Prelude
PRELUDE
EDOUARD
R evenge.
The word comes from the Old French revenger , from the Late Latin revindicāre , meaning "to protect," "to avenge," or "to punish."
Punishment.
It's never been this tangible, its flavour so sweet, even months before the actual killing took place. Before I hunted the old priest through the house of God and carved him up, slitting his throat and stealing his gold. The gold that I absolutely didn't need, but that found its own, unique purpose later on in life. A small chunk of it transformed into a tooth, the rest into beautiful cuffs to hold him there where I wanted, mon petit amour .
That Ascencion morning, Father Beno?t made a string of mistakes, starting with him being in the wrong place at the wrong time, namely outside the church way before we were supposed to start preparing for service. But what really brought my blood to boiling temperature, was the way he had looked at my boy, who sat kneeling front of me, with my cock fucking his mouth. His perfect suction brought me to climax within no time, my stare right back at Father Beno?t. The way he'd grinned…
Mistake .
Later, when service had started, and we, altar servers, were all lined up, Father Beno?t made the worst error of his life.
Retribution.
He had made my pet stand in front of the altar and apologize to God and all the altar boys for his sins. But…Father Beno?t punished the wrong kid. This was Romain Lefèbvre.
My Romain.
And we went back, him and I. We went back a long time, ever since Dad had exchanged his freedom for his mother's debts. We went back even before that.
Although we came from the same town, we couldn't have been more different. Romain lived in an impoverished trailer park by the edge of town with Blanche, his mother, the local junkie who did all sorts of work for us in an attempt to pay back the debt she created with us. I was the eldest son of the Beaumont family, and we owned the place. The town, the region, the entire country. We run the most solid high-end drugs transport business and provide a variety of secondary services, including killers for hire. We work with the most privileged families of our country, the self-proclaimed Gods, which is why we go to church every week. Gotta keep connected to the other Gods, right?
No, aside from both being altar boys and attending the same high school, Romain and I had nothing in common. But that changed on that sunny day, two years before Father Beno?t, or should I say, the late Father Beno?t, punished Romain for his actions.
You see, on that sunny day, those years earlier, Romain came ringing on our door, an innocent, sixteen year old fool. Messy dark hair and thickly lashed eyes. Ratty clothes that looked to be second hand. Filthy sneakers his mom probably found him in the trash. An apologetic, polite smile on that serious face. A voice sweet and soft that sounded like music to my ears as he profusely apologised for the lack of money.
They could pay it back next week, he said. Manuel Perrera, my father's right hand, pretended to contemplate his decision with a smirk. One look my way and I knew what he thought: this was going to be fun.
"I already have some money. I clean cars in my free time." Romain tore on the velcro of his cheap as fuck wallet and looked inside. "Here's twenty euros."
"Twenty euros?" Manuel huffed, but I beat him to any further comments.
"Do you know how much money your mother needs for her drink every week?" When he heard my question, Romain's gaze finally shifted to mine, eyes widening as if he only just saw me leaning there, a coffee in one hand, a cigarette in the other. When he blushed, I felt like the king in the world.
"Oh, h-hi Edouard," he stammered, shrugging. "T-twenty euros?" He blinked, and I realized I'd never looked at him longer than two seconds. He wasn't the sort of kid I hung out with for obvious reasons. Though there was something fragile about his appearance, his behaviour was fierce, a little bold even. Showing up like that at our mansion—not many people would do that uninvited. And yes…my dick filled inside my pants, a most confusing reaction that both amused and annoyed me.
Next to me, Manuel snickered. "Add a zero at the end, boy."
Romain gasped and stared down to look at the useless twenty-euro bill. His hand was trembling, and fuck me…it unleashed something in the pit of my stomach. Something dark and nasty that probably should have stayed hidden. "I—" Romain licked his lips, wide eyes darting as he was clearly searching for something else to say to change the outcome of this already awkward situation. And yet…it was about to get a lot worse for him.
"You fucking pigs!" Romain's mother, who had stayed behind her son until that moment, cried out, her slurred insult attracting my father's attention.
He peeked his head around the corner of the kitchen, where he'd been drinking coffee. " Putain, Blanche, qu'est-ce que tu veux alors ?" He snarled, to which Romain, beautiful, pure Romain, threw his hands up in the air. It was that defeat he radiated in that very moment, that woke up something dark inside the pit of my stomach. Something that slowly unfurled, like a giant beast, that was ravenous for Roman's helplessness. His dispair.
"Nothing! We want nothing." Romain said. "We just want to pay back the money we owe you."
"The money that you owe me?" Dad got up from his chair, left the kitchen with his mug in hand as he trailed toward us. "That you owe me ?" He repeated, the smile wiped off his face as he glared at the ratty kid who stared back, puffing up his chest in an attempt to shield his mom. Dad slapped Manuel on his back and sniggered. "You heard that? Paying back everything Blanche owns us. She owns us more than you will see during your entire life, kid."
"More than your entire life is worth." Manuel added, and they both laughed. Blowing out the last puff of my smoke, I flicked the cigarette in the giant ashtray that stood by the door and kicked myself off the wall.
This was going to be interesting.
"Sir," Romain added after a slight hesitation. He cleared his throat. "I think?—"
"Oh, you think?" Dad laughed and looked my way. "I think you are a fool for coming here in the first place, although we would have found you eventually. What do you think, son?"
Licking my lips, I looked back at Romain. Fuck…he blushed again as soon as our eyes met. His gaze was serious, pleading even, but his lips were fiercely pressed together in a stubborn gesture. "I have to agree with my father. You don't even seem to have enough money to buy yourself decent clothing, let alone pay us back all the money your mother owns us."
I hit the bulls eye, it seemed. Romain slinked back, his blush deepening with shame. It sharpened the tingles I felt inside. I wanted to strike again, just to see how he'd react. I wanted to see how far I could go. "As for those who can't afford to pay us back…" I cocked my head, holding his gaze as I fed him with another lie. "It would be interesting to see how long the dogs would play with you before your body gives out."
Romain paled. "D-dogs?"
From the corner of my eye, I saw Dad watching. I saw Manuel watching. I couldn't get myself to care. I was led by tingles, by my hardening cock. By Romain's thickly-lashed eyes and that pleading look. Suddenly, I wanted him on his knees. I wanted him to beg. The feeling was so overpowering that it took my breath away.
"Oh yes," I nodded. "We send our dogs out to punish those who don't pay their debts."
"But I want to pay!" Romain sounded desperate.
I let out a mocked chuckle. "With twenty euros? That's not going to do the trick, and you know it."
"I can get you more next week." He panted now, the earlier blush replaced by whitened flesh. It gave his innocent features an angelic glow that I wanted to corrupt.
Clicking my tongue, I looked at Dad who had an amused look on his face, laced with a hint of surprise, though played along per usual. He tipped his chin toward Romain. "No can do, boy, you'll need to come up with a better solution."
"A solution?" Romain spluttered. He looked full-on bewildered, the euro bill trembling heavily in his unstable grip. This meeting clearly wasn't going the way he'd imagined.
"Hmm, another solution," I purred. My cock throbbed in my pants, mind reeling with the sudden list of endless possibilities.
"We've had enough of this. Allez, Romain, on-y-va ." Blanche grabbed her son by the arm and started pulling, but a single nod from Dad was enough for one of our bodyguards to come up and throw the front door shut before they could leave through it.
Romain swung around in panic and his lips trembled. "What other solution?" He finally asked.
"Aah." I took a step forward, loving how he took one back, bumping into his mother. "Now that's the question, isn't it? But not to worry." I grinned, and he winced. "I can think of a few things."