LUCIAN’S POV.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?!”

I recognized the man hanging from the ceiling. He looked exactly like he did in the surveince footage, except now, blood was dripping uncontrobly from his mouth.

I turned around and red at Ace.

“What part of ‘I needed him in one piece’ did your boys not understand?”

“He was brought in this way, boss.” Ace told me.

“And nobody thought to stop the bleeding?” I raised a brow.

Were they waiting for him to bleed out first? !--

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“The doctor is already on the way, boss.” One of the guards standing inside said.

“Well, until the doctor gets here, gag him. He’s making a mess all over.” I said, staring in disgust at the pool of blood mixed with saliva in front of me. “Wake him up while you’re at it.”

The guard did as he was told, stuffing a piece of cloth into the man’s mouth, which thankfully stopped the blood from spilling out. During the process, the man woke up, his face scrunched in pain.

His

eyes darted around the room, and when theynded on me, they widened in absolute terror.

“Good. You should be terrified.” I told him coldly.

He began to struggle against his bounds, but it was useless. The chain connected to the ceiling was strong, it wouldn’t break. If anything, he was only going to end up hurting himself.

The doctor finally arrived. He gave me a respectful nod before rushing to the chained man.

He pulled on a pair oftex gloves, then carefully removed the gag from the man’s mouth.

“Uhm…” The doctor muttered, looking confused.

“Are you just going to stand there, or will you stop the bleeding? I need to get some answers from him.” I said through clenched teeth.

“That won’t be possible, Mr. ckwood.” The doctor responded.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, trying to rein in my anger.

“His tongue has been cut off, sir. I can stop the bleeding, but I don’t think you’ll be getting any answers from him.” He said.

I turned to Ace, my fury barely restrained as I waited for an exnation. I needed this man for answers. I knew he didn’t attack Alina on his own initiative, there was a higher power behind him, and I needed him to tell me who that was.

What use was he to me if he couldn’t fucking talk?

“This wasn’t our doing,” Ace said quickly. “The boys who found him said he was thrown out of a van, and when they ran the te number, it didn’t belong to any vehicle in ris City. We think he must’ve pissed someone off in Ravienne City, and

they dumped him here after cutting out his tongue.”

I clenched my jaw. I knew for a fact that he hadn’t pissed anyone off, this moron failed to do a job. And whoever sent him didn’t want him to snitch, so they cut his tongue out.

“Well, they should’ve cut off his hands too.” I spat. “Because the fact that he can’t talk doesn’t mean he can’t write.”

“All done, sir.” The doctor said, removing his gloves and packing up his aid box.

“See the doctor out.” I ordered a random guy. Then, turning to another guard, I said, “You, lower him down and get me some writing material.”

In no time, the man was lowered to the ground, and writing materials were handed to me.

“Here.” I threw the notepad and pen at the trembling man now kneeling before me. “Now this is going to be easy. I ask a question, and you either nod or shake your head, or you write down the answers.” I told him. “Is that clear?”

He nodded quickly.

“Good. Now, first question, are you working alone?”

He shook his head no.

“So someone asked you to abduct and rape my woman?” I asked him.

He shook his head no again.

I frowned, confused. Before I could say anything else, he began scribbling something onto the notepad. When he was done, he turned it toward me.”

‘I was asked to abduct her, not rape her.’

The handwriting was messy, I could barely make out the words, but I managed.

“So you were asked to abduct her, and you took the initiative to rape her, correct?” My voice held pure rage, and everyone in the room could feel it.

He opened his mouth and tried to speak, but it was of no use. I could see the frustration etched across his face,but talking should be the least of his worries right now.

“Save your fucking breath,” I said, my voice sharp. “I’ll get to that part in a minute.”

“Now… this person that sent you isn’t from this city, correct?”

He nodded.

“So, he’s from Ravienne?” I asked again, and once more, he nodded.

This was going smoother than expected.

“Now, I want you to think very carefully before you answer this.” I warned, my eyes narrowing. “Who sent you?”

The room went still. Not that it hadn’t been quiet before, but now it felt as if everyone was holding their breath.

He shook his head, and that pissed me off. Well, I guess I spoke too soon about things going smoother.

I

spun. stormed straight to the tool table, and grabbed a pair of pliers. Without faltering, I walked over to him and grabbed his left hand, pulling out his middle fingernail.

He let out a sound that could only be described as a scream muffled by drowning. Not a word, but a hard, jagged cry of pain from deep in his chest.

He squirmed, struggling against the two guards holding him down, but it was pointless.

“Ace.” I called.

“Yes, boss?” He responded immediately.

“Get Jordan. Have him bring Alina here. Now.”

“Sir?” He paused, caught off guard.

“Did I stutter?” I snapped, my re sharp enough to cut steel.

“No, boss. I’ll get right on it.” He said quickly, stepping out of the room.

No, of course I didn’t want Alina to see me like this-but I would be done by the time she arrived. I wanted her to see with her own eyes that the man who had tried to assault her wasn’t on the loose anymore. That she could have some control over what happened to him next.

“Now… Let’s try this again. “I redirected my attention back to the man.

He was actually crying, tears streaming down his face. For a moment, I almost felt bad for him.

Keyword ‘Almost.

Until I remembered why he was here in the first ce.

“Who sent you?” I growled again.

He shook his head once more, and this time around I brought the pliers dangerously close to his thumb. He panicked, shaking his head widely, shrinking away from me, his eyes wide as he tried so hard to speak. I couldn’t understand what he was trying to say.

Then he began ncing frantically between the notepad on the floor and me.

“You want to write?” I asked, finally catching on.

He nodded, relief surging through his eyes.

“Well, why didn’t you just say so?” I spat.

He blinked at me in confusion, then opened his mouth to disy the gaping space where his tongue used to be.

Oh, right.

I’d almost forgotten about the not so tiny detail.

I released him and kicked the notepad toward him.

He crawled forward on shaky knees and grabbed it, scribbling something furiously before holding it out with shaking hands.

What he wrote only made my blood boil.

“I don’t know who he is. He never revealed his face, and he always uses a voice changer.”

His messy handwriting read.

“Then what use are you to me?” I snapped, my voice rising. “This is a waste of my bloody time-”

“Boss.” Ace interrupted, stepping back into the room.

“What?!” I barked, my fury ring.

Not at Ace,but at the infuriating fact that all these only manage to spiral into a dead end.

“Madam is here.” He informed me.

I turned sharply to the guards. “Wrap his bleeding hand in a cloth or something, and clean up the blood on the floor. Now.”

They moved faster than the speed of light, scrambling to clean up the room as best as they could. I didn’t want Alina walking into a scene that would freak her out, at least, not any more than absolutely necessary.

The metallic scent of blood still clung to the air, but just as thest of the bloody rags were dumped into a nearby bin, the door was pushed open.

And there she was.

Alina walked in, looking as gorgeous as ever, her bright presence was a huge contrast to the gloomy aura of the room. For a little moment, just a little, everything inside me went still.

Even the rage.