Page 76 of Healed

Sam began to shiver, the adrenaline surging through his body. He panted through the pain and gritted his teeth, his eyes looking anywhere but at the hand that I had mutilated.

“Now that we’re all hydrated, I have a couple of questions for you.”

“F-fuck you,” Sam shuddered.

“Not right now, but thanks for the offer,” Dante said. “Let’s cut to the chase, shall we? Where’s Nico?”

“F-fuck y-you.”

I knew it wouldn’t be as simple as that. Sam would take much more to crack, but Dante knew that. He was simply warming him up.

Dante sighed. “Vienna.”

“On it.”

Walking behind Sam, I wrapped my arm around his neck, squeezing tightly, keeping his chin tucked on top of the crease in my elbow so that he couldn’t attempt to bite me. Then I brought the knife to his ear and sliced, ignoring the anguished wails. Less than a minute later, his ear had been halved, and thick globs of blood were pooling around my wrist and in the crook of Sam’s neck.

I let go of him and went back to my place near the workstation.

“I’m going to try this again, Sam. And this time I would appreciate a little bit of co-operation. We’ve been good to you, wouldn’t you say?”

“No,” Sam gasped, his teeth gritted so hard the veins in his neck were protruding.

“Come now, that’s not very nice. We’ve given you water, we’ve made you warm and comfortable. That’s more than Gabriella got most days. Isn’t that right, Vienna?”

Sam shivered harder at the mention of her name.

“So I’ve heard,” I said, deliberately keeping my tone cool, even though rage was simmering under every inch of my skin.

“I’ll ask again, Sam. And I’ll know when you’re lying. Where is Nico?”

“I don’t… I d-don’t know,” he gasped, his entire body shaking and his knees bouncing up and down as the pain from his missing body parts really kicked in.

“Would you lie to me, Sam?” Dante asked.

“N-no.”

“See, the thing is, I feel like you are lying to me. And I can’t stand liars.”

“I’m not. I-I wouldn’t.”

“Oh, but you would. You see, every person has a tell—unless they are trained, of course. See Vienna? When he lies, he sniffs. It’s the craziest thing. He doesn’t even realise he’s doing it. When my daughter lies, she sucks on her bottom lip. What do you think you do, Sam?”

“I—”

“When you lie, you have a little catch in your throat. I’ll admit, you’re good. You have no physical tells, but that catch in your throat—almost like you need to cough. It’s there. How do you think I know that, Sam?”

Sam’s eyes glanced back and forth, as though there was a way out of Dante’s intense scrutiny.

“I know because you’ve just lied to me. So, I’m going to tell you what’s going to happen here. You can answer our questions honestly and to the best of your ability, and we’ll release you back to your club to be dealt with as the betrayer you are,”

Sam blanched at that, his eyes widening.

“Or, you can remain silent. Which is fine. But as much as silence and lies annoy me, they really, really piss Vienna off. And I just can’t control him like I used to do. Which means I’ll be unable to stop him from taking those scissors over there and snipping deeply into your Achilles’ heel. I’ll be unable to stop him from undoing your ties and letting you attempt to run. And I definitely won’t be able to stop him from picking his favourite dog and hunting you through this compound. I can’t guarantee what will happen after that, but it’s either going to end with the dog savaging you—and I happen to know the Rottweiler is Vienna’s favourite—or it’s going to end with you hogtied and dragged through this compound strung up to Vienna’s bike. Neither of which sounds ideal for you, does it?”

“F-fuck you,” he spat, kicking out at Dante and missing completely.

“Fine,” Dante shrugged. He nodded at me, and I grabbed the scissors.