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Chapter 27 (Lou-Lou)
48 hours.
I didn't think Ricardo was serious about his threat...or rather, I thought I'd be able to get through to him somehow.
But I was wrong, I was so wrong it's not even fu
I'm far past stir-crazy. I'm downright insane.
I need out.
When Marlene looks at me again, I practically pounce on her.
"Lou-Lou, stop," she screeches when I shove her out of the way, head for the door and begin pounding on it. "You can come out tomorrow night, I promise."
Her statement stops me in my tracks and I spin back around. "Why not tonight? What's so different about tomorrow night as opposed to the last few nights? "
Her brows crash together and she averts her gaze.
A chill races up my spine and that's when I realize. "He's been killing people...hasn't he?”
“Not people. Just one. Usually he conducts most of his business outside of the house, but not this time. This time, it's personal.”
There's a smugness to her tone that I can't ignore when she says that. I stare at her for a beat and another alarming thought grips me.
And this time? I do pounce.
She barely has time to block the fist I launch directly into her throat. “If it's personal...then how come you know so much about it? Huh?”
When she doesn't answer, I reach for the vase, smash it on the ground and quickly grab one of the shattered pieces.
She starts screaming her head off that I'm a raging psycho when I advance toward her, but I don't care.
“Keep screaming,” I snarl. “Let it out while you can because pretty soon you won't have the vocal chords to do so anymore. Not unless you open the fucking door and give me your goddamn keys.”
I need to see him...I need to see what he becomes down there with my own eyes.
No. My heart pangs—I need to understand and co Her eyes dart around the room nervously. “Please, Lou-Lou. He will kill me if you go down there.” She gulps back a sob. “ I told you, be careful how you use the power you wield. With great power comes—” I slam her up against the wall and hold the shattered crystal up to her neck. “Comes what, bitch? Is that what you did for him? Is that the reason you know so many personal things about him? Because you fucked him when I was gone?” Ricardo doesn't just open up to anyone. Not even me now as of late. Her eyes practically pop out of her head, but I caught the split second of hesitation that flashed in them. I maneuver the sharp part of the glass so it's directly over her jugular. “I'm so tired of everyone lying to me, Marlene. So tell me the truth and I won't kill you. Did you ever—” “Yes,”she whispers. “Sort of...there was one night..but he could—” I drop the glass and ram my fist into her nose instead. “He couldn't do it,” she yelps, hunching over now. “He wanted you, you psychotic cunt.” I bash my knee into her face and when both of her hands fly up to stop the blood that's oozing, I reach inside her pocket for her keys. She screams for the guards stationed outside the door and throws me to the floor. We grapple for a moment, but I get the upper hand when I reach for the glass again and point it at her eye. “Let me walk out this door and I'll tell him not to kill you,” I say, moving the glass closer to her eye with every breath I take. “You said yourself that I was the only one who had any power over him...you know he'll listen to me. I'll tell him you're my friend, Marlene. I'll tell him I'll never forgive him for killing you. I'll even work up some tears if that's what it takes...but you have to let me out of this room. I need to see him...I don't care what I have to do to make it happen.” I don't know if it's my threat or the dead serious look in my tone and on my face, but she sighs and whispers, “Okay.” I don't waste another minute, not even to apologize or tell her thank you like I should. The guards try to grab me when I bolt out of the room like a slingshot, but I shout, “Stop touching me or I'll tell him you hurt me,” at the top of my lungs and they drop me like a hot potato. I continue ru My hands shake when I stick the key in the lock and I try to listen for screaming but there isn't any. That only makes my nerves worse and I propel forward. I take the steps two at a time, trying to run as fast as I can. I run past the first pillar and dash past the second. That's when I hear screaming...and this time, the voice sounds familiar. I swiftly round the corner and finally...I see everything. I see him with my own eyes. I cover my mouth with my hand and hover behind the pillar when I realize who the screaming person currently chained up is. Ford. Ricardo paces back and forth in front of him...but not out of nervousness. No...in confidence. In complete control. It's so hypnotizing, so peremptory. I can practically feel the power he has spilling out of him and flowing throughout me...it renders me both aghast and entranced. So much so, I don't even question why Ford's chained up looking like a drugged up refugee pirate due to the eye patch he's wearing. Ricardo stops pacing suddenly and grins. If you can even call it that. It's such a macabre and evil smile—a grisly, foreboding feeling thickens the air and I feel the tiny hairs on both my arms stand up. “Special Agent Ford Baker,” Ricardo says, his grin widening. Ford grunts and snaps his head up...he turns ashen when Ricardo pulls a dagger out. “Tell me, Special Agent,” Ricardo continues. “Do you consider yourself a cultured and intelligent man?” “Fuck you,” Ford spews and I almost gasp. “Now, now, Ford...what happened the last time you thought you could speak to me that way?” Without waiting for an answer, Ricardo rips off Ford's eye patch and I have to hold back my scream when I see the empty hole that used to contain his eyeball. Ford doesn't though when Ricardo inserts the handle of his dagger inside and twists. “If you want me to stop...answer the question. Do you consider yourself a cultured and intelligent man?” “Yes,” he shouts. Ricardo steps back and rubs his chin. “Can I share a secret with you?” “Like what?” Ford snaps. “I'm all too aware of just how fucking warped in the head you are. Just like I knew the second I woke up chained in your basement I wasn't getting out alive. So quit the fucking show and dance and get this shit over with.” Ricardo laughs a deep and throaty laugh, a laugh that's laced in enough evil it pierces me right down to the bone. “You know...I was going to.” He walks over to the large table filled with various tools. “But just for that? I think I'm going to prolong my fun.” He opens an antique box and the gleam from the various knives and daggers catch my eye. “Oh and my secret? I've recently become a collector of knives.” He rests the dagger on the table and picks up another one. A smaller but what looks to be sharper one and holds it up to Ford's face. Ford cowers and my breath stutters in my chest when he tears out a sliver of flesh from his cheek.