Debt To The Mafia King

Chapter 13

Pumping away on the cycling machine, my eyes were focused on the mirror in front of me. I stared at myself and watched the drips of sweat run down the side of my face. It is the next day and I have been in here for an hour now with my earphones in and my music blaring because I wanted to exclude myself from the drama upstairs. I didn’t think that Michele had killed Ezio because of how much he wanted him to suffer. He wouldn’t have ended his life that quickly, especially when he is a key asset to Rickie. He knows more about Rickie’s intentions than all of us put together. 

The machine beeped, letting me know I had ridden a certain amount of miles and I slowed down. I took the bottle of water from the floor and guzzled it down. I wiped my brow and slid off of the seat. The stench of sweat hummed from my skin so I headed back into the house so that I could shower in my room. When I walked past the kitchen I heard Michele’s voice echoing through to the main foyer. I walked a bit slower to hear what he was saying once I heard him mention Ezio’s name.

“He will tell me where Matteo is, I will beat it out of him if I have to”

“You’ve already tried that fratello, I don’t think he’s going to tell you” Nico replied. 

“It depends how hard I hit him. I’ve been going easy on him so far”. I started to walk up the stairs quietly.

“Anyway, I have to go and meet Lorenzo this evening. I don’t know how late it will be when I come back so I need you to keep an eye on Amelia and make sure that nothing else happens to her whilst I’m gone” he instructed. 

“Of course” Nico replied. 

It’s now 7:24pm and Michele has just left the house. It’s pretty quiet at the moment because all of the guys are either in the kitchen or the dining room eating their dinner. This was my one chance to sneak to the outhouse and find out what Ezio wanted to talk to me about. Hopefully he will still tell me and not refuse because of yesterday. 

I walked into the kitchen where all of the guys were and grabbed a donut from the box on the side. The guys watched me as I did and Nico stood from his seat.

“You not joining us for dinner Amelia?” He asked and I shook my head.

“I’m not overly hungry, I’m just going to eat this in my room and keep studying for our training session tomorrow” I smiled.

“Okay, but we are in the pool room tomorrow” he informed me and I nodded back. 

I walked towards the back door and looked around one last time to see if the coast was clear before heading out to the garden. I took the path round to the left side and entered the outhouse. All of the guys were inside stuffing their faces so this was the only time I was going to get past the front door without being seen. 

I walked down to the metal doors at the bottom and pushed opened the door leading to Michele’s torture room. I gasped when I saw the state of Ezio. He was hanging from the chains inside the cell that were connected to the wall. He was sitting down on the floor with each of his arms chained separately. The way his hair was scruffed up proved he had been manhandled and his clothes were ripped and bloody. His shoes and socks were missing showing the black dirt on the bottom of his feet. 

“Ezio” I said in a hushed tone. 

I headed over to the table and grabbed the set of keys that Michele left to tease him with. If Ezio could see his freedom just out of reach then it will drive him mad; it’s cruel really. I walked over to him and knelt down in front. I tilted his head up and paused, gasping as I assessed his wounds. He had a swollen eye and cuts all over his arms and face. When I looked down at his ripped, bloody shirt, I saw a large gash down his chest which was still bleeding. 

I know that what he did to me in the past was horrific and perverted, but he never let anyone hurt me to this extent. He went to war with Camille, his own wife, because of what she did to me. I can’t forgive his punishments, but didn’t deserve this. He was a mess and the man I love did this to him. I unlocked his arms from the wall and he collapsed onto the concrete. 

“Stay there” I ordered and locked the cell door so that he couldn’t run away and get into more trouble. 

I rushed into the morgue next door and rummaged around in the draws for some medical supplies. There wasn’t a lot because every human hat was brought into this room was already dead and there was no need for first aid. I grabbed a few gauzes and found a sneaky bottle of whiskey that was hidden at the back of one of cupboards. This was going to have to do for now until I can bring some stuff down to him.

I hurried back into the room and unlocked the cell, locking it back up behind me. I sat down next to Ezio and placed his head onto my lap. I handed him the donut and ordered him to eat it. He has clearly been starved since this morning and I wanted to make sure his sugar level wasn’t too low. He looked up at me after taking a bite and groaned in pain when I wiped his cuts clean with a gauze which had been dabbed in alcohol.

“I wasn’t thinking Ezio, I was scared. You caught me off guard and I thought you were there to take me back” I explained. 

“I wanted... to talk” he grizzled in pain. 

“About what?” I asked but he didn’t respond, he just bit into the donut. 

“Please Ezio, tell me. You wouldn’t have made yourself that vulnerable to talk if it wasn’t important” I encouraged. 

He looked up at me and started to cough as a result of the injuries caused to his lungs. By the sounds of his cough, Michele has beaten his body badly, enough to make it difficult for him to speak. I waited for him to finish coughing and then grabbed the bottom of his shirt and pulled it up slowly. The state of his torso was a horrific sight. There were cuts everywhere and bruises were already starting to form. I was ashamed of Michele for inflicting this much pain onto him. I get that he hates him and wants him to pay for what he did to me but this was over the top. 

“Bite down on this” I said placing the fabric of his shirt into his mouth. 

I focused on the larger wound first and picked up the bottle of alcohol. His breathing turned heavy as he prepared himself for the shock of excruciating pain. I looked down at him with apologetic eyes and then poured the liquid into his open wound. He screamed through the cloth and tensed his entire body, trying to stay as still as possible; he continued to cry out until I stopped. I let him breathe for a moment before pressed a gauze down on his stomach to try and stop the bleeding. He growled at the pressure and then relaxed slightly once he got used to it. After he had finished screaming, I removed the cloth and he breathed deeply.

“Why are you helping me?” He grumbled. I didn’t make eye contact with him, instead I just continued to focus on his wounds and sighed. 

“Because Michele has taken this too far, no one deserves to be put in the state you’re in, even if you have done worse the guys in this house” I reminded him. I didn’t think he was going to respond, but he turned my head using a shaky hand and forced a smile.

“Thank you” he whispered.