I dig my fingers into her hair and yank her head backward so she’s looking up at me and lean down so my lips are near her ear. “We’ve been kind to you, Mimi. Much kinder than we should’ve been. Game time is over.” I release her and give Ivan a nod.
He returns to the table and comes back with a large hunting knife, admiring the blade like only a blood-thirsty killer would. “Ivan,” I snap, catching his attention. “Let’s see if we can make a rat squeak, yeah?”
He snaps into action then, pushing the tip of the blade into the open cut on her leg. She screams, but it falls on deaf ears. The blade gouges and slices before he runs a long, thin cut up her calf, then pushes the point against the side of her knee, pausing to look at her. “Would you like to speak now, or shall I continue?”
She huffs, as if she isn’t tied to a chair and in a very fucked up position. Before I can move forward to emphasize his point, Ivan does it all on his own. He grips the handle firmly and pushes it into her knee until the bone stops the blade, and then he twists it in a complete circle.
Her fear and pain flow from her in a string of strangled, mumbling sobs. Her eyes are wide and terror-filled, but her lips still aren’t moving.
The monster perks up and rattles his bars, begging to be let free, but I keep him restrained. This is Ivan’s show, and he knows what needs to be done. Standing abruptly, he steps back to the table and returns with a butane torch, clicking the whirring flame to life.
He focuses on the fire as he speaks. “Small but powerful,” he says, cutting his eyes to a panting Mimi. “Can you imagine the pain I can inflict with this?” He takes a step closer, motioning in the general direction of her head. “I could singe your eyebrows off and melt the skin to your eyelids.”
“No!” she screams. “P-please no. I’ll tell you everything I know. Please!”
He pauses the flame just inches from her face. “What is their plan?”
“I don’t know,” she cries, breaking down into a blubbering mess. “I’ve only been feeding them stuff. I don’t know what they’ve been doing with it.”
Ivan’s free hand reacts so fast I barely see it move as he rears back and delivers a backhand across her cheek. Blood erupts from her lip as her head flies to the side. “You don’t know? You don’t know?!” he rages, pacing the floor in short, angry bursts. “My brother was almost killed because of that information, and you’re too stupid to even know how that puts your life in danger? Did you think you were invincible? You had to know I’d figure you out at some point.”
“But Stefano,” she cries, shaking her head. “He loves me. He knows I’d never do anything to hurt him.”
Ivan lets out a booming, sarcastic laugh and leans down to her eye level. “Stefano is dead, and it’s all your fault.”
Mimi gasps, every bit of hope seeping from her eyes. “No,” she whispers, her chin dropping to her chest as sobs wrack her frame. “I never ...” She shakes her head, unable to continue her thought. “He wasn’t supposed to die.” She lifts her eyes and they narrow on me. “You! You were supposed to die.” She starts struggling then, fighting her restraints harder than she has so far, but as every other time, it’s fucking useless.
She’s goddamn pathetic.
And Ivan needs no prodding to get her under control. Two more backhands bring her temper tantrum to heel, and she falls limp, tired of the struggle. “Kill me,” she mumbles. “I want to be with Stefano.”
“As you shall,” I bark, stepping closer and lifting her chin. “What is the last piece of information you shared with William?”
She snatches her chin away and eyes Ivan. “I have a second phone, a pre-paid one. It’s in my apartment. Find it and you’ll have everything you need to know.” Tears gather and leak down her cheeks. “Kill me, Ivan. Please.”
She makes a completely pathetic image as she sits tied and begging. Her face is covered in splotchy red patches from the sanding, tears join blood as they drip to her chest, and her dead eyes have already accepted her fate. She’s going to die, and Ivan will be the one to kill her. She could’ve benefitted from this world had she been loyal, but now she’ll die a painful death instead.
“Not just yet,” Ivan sneers, yanking the blade from her knee, causing blood to spew from the wound. “Why did you want my brother dead?” he asks, driving the blade into her thigh in a swift, unexpected move. Mimi’s shriek pierces the air, but he only pulls it out and thrusts it into a different spot. “Was Stefano aware of what you were doing?”
She’s too hysterical to do much other than scream, but Ivan doesn’t give a fuck. This time, when he removes the knife and plunges it back in, he twists and digs it around. The absolute enjoyment I see in his eyes is impressive.
It’s also a little unnerving.
I mean, I fucking love it, but this is a side of Ivan that’s foreign. It has never existed before. It’s almost like he’s transformed into this complete other person. Another me. I’m not sure the world can handle the both of us.
Tired of the incessant screaming, he leaves the knife where it is and wraps his fingers around her throat, silencing her immediately. “I asked you a question,” he says, enunciating each word with precision. “When I release you, you will answer me.” He
