Chapter 9 Till Death Do Us Part

LUCA

My hands were shaking, all the blood rushing from my head down to my cock. I could feel how hard it was pressing against my pants.

Alina's eyes were closed tight, her chest rising and falling hard.

I growled. "Go on."

She opened her eyes. "Marco is outside the door."

I rolled my eyes. "To hell with Marco."

As if he had heard my words, Marco banged on the door again. For fuck's sake!

I closed my eyes and forced my hands to stay steady. I took a large step away from Alina. "Stay in bed. I'll be back in a few minutes."

I stepped into her and kissed her long and hard. She was too shocked to kiss me back, but I liked her soft lips against mine.

I pulled her gently from the door, stepped outside, and closed it. Marco was covered in blood too.

He also looked very sorry, which didn't make me feel any better. "Marco. You could have given me a few minutes before banging on my door like that."

Marco grinned. "Did I interrupt something?"

I walked by him, fists at my side, begging my cock to calm down.

If I walked out in front of my men with my pants this tight, they would know exactly what I had been doing.

Marco walked beside me. "I apologize."

I rolled my eyes. "You dimwit. You don't sound sorry at all."

Marco laughed. "No, really. I am. A woman like Alina? If I missed a chance to kiss her, I'd be really pissed too."

I felt my blood calm a bit. She was my wife. She was still in my bed. I could go back in there and make love to her if I wanted.

And I wanted to. By hell and all its demons, I really wanted to.

"Shut up." I stopped and straightened my shoulder. It was still hurting, and I realized just how much now that I was thinking straight again. "Where are they?"

The smile leaked off Marco's face. And just like that, he was my second-in-command again.

He nodded outside. "I had the men hold them outside. I didn't know if you wanted them killed at once."

I wiped at the corner of my lips. "That would be a waste. Have them brought into the dungeon."

I took the stairs down into the basement, as my torture chamber was called.

No one had ever entered the room and left alive except as a message to my enemies.

I found a chair and sat down gingerly in the dark shadows. I smiled suddenly, thinking of Alina's red face when I had stepped into the room.

Whatever she might say later, in that moment, she had cared for me. It made me wonder.

The torture chamber was dark, about ten chains hanging from the roof in case we needed to hold a lot of people at once. I sat forward, hands on my knees, almost shaking with rage.

I knew I had a lot of enemies, but shooting at me outright was a silly mistake. They would either lose their territories by morning or lose their families.

The door opened, and my men pushed three men into the room. I sat back, watching as they struggled stupidly to get away, like that was possible.

"Luca?" Marco asked, stepping into the light coming in through the one dull bulb in the dungeon.

"Yes?" I asked, pulling a small knife from my pocket. The knife was so sharp it could cut a chunk of wood in one try.

I had about ten of them. Each of them cost about five thousand dollars to make.

"The men are refusing to talk," Marco said, pushing them forward and tying each of them to the chains.

"Oh, they'll talk. They just need to be convinced. Strip them."

I snarled the words, standing and prowling over like a predator. I wanted to tear them apart. I wanted to watch their blood seep into the floor.

I needed them alive for now, though. Wherever they were from, there might still be more of them who could be sent after me.

Immediately, as I stepped in front of the men, they started fighting against the chains, as though it was possible to get away. They were all naked.

I knew in one second that they were very highly trained and high-ranking. They all had the tattoos of The Mianka.

Their hair was well cut, and their nails were not the rough shapes of low-ranking men.

I dragged the knife along the skin of the man closest to me. His skin opened up, blood staining him red. He screamed, blubbering words that made no sense.

"What's your name?" I whispered.

"Mikos." He screamed.

I pulled the knife away from his leg and stabbed him twice in the stomach. He was sweating buckets, his eyes open as he stared at me blankly, probably expecting I'd torture him for ages before his death.

I already knew who was responsible for the attack. I didn't care to keep them alive.

"Luca? We can't afford to kill them until we know who sent them."

I chuckled. "Oh, I know who sent them. And they'll be hearing from me soon."

The first man was hanging dead from his chains. My men stepped up and unchained him. He would be packaged and sent to his owner soon-in a coffin.

I stepped to the second man. He was already trembling, so scared spit was drooling from the side of his lips. I didn't bother asking him any questions.

I smiled at him, enjoying the fear I could almost smell on him. "You're a dead man. Do you understand that?"

Before he could beg for his life, the knife sliced down, cutting through his limp cock. Blood rushed from it, staining my shoes and the floor.

The last man looked the least likely to bend. And he was the one I needed. He was going to be my tool. He was mine now.

"Luca?"

I stopped at once, turning toward the door. Even though it was dark in the dungeon, I could see Alina clearly at the door.

She was staring at the floor, and I looked down to see the man's cock was still pumping blood.

Before I could say another word, she started falling. I ran toward her, but Marco had already caught her.

Alina had fainted.