Midnight Whispers (ONGOING)

He's Like Art. Terrible Art, But Still, Art.

The Phantom

I enter the hotel room. It's dark in here, but not enough to not see the kid in the chair in front of me.
'Pl- please,'
'Shh, let's not make your stay here difficult.' I reply curtly as I focus on his beaten-up face.

After I dropped Vivi off at her house, I returned after 15 minutes to check in on her again. I told Silas to come back to the hotel with the boys to make sure my men brought Max without facing any problems. I had already revealed my identity to the owner of this hotel. I wasn't surprised when he offered me to stay here as long as I wanted without paying for all the nights we stay.

I wear my leather glove on my right hand and examine his face.
'Has he given you any information on where Cassius is hiding yet?' I ask Silas and Leo.

'Not yet. Just that he and his wife are in Arizona on a 'business trip.'' Replies Silas.

'Luca and I ran some research to try to figure out where they possibly could go to, but unfortunately no proper results were achieved with the lack of information on his side,' he looks at Max for a brief second, and then back at me. 'Guess we're gonna do this the hard way.'

I sigh. He's right.
I look at Max and scan his ghostly white face. 'Okay Max, I'm going to ask you this once, so let's just get it over with, shall we?' He's shivering like crazy right now. 'Where exactly are your parents in Arizona?'

'I told you, I don't know where they are exactly!'

'Wrong answer,' I cut in.

'Why are you so obsessed with them anyway? They're useless to be honest,'

'Yes, you're right. They are quite useless people, but you see, he killed someone who was very dear to me. And I need you to help me out here.' He looks at me confusingly for almost 3 minutes and 23 seconds before he yells,

'Okay what the hell? My dad would NEVER kill someone unless they call for it-'

'Stop toying around and tell me where the hell your father is,' I stare into his eyes without breaking eye contact until he does so. I hold my hand out to Xaden, and he places the already bloodied knife in my hand. 'Or else I'll start with your tongue, your choice.' I smile. He gulps, not taking his eyes off me. Good.

'Okay I'm gonna be brutally honest with you. My parents don't share this stuff with me because they still think I'm still too young to get involved-"

'Wrong. Answer.' I cut in, again.

'What do you want me to say man! That's all I know,' I place my free hand on his neck and squeeze until his face turns crimson red with pressure. 'You've reached your limit on talking young man.' I take the blade in my left hand and order Xaden to force his mouth open and pull his tongue out. I would say Max sounds pretty hideous when he's screaming like this. Not charming at all.

'NO! PLEASE-' In a flash I have his tongue in my hand. I get up and back away slightly, so his blood doesn't ruin my expensive suit. His agonizing screams fill the air. It won't be a problem though, I had told Josh, the manager of this hotel, to give us a room separate than the others. Which means our room has soundproof walls. Our elevators are separate than the other elevators in this hotel. If someone wants to get in here, they have to get a custom-made card to be allowed inside and no one except my men and I, have that card.
Austen has his back to us. He's currently wearing his headphones because apparently blood makes him squeamish. Silas grabs a towel and shoves it into Max's mouth to stop the blood flow.

'Dial up his number,' I order Zion over the heart wrenching screams of Max. He hands me the phone and I move to a quieter area of the room.

'Hello?' Cassius speaks over the speaker.