Falling for Deceit || WATTYS 2017

38

Marco's POV

The man screamed as I plunged the knife into his leg in one swift arc. "Parlare," I hissed in Italian, twisting the blade in the flesh as he cried out again. The meaty depth let out groans of protest as the knife etched its carving there. Fabio rolled his eyes behind the man with his arms crossed, and I looked up, grinning. "He's sensitive," I shrugged, and my right hand man walked forth. My grin dropped and I frowned, not missing the change in character. The usual jokes that would have flown between us then during the torture session had been replaced by a cold facade that cast a veil over the handsome features and were more foreign to me than my dead mother. "What," I switched to Italian, twisting the knife some more and letting out a sigh of satisfaction when the man jerked and screamed, his eyes rolling back in his head. "You aren't going to comment?" 

"We should move onto the next one," Fabio merely said sharply, following the switch to Italian swiftly and robotically. I sighed and ripped out the blade. The man in the chair sagged with relief and sobs racked through the air. I hissed with annoyance and took five steps back, putting distance between the prisoner and I until I'm nearly against the wall. The man's head was heavy against his chest and he lifted bloodshot, red-rimmed eyes. When he saw my arm fling backwards, they widened with alarm and he pathetically started jerking in the bindings on the chair. I threw the knife in one precise movement and watched the blade soar through the air and flew right into his left shoulder. 

The scream that ripped from his throat made me grumble with annoyance. "Should have knocked him out by now." 

"Why don't you," Fabio commented dryly. I shoot him a look. 

"What's gotten your thong in a twist this morning?" He finally turned bright blue eyes my way and fully looked at me for the first time this morning. He shook his head, and a darkness lingered in his gaze. 

"Not here." I narrowed my eyes but nodded once. Then, I walked over to the man and ripped the blade out of the pitiful flesh, wiping it on a handkerchief with disgust that one of the soldier's threw my way. I then strode behind the chair and cut the ropes in a fluid motion. The man fell forward and slid off the chair as if he'd been leaning all of his weight against the bindings, landing on the tiles with no more than a dim thud. The life had been sucked out of him a long time ago. But he didn't look anywhere near as bad as how Piero was surely looking in that fucking Romano safehouse right this instant. "You've got ten seconds to give me a location," I said calmly, breaking the silence that had settled in the room beside the ragged breathing and hiccuping sobs from the ground. I crouched down in front of the man and calmly slid the knife into the inner pocket of my waistcoat. The limp doll raised a head with pained effort and bloodhshot eyes stared at mine, filled with terror. 

"I -"

"Before you say I don't know," I cut him off in a slithering hiss, "Know that your finger won't be the only thing lost tonight if you choose lying." I leaned in then, a grin tugging at the corner of my lips. "I smell lies, Mr Forbes. Don't you want to be home for your daughter's birthday?" His eyes widened and I nodded pensively. "Considering what you've done, I would think not." 

"Please," he cried, reaching a hand forwards and grasping at the hem of my right pant leg. I narrowed my eyes and the hand fell away immediately. He scrambled to lift his torso and looked at me through a swollen flesh of a left eye. "I will tell you anything, anything-"

"Your ten seconds are coming down to dangerous three," I said, letting the cold tones slide into his ears. But still his lips stayed shut and he squeezed his eyes closed with a pained expression. Fury grasped my heart in a tight fist, roaring and making me itch to unleash it. 

"I am more scared of them than of you," he wheezed. I shook my head at him slowly. 

"That will be your last mistake." I found the knife again and he began shaking, but he let out a breath when I dropped it in front of him. I stood up and looked down at his surprised, fearful eyes. "But I am also more honorable than Romano vermin. I'll give you a fighting chance. I will not have any weapons." He continued staring up at me. And then knowledge seemed to shake his skull and rid him of the small glimmer of hope that he had been clinging onto. He started sobbing then, the ugly sound ringing in my ears. We all knew who would win, arms tied behind my back and a blindfold covering my eyes. But my rage at the idea of Piero at the hands of the Romanos covered any thought of mercy. I wouldn't have given it anyway.