REVENGE WITH LOVE : CHAPTER 21 – 30
By Presh Alicia Daisy.
CHAPTER 21 & 22.
FACADE; THE REAL MONSTER.
“I think she’s awake,” said faint and distant voices that seeped through Tesiera’s ears as she floated up to the brink of consciousness.
Gradually, she became more aware of her surroundings and her previously cloudy vision started to clear up. Tesiera tried to move, but she was held back by the cold metal that bound her skin.
That was when she fully jolted awake. She was surprised to find herself chained to a chair in the middle of an unfamiliar room. She was completely bound, unable to move her hands and knees. It was then that the realization hit her: she had failed her mission. Again.
“Oh thank fuck, cause I’ve been waiting for the bitch to wake up,” said another voice. Footsteps approached her, but before she could look up, a fist connected with her jaw.
The blow was so strong that it cracked her cheek and knocked the wind out of her for a few seconds. The man who had hit her had quite a punch.
Tesiera spat out a mixture of blood and saliva before raising her head to see the two hefty men in front of her. She had trailed them long enough to know that the one on the left, with long black hair pinned back and a beard, was called Clinton, while the one on the right—who had just hit her—with military-cut blond hair and burning anger in his brown eyes was called Bose. The man looked like he would enjoy nothing more than to torture her with her own torture devices.
Within a split second, another unexpected punch came from Bose, aimed directly at her nose. The force of it broke her nose, but Tesiera had trained with physical pain her whole life and only a grunt escaped her lips, even though it had hurt like a motherfucker. Blood trickled down her nose.
“That’s enough, Bose. Stop hitting her,” Clinton rebuked, causing Bose’s already balled-up fists to freeze in mid-air. After a moment of hesitation, he dropped his hand. But that didn’t stop him from looking at Tesiera with a glare that could shoot daggers.
“I’m so mad at her. So fucking mad, I could kill her—” And his menacing hand made to grab Tesiera’s neck in a chokehold, but Clinton was quick enough to stop him, taking him a step backward and restraining him.
“Remember, the boss said we shouldn’t kill her, we shouldn’t even touch her. He said to alert him when she wakes up,” Clinton reminded, releasing Bose. He was heaving heavy and angry breaths, while Tesiera just stared at them.
“Fine,” Bose conceded and straightened his shirt. He and Clinton left Tesiera’s side and began walking to the door, but then Bose paused and turned around to face her.
“The first punch was for your first attempt to murder our boss. The second one is for your second attempt. Let’s make it clear, if not for our boss, I would’ve fucking killed you already,” Bose expressed, his anger solidifying his tone.
Tesiera didn’t respond, her eyes never leaving them.
Bose and Clinton exited the room, leaving Tesiera alone with the million-and-one thoughts that filled up her headspace. She had never been captured before. Ever.
She’d ventured into a lot of dangerous places in search of her targets, most of whom were warlords, crime bosses, and traffickers—paranoid underworld men who had placed themselves under countless impossible security measures to feel safe. Yet, she had caught them. She had done her job and done it well.
However, in the space of two weeks, she had not only failed her mission twice, but she had also been captured—not by the underworld lords, but by a legal business tycoon who also happened to be a doctor. Tesiera let out an empty laugh, even though her jaws arched like the devil.
She had no one to blame but herself, of course. In your world like hers, doing a job like hers, one has to stay incredibly alert, trust your survival instincts, be aware of your fucking surroundings on the job and be one-hundred percent present during the job. She’d allowed revenge to blind her to the extend that she failed all those rules, ignored all the warning signs, and worse, underestimated her enemies.
So, yes, she had no one to blame but herself,
The door opened and Tesiera lifted her head. It was her sworn–enemy in a crisp black suit and a matching colored tie, accompanied by his two bodyguards. It didn’t get past her notice that the man looked like power personified. She’d never seem any man carry himself with such grace and poise as this doctor.
“Oh, she’s awake?” Kracus said as he advanced to where she was tied up. It was an empty room, and the only thing that sounded were the rhythmic taps of his designer shoes as he moved closer to Tesiera.
Kracus arched his brows as he noticed the bruises on her cheek and the blood smeared on her nose. “I thought I gave instructions not to hit her.” He turned around to face his bodyguards, before settling on Bose. He just knew it would be him.
An expression of guilt took over Bose’s features. “I’m sorry boss, I just couldn’t help it. This woman tried to kill you twice and I… I just lost it.”
Kracus took a deep breath and returned to face Tesiera. He stared at her keenly, his mind traveling distances as he tried to figure out why this particular stranger had made yet another attempt on his life.
In that moment, Kracus was glad he listened to his Chief of Security and had that laser installed in his bathroom, or else he would’ve been a dead man by now.
His attention narrowed back to her again, particularly her facial features. Her face was blank but her brown eyes were filled with fire as they met him challengingly. No pain, no remorse, just anger directed at him.
“Who sent you? Who asked you to kill me?”
Tesiera took a moment to respond, “If you let me go then maybe I’ll think about telling you.”
