Part 28
They say what goes around comes around. They also say that everything comes full circle. Well they—whoever they were—were right; everything does indeed comes full circle at one point or the other. And right now, my life had come full circle.
It seemed like just yesterday Severin's goons had kidnapped Kelsey and I and I had been locked in a cell. And now, I once again found myself inside the same cell. The only difference was, instead of sitting on the cold floor while being chained, I was now sitting in a chair with my ankles and wrists chained to the arms and legs of the chair.
After Severin's goons had tackled me to the ground, four of them pinned me down while two of then tied my hands and ankles. It didn't take long for the men to bind me, since I showed no resistance. His men then carried me off while a few of Severin's men picked up Severon's body and followed after us.
Once inside the mansion, I was taken to the basement, back to my own cell where there was already a chair. The men weren't gentle when they deposited me on the chair and chained my wrists and ankles. They didn't spare me a glance when they left my cell leaving me in a chair to rot.
All I had to do now was wait for Severin to come. I was eighty percent sure that Severin was going to use his scorpions to either kill me or poison me. I hated those scorpions whose venom attacked the nervous system. My only source of comfort in this cold cell was the bracelet on my wrist. I glanced at the small kitten, glittering under the flourescent lights and smiled in sadness knowing that the only way I could have Severin was this bracelet.
Trying to ignore the growing ache in my heart, I looked around, the cold gray cell feeling familiar. This was the place where Severin had first terrified me into apologizing to him. This was the place where Severin had shown me the inhuman way my sister died. And now this was going to be the place where he would kill me. Maybe I would suggest Severin to name this cell after me once I died by his hands; I wondered if he was going to name a cell after a traitor.
Maybe if Severin—by some miracle—didn't kill me, I would ask him to turn this cell into my private santuary, but that was a long shot; I had a feeling that after today I should forget the word privacy. Now Severin letting me shower alone would be a miracle in itself. I just hoped he forgave me.
My eyes flitted to the cell door and I saw Severin's men patrolling the basement. The men were bulky, wearing the signature black outfits with black holsters attached to their waists holding various guns. All of them walked with their heads straight, not looking left nor right, like robots.
The guards were unable to hold my attention for more than a few seconds. The only person occupying my mind was Severin. I knew he would never forgive me, and would most likely torture me until my soul left my body, but that did not mean I didn't want to see him. I had no idea what time it was or how long I had been here, all I knew was that Severin was not here...and I wanted him here. I wanted to see the face of the man I love; I wanted to tell him that I love him and never want to live without him; and despite what I did, I didn't want to hurt him. Okay, that was a partial lie, I did want to hurt him, that was the reason I did all this, but that was before I fell in love with him; after that, I only wanted revenge—a life for a life, hurting Severin took a back seat once I realized how much that twisted man meant to me.
Just pray that he ends your life sooner rather than later. The man owns various varities of scorpions, and if he decides to turn you into a feast for his precious scorpions, well then you should be happy your sister died in a bomb blast. My subconscious was no help at times.
The strange thing was that I was not scared. I felt strangely calm as I waited for my judge, jury and executioner—Severin Aresco to arrive. My heart was content with the knowledge that if it stopped beating, it would be because of Severin. My mind on the other hand was already preparing to be buried or cremated. I could imagine my body laying on the pyre, fire licking my skin, the meat sizzling. And I could also imagine myself six feet under the Earth with worms and bugs feeding on my carcass. I didn't know which scenario repulsed me more.
Despite trying my best to pay attention to my surroundings, I jumped when the door of my cell opened and Severin sauntered in followed by a man I had never seen before. With just one look at the love of my life and I knew I was in trouble. Big trouble. My heart started pounding as fear begun seeping through my veins. Now, looking at Severin made me want to run far away.
But my dread did not end there. The man who accompanied Severin had come and stopped right in front of me. He was around 5'8 with sandy blonde hair and gray eyes. He was wearing black jeans with a white shirt and in his hands he carried a black bag. The man crouched down and placed the bag on the floor. He unzipped the bag and took a couple of weird looking instruments. My heart started pounding when I thought that those were torture implements.
