Chapter 7 Midnight Torment

Pedro sat in his office, examining the file on Maya Miller.

Her photograph stared back at him with her unusual red and gold hair pulled back. Those ocean-blue eyes that had momentarily quelled the inferno in his chest seemed more ordinary on paper.

He flipped through the pages.

Twenty-two years old. Underground boxer. One sister, currently hospitalized. Father, runs a rundown garage and is a drunkard. Mother works odd jobs to make ends meet due to sister's health issues.

No criminal record, though she frequented some questionable establishments. Financial difficulties.

He closed the file abruptly and tossed it onto his desk with a soft thud.

"Ridiculous," he muttered to himself, rubbing his temples.

He couldn't believe he was actually considering Alex's advice.

Pedro leaned back, staring at the ceiling. Maya Miller. The name rolled around in his head like a marble in an empty jar. He couldn't bring himself to order her brought before him.

"She's probably not even a virgin," he muttered aloud, trying hard to discourage himself. Her file showed a woman who lived rough, who fought for money.

And even if she was, he didn't have love to give her. He vowed to never love any woman again and that's why he's not been able to get anyone to break the freaking curse.

The word 'love' was slaughtered and burnt to ashes by Pedro Delgado's late wife, Helene. It's been 5 years since he lost her. He could still picture her amber eyes, gorgeous face and long dark hair vividly. She made him experience what love is for the first time and she also made him hate love entirely.

As the second son of Dominic Delgado, the feared former boss of the Delgado crime family, Pedro had never expected to inherit the family enterprise. That birthright belonged to Lucious, his elder brother. But where Pedro had been forged in their father's fire, hardened by harsh lessons and brutal punishments, Lucious had proven soft, malleable. Weak. A disappointment to the Delgado name.

Dominic decisively poured all his attention into grooming Pedro as his true successor, shaping him with relentless discipline and brutality.

Having lost his mother when he was barely old enough to remember her face, all he'd known was his father's world of ruthless business dealings, swift violence, and iron control. He'd become the perfect reflection of Dominic Delgado, though a small part of him had always hated the man who raised him.

Until Helene.

She had appeared in his life like a shaft of sunlight breaking through storm clouds. With her gentle smile and good heart, she'd shown him a different way to exist. In her arms, the constant vigilance and calculated violence that defined his life fell away. For the first time, Pedro knew peace.

Their wedding had been small but joyful.

However, months into their marriage, Pedro discovered a devastating truth: Helene was a member of the Nazzareno family, a rival Mafia clan. Worse, she had been leaking his secrets to her family, sabotaging his business deals and nearly costing him his life. Her ultimate goal, he realized, was his death.

The betrayal shattered Pedro. He began to question every moment they had shared, every smile he thought was genuine, every profession of love from her. Consumed by anger and suspicion, he imprisoned Helene in the dungeon, subjecting her to months of torment but she refused to admit to these crimes.

That incident five years ago still sent goosebumps all over Pedro's body whenever he remembered the very words she had said to him before her death. He could still picture the look in her eyes, the ones he later understood were of sadness and despair as she said those words:

"Pedro, I'm tired of explaining myself to you all the time. I thought love was supposed to be trusting and forgiving but you just defined it otherwise. You're not even making efforts for me at all and instead, I'm getting tortured and tormented each day by you. You never loved me like you claimed. And I am cursing you today. Until a virgin falls in love with you wholeheartedly and prays earnestly for you with pure heart and tears, the curse will not be lifted. Prepare to get tormented by a pain that's worse and excruciating for the rest of your life."

At that time, Pedro didn't really understand what Helene meant until a mysterious knife had materialized in her hand and she stabbed herself in the chest with it. Pedro was instantly gripped by excruciating pain as he screamed and passed out there, in his dungeon.

And by the time he woke up, his lovely wife was dead. And the most astonishing thing was that there was no sign of any stabbing wound on her chest. It was as if Pedro had hallucinated the whole scenario, except for the evident motionless body in the cell. But then, on Pedro's chest was a clear, round fire-like wound which had appeared out of nowhere.

It dawned on Pedro that his wife had more secrets than he had imagined; she had supernatural powers.

Ever since then, it's been a nightmare for the Mafia boss, especially the nights he dreams of her.

Pedro slowly caressed his forehead as he tried to relax against his chair. He had been studying that little file for hours now, debating whether to bring her in or not.

