My Sweet Indulgence

Chapter 5: I Usually Am a Gentleman

"I find it very interesting how you now look at me with fear. Before, you were looking at me with pride." I tilted my head without taking my eyes off him. "Are you not so brave anymore, Alex?"

"Says the one who isn't tied up hand and foot?"

I nod with a slight smile on my lips. "You're right. Release him."

My order is firm, and everyone in this basement knows they must not contradict me. I keep looking him in the eyes while Dimitri cuts the ropes. The fear in them is imminent, noticeable. I can even smell it, and I'm not referring to the disgusting odor emanating from his body. He's scared, he knows he won't leave here alive.

I look him over and can't believe how Rebecca could have paid attention to such scum. And I'm not referring to his looks, because the guy certainly has his own. I mean his attitudes.

Is she really that naive? Is she really so innocent as not to have realized what this bastard was doing and intended to do?

"I think now we can have a chat, right?" I don't look away from him, but I have noticed that he's no longer tied. "You're free, you can even hit me for keeping you here for so many—" I click my tongue in annoyance. "I've already asked for the bill. So, Alex… let's have a chat, please."

"I have nothing to talk about with you."

"I believe you do have an outstanding conversation with me, dear…" I straightened up under his attentive gaze. "A rather interesting one, in fact."

"I don't even know you," he snaps with hatred.

He's almost foaming in his mouth. He's like a cornered rat, and that makes him look even more worthless.

"But I do know you, Alex. I know you and your girlfriend, Veronica Miller. I know your escapades and I know very well that you were wooing my future wife under false pretenses just to sleep with her. Oh, and to hand her over, as if she were merchandise, to the three men who visited you that afternoon in your office. As if it were just another appointment to attend on an ordinary day," I declared, seeing him pale, letting go of the smile on my lips, looking at him with the urge to cut off his hands.

"Did you think I wouldn't find out?"

He looks at me as if he's seeing death itself. I hold his gaze, silence enthrones and reigns throughout the interior of the basement. Until the silence is interrupted by the sound of drops hitting the wood. I raise an eyebrow and slowly lower my gaze to his pants. Yes, the i***t has wet himself.

Gross.

"Did you really think that a woman as beautiful as my fiancée would be walking around that hospital without me keeping an eye on her every move, Alex?" I laughed just for fun at his naivety. Or his foolishly overconfident self. "Did you really think you could commit such an act of betrayal without facing the consequences?" I lean towards him.

"I might not like having the memories of the kisses you shared in your office stuck in my head, but that doesn't bother me as much as the fact that she trusted you, and you only intended to hand her over for a paltry sum of money to three men who would just ruin her out of spite and revenge."

"I... I... I don't know those men..." He defends himself with clumsy words.

I allow it. I need to hear a good reason not to put a bullet through his forehead.

"They came looking for me, offered me money in exchange for taking Becky to..."

"Rebecca. Her name is Rebecca and she is my fiancée."

He nods, desperate and even apologizes to me for his lack of respect.

"They asked me to take Rebecca—your fiancée—to the address they wrote down for me that day, along with the envelope of money."

"And you were going to do it?" I affirmed, and he nodded again, trembling, anguished. "For so little? Really? I would have offered you ten times that just to stop coveting her as you were doing, my friend..." I bring my index finger to my lips and step back thoughtfully towards the table on my right. "In fact, I think you deserve this for being so brave."

I grabbed the briefcase stuffed with cash and handed it to him. He looks at me puzzled and suspicious. The chuckle that Dimitri lets out behind me startles him, but he doesn't let go of the briefcase.

"Open it, I promise there's money inside."

"I don't..."

"Come on, don't be modest." I showed him my best smile. "It's yours. You earned some extra money for negotiating with my fiancée. I'm giving you more than they offered you in exchange for... well, for nothing really. I'm considerate."

"Can I...?" He swallows hard, still doubting. "Can I leave?"

"No," I respond sharply. "I'm offering you money, not your freedom."

"And what am I supposed to do with the money if I can't leave this place?!"

He loses control, his screams are music to my ears and even though he's untied, he doesn't dare touch me. He's in the middle of a panic attack.

I can't believe my sweet fiancée took an interest in such a piece of work.

I lean towards him again, but this time I'm not as gentle as before. I press my index finger into his bruised cheekbone with such force that the bastard screams, curses me, but doesn't move.

"With all that money, you're going to wipe the damn blood you'll shed for betraying my fiancée!" I hissed through clenched teeth, my blood boiling in my veins. "With every damn bill, you'll wipe the blood from the wounds I'll inflict on you. And when you run out, I'll come here to give you more money so you can wipe the blood. I'll make you shed again for betraying her loyalty."