The man slipped a metal band on my arm, the one where the bracelet was. The metal was thin, but it was big, it covered nearly half of my arm, like a sleeve. The man slid my bracelet over the metal sleeve before taking hold of the silver chain and grabbing the other instrument, which looked similar to a blow torch. Panic set in when the man turned the instrument on and fire lit up through the hole.
Shit! He was going to burn me. And with the small fire, he was going to take his sweet time charring my body.
However, I really started to panic when he brought the fire closer to my bracelet, right where the lock of my bracelet was. I started thrashing but it was no use as I was tied to a bloody chair, but I tried to move my wrist around so he wouldn't destroy my bracelet.
"No, get away, this is mine!" I shouted, angry tears pricking my eyes. I was not going to let him ruin my bracelet. I would not let him destroy what my beloved gave me.
The man smiled before turning to Severin, who was standing there watching the whole ordeal without doing or saying anything. My heart cracked when I realized that maybe Severin wanted this bracelet off me, and since this bracelet wouldn't come off on its own he was having his friend melt it off. That would mean, Severin's statements about never leaving me were false, and he didn't feel anything for me.
Well you killed his brother. Any sane man would kill you on the spot and he is just removing the bracelet. You are pathetic. Be a woman and take your punishment like a man! My subconscious was crazy.
Severin didn't say anything, just came to stand next to me. Placing a large hand on my partially metallic arm, Severin stopped me from fidgeting. Dread fisted my heart when my thoughts were confirmed, and that was when another shred of my dignity tore away.
"Severin, no, you can't do this, this is my bracelet, I love this bracelet...you can't take this from me," I said.
"So you care about things and not people...that's interesting," Severin stated without looking at me.
Ouch!
"No, that's not true! Severin, this is my bracelet, you can't take it from me. I won't let you." I gritted out. His face remained blank, void of emotion. His eyes, however, were hard, like shards of topaz. Merciless. Unforgiving.
"First of all, I gave you that bracelet I can take it back whenever I want. Second, stop talking, your voice is doing nothing but making your fate worse, so shut the bloody hell up and let him do what is needed to be done." He gritted out, his eyes flashing dangerously.
I gulped at hearing the evident threat in his voice and clamped my mouth shut. He was angry and my words were fuelling his ire, if I kept my mouth shut, he might have mercy on me; though it was highly unlikely.
Once I stopped fidgeting, the man with the fire torch went back to my bracelet. He brought the fire right on top of the lock and did not move. I watched as the lock slowly started to change shape. From being a hollow circle with a small hook, it went to being a full circle with no sign of the lock ever being there in the first place. The whole process took a while; a long while, while I just sat there watching the metal melt and feeling my heart melting as well.
As soon as the lock was no more, the man stepped away and turned off the fire torch. I just gazed at my modified bracelet in bewilderement. I thought he was going to remove the bracelet, but he had melted the lock and now this bracelet was never going to leave my wrist. A surge of happiness filled my heart when I saw the newly formed circle, and knew that this bracelet was mine forever.
Severin nodded at the man when he eyed the bracelet. The man gave a small smile before removing the metal sleeve from my arm and putting everything in his bag. With a final nod, the man exited the cell, leaving Severin and I alone.
When Severin locked his eyes with mine, I mentally prayed for mercy. The cold look he was giving me had my blood turning to ice. I involuntarily started to tremble in my chair, afraid of what he was going to do next.
"Why?" I jumped upon hearing his voice. If my hands were free, I would've clutched my heart in order to prevent it from escaping my ribcage. Since the man left, silence reigned, which was why I jumped...and I was scared. Petrified.
I knew what he meant by that. He wanted to know why I did what I did. If I had not fallen for this man, I would've spitted out that I did it because I wanted to destroy him, but now my answer was totally different.
"You killed my sister." My voice was small, almost a whisper.
