Chapter 81: Round Two
"St-stop...please..."
"You’re polite. I like that." He strolled to her and placed the stained rod against her cheek, saring warm blood across her skin. Danielle stayed perfectly still, refusing to show any fear.
"You see princess," Ethan forced a mutter, "I have to make him talk. Because if Frank really cares about you, then maybe he will trade everything he has to save you." His breath ghosted her lips. "That is passion and in my world, passion could be seen as soone’s weakness."
He walked back to the guard again and dropped the rod with a tallic clang.
"But pain...Pain is power."
He picked up another tool that was a pair of pliers.
Danielle’s stomach dropped to the ground like it was a teor.
"Please," she called again. "He has nothing to do with this. Let him go."
Ethan paused his hands and then he looked at her. His eyes softened again like he was expressing fake sympathy. He walked to her and cupped her cheek with warm fingers.
"I am letting him go," he murmured kindly. "Just in the opposite direction."
He turned back to the guard. Jackson opened his mouth but no sound ca out as Ethan knelt beside the man.
"Final chance," Ethan humd. "Did Frank send you"
The guard’s breath rattled painfully. He turned his head enough to look at Danielle.
"I will not let him hurt you," he whispered to her, but sounded barely like a ghost.
Ethan let out a long sigh like he was disappointed in him.
"I hate bravery," he pouted. "Bravery tries to steal the spotlight."
Without hesitation, he grabbed the guard’s fingers with the pliers and pulled. The bone cracked loudly.
"Aaaaaghhh!!!! The yelling and shouting that followed sounded like a soul tearing open.
Danielle sobbed now as silent tears rolled uncontrollably. Jackson squeezed his eyes shut, hating himself, hating the world, especially hating Ethan...
’What have I done? What the fuck have I done?’
Ethan humd a happy little tune while he continued his work. A bit of humming, a bit of torture. As if this was simply another hobby in his perfect day.
When the guard stopped screaming, his chest barely moved. His eyes glazed over him like he was a cake.
"Still alive, but for how long..."
Ethan stood up and dropped the pliers. He brushed his hands together like finishing a task well done.
"That was boring," he decided. "I hoped he would last longer." He stretched casually. "Soone get another one. Maybe the next visitor will be more entertaining."
Danielle felt sothing snap deep inside her. Sothing like that was so dangerous animal, knowing it’s ti to attack,
"You will burn for this," she promised.
Ethan slowly turned and looked at her like she had whispered the sweetest secret.
"Maybe," he said, stepping forward so softly. "But you will burn with . That is what makes it romantic."
He leaned in until their foreheads touched.
"And the world will watch us burn."
The lights flickered again. The guard gave his final breath with a soft choke.
Ethan smiled even wider and tapped his fingers against his thigh, pacing with excitent.
"Round two...And this ti, the ga is about you, princess."
Jackson stepped forward instinctively. "You said she needs to be alive for leverage."
Ethan looked at him... and smirked like a shark.
"She will be. I promise." His eyelids lowered. "Alive is not the sa as unhard. You should know that by now."
Jackson’s fists curled tightly.
Ethan turned toward Danielle again. He dragged a chair across the floor and set it directly in front of her table, so close she could feel the fabric of his suit brushing her toes.
He sat, crossing one leg over the other.
"You are going to answer a very important question," his eyes twinkled. "And depending on your answer, soone else might live... or die."
Danielle stared at him, refusing to speak...
Ethan leaned his head to the side. "Do you love Theo"
The question was so unexpected that Danielle felt her toes turn icy like the at left in the freezer.
The air was caught in her throat, and it was hard to swallow it.
He smiled wider. "Look at that. All that noise in your eyes."
Jackson shifted, but he was not surprised.
Ethan lifted his hand and gently tapped her forehead with one finger.
"I can see the truth in your face," he whispered. "Theo killed my father’s love. Theo ruined my life. And now you think you can care about him" He laughed.
Danielle gulped hard as pain sliced through her chest. "Theo is not like you."
"Oh I know," Ethan breathed. "He is boring. Predictable. Tries to be a hero. All heart and no brain...But hearts break."
He grabbed her chin and forced her to et his stare.
"Say you love him." His voice dropped cold. "I want to hear you say it."
Danielle clenched her teeth. "I do not owe you anything."
Ethan’s smile returned instantly. "Wrong answer."
He snapped his fingers.
Two n dragged another prisoner into the room.
Danielle could feel her heart shake as electricity went down her spine.
It was another one of Frank’s officers. His face looked so swollen.
Ethan stood up and approached the man with casual strolls. "This one has a family. A young daughter. Loves to take her to the park on weekends." His tone was carefully-happy. "Adorable right"
Danielle trembled. "Stop."
Ethan tilted his head like a confused child. "You can stop . Just tell what I want."
Danielle shut her eyes. She felt so sick...
There was no winning. Saving one would sacrifice another. Ethan had built a prison where hope itself was the weapon.
She opened her eyes again and t his...
"I will not give you control over what I feel."
Silence...
Then Ethan exhaled a dreamy laugh. "You really are my favorite toy."
He lifted a gun from the cart.
"No," Jackson whispered, stepping forward.
Ethan raised one eyebrow. "Careful. Defiance is contagious."
He turned back to the guard and pointed the gun.
"Please!!!!" A loud and triggered scream escaped Danielle’s lips.
"Please? You know what you need to say..."
"I love him! I love Theo!!!"
*Pow! Pow!*
But Ethan still pulled the trigger and this person died instantly.
"Round two completed," he said sweetly. "Thank you for playing."
He stepped closer to Danielle, wiping a drop of blood from her jaw with his thumb.
"Round three," he hushed near her ear. "Is where we see what you are willing to beco."
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