Shocked to silence, Ellise stared at her husband who was showing her the dark part of him for the first time since she'd married him.
He seemed to have become a different person entirely. He looked so relaxed and he had a very evil smirk on his face even while he was bleeding a lot. Ellise found it rather scary.
Cornelia cried out in pain when another knife lodged itself on her right thigh.
"How does it feel? Tell me, do you like it? It's called pain. The pain you caused me can't be compared to this. I know you're insane but I'll punish you. I warned you, didn't I?" Dre said, plunging the blade of another knife into fire until it became red hot. "Please" Cornelia whimpered.
"What did you say?" He whispered, mockingly.
She remained silent, tears rolling down her cheeks.
Ellise almost felt sympathy for her but when she remembered what she'd done to her family, how she'd almost killed her husband, she felt no remorse, no sympathy at all.
"All along, I wasn't ready to fight you because I knew I was going to destroy you. You just didn't take caution. I'm sure you didn't look at my mafia records. I don't take slaves. I always find a way to destroy them. What made you think you can kill me?" He said, throwing another knife close to her head. She gasped, skin soaked with sweat.
"Now, it's time for the Q&A session" he said and she swallowed hard.
"Uh-oh.... This doesn't look good for Cornelia" Dmitri muttered.
"Don't lie to me or you'll get punished. I'm going to ask you two questions and you have to be honest with me or you'll make things harder for yourself" Dre said.
"I'm not going to tell you anything!" Cornelia said.
"Oh really? We'll see about that"
Two of Dre's men who were in the mafia, came into the room. They began to hit her until she could barely open her eyes.
"Now, tell me. Who is your boss?" He said.
Ellise frowned.
"What is he talking about?" She asked Dmitri who merely shrugged.
"I have no idea" he said.
"I don't have a boss! I do everything myself!"
"Wrong, wrong, wrong" Dre drawled, grabbing a plier.
"Look away" Dmitri whispered and Ellise closed her eyes.
Cornelia screamed and when Ellise opened her eyes, she realized that he'd pulled out one of her fingernails.
"Who is your boss?"
Cornelia panted, her jaw clenched.
"Kill me already!"
"No, Not yet"
He pulled off another fingernail.
Then another.
"Fine! I'll tell you!" She half sobbed.
Her eyes widened.
"Ryan Marshall" she said.
"You're lying" Dre said, flaring his nose.
Ellise watched as one of his men chopped off her index finger.
"I won't tell you anything. Go ahead and kill me!"
"Oh well, seems like you just love making everything difficult for yourself" Dre said, chopping off her hair haphazardly. She looked like a she-demon from hell.
"Tie her up and take her to the central base" he ordered the men.
"Fine! I'll talk! I'll talk!" She cried. Dre let out a sarcastic laughter.
"Two lessons you must learn. One, never lie to me. Two, always answer my questions right on time" Dre said and turned his back on her as his men grabbed her and started to carry her out of the place.
"I'm really not sure if she's going to make it out alive" Dmitri said, shaking his head as Dre washed his blood stained hands. "Dre, you're bleeding" Ellise said, unbuttoning his black shirt. "It's not that bad" he replied. "You'll need stitches" she frowned. "How about you do that for me when we get home?" he said as they got into his SUV.
"Okay"
They were silent as he drove.
"Will you kill her?" Ellise asked.
"Maybe" he said.
"Is she really working for someone?" Ellise asked, her heart sinking.
"Indirectly, yeah"
"How did you know that?" She asked.
"Well, she was quite subtle about hiding her identity and everything else but I found out anyway. I can't tell you how, though"
....
Dre watched Ellie as she stitched the gash on his stomach. She'd wanted him to take sedatives but he'd insisted on staying awake. She winced as she kept stitching the cut.
"Aren't you feeling pain?" She asked and he laughed.
"This? It's nothing. I've felt pain that is worse than this" he replied.
"He's right. Did you know that before you met him, whenever he gets shot, he would dig out the bullet himself ? Its always scary whenever he does it" Cecilia said as she placed a bowl of water on the table.
"What? Are you serious?"
"Of course. There was one time, he was shot in three places. He refused anyone's help. The funny thing was he could barely stand. But, he pulled out the bullets, cleaned himself up and went back to the mafia quarters"
Ellie stared at me, her eyes wide.
"That's insane" she breathed, placing gauze on the stitched injury. He smiled, brushing her hair to the side.
"You have the key to his strength and the key to his weakness, El. You're a lucky woman, I must say. Not everyone has the kind of husband you have. Someone who loves you so much and is willing to go through so much for your sake" Cecilia said and Ellise blushed.
"I love him too and I'm glad I left the party the night I met him" she said, gazing into Dre's eyes.
Ellie finished dressing the wound and insisted that he ate something and went to bed. She laid down on the bed after they'd both showered together.
"Come here" she said, patting the space beside her. He got into bed and laid down beside her with his head buried in the crook of her neck. He closed his eyes as she stroked his hair.
He felt better now that he knew that Cornelia was locked away where she couldn't escape.
"I could stay like this forever" Ellie mumbled tangling her legs with hers. He smiled tiredly, his eyes still closed.
"Me too"
"Thank you for saving us" she whispered.
"It's my duty, Ellie. I promised to always protect you"
"I love you"
"Love you too" he whispered as he felt himself finally succumbing to sleep.
....
Dre sat cross-legged on a chair, watching Dominic as he tortured Cornelia. Dominic was almost as ruthless as his boss when it came to torturing people.
While Dre watched with satisfaction, he came to a conclusion that Cornelia was broken enough.
"Enough" he said and Dom stopped dipping her toes into acid.
"Now, tell me. Who's your boss?" Dre asked.
Just then Ellie walked in, wearing one of his long sleeved shirts, sleeves folded up to her forearms and a pair of jeans trousers. As always, she looked really beautiful with her hair braided on the side.
"What's his name?" Ellie asked. Cornelia glared at her before grimacing.
"What name do you want? He's known as three persons, but he's the same person" she said, tiredly.
"Tell us."
"Alfredo Diaz, Elvis Reis and Zack Thompson"
As soon as she mentioned those names, Ellie went pale.
"Did you just say Elvis Reis? Zack Thompson? You're lying" she said.
"I'm not. He's the one I work with" she croaked.
"What?"
"She's telling the truth"
Dre said as he watched Cornelia writhe on the floor.
"Zack is the same person as Elvis? Oh my God- how?" Ellie mumbled and stormed out of the torture chamber.
"Where is his lair?" Dre asked.
"Three blocks away from the warehouse. He has a basement too"
Dre stood up and left the room. He suspected that Ellise knew who Cornelia was working for.
"Ellie" he said, holding her hands when he got to her.
There were tears in her eyes. "I... I knew him"
He wasn't prepared for what she said next.
"I knew him. Zack is his real name. He's my exboyfriend" she choked out.
Dre's eyes went wide from the shock. "Wait, what?"