Chapter 23

CHAPTER 23

MINA

"Are you going to make me close my eyes?" I asked.

They hadn't suggested blindfolding me, but Damon and Gianni looked cagey as fuck. Even Reuben was watching me for my reaction as they led me down the stairs to the basement.

After a long night, we all got a few hours of sleep. Fitful and full of dreams, but much-needed sleep.

"You could," Gianni said. "You trust us not to let you fall or walk into anything, right?"

"Of course I do," I said. "I'm just curious what's going on. You didn't kill him yet, did you?"

"Absolutely not," Gianni said. "We wouldn't kill him without you knowing about it. No, we've gone to great lengths to ensure he enjoys his time with us for as long as we want him to. And when I say enjoy, I mean… Why don't we show you?"

Gianni stood behind me and placed his hands on my shoulders.

Damon nodded at me to close my eyes, and put his hand on the door handle.

I exhaled playfully, as though annoyed with them, but closed my eyes and let Gianni steer me forward, one step at a time.

The first thing I noticed was the tang of blood, mingled with sweat. The rattle of something all-too-familiar. A soft, pained groan.

"Okay, open your eyes," Damon said.

I hesitated for a moment, before opening them and staring at the sight in front of me.

On the floor, in the corner of the basement was a cage. It was big enough to fit a large dog, but not big enough to comfortably fit a large human.

Kurt was hunched up inside, both ankles circled with manacles attached to chains on the wall behind the cage. His hands were free, gripping the bars of the cage as he stared at us.

"Surprise," Damon said blandly. "I figured he could use a taste of his own, sour medicine."

"You did this?" I looked up at him.

"It's been in the works for a while." He shrugged. "But yes, I did this."

I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss. "I love you. This is the perfect surprise. You knew exactly what I wanted, when I didn't."

It hadn't occurred to me to do to Kurt what he did to me. Although, in retrospect, it should have. He deserved exactly this.

"Damon is so thoughtful," Gianni enthused. "I have to admit, I was just thinking chains. The cage is…" He mimed a chef’s kiss.

"It was inspired," Reuben agreed. "We should have had one of these down here already."

"No one else has quite fitted one as well as he does," Damon said modestly. "I'd suggest it's because he's a dog, but that would be an insult to dogs."

"It certainly would." I stepped closer to the cage. So, this was how it felt to look at someone the same way he looked at me for so long. He looked sad and pathetic. Scared, but still with a hint of defiance. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, he was still convinced he was in the right. That maybe I came to let him out and we could live our lives together.

He must have been out of his fucking mind.

"Mina," he said softly. "I was hoping you'd come to me. I know you missed me as much as I missed you. You and I, we belong together."

I crouched down in front of him. "You must be delusional. You have been for a long time. I'm sorry you never got the help you clearly needed. If you had, we might not be here now."

"You can help me to get help," he said. "I can get better and we can be together."

They were just words, he seriously didn't think anything was wrong with him. He didn't seem to grasp the concept of what he did to me was fucked up. Had Terry hit him so hard he'd broken something in his brain? He was always a little unhinged, but this was new, even for him.

"I don't want to be with you, Kurt," I said bluntly. "I never have. That was why you had to cage me, remember?"

He frowned. "Cage you? I would never do that to you, Mina. I love you." He reached his hand out towards me.

I shifted away and glanced back at my guys. They all looked as doubtful as I felt.

I turned back to Kurt. "What was the last thing you remember?"

He looked even more confused. "I remember… We practised this morning. You're getting so good at throwing me over your shoulder." He actually looked proud. "Then we went to… You had a job. I waited outside. I shouldn't have been there, I know that. I just like watching you sneak in and sneak back out. You're incredible to watch. Oh, I was thinking about this the other day. I think Fiori is the perfect name for you."

I stood and stepped away, my blood cold. "I remember that conversation. My father was trying to encourage me to choose something else." I shook my head as I thought back. "Fiori. It's Italian for flower. My mother was obsessed with flowers."

"Right," Kurt said. "Fiori. But he didn't like it. He said it was the name of a car."

"It was," I said. "A Subaru. He didn't want me to have the same name as a car." This whole conversation was surreal. I hadn't thought about any of this for years. At least seven or eight.

Kurt chuckled. "I'm sorry I teased you about that. You're right, flower would be perfect. You always were a beautiful flower." He cocked his head at me.