"You're a maniac!" he roars desperately. "You're a damn psychopath! You have me here just because of your w***e!"

I slapped him so hard that he fell backward on the chair. And not satisfied with the slap, I lost my temper. I see red, my pulse races as fast as my heartbeats. The only sounds are my blows, his groans, and his pathetic attempts to defend himself from the fury his insult has unleashed on me.

Who the hell does he think he is? No one is allowed to disrespect my fiancée. I'm the only one who has any rights over her. Me and no one else.

Another blow to his side, and I reached for the briefcase full of money. I wasn't lying when I told him there was a lot inside, that it was his, and that with it, he'd clean the blood he sheds.

I opened the briefcase and let all the money fall over his pathetic body like confetti. I tossed the briefcase aside and stood up, looking down at him with an immense desire to take his life once and for all. But I hold back, because for what I have planned, it's better to leave him alive.

I step back as I remove my gloves. I throw them far from me in disgust, seeing them stained with his blood. I run my hands through my hair, trying to steady my breathing as I watched him lying on the ground, beaten to a pulp by the beating I just gave him.

"I am usually a gentleman..." I finally speak with a restrained voice. "I'm not one to lose my manners so quickly and attack my guests at the first sign of disrespect, but damn it! You've put yourself in my crosshairs, Alex."

I started to take off my shirt because, thanks to the beating, I'd soiled it too.

"It wasn't enough for you to kiss my fiancée. It wasn't enough for you to touch her." I undoed each button with reluctance. "You weren't satisfied with her kisses or your girlfriend's, but you also dared to agree to take her to that place for someone else to take her." I threw the shirt without looking where it lands. "And as if that wasn't enough, you dare to call her a w***e to my face." I crouch down until I'm squatting in front of him.

"And you dare to call me the psychopath?" I let out a harsh laugh. I grabbed one of the hundred-dollar bills and brought it close to his blood-covered face. Without any delicacy, I wiped it across his split lip to clean it and end up shoving the same bill into his mouth. "You’re the real psychopath, because no one in their right mind would betray the loyalty of a woman like Rebecca Reed."

I pull my fingers out when I see he can't take it anymore. He starts to gag, writhing on the floor amidst the scattered bills.

"You're far from my favorite, but she believed you. She trusted you, when you only sold her out for something as common as money. And that, dear Alex, in my world, is paid with blood."

I stood up without taking my eyes off him. He's so beaten that recovering on just bread and water will take him at least a few weeks. But I'm not an ungracious host.

"Bring him what he needs to treat himself tonight. Just tonight," I ordered with my eyes fixed on Artem. "Otherwise, let him continue receiving the same treatment as always until he heals. And when he does—" I slide my gaze at Dimitri ",—you can have your fun."

"Thanks for considering me."

"Don't kill him."

My warning makes him smile.

"Make him bleed sufficiently and then call me. I'll come here and give him more bills to clean all his filthy blood off my floor, because in the end, that's what you wanted, right, Alex?"

I fixed my eyes on him, but it was impossible for him to respond. I think he might have even fainted from my words. Or maybe my beating left him unconscious. The fact is, he’s still alive, and that’s what counts.

He wanted money, so I'll give it to him until he begs me on his knees to shoot him in the forehead to end his agony.

I didn't lie when I accused him of betraying the trust Rebecca placed in him.

Only the devil knows how much restraint I’ve shown for what she did, even knowing she couldn't let herself be touched by anyone else. And even in my own anger, I'm defending her because there's nothing more important to us than loyalty. She gave it to him by letting herself be touched and kissed. By thinking he was a good person, meeting him in the hospital cafeteria, accepting the sappy nonsense he left in her office every morning.

She trusted that bastard, and the scoundrel had a girlfriend and, to top it off, accepted a few miserable bills to take her where the sick children of Wanda and Robert Reed wanted.

Rebecca doesn't love me; she hates me with all her strength. She doesn't trust me, just as I don't trust her. We're nothing more than the settlement of an old debt. There's no loyalty between us to honor beyond the pact that tied her to me, even when she was still in her mother's womb. But she is mine. She's my property. She will be my wife, she'll bear my last name, and if I let anyone mess with her, where do the principles of the Brotherhood and everything I've learned stand?

No one messes with the boss' fiancée without facing the consequences, no matter how much she herself errs.

She'll face the consequences for trusting too easily. I'll personally ensure that.