DIE LIKE A HERO

DIE LIKE A HERO


Silvio's POV

I Was Extremely Pissed

The moment Nicholas dipped my feet in the water bucket, I already knew what was in store for me. I could see it in his eyes—the glint of madness, the thrill of having me exactly where he wanted me to be. Tied to the steel chair again, dripping in sweat and blood, my muscles groaned at every little movement I made. The metallic scent of blood mixing with the acrid ozone of the nearby power device curled my stomach.

"You know," Nicholas spat, backing away to rub his chin as he tightened the electrodes on the bucket, "you always treated me like dirt. As if I weren't good enough to carry on the family tradition. Well, how about now, big cousin? Still the better man?"

He threw a switch.

Fire. White, burning fire.

Electricity surged up from the water through my legs, coursing through each nerve ending with unmerciful precision. My back arched, my muscles convulsed in paroxysms. I screamed, my voice torn from my throat like something feral. But I wasn't screaming for me.

I could hear her.

Martina.

Her screams. Her pain. Her begging. It was too much.

"STOP HURTING HER!" I shouted, throat raspy and desperate, straining against the ropes that dug into my wrists. My ankles ached where rope rubbed raw flesh. Blood spilled from the corner of my mouth, but I did not care.

"Nicholas, I swear to God—I swear—I'll kill you with my bare hands if you touch her again!"

He laughed.

Drunk with his own tainted authority, Nicholas dipped his fingers in the well of my pain, savoring every jolt of pain. The harder I screamed, the harder he laughed. He didn't care that Martina was trembling on the edge of the room, a broken hovel of blood and tears. He didn't care that she was pregnant—or had been.

And that thought? That one thing? That I had lost our second child?

That had something inside me break.

She had shared the news of the pregnancy the previous evening that accursed meeting. Her eyes shone with joy, fear, and hope all at the same time. I could recall putting a hand on her stomach, still flat and smooth, and vowing her that things would be different this time. That we would be happy. That nothing would ever befall this baby.

Now, here she was.

Spewing blood.

Splitting and shaking lips.

Her bleeding, trembling hands emerged to take hold of me. She whispered, hardly hearing her above the humming electricity of hurt.

"Please… please don't leave him alone with me. Please…"

Nicholas growled. "Oh, shut her up."

I lost control.

With a growling snarl, I bucked against the ropes. I don't know why, I don't know how part of me found the strength—but I ripped free. It wasn't pretty, the ropes dug deeper into my skin, tearing flesh as I fought against them. Blood dripped down my arms, but I didn't notice.

Two of Nicholas' guards jumped me.

I headbutted the first, and I could feel the crunching of his nose against my skull. The second got punched so brutally in the throat that he was stumbling backwards, gasping.

I did not slacken.

I was wild.

I elbowed one guy in the jaw, turned and struck someone in the stomach with my knee. Fists were flying, bones were cracking. I was unarmed. I did not have to be. I fought like a lunatic.

Like a man who had lost everything to lose.

"GET HIM DOWN!" Nicholas screamed, frantic now.

They swarmed me, six or seven men at once. I kicked, bit, scratched, punched—but it was too much. They overcame me. One pushed the butt of a gun into my ribcage. Another pushed a knee into my ribcage. I went down to one knee, spitting blood.

"Let me go! LET ME GO!" I shouted again, eyes blazing, reaching out towards Martina. "Let her go! She didn't do anything! Let her LIVE!"

They shoved me back in the chair, slamming me down. Blood flowed down my chest, from a gash above the eye. My knuckles were torn open. My breathing came in gulping gasps.

But I never dropped my eyes from hers. Instead, I just kept yelling, for what seemed like an eternity.

She was looking at me. Her lips quivering. I could see her trying to drag herself closer, every motion a labored and agonizing one.

"S-Silvio…"

God, what did I get her into?

God, I shouldn't have gone to that meeting.

She told me not to.

She begged me not to.

But I went anyway. I thought I could fix it. I thought if I did it like a man, we'd finally be able to get along.

And now. I was there and watching my wife die on me.

"You want to be a hero, is that it?" Nicholas snarled, his face red with anger. He had his men hold me down. "Then die like one."

He brought in another bucket.

And an electric ring.

He dipped my feet again. I was too exhausted to fight now. My body trembled, shuddering violently.

He turned the dial.

Five watts.

Ten watts.

Fifteen.

"No!" Martina screamed. "Please! STOP!"

He cranked the dial to twenty.

Every nerve in my body screamed. I felt like my insides were being turned over. My eyes watered, my ears roared. My heart would burst. My body trembled.

Another shock like that, and I was dead.

I was going to die.

Martina was going to be alone.

I had failed.

I had failed Rosetta. I had promised to protect her, to heal her. I had promised she would not have to suffer. But she died. And I watched. Just as I watched Sofia float onto the sand, blue and motionless.

I had failed them all.

I could not fail Martina.

God, no, not her.

Then the door slammed open.

There was one resounding crash inside. The lock shattered, wood splinters everywhere. Everyone turned.

Leonardo.

He stormed in, gun raised.

And before anyone could move, he shot.

Selena.

She dropped like a rag doll, a small neat hole in the center of her forehead.

"NO!" Nicholas roared. His voice was a shriek of anger and grief.

Nicholas whirled around, incensed. "You little shithead!"

Leonardo aimed at him, hard and unflinching. His face was granite, eyes burning with pure hatred.

"Push another bloody button, and I'll blow your head off."

The guards hesitated.

Guns up.

Standoff.

"Drop them," Nicholas ordered, slowly lifting a hand. "Put your guns down. Do it."

The men hesitated.

Leonardo didn't.

He shot Nicholas in the leg.

Nicholas shouted and dropped, his thigh wrapped around his chest.

Leonardo advanced.

But Nicholas was faster than anyone expected.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Eight shots.

Straight into Leonardo's chest.

He dropped like a puppet whose strings were severed.

Dead before he hit the ground.

My scream was silent. My lungs had collapsed.

Tears ran down my face. Blood built up underneath me. My vision started to fade.

I looked at Martina.

But something was wrong.

She was still breathing.

The bullet grazed her. It grazed her. There was blood, sure. But her eyes tracked.

She lived.

Sort of.

I could not live now.

I had to get us out.

Somehow.

God, please—

Not another one.

Don't take her too.

Please.