The Heir's Little Badass

48: IT HASN'T BEEN A PLEASURE

A hard slap wakes me up and I groan loudly.

“Wakey wakey sweetheart”

I blink groggily and look up through blurred vision at the man standing in front of me, “ugh, I knew there wasn’t something quite right with that other man”

Andrea—the real one—smirks down at me before standing and rising to his full 6’4 height. He crosses his arms and his no doubt expensive white suit crinkles a little. “I can’t believe that’s who you sent to play you” I shake my head, stopping when the dizziness worsens. I make to push my hair out of my face but thick, coarse ropes keep me firmly in place.

“How long till the effects wear off?”

He shrugs, “not long, don’t worry sweetheart, I intend to have you wide awake for what I have planned”

I smile up at him, “thank you, sweetheart”

He scoffs before uncrossing his arms, “where are Caterina and the children?”

I shrug, “I thought shit would go down there so I had them removed”

He scoffed, “yet you left all my precious documents and money? You really are not good at this”

I shrug in reply.

He smirks, “whoever you’re waiting for, won’t come”

“Oh yeah?” I look up at him, “why is that?”

“Your phone and clothes were left at the house, whatever tracker or bug or whatever you had on you is gone”

I look down and notice that my jeans and t-shirt are gone, replaced with cotton shorts and a vest and my feet are clad in only white socks. “I thought I felt airier”

He cocks his head and one dark lock falls forward. A smirk spreads over his handsome face and I can’t help thinking that Luca looks exactly like him.

I survey the room we’re in and notice there are no windows and only one entrance. “Cool place” I comment.

“You like it?” he asks, “its sound proof so no one will hear your embarrassing screams of agony”

“Ooh, torture” I grin up at him, my vision beginning to clear considerably, “can’t wait”

His smirk tightens and I can tell my smug attitude is beginning to really irritate him. “You know what? Neither can I”

He pushes off from the table he’s been leaning on and I see the array of delightfully sharp tools and needles. I let my eyes widen with glee and his hands ball into tight fists.

“Before we begin, the soundproofing, it works both ways?”

He frowns, “yes”

I shake my head, “first mistake, sweetheart. You really shouldn’t be that over confident”

He rolls his eyes and picks up a scalpel, “shall we begin?”

He steps towards me and grabs a fistful of my hair in his hand and tugs viciously, he leans close to me, “you look so much like Carly, I wonder, do you scream like her?” at the mention of my mother’s name, I throw my head forward and smirk when it makes contact with his nose.

He groans and graces me with another slap, “another thing I wonder” he grits out, wiping the blood under his nose with a white sleeve, “how many finger nails will it take to get that scream out?”

“Before you start, can I just say one last thing?”

“What?”

“You really shouldn’t surround yourself with people that hate you so much, they’re willing to sell you out on the promise of your death”