to a pulp.
My heart raced as Luca shrugged off his suit and took a nameless instrument. I already knew what it was. My heart raced furiously.
"Now, I'm not going to repeat myself. I'm only going to ask once. Who sent you both here?"
Ricci looked white. "Don, she's the mole. I caught her communicating with a man in this mansion. He is a cook. They both are planning to bring you down. I swear I saw them. I swear on my mother grave!" He screamed.
My heart skipped a beat. "What are you talking about? He's lying, Luca. You saw my profile before I came here. He has been subtly touching me since you left him with me. You can check the cameras. He came into my room uninvited!"
Luca was pissed off now. He took predatory steps in my direction with the device in his hands.
"Honey, you should know better than to lie to me. Tell me the truth. Who is the guy you were talking to when I was away? I trust Ricci. If he says you were with a guy when I was away, then you were truly with a guy. I would hate to disfigure your pretty face."
Tears steamed down my cheeks now as I shook my head furiously. A loud whirring sound started as he clicked a switch on the device. My heart pounded against my chest.
"I swear, Luca," I whispered, leaning back as the device came closer and closer to my face. "I don't know what he's talking about!"
From the corner of my eyes, I could see the smirk on Ricci's face.
Luca paused, staring into my eyes with that cold expressionless face of his. The skinning device was dangerously close to my neck.
"You know what I hate the most, mi amor?" He asked, caressing my cheek with his other hand.
"Rats and betrayers," I sobbed, leaning back as much as I could from the whirring device. I could only move an inch away from it.
He chuckled darkly. "Worse than that, I hate being made a fool of, amor. Now, this is what happens when people try to make a fool of me!"
I screamed and shut my eyes tightly. But nothing came. In fact, another blood-curling scream made me open my eyes in a flash to see Ricci being skinned.
"I'm innocent!" He screamed, wriggling in the chair he was tied in, but that didn't help him.
"Really? Then how do you explain the records that I tracked of you communicating with the Russians. Your family was a great help in my investigation, you know. Especially your pretty daughter. The pretty thing told me of a generous uncle who gave you a lot of money. She also showed me the tickets you got for a 'family trip' to Russia." Luca's chuckle sent chills down my spine.
Ricci's eyes were wide as he glared at Luca, wincing in pain.
"Tell me.. How much did Ivanov pay you to lose your life this way?"
Ricci shook violently in pain as the device trailed across his body but remained mute.
"How much did he pay for you to lose your family?"
His eyes widened, and he let out a sound scream of anguish. "You bastard!" He growled like a wounded bear. "The godfather will still strike you. If anything happens to me, you lose all your shipments for the next one year."
Luca's chuckle was even darker. "Have fun in hell!
I screamed as a Luca dismembered him in my presence, tears rolling down my cheeks like a fountain. His blood splattered across my cheeks.
Then Luca stalked towards me again with his bloody shirt. "And now, mi amor..."