Wicked Liar by Faith Summers

Chapter Forty-One

Candace

Dominic takes both my hands into his and keeps his gaze trained on me. He's worried about me again. I’m worried about myself too. I’m not sure how I’ll react to what’s going to happen next.

Dominic got back from San Diego earlier.

I’ve been brought up to speed on what's happening and I now know everything he knows. Richard Fenmoir is the king, and my uncle still works for him.

It turns out my suspicions about Richard were right, and danger was just the beginning of the trouble I could have landed myself in if I'd followed through with my crazy plan for Jacques.

I was playing with fire indeed and I would have been obliterated because Jacques isn't who he says he is.

“Angel, I’m not really happy about this. It’s going to be intense in there. We’ll do things that will shock you. Things I can’t and won’t apologize for,” Dominic says.

“I know,” I breathe.

“Honestly, I don’t want you to see us like that. I don’t want you to go in there.”

“I have to see him. It’s something I have to do.” I nod firmly and swivel my head toward the metal door ahead of us in the alleyway.

This is where the guys bring people to interrogate them, and sometimes... kill them. I’ve only seen this place once, and it was one of those rare occurrences.

It’s not quite dark yet, so I can see faint drops of blood on the paved surface of the alleyway.

Is it his?

Uncle Lucas is inside there. I gaze at the metal door ahead and a silent shudder runs through my body from the uncertainty of what I’m going to see.

Dominic’s men found Lucas a few hours ago and he was brought here. I wasn’t told what hole he’d been hiding in all these years, and I don’t care to find out. All I know is tonight I will face this fiend. A man who brought darkness into my life for so many years. He changed everything for me.

The terrible thing about it is, I could have been happy if not for him. My parents were humble people who loved and valued each other. I didn’t need anything else. There would have been another way to help Papa. Uncle Lucas could have even loaned him the money himself to get out of debt, but he had other things in mind for my mother.

Uncle Lucas was….

I shake my head and blow out a ragged breath. Uncle? No. He lost the right for me to call him uncle a long time ago. He is not my uncle. He is just evil.

“I’m ready,” I say to Dominic and he gives me a curt nod.

“Come.” He takes my hand and leads me down the path.

As we walk through the alley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil when I think of how far I’ve come, and all that has happened to lead me here. The strength it has taken to come to terms with the past and face this man will shape the rest of my life.

The door squeaks open when Dominic pushes it forward and we walk in.

What I see inside laces my mind with fear.

Massimo and Tristan stand beside each other, their faces stern, riddled with darkness.

Aiden stands next to Massimo with a case of knives. Cory is in the far corner behind a table with a dashboard.

In front of them is a lanky looking man with salt and pepper hair attached to the chains on the wall. He’s hunched forward and his clothes are covered in blood.

This is the darkness the guys try to protect me from, and who they truly are. This is them exacting retribution and what they mean by taking matters into their own hands.

When the man lifts his head and looks at me, I see it’s him. Lucas.

Bastard.

That’s him. The last time we saw each other was just awful. Only days before my parents died, he came to the house just for me. I’ll never forget it. I even wonder if that last time was what pushed me so far over the edge, so far it took me years to heal that part of my mind. All the while, no one knew that horror about me. They thought I’d been through enough with my parents' deaths. They never knew there was more.

The bastard he is has the audacity to smile at me.

“Well, look who it is,” he sputters. “The niece. Are you now the D’Agostinos whore? I always wondered what you kids got up to. It’s unusual for a girl to be hanging around so many boys. Now I see why.”

Before he can take his next breath Massimo throws a knife into his thigh. Lucas screams and the sound pierces through me. He looks up at Massimo like he can’t believe what he just did. I can’t either, and I have a feeling his torture has only just begun.

Lucas whimpers and it’s clear he doesn’t know how ruthless these guys can be. He must be thinking of how they were as kids. We’re years away from that.

That includes me.

I release Dominic’s hand and step forward. I take one step at a time and make my way over to my dear uncle and I don't stop moving until I’m right next to him.