The spark that had ignited at the center of his curse mark since the hand of the clock hit 12 AM was spreading outward in pulsing waves of agony.

Pedro straightened in his chair, inhaling sharply through his nose.

He was about to stand when a knock sounded at the door. Instantly, Pedro forced his face into an expressionless mask as he pushed the pain down deep, locking it behind an iron will. No one knew about his predicament except Alex and he chose to keep it that way for his safety.

"Come in," he commanded.

Rico, his right-hand man, entered the office. Unlike most who trembled in Pedro's presence, Rico carried himself with a practiced confidence though Pedro knew it was merely a veneer that could crack at any moment.

"Where is he?" Pedro asked.

Rico's eyes dropped momentarily before meeting Pedro's gaze again. "We lost him, sir."

"What?" Pedro's eyes narrowed dangerously, the green darkening to near black as rage mingled with his pain. "You allowed him to escape?"

"In the process of trying to apprehend him, he shot himself, sir," Rico explained, standing perfectly still despite the deadly tension filling the room.

"How could you make such a grievous mistake, Rico?" Pedro barked coldly.

"I'm sorry, sir," Rico quickly apologized, his shoulders stiffening.

"This is not something an apology can solve, Rico." Pedro gritted his teeth, slamming his fist down on the desk causing Rico to flinch.

"How do we find out who sent him and whom he's been feeding our information to?" Pedro demanded, with menacing voice.

"I told you to be extremely careful. Now how would you take responsibility for this?"

Rico swallowed before answering. "There was a lady with him, sir. She managed to escape, but we'll apprehend her soon. She looked like his girlfriend, and we can extract some information from her."

Pedro's brows furrowed momentarily, his fingers digging into the armrest of his chair. "Do that ASAP," he finally commanded.

Rico nodded once and left, closing the door softly behind him.

The moment he was alone, Pedro collapsed forward, a strangled groan escaping his lips. The carefully maintained facade crumbled as his body convulsed with pain. Sweat beaded on his forehead and neck, running down his back in rivulets.

"Argh..." The guttural sound tore from his throat as he clawed at his shirt buttons, desperate to free himself from the confining fabric. Each breath was torture, his lungs filling with what felt like scalding steam.

He tore the shirt off completely, buttons flying across the room, and threw it to the floor. The cool air hit his skin but provided no relief. Standing unsteadily, Pedro looked down at his bare chest, at the curse mark that glowed with an unholy light. People think it's a tattoo, but it's not. Now, this is one of the reasons why Pedro hates tattoos. They just remind him of his horrific pain. The round, fire-like wound pulsed with his heartbeat, the skin around it an angry red, veins spreading outward like cracks in dried earth.

Pedro reached for the bottle of medicine Alex had prescribed, his hands shaking so badly he nearly dropped it. He fumbled with the cap, his fingers slick with sweat, before finally managing to extract three pills. He swallowed them dry, then grabbed for his water glass, gulping greedily as if the liquid might somehow douse the fire within.

But he knew better. The medicine would take time to work, and even then, it would only dull the edges of his suffering, never truly eliminating it.

His eyes drifted back to the file on his desk. Maya Miller. The woman whose brief touch had somehow, impossibly, extinguished his pain for a fleeting moment. Was she truly the answer? Could such a simple solution exist after all these years of torment?

Pedro shook his head vehemently, rejecting the thought. Hope was a luxury he couldn't afford, a weakness he'd purged from his system long ago.

He staggered to the leather couch against the wall, collapsing onto it with a pained grunt.

This was his nightly ritual now-this descent into hell. Every night at midnight, the curse would awaken, setting his body ablaze from the inside out. By morning, the medicine would have dulled it to a manageable burn, allowing him to function, to maintain his empire, to strike fear into the hearts of his enemies.

But here, alone in the darkness, Pedro Delgado was not the feared mafia boss. He was simply a man being consumed by fire, drop by drop, night after night.

Looking back now, Pedro couldn't help but wonder if he had made a huge mistake. Her eyes looked so innocent and it was as if she was trying to pass a message across to Pedro, but the Mafia King was too soaked in rage to notice anything.

Up till now, Pedro still wondered if Helene was guilty of those crimes or not. Out of anger and despair, he'd massacred all the members of Nazzareno without even bothering to find out if his ex-wife, Helene was innocent or not.

But one thing was certain, he was DOOMED. FOR. EVER if he didn't get someone to free him from this curse!