Tear Me Apart (An M/M Dark Romance)

13.Alejandro

The corridor outside the cell felt colder than before. Or perhaps it was just me. The door slammed shut behind me, the sound echoing through the underground halls like a gunshot. For a moment I stood there, staring at the iron surface as if I could still see him through it. Nikolai, bleeding and smiling.

Damn him.

I clenched my jaw and forced myself to walk away. My boots struck the stone floor with sharp, deliberate steps, the sound echoing down the long corridor that led deeper into the lower levels of the mansion. The smell of damp stone and rust lingered in the air. Behind me, the cell remained silent. Too silent.

“You stayed longer than expected.” Leandro’s voice cut through the quiet. I didn’t slow down. He leaned against the wall a few meters away, arms crossed, watching me with that calm, calculating gaze of his. He had been with my family long enough to know when something was wrong. And right now, something was.

“Did he talk?” Leandro asked.

“No.”

Leandro pushed himself off the wall.

“And yet you’re still keeping him alive.”

I stopped walking. Slowly, I turned toward him. Leandro held my gaze without flinching. Antonio stood further down the corridor, pacing like a restless animal.

“You think that’s a mistake,” I said. “I think,” Leandro replied carefully, “that the man responsible for the death of your daughter shouldn’t still be breathing.” The words hit harder than any blade. My daughter. The image flashed through my mind again — the small coffin, the pale stillness of her face, the unbearable silence that followed. My hands curled into fists.

“I know what he did,” Antonio snapped from across the hall. “Why are we wasting time with this bastard? Let me finish him.” His anger was raw but there was something else mixed to it. And also something is keeping him agitated and that is a bad sign. But I refuse to believe that la mia famiglia would do anything. But if he did, Mi dispiace. He will not live through it.

“You’re both missing something,” I said quietly as I stared at Antonio. My piercing gaze bore through him as he didn’t meet my gaze but he still scoffed.

"Oh, illuminaci." Oh, enlighten us.

I ignored him. Leandro watched me closely. “What did he say?” he asked.

“He said he didn’t kill her.”

Antonio barked out a harsh laugh. “And you believed him?”

“No.” But the answer came a little slower than it should have. Leandro noticed. Of course he did.

“He’s manipulating you,” Antonio said. “That’s what men like him do.”

Men like him, like us. Antonio said it like Nikolai and I were different species. But the truth was simpler. We weren’t. That was the problem. “I’ve interrogated hundreds of men,” I said quietly. “Traitors. liars. Enemies.” Leandro’s eyes narrowed slightly. “And?”

“And they all reacted the same way when they were about to die.”

Antonio crossed his arms.“What way?”

“They begged.” The corridor fell silent. Nikolai hadn’t begged. Not even once. He hadn’t pleaded. Hadn’t even tried to escape. Instead he had watched me and studied me. Like the interrogation itself fascinated him. Like the pain meant nothing. Leandro spoke again, quieter now. “You think he’s innocent.” “I think,” I said slowly, “that something about this doesn’t add up.” Antonio threw his hands in the air. “Of course it adds up! His people attacked our convoy that night. Your daughter was in that car!” “Yes,” I said.

“And?”

“And he let himself get captured.” That stopped them. Both of them. Leandro frowned and spoke. “Explain.” I leaned against the cold wall, running a hand across my face. “When we caught him,” I said slowly, “he didn’t run.” Antonio opened his mouth, then closed it again. “He didn’t fight,” I continued. “He didn’t even negotiate.” Leandro’s voice dropped. “He walked into our trap.”

“Yes.” The realization had been forming slowly in the back of my mind since the moment I first saw Nikolai chained in that cell. He wasn’t acting like a man who had been captured. He was acting like a man who had arrived exactly where he wanted to be.

Antonio shook his head. “He’s f*****g insane.”

“Is it?”

“SÌ” Antonio snapped. “Why the hell would anyone willingly walk into our territory?” I didn’t answer immediately. Instead my mind drifted back to the cell. To the way Nikolai’s eyes followed every movement. The way he had leaned into the knife. And to the way he had said my name. Not with fear. But with something dangerously close to interest. My jaw tightened. “I don’t know why,” I said finally. “But I’m going to find out.” Leandro studied me for several long seconds.

Then he spoke carefully. “And what about your wife?” Antonio stiffened, and that was f*****g odd. But the question hung in the air like smoke. My wife.

Her pale face and bruised body the night our daughter died. The way she insisted it had been Nikolai’s people. I pushed the memory away. For now. “One problem at a time,” I said. Leandro nodded slowly. Antonio looked far less convinced.

“So what’s the plan?” Leandro asked. I looked back toward the direction of the cell. Even from here, I could almost feel his presence beneath the mansion. My pulse quickened in a way that had nothing to do with anger. “He wants me to push him,” I said. Leandro raised an eyebrow. “And?” I turned toward the corridor leading upstairs. “And I intend to.” Antonio frowned.

“You’re going back down there.” “Yes, later. I have to end this.” Leandro’s gaze sharpened.

"Stai giocando a un gioco pericoloso, Alejandro.” You’re playing a dangerous game, Alejandro.

“SÌ.” Antonio muttered something under his breath. I ignored him. Instead, my mind replayed the moment inside the cell again. The blood. The tension. The way Nikolai had looked at me like he understood something about me no one else did. That unsettled me more than anything.

But it also made one thing very clear. I will end this and find out the truth. And for reasons I didn’t want to examine too closely. I was already looking forward to seeing him again.