I don’t know what comes over me but I raise my hand and slap him across his face so hard his body shakes. Another slap and blood spurts from his nose. Grabbing his face, I dig my nails into his cheeks and he thrashes against the chains.

“Your words mean nothing to me. They are shit and you are nothing. How dare you speak to me?” I snarl. “How dare you look at me? You bastard. This is the end of the road for you, Lucas.”

I release his face and the fear that fills his eyes makes triumph surge through me.

I back away, and Dominic takes hold of me.

“I want answers,” I tell him and he nods.

“Then let’s get some,” he says and looks at Massimo.

“Why were William and his wife killed?” Massimo asks Lucas.

“Think I’m going to tell you anything?” Lucas spits.

“Cory.” Massimo turns to Cory. “It seems our guest doesn’t quite realize he’s being tortured. Let’s take this to the next level.”

With the snap of his finger, Cory presses a button on the dashboard, and the next thing I know a jolt of electricity passes through Lucas’ body.

I wondered how they would make him talk. After seeing that, I think he’ll be begging for death well before they finish with him.

Lucas’ body continues shuddering after the shock. He’s screaming and tears run down his cheeks mixing with the blood.

“One more time,” Massimo states. “Why were William and his wife killed?”

“Fuck you.”

Another snap of Massimo’s fingers and more electricity flies through Lucas’ body.

The same scenario repeats twice, and I almost believe Lucas is going to die.

“Please… let me go. Don’t kill me,” he begs, changing his tune.

No one answers. There’s a silent hush that falls over the room that sends icy tendrils of fear down my spine. I fist my hands at my sides and plant my feet into the ground when I realize I’ve been watching this scene of torture for well over ten minutes and it hasn’t affected me. I don’t know what that says about me, or what has changed in my heart, but all I’ve been focusing on is getting the truth. I want the truth so badly that this is the answer to how far I’d go to get it.

“One more time, why did William and his wife die?” Massimo asks ignoring the plea for mercy.

Lucas lifts his head and looks at him. The fight he had is gone.

“William…” he begins and my breath stills. He’s going to talk. “William found out what I was doing to his wife. He wanted out of the job we were doing, and he knew the only way out was to expose us. He broke into my office and made copies of files. He had them on a chip. That would have lost me my job, and everything I worked for.”

“Glad to see we’re on the right track. What kind of job was it?” Massimo eyes him dangerously.

“Human trafficking. William needed the money for a debt.”

I close my eyes and will myself not to scream. So it was true. Human Trafficking. That’s what Papa got himself into. I can’t believe we're talking about the same man.

“What were you doing to his wife?” Massimo demands.

“I told her she could help pay the debts by selling her body. Tobias had his eye on her.”

“It wasn’t just him was it!” I shout. He’s not telling the story right. I don’t want him to leave anything out. “You did too. It was all bullshit so you could get to her. You were in love with her. All of this was about her and what you did when she couldn’t love you. That’s why you came for me.”

A tear runs down my cheek and Dominic puts his arm around me.

“Is that true Lucas Ricci?” Massimo asks.

“Yes. It is true.”

Of course, it was true. That punishment he gave me was for Mom too. She knew what he was doing to me and neither of us could stop it. I used to catch her crying in the early hours of the morning after he'd gone. I knew she was crying for me. Crying, because she couldn't protect me.

“What next? What did you do next?” Massimo is asking the question like he’s already figured it out. Since I haven’t yet, I’m hanging on to every fucking word.

“I told the boss what William did, but I never told him that I managed to steal the chip back from him. The men went to retrieve the chip and kill him and his wife and his child.”

There it is. The answer. It was Uncle Lucas who planned that whole event that ripped my world apart. He set the whole thing up.

“It was you….” I mutter and he looks over to me. It’s possibly the first time he’s looked at me in over twenty years and resembles something close to human.

