TORTURE ME_ The Bandits MC(153)

Dimitri poked his head back in the room with a sad look on his face.



“I’ve got some bad news, Dr. Danvers,” he said, closing the door and pulling up a crate to sit on.



“What is it, Dimitri?” I rolled my eyes as a knee-jerk reaction, not realizing until it was over that I’d even done it right in front of him.



“It’s about your boyfriend, Gage,” he said.



My heart sank into my stomach. No, no, no, I screamed in my head.



“It seems he might not be coming to save you after all. Ivan just told me he ordered one of his tactical teams to attack the Kings of Hell HQ. If we see Gage again, it will be as one of our prisoners, like you! That means, of course, you’ll get to watch him die,” he explained with glee. “Isn’t that exciting, Dr. Danvers?”



I stared at him with teary eyes. “Exciting isn’t the word I would use, Dimitri,” I said flatly, fighting back my tears.



“Don’t cry, Dr. Danvers,” he continued, mocking me. “I thought you’d be happy to see us put an end to that crook after he lied to you the way he did. I figured you would want to see him suffer for how much he hurt your friend Dimitri.”



“We aren’t friends,” I snapped.



He gave me a mock frown. “But I thought you cared for your friend, Dr. Danvers.”



I looked down at the floor and shook my head. There was no need to argue with him. He was enjoying playing with me too much. He laughed when I looked away.



“From the moment I saw you, I knew I could trick you into helping me,” he said. “I just didn’t know how long it would take to convince you to do it.”



Great! So now I’m naïve and gullible, and it’s obvious, I thought, clenching my jaw, biting my tongue.



Dimitri continued. “I didn’t count on getting help from Gage, but he really seemed to rise to the occasion for me. He couldn’t do right by you if he tried.”



I tried to tune him out, tried to focus on the floor or the rope digging into my ankle to distract myself from him. I knew he was just trying to get a rise out of me. I couldn’t let him succeed. I couldn’t react or respond.



“I guess you probably expected him to come to rescue you, huh?” He leaned forward and put a thick finger under my chin. He lifted my face so that I looked into his eyes.



I tried to stare at him blankly, but I felt my face contorting in anger.



“You did, didn’t you? You really thought that heartless bastard cared about you. Listen to me. Gage doesn’t care about anyone but himself. The sooner you learn that, the better.” He chuckled. “I guess you’re learning that now, huh?” He shook his head in pity.



“It’s not over yet,” I told him. “Don’t count him out just yet.” I narrowed my eyes at the Russian. I still had faith in Gage. I couldn’t explain why. Dimitri had been right about him lying to me and screwing up every time he turned around, but there was something genuine in Gage. There was a connection between us that really felt sincere. When all was said and done, I felt like Gage really did care.



“Remember the story I told you about his ex-girlfriend?” Dimitri asked.



“I remember.”



“This is how she died. She died because he allowed her to get mixed up in his business. She died to save him in a conflict just like what’s happening right now.” His voice dripped with a perverse pleasure, as if he was getting turned on by rubbing the other woman’s death in my face.



“You told me Gage killed her.”



“He did. He put her in harm’s way, and he gave her up so that he could escape,” he insisted.



“But you also said you weren’t there. You didn’t see it happen.” I wanted to push him a little and see if his little tale stood up to any kind of scrutiny.



“I didn’t see it happen, but everyone knew about it as soon as it happened. It got him quite the ruthless reputation. Unfortunately for him, Ivan doesn’t care about his reputation. Ivan is stronger. He hires stronger men.” Pride crept into his voice, and he stuck his chest out proudly as he talked.



“So, you’re one of these stronger men?” I mocked him. “You got taken down by two guys who are tiny next to you. I’ve seen Chase and Juarez. They aren’t remarkable, but they were able to take you captive and tie you up in the basement of their motorcycle club’s headquarters. You certainly didn’t seem too strong then.”



He gripped my face in his hand. It felt like he was going to crush my jaw and my cheeks. He moved his face so close that I could taste his breath.