Violent Beginnings (The Moretti Crime Family 2)

I’m unsure of where we’re going or what he is planning on doing next, but too afraid to open my mouth and ask. Entering the living space. I know something is off. There are random items on the floor, a wallet, a camera… an ax.

Markus releases me and takes a step to the side. It’s then, in his shadow, I see a man tied to a chair in the center of the kitchen. His entire face swollen, blood dripping from the various lesions on his cheek and lips.

“Oh god…” My voice fills with horror, “I think I’m going to be sick.”

Markus pounces on me, his vast body engulfing mine like a raging inferno of sin and power. He slaps a hand over my mouth, stopping me from talking. The warning glare he gives me without speaking a single word leaves me trembling.

With his hands so close to my nose, I can smell the blood. The metallic odor has another burst of fear running through me. I plead with my eyes for him to stop all of this, but his stare is an icy jagged rock headed straight for my heart.

“Do you know him?” he demands.

Even if I could answer him, I wouldn’t. I can see how unhinged he is and know that no matter what my answer is, he will not listen. He’s past reasoning. Feral. Like a rabid animal.

My eyes dart over to the man. I can barely see his face, but from what I can see, both his eyes are black and blue. Immediately, I understand why Markus’s knuckles are swollen and bloody.

I don’t recognize the man tied to the chair. I wonder where he came from and how he got here? Did Markus just pluck him off the side of the road? Was he kidnapping him while he had me locked away in the basement? Bile rises in my throat.

It was already obvious that Markus is an evil man. I knew it the moment he placed his bid on me, but this right here was the nail in the coffin.

I knew what I was getting into when I walked on that stage, but this man… I don’t know his story or association with Markus, but I don’t like where this is heading.

The human in me said I had to do something, or at the very least, say something. He pulls his hand back, leaving the skin around my mouth cold and wet. He must have left blood on my face. I realize in horror.

Markus walks away, leaving me standing a few feet away. My knees are shaking so much, I’m not sure if I can hold myself up much longer. He stops when he is right next to the tied up man and turns back to face me.

What is he going to do?

“Do you know him?” Markus asks again, pronouncing each word carefully as he walks back over to the man. His voice is a deep growl that wraps around my throat, squeezing the life out of me. I look away from the unknown man and slowly lift my eyes to Markus, who is now standing beside the man, his eyes piercing mine.

I answer him with a shake of my head. The faintest smile appears on his lips, and it’s like the grim reaper is staring back at me.

Before I can say anything or tell him to let the man go, he pulls out a knife. The blade catches in the light, and I bite my lip to stop a gasp from escaping.

I’m not even sure where he got the knife, and I don’t really care. All I care about is what he plans to do with it, and with the look of murder in his eyes, I wouldn’t be…

The thought evaporates into the air in an instant when Markus grabs the handle of the knife and jams it into the man’s legs all the way to the bone.

An ear-piercing scream fills the air, and my lungs seize inside my chest. I stare at Markus with a look of shock and terror. While he looks at me with pure glee.

Who is this man?

“Are you sure you don’t know him?”

I shake my head profusely. Why won’t he believe me? I’m so afraid of what he’ll do next. Markus is unstable, like a volcano ready to explode and destroy all that’s around him.

“Why don’t you let him go? I don’t know him. I don’t even know where I am. No one knows I’m here…” I try to hide the quiver in my voice, but that is even less likely than Markus letting this guy go.

Markus snaps, his face filling with rage.

“Let him go?” he roars, grabbing the handle of the knife and tugging it free from the man’s leg. The chaos has to end here, I tell myself, but it doesn’t.