I swallowed down the small breakfast I'd managed to eat before the guys brought me down here. I glanced at them again. I didn't know what to think. In his mind, it was like the last few years never happened. Like he never laid a hand on me.

"What are they doing here?" Kurt asked. "Why am I in this cage?" He kicked his feet, rattling the chains. "Is this some kind of prank your brothers are pulling on me? No offence, but it's not funny." He was starting to become agitated.

"It's not a prank," I said quietly. "You held me in a cage for five years. Just like this one."

"I would never—" he started.

"You raped me. So many times I lost count." I leaned back against Reuben as he stood behind me, his hands on my upper arms.

Kurt's eyes widened. "Mina! I would never do that to you. I know it's going to take some time for you to turn to me, but you will. When you do, you'll willingly give yourself to me. Why would I force myself on you?"

He looked horrified. Not as horrified as I felt. Those moments ran over and over in my head on repeat, hard as I tried to ignore them and push them away. I could still feel him on top of me, pinning me down, pushing himself into me. Thrusting.

I swallowed hard. "It was what you did. You even had one of your friends video you raping me. I saw it. They saw it." I jerked my head towards my guys.

"Yes, we did," Damon said coldly.

Kurt gaped before sinking back to the back of the cage. "I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't do that." He said it over and over at least a dozen times, while shaking his head.

"What the fuck do we do now?" Gianni asked. "He's still the same asshole."

My tongue swept over my bottom lip. He was, but at the same time, he wasn't. Terry must have hit him extremely hard.

In Kurt's mind, he hadn't harmed a hair on my head. Maybe, like this, he was harmless. Defenceless. Could we actually kill him like this? If we didn't, then I had no idea what we'd do with him.

"You could let me out of here," Kurt said pitifully. "Whatever I did, I'll make it up to you. I swear. Whatever you need me to do, I'll do it. If you think I need help, I'll get help. Just please…" He crawled back to the front of the cage and gripped the bars again.

"Please, let me out of here." He looked like he was going to burst into tears.

Something I'd never seen him do. Something I never would have thought he was capable of.

Reuben stepped forward, crouched down right in front of Kurt. "No," he said simply. There was an air of absolute finality in his tone. It didn't matter what I said, Reuben was absolutely not letting him walk away. Never.

Kurt's expression changed like a switch was flipped. He snarled at Reuben and tried to take a swing at him. He couldn't reach through the bars, Reuben was just out of reach.

"Reuben motherfucking Brantley," Kurt growled. "You think you're so fucking better than everyone else. You and your asshole sidekicks and your slut." He glared at me, teeth bared.

"It was all an act," I said softly.

Of course it was, he'd always been a good actor. He must have figured this was his only chance. If he appealed to my humanity, maybe, just maybe, I'd go soft on him. At least I had some humanity left. He had none, not even a tiny bit.

The grin he gave me was brutal and nasty. "You almost bought it, stupid bitch." He raised his voice to a high-pitch. "Mina, Mina, I never touched a hair on your fucking body. I sweeear."

He closed his mouth and smirked. "You would have let me out, wouldn't you? You would have let me walk out of here. I would have come straight back for you. You would have been the one in the cage again. Like the stupid bitch you are. Fucking slut. You spread your legs for the first man that came along. Didn't you? Didn't you? "

"At least we know what to do next," Gianni said. "Let's see how long he lasts in that cage. I'll tell Terry to save some scraps to feed him every few days. Maybe some water here or there. What about some country music thrown in for shits and giggles?"

Kurt jerked his legs against the chains. "Fuck off. Get it over with and kill me. You know you all want to."

He lifted his chin, as though daring me to grab another length of chain and wrap it around his throat. Tempting, but that would be far too easy.

"All the more reason to leave you alive," I said. "Because you want to die, just like I did. And it gives us something else to look forward to, when we get bored."

I yawned playfully, my hand in front of my mouth. It was past time I had some fun with this asshole. He'd had the upper hand for long enough. Now it was my turn.

"Fucking bitch!" he snarled.

"Sticks and stones, Kurt," I said. "Sticks and stones." I turned around to leave, but then turned back. "Gianni, do you think Terry will let me borrow his blowtorch later? I have a favour to repay."

Kurt glanced down at his chest and shook his head. He started to plead and went on pleading as we left the basement, closing the door behind us.