“And you perjured yourself in court. You ran with a gang. You stole. You sold drugs on street corners. What exactly does that make you?”
“I had no choice.” His face turned flush red.
“There’s always a choice. You made one by almost letting Charlie take advantage of us the same way he used to take advantage of you.”
His eyes widened with fear. His mouth dropped and closed, but nothing comprehensible came out. The three mobstersstayed in the background, Tore extending an arm to stop Renzo from interrupting.
“H-how di-did…”
“You think we wouldn’t look into you before finding you? Witness protection doesn’t hide who you were, only who you become.” I leaned in. “I know what Charlie did to you. I know you were alone in that house for years. I know you suffered the worst of us. I’ve seen the medical reports. I’ve read the caseworker notes. I know nobody helped. You were alone, but you decided to take it out on innocent kids instead of your aggressor. On top of that, you angered a mafia don and sent him to jail. Did you honestly think you could get away with it?” He grunted and sobbed as the IV fluids took full effect, sensations of itchy skin and burning veins definitely plaguing him. “You’ve been living on borrowed time. You had to know that.”
“I was supposed to be safe,” he cried out. “They promised me I’d be safe. That none of you could get to me. This was supposed to be a new start.”
“But you can’t make a new start with lies. They all come out eventually.” I pressed my thumbnail into his skin, enough to indent, not to break it. He screamed, and I pulled away, satisfied.
“What did you do to me?”
“I stimulated your nerves. Everything you feel will be stronger. The pain you feel will be more intense.” He sobbed pitifully. “You’re going to die today, Micah. I can’t change that. I won’t. You’re the only one who can make this easier on yourself.”
“I don’t want to die.”
“People don’t want to be victims either. But you allowed that, didn’t you?” Saliva and snot bubbled through his blubbering wails. “Didn’t you!”
“It wasn’t supposed to matter.”
“What wasn’t?” When he refused to answer, I nodded at Jac. He swept a metal brush over Micah’s bare arm. Micah screamed as if I were stabbing him over and over. “Tell me.”
In the background, Tore pulled a beer out of the mini-fridge and sat, like he was enjoying a grand show. Vinny approached Ricco on the sidelines, my guard and friend, ready to step in if things got out of hand. Renzo stood straighter, his gaze burning holes into me.
“Please. It hurts. Stop.”
“What would you have done if I’d screamed that? If Lou or Boyan had? Would you have helped us? Oh, that’s right. We did beg for help. You didn’t. You don’t deserve mercy.”
He wept, dangling from his chains. As a medical student, I should’ve struggled with seeing him like this. I should’ve wanted to help him. I didn’t, not one bit. For seven years, I lived with the suspicion that he left us, knowing what would happen. Some people are too far gone to be helped.
“Talk, and you’ll suffer less. What wasn’t supposed to matter?”
“This wasn’t supposed to happen.”
Jac punched him in the side.
“You were supposed to disappear,” Micah yelled.
“Me?”
“All I had to do was stay out of the way and just help carry your bodies to the van once you were unconscious. But then Charlie had to chase. He liked doing that. It was his game. You were screaming and crying like I used to. I couldn’t do it, so I ran. I didn’t help him. I swear. I didn’t do it.”
On my signal, Jac applied more pressure.
“Who told you what you had to do?”
“Charlie. Ah, stop. He said he’d share the haul after we’d delivered youthree.”
“To who?”
“I don’t know. I swear I don’t. Ah, please, don’t. Ah. Ilias. His name was Ilias.”
Not good enough. A first name wasn’t confirmation of the Greeks’ involvement. I eyed Renzo, his muscles flexing beneath his T-shirt, fists bunched at his sides. Why did the damn asshole have to be so attractive?