The smile that graced Severin's lips after my words was one that made me wish I had committed suicide and not killed his brother. It was sadistic, cold; full of malice. His smile was filled with messages. All of them saying: 'Oh I am going to enjoy killing you...slowly'. My mouth suddenly felt drier than the Sahara; my stomach felt as if icy terror was flowing through it instead of Hydrochloric acid.
I was so dead.
"I thought you loved me," Severin said, after a heavy moment of silence. His words had my eyes widening. How did he know that I love him? Did I talk in my sleep? Had I somehow told him I love him instead of saying the actual words?
"How do you know that?" I asked the obvious question.
Severin gave me a pointed look before answering,
"I have spent my entire life studying people, learning about everything there is to learn about human beings. What makes them happy; what makes them tick. What they do when they are nervous; what they do when they are excited. How they behave when they are lying; how they behave when they are in love." He gave me a pointed look when he said the last thing.
Knowing it was futile to deny anything, I decided to tell him the truth. That way, there would be one less thing burdeing my heart.
"I do. I do love you." A tear escaped my eye as I confessed. "I don't how or why or when it happened, but it did, and I fell in love with you. I love you so much; you have no idea how much I truly love you," I blurted.
"Really?" Severin arched his eyebrow as if he didn't believe me. And that was what forged another crack in my heart. "You have a strange way of showing it."
I raised my head and stared at the ceiling as another tear escaped my eye. "You killed my sister, my only family; how could you expect me to be okay with that?" My mind went back to the day I saw Kelsey going inside the store that exploded with her in it. The ache in my heart intensified as agonizing memories of that day flashed in the forefront of my brain.
"I expected you to move on. Not side with my enemy and kill my brother," he replied, no emotion in his voice.
"How could I?!" I shouted. "How could I move on?! Tell me!"
"I gave you everything. I gave in to your demands because I wanted you to move on, yet you went behind my back and shot my brother in cold blood," he said, pain lacing his voice.
"That was not enough." I shook my head telling him the truth. He was going to kill me anyways, there was no point in hiding anything from him. "I wanted justice; a life for a life, Severin!" I shouted the last part.
The cruel smile from earlier was back on his face, and once again I sent a silent prayer to God to protect me from a painful death. With that malevolent look on his face, I actually wondered whether he was the same Severin who kissed me everyday and who gave me the bracelet.
"You are right." He finally said. "Justice needs to be served; a life for a life, I agree." He nodded.
I should've been happy that he was seeing things my way and agreeing with me, but his words only fuelled my terror. Anxiety shot through me like arrows on fire, making me dig my nails in my palms.
Severin marched over to me, he placed his hands on my arms and bent low until his face was levelled with mine. His honey colored eyes gleamed wickedly, causing a sob filled with terror to escape me.
"What I'm about to do now, precious, will make you wish I had really killed your sister."
Stepping away from me, Severin strode towards the door. My heartbeat accelerated as confusion and uneasiness clouded my mind. What did Severin mean that I would wish he had really killed my sister? He had already killed my sister, I saw it with my own eyes. I saw the store exploding, everything turning into nothing, so what did he mean by those words?
Severin opened the door and said something in Italian to a couple of guards who were standing outside. "Portarla in." (Bring her in)
The guards entered holding a woman and dropped her roughly on the floor before exiting the cell. The woman raised her head and when her eyes locked with mine I felt my heart stopping.
No, this couldn't be possible. No way, she could be alive. I saw her going in the shop and dying in the bomb blast, she couldn't have made it out of that alive. No, there must be another explanation. This was Severin's revenge; a sick ploy to mess with me by bringing someone who looked exactly like her.
But that was crazy. Who could look exactly like her? It was impossible! The same glossy black hair, the same blue eyes just like mine, the same features inherited from my parents. This was no joke, she really was here. She was alive.
A strangled sob tore through me anticipation and anguish settled in my core, and I said the name I thought I would never say to its owner ever again.
"Kelsey."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Author's Note.
Hi guys,
Here is another update for all you wonderful people, I hope you guys like it.
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