Dom's Absolution

Ch. 21 - Through The Fire

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"They strike me as the type to
act first then ask for permission later."

- Vincent
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Chapter 21 - Through The Fire

▪️D O M I N I C▪️

Back in the forest, Vincent walked up next to me as the Mexicans drove off.

My second in command had silently watched the exchange, observing every minute detail. His eyes noted everything, no doubt observing the same things I had, from the way José favoured his right leg to the way the Fuentes twins fidgeted in the background.

"I don't trust them," Vincent simply said, while his stoic expression had an edge to it.

"Likewise..." I replied then made a clicking sound with my mouth before saying, "We're going to need to thoroughly check everything they bring into the city. I mean everything from the booze to the girls. José is as ruthless as they come. He desperately wants his drugs in Aelbank City and I don't see him giving up on achieving that."

Huffing slightly, Vincent replied, "I'm more worried about the twins. They strike me as the type to act first then ask for permission later. Especially if they think their actions will please their boss."

I knew that Vincent had paid particular attention to them, noting everything about their physical appearance, from their dark brown eyes to the way they sported identical short-textured, cropped, and skin-faded hairstyles. Their jaws were void of facial hair, allowing for the scars on their faces to be blatantly seen.

It was obvious to see that they wore their mutilations with pride. The look in their eyes told me that they were nothing more than rabid dogs being held back by a leash.

"I picked up on their edginess as well. They don't like me. I can tell, they had the same look in their eyes that the priests used to give me back when we were younger," I said with a hint of revulsion.

Moving to stand even closer to me, I could feel the tenseness in Vincent's body. He was no doubt briefly reminiscing back to when we had been roommates at a boarding school that doubled as an institution for disturbed children. It had been a place that we both had called home for five years, until we had managed to escape.

"Well, if things do take a turn for the worst, you'll just have to handle the twins the way you handled those priests," Vincent uttered in a hushed tone.

A small smirk formed on my lips as my breathing hitched slightly. My pupils dilated as I vividly remembered how they yelled and cried as the fire melted the skin off of their bones.

The murky memories of my past slowly crept in as my jaw ticked.

'The pain that had shot through my body caused me to scream out in agony. No matter how many times I had gone through this, the first lash always caught me off-guard.

As always, the pain came with cumulative breakers, the brief calms giving false hope of an end. Each peak would steal my voice, causing me to thrash against my restraints, my young body sweating and trembling.

"This is for your own good!" the stocky priest yelled as he put down the whip to administer another injection.

I had lost track of how many days I had been strapped to the hospital bed this time. Unfortunately for me, I had always been different from the other children. A little too different, according to my strict Italian parents.

As a result, at the age of seven, they had shipped me off to a boarding school that doubled as a rehabilitation centre for disturbed youth. The establishment turned out to be nothing more than a place of destruction.