Kracus wasn’t falling for her obvious bait and she was beginning to piss him off. His eyes darkened, “You are going to answer me, Tesiera Rinderson, who sent you to kill me?” He asked in a commanding tone he rarely used.
She was honestly taken aback by Kracus’ stern command. She didn’t know he had it in him to be angry or to have a tone that stern.
Maybe his true self is coming out, she wondered. It’s about time, she was getting absolutely tired of the façade he puts on and pretends to the world. It was finally wearing off.
She gave a fake, wolffish smile. “Come closer and I will tell you.”
Bose snorted, “Boss just give me the chance to kill her. We can kill her here and bury her, no one would ever know.” He stated with a mix of impatience and fury.
Kracus directed a non-spoken command at his bodyguard and Bose let out a breath, “I’m sorry boss.”
He turned back his stare at the woman who was unrelenting in her resolve not to give him the information he wanted.
“Bose, Clinton. Leave.” Kracus instructed and the two bodyguards shared a look before facing their boss, about to give out a protest. But then they saw the look on their boss’ face, it was an unfamiliar one. It was anger, a measure of anger they had never seen on his face before, nor have they ever heard him give such commands. So they knew he was being serious.
“Alright boss.” They said then exited the room.
Kracus heard the click of the door shut and then he asked, “Did Walters send you to kill me?”
“No one sent me to kill you.”
“Then why are you here?” Kracus retorted.
Tesiera raised her gaze to meet with him again, “I just want you dead.”
He lowered his voice now, “Why?”
She went silent. Kracus moved from his spot, circling around her chair.
“You know a lot of people have wanted me dead since I was young, some have gone extreme. I’ve gone through hell, I’ve suffered a whole lot. I’ve gone through the worst possible things because of people like you.” Kracus went about her twice, before pausing right in front her. He stepped close and bent down, his gray–orbs looking her straight in the eyes.
“Be ready assured you won’t get out of here unless you tell me who sent you. And if you don’t comply, I will unleash Bose on you.”
Tesiera said nothing, showed no reaction whatsoever.
Kracus straightened up, “My private investigator did some research about you and I went through your files. The Torturer—” He paused a bit. “That’s what they call you, right?”
“I did my research about you as well. You torture people for days using different lethal methods and weapons, a lot of things I can’t even bring myself to say. The things I saw about you made me uncomfortable. You do not care about the human life. You’re a monster, Tesiera The Torturer.”
His gaze centered on her again and he looked at her with sheer disgust.
“Your eyes are so cold, an embodiment of so much…evil. You’re a cold blooded killer.” He could go on and on about his opinion of this woman in front of him, but he chose to end it there. “So why will a person like you, a murderer, want me dead?”
“You’re right, I am a murderer and that is why you piss me off Kracusian Kingston. A murderer like me knows people like you who pretend and hide underneath righteousness. But behind those facade, they’re just like me. Murders, killers, evil.” She stated, throwing his own words back at him. “People that robbed children of their childhood. That robbed people of their entire lives. A murderer that stared into the eyes of an old man, pleading for his life and yet still fired a bullet at him.”
“I know people like you, because I am like you. And I hate people who pretend to be who they’re not.” She emphasized.
Just then, there was a knock on the door. For a moment, Kracus wanted to dismiss the intruder but he thought against it. He’d told them not to disturb him unless it was important, so for someone to knock on his door, it was be unavoidable. He gave permission for the person to enter.
The door opened and Harvey stuck his head in, “I’m sorry to intrude, sir, but sir Alex needs your attention. Something that has to do with the Dubai investors.”
Unavoidable, it is. “Lock her in and keep an eye on her. I’ll be right back,” Kracus commanded before walking out of the door.
Tesiera watched him walk away and once he was out the door, she allowed the thoughts she’d been shutting out to cross her mind. Could this be a mistake? Does this man really know nothing about the death of my father?
It was a very scary thought so she quickly shut it out of her mind. He was just an expert at deceiving people, that’s all.
The door opened again, and she expected to see her tormentor but it wasn’t him. It was one of his bodyguards, the one called Clinton. He walked inside and closed the door behind him.
“If it was up to Bose, you would already be dead. And frankly, I think that’s what you deserve.” He stated crisply and Tesiera arched her brows.
“You see, there was a boy that had nowhere to stay, he was an orphan. His parents were killed in a raid and he’s been forced to live on the streets, eat from bins and sleep with stray dogs. Boss Kracus saved him.”
A hint of a smile played on his face. “That boy was my cousin. The only living relative I have who I thought died a long time ago.”
Tesiera was surprised and it showed.
“Not only did he save him, he had his men look for me and reunited me with Kegan. That was when I was still working for a mean Japanese mob boss, but he paid so much so I didn’t give shit what he did. But after what happened, I quit my job and came to work for the doctor. He’s my first boss that has ever given shit about human life, and he doesn’t take it anyhow unless it was absolutely necessary. Instead, he saved it. I’ve never seen a man with such power he wields live the kind of life Kracusian Kingston lives.” He paused and looked her in the eyes, “I don’t know what the fuck you think he did, but he didn’t do it.”
