Chapter 31 Camilla’s Pov
I was walking down the stairs the next day when I noticed how strangely quiet it was. This massive house always roaming with a few bodyguards and Àlvaro's men was never quiet but strangely, it was now and my curiosity got the better of me.
I remembered when I had first been brought to the compound, there were storage spaces in the garage so I headed over there.
I reached the end of the side stairs and made a left down that long ass hallway. The one that Santiago had practically dragged me down on my first day here. Suddenly, I heard muffled voices and I quickly hid behind a door.
Two massive men emerged from a doorway. They spoke heavy Italian and I quickly translated it. They were talking about some poor bastard that Àlvaro would teach a lesson.
I frowned, my heart rate slowly picked up and I held my breath as the men passed me. I waited a few moments before sprinting down the hall until I came across the massive steel doors that the men had just emerged from.
I sucked in a breath as I creaked open the door, curious to know what was going on. Storage units lined the walls and a group of men were gathered in the center.
I slipped behind a storage shelf, giving myself plenty of view of the commotion without revealing myself. There was a man and a woman in the middle of the group and they seemed to be tied to chairs.
I crept forward to get a better view still making sure that I was well out of sight.
The woman was young, her short brown hair looked wild. Her face was bloodied and bruised, her lips busted and mascara tear marks stained her cheeks. She wore a very skimpy outfit, a green laced bra and a tiny high waisted mint green skirt. Her bruised feet was strapped in a pair of stilettos, one of the heels was broken.
The man next to her had to be in his late thirties or so, facial hair grazed his upper lip. His face was even much worse than the girl. His teeth looked to be knocked out and one of his eyes was swollen shut. I cringed at what looked to be a broken nose, blood poured out of his nostrils.
I glanced at the men in the room, apart from Santiago and Àlvaro, I didn't recognize any of them until my eyes landed on the one Àlvaro introduced to me as Anthonio.
I watched as he slowly approached the girl. She trembled as he came close to her. Tears poured down her face as he pulled a gun from his waistband.
I glanced once more around the room, my attention drawing to Àlvaro and Santiago who stood at the head of the group watching as Anthonio approached the girl.
"Sophia..." Anthonio said slowly, running the barrel of his gun down her cheeks.
She lets out a yelp as Anthonio grabbed a handful of her hair, hot tears streamed down her cheeks.
"Honey, would you care to tell me how Mr Afanas here managed to receive intimate information about us?"
She shook her head vigorously, tears poured down her face as she sobbed. Anthonio threw her head back and smashed the barrel of his gun into her face.
She lets out a shrill scream as blood ran down her nose which was no doubt broken.
Anthonio looked towards Àlvaro and I waited in anticipation to see what he would do. Clearly, the girl was just too scared to speak and maybe she really didn't do anything. My hands trembled just looking at how scared she was.
Àlvaro walked towards Sophia, pulling a handkerchief from his suit jacket, he wiped the tears and blood from her face. My body warmed at the way he showed humanity for the poor girl but why didn't he stop Anthonio earlier on?
Something just doesn't feel right.
"Sophia, I need you to tell me exactly what happened. Remember that you work for me so you're under my protection. If you tell me what happened, no harm will come to you."
Sophia must be one of his many whores. The girl managed to calm down, her sobs quieted down and she nodded.
"Y–y–yes, Mr Castillo. I–I was entertaining Mr Afanas at the c-club. I–it hadn't occurred to me that he was with the Russian mafia. I–I think he slipped something into my d-drink or something. I don't know. He p-paid me alot of money to entertain him. But then, I–I started to feel weird and he st–started asking me a whole bunch of questions about you and Mr Rodriguez here. I don't know why I answered them. He asked about your business and I–I told him everything I knew. I–I don't know why." She sobbed. "I know I broke Omertà. I swear I didn't mean to. I–I'm sorry Mr Castillo."
She began crying again and I felt my heart jolt. It wasn't her fault. The Russian guy drugged her. Àlvaro was silent for a few moment, the men around him watched quietly.
"Is that everything, Sophia?"
She nodded furiously, mascara dripped down her chin. "Y–yes, Mr Castillo. P–Plea—"
BANG!
I watched in horror as her bloodied body slumped back into the chair. I covered my mouth with my hand to keep from screaming. I watched as Àlvaro calmly slid his gun back into his suit jacket.
He flashed a charming smile at the Russian mobster to his left.
"Don't worry about her, Mr Afanas. I could've made her death much more painful."
The Russian man sputtered out a few sentences in rapid Russian, his battered face was a mixture of fear and rage.
"Your death however, will be much worse and very well deserved. That's, unless you can tell me everything I need to know."
The Russian man let out a low breath that almost sounded like relief.
Àlvaro smiled slowly. "Oh, don't get me wrong. You will die. The how however, depends on you. The choice is yours, Russian scum so choose wisely."
Tears stung my eyes and I seriously felt like I wanted to throw up. I wanted to cry, cry because of the monster Àlvaro truly was, cry because I just saw an innocent girl murdered right before my eyes and I couldn't help but think that that was how I could've ended up. I wanted to cry because I was at a complete loss.
"Italian trash." The Russian man spat. "I would sacrifice my life for the good of my mafia."
Àlvaro smiled devilishly and turned to his men. "Please take Mr Afanas down to the torture chambers and let's see how much he really loves his mafia."
I watched as three of Àlvaro's men cut the Russian man from his restraints and roughly lifted him to his feet.
"Oh, and Mr Afanas?" Àlvaro mused. "I'm not going to kill you, not yet. I'm going to give you a fate much worse than death and before your boss Sergei even figures out you're gone, he'll be joining you."
He nodded to his men and they took the bloodied Russian man out of the garage.
"Clean up this mess." Àlvaro grumbled to Santiago, nodding at Sophia's slumped up body and I had a feeling that Santiago was his cleanup guy.
I curled behind the boxes and let out a silent sob. My head throbbed. I knew that Àlvaro was a bad man. I knew he was a murderer the second I saw him. I've witnessed him kill three people right in front of me before. He has probably killed hundreds of people that I didn't even know about. He had never hidden the fact that he was a monster and yet, I gave such a man my virginity.
I thought the way he opened up to me after my encounter with Sergei's thug was proof that he was changing. I foolishly thought he might actually care for me. But I still come back to the same conclusion everytime.
Àlvaro Castillo was a monster.
Who could ever expect a monster to care for them?
Tears burned down my cheeks as I silently sobbed. I cried for myself. I cried because I had no idea what I was going to do. I cried because I had let my guard down. I cried because I missed my old life. I cried because I was stupid enough to think that there was more to Àlvaro Castillo.
But there wasn't.
He was a monster and monsters never change.