“Wonderful. Now tell me who Richard Fenmoir is. Your boss. I know he’s the king, and you work for him. Tell me who he really is. ”

From the bewildered expression on Lucas' face, I can see he wasn’t expecting that question. He looks if possible worst just for hearing it.

“No… I can’t tell you that. Please, I can't,” Lucas pleads.

“Tell me,” Massimo shouts. “Fucking tell me or I’ll cut you up and rip you apart. All these long years you’ve been in the background pulling strings and enabling our enemies to come for us. My father is dead. This ends here Lucas Ricci.”

“Please spare me. Please. He’ll kill me if I tell you. That was why I couldn’t allow William to take the files and expose us. He was going to expose him too. After what William did, you have no idea what I had to go through to get back in his good graces. It was only because I had the chip why he spared me. Please, let me go. I’ll disappear. I’ll go away far from here, and I won't cause any more trouble.”

Massimo snaps his finger at Cory and another round of electricity is unleashed. The scream that rips from Lucas’ throat makes me curl into Dominic’s chest and grab on to his shirt.

I’ve reached my limit. Now I know what happened I’m at the peak and even I can’t watch a man who hurt me so deeply suffer the way he is.

But it’s like nothing to Massimo or any of the men standing around us. I look up to Dominic and my soul cowers when I see the soulless look in his eyes as he watches Lucas. He almost looks more terrifying than the others, and I realize it’s because Lucas is one more person who was responsible for his father’s death.

One more hand who dealt the blow.

When I look back at Lucas and Massimo pulls out his gun and shoots him in the thigh already holding the knife, I feel Massimo's pain. Not Lucas’, Massimo's. It pulses through the air like the electricity Lucas is being tortured with.

Massimo’s father died in his arms. Giacomo D'Agostino, one of the kindest men I've ever met died in his son's arms. He didn't deserve to die in such a way, and after everything his family had gone through.

Whatever Massimo does to anybody won’t be enough to make up for that nightmare.

Lucas vomits and pisses himself. Blood runs from his face and his mouth. He’s a sight more fitting to a horror film.

“One. More. Time. Give me his name. Now.”

Lucas looks like he’s on his last lap and I think he’s just realized the only escape from those chains bounding him and the ruthless man before him is death. They’re not going to let him go like he thought they would.

“Name!” Massimo shouts and his voice echos off the walls.

“The state's attorney,” Lucas stutters. “It’s James Astley.”

What the hell?

I suck in a sharp breath.

Massimo looks as shocked as I feel. He looks at Tristan and the others who are equally astonished by the revelation.

“He is the king,” Lucas rasps out.

“And what is he planning next?” Massimo's voice shakes with fury.

“I don't know. He doesn't involve me in plans. There's a meeting with everyone in two days.” Lucas starts to shake.

“Where!”

“A yacht. They’ll be onboard the Blue Iris at San Pedro Bay.”

“Time?”

“Two o’clock.”

Massimo nods and glances back at Dominic, then over to Tristan and Aiden.

He looks back to Lucas and gets closer to him. “There were brochures on your desk for a resort in Italy. Were you supposed to be somewhere?”

“Yes. Will you let me go? I told you everything. That was everything.” Lucas looks hopeful.

The smile on Massimo’s face frightens me. As does what happens next.

Massimo steps away from Lucas. Tristan and Aiden follow. Corey last.

Massimo comes up to me and puts out his hand for me to take.

“Come, Principessa,” he says giving me the nickname they used to call me when I was little.

When Dominic releases me I take Massimo's hand and he leads me away.

But, Dominic doesn’t follow. He stays where he is.

I just manage to see a flash of silver from his gun as he pulls it from his pocket. I see it before we go through the door.

When the door clicks shut the echo of a bullet sounds simultaneous with the click.

Another shot follows and Massimo slips his arms around me. Another shot sounds, then another. Both pierce through the night. Tristan comes to my other side when my legs give.

The rapid sound of gunshots doesn't stop. More follow and I lose count.

Uncle Lucas is dead.

Dominic killed him.