“I know what he did, and he did do it.” She retorted, angrily. She knew what she saw twenty-years ago, dammit! She knew those fucking eyes. Yes, they seem annoyingly kinder now, but they were still familiar as hell.
“If he gave orders for one of yours to be eliminated, go and investigate that person, whoever he was. He must have been a fucking scumbag.” Clinton stated firmly.
Tesiera suppressed the angry that rose, the doubt that surfaced. “He didn’t give order, he took the shot himself and his victim was an innocent man.”
“That wasn’t the boss.” The big guy stated vehemently, before he turned and walked out of the door.
******************
REVENGE WITH LOVE : CHAPTER 21 – 30
By the time her captor came back, Tesiera was just tired of it all. Tired of his facade, her rage, the doubt, everything.
“How did you get all these people to fall for your pretense?” Tesiera asked, genuinely curious. “How do you sleep at night, knowing that you decieve millions of people? How do you keep up with this façade and hide your true self?”
He simply stared at her, his face without any expression.
She shook her head, “You’d better kill me now you still have the chance. Kill me now, because that’s the only way a monster like you will walk away freely from his crime against me.”
“If I’m getting this right, you believe I killed someone? You mentioned robbing children of their childhood. Did I do that to any child you know? A niece, a nephew, a cousin?” A pause, “Is it you?”
His last statement brought an uprising of an emotion Tesiera desperately tries to hide. A muscle ticked in her jaw, and his words had traveled deep enough to struck an isolated nerve.
Kracus caught the reaction. “You think I killed your father? Your grandfather?”
She averted her eyes and silence descended.
“This person that died, when was he killed?” He asked in a gentler voice this time.
For the first time since she woke up being restrained on this godforsaken chair, Tesiera struggled against her bindings, her eyes glaring at the man who murdered her father in cold blood but had the audacity to forget the act. A murderer like him have killed so many people that he forgot their faces, their names, and the events surrounding their deaths!?
The fire burning in her eyes as she struggled to get out of those chains caught him off-guard. He’d never seen rage so raw before.
But she couldn’t get out. After a few seconds, she went still. She blinked before she focused her eyes on him again, her expression was blank again. “You know, anyone can call me a monster, but you have no right to do that. Ever. I have killed a lot, but I still remember the names of every target, every victim. If I pointed a gun at a man whose eight-year-old crying daughter begged me not to kill, I would remember it. If I killed a man over a locket and left his corpse to his daughter to watch for hours before the ambulance came, I would remember it.” she paused, “I am a monster, Kracusian Kingston, but you are the devil himself.”
In that moment, something changed in him.
One moment he was sympathetic and showed pity for her, the next his eyes just went…blank. The easy going energy evaporated like it was never there before, and his muscles bunched with tension.
Watching him, for the first time, Tesiera felt an emotion she hasn’t known in a very long time. Fear.
Silence descended and stretched between them.
“I thought those demons were gone.” His voice was so low that she wouldn’t have heard it if the silence of the empty room wasn’t so deafening. “I thought I’ll never have anything to do with him again.”
“So you finally admitted it? You finally REMEMBERED it?” She let out a hollow laugh, “If I’d know telling the story would remind you of your brutality towards an eight-year-old, I would have done it hours ago, and spare us some time.”
He rose from the chair then and circled her, “I’ll tell you a short story. There was this boy who everyone was scared of. Everyone hated him. He was a giant bully, a big pain in people’s ass. In his school, people tend to avoid him because if he takes an interest in you, you’re done for. He bullied the innocent and preyed on the weak. This boy took an interest on another boy who he hated on sight since the first day they met years ago. The second boy avoided this bully as much as he could, but it’s hard to do when both boys goes to the same school, same social events.”
Why was he telling her this? Tesiera asked herself, staring at the space ahead while he circles her like a predator would do a prey.
“One day after school, the bully gathered his friends and cornered this boy. They used a soldering iron and branded his back like it was just a drawing board and they were learning to be artists. He and his friends laughed as this boy screamed. They enjoyed the sound of his pain and they delivered more torture, just to listen to his scream and dance to it like it was music. He was tortured for three days, all kinds of unspeakable torture. Horrible things that should never be spoken about, he went through them before he was finally rescued.”
He drew to a stop in front of her, and took two steps back. Then, he began unbuttoning his shirt.
“What the hell are you doing?” Tesiera asked.
He shrugged out of it and turned his back for her. Her next words died in her throat at the sight before her eyes.
Scars. All kinds of it.
As a torturer, she recognized most of them. Cigarette burn, iron burn, whip marks, knife trails and so much more she couldn’t make out before he turned again and faced her.
Tired, gray eyes held hers, “The name of the bullied boy was Kracusian Kingston and the boy who bullied him was Kracullian Kingston. The man you’re looking for is my half-brother.”
REVENGE WITH LOVE : CHAPTER 21 – 30
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