Chapter 34

**TORIN**

"So, what you been up to?" I asked Reif, pulling him into my side in a friendly hug as I began moving us forward, and out of earshot of the others.


With a shake of his head, Reif muttered, "Living in Hell!"


"Sorry, kid. It really been that bad?" I questioned, though I had little doubt it had.


"Yeah, man. It was bad enough before Mom started dating that piece of shit, but after..." his words trailed off as he gave a shrug. "Let's just say I irritated the hell out of him and leave it at that," he growled.


I didn't need to be told. Reif's clamming up told me just what he had gone through without him having to say it. I wanted the bastard's name, but I wasn’t going to push. Reif would tell me when he was ready. And when he did....


I hated slimy pieces of crap like whoever this low-life was. They didn’t deserve a place on earth, in my opinion. Oh, yes, I was a killer, and most likely would meet each slimeball I had taken out over the years in Hell when I arrived there—but I would never abuse a child! It took a ball-less man for that kind of sickness.


Shaking myself out of my thoughts, I changed the subject. “Game of pool? I got a twenty riden' that I wipe the table with you!”


A smirk curved up the side of Reif’s mouth. "You're on, old man, because I wanna see your face when I smear your ass!"


~~


Hours later after pushing through the doors of the clubhouse, I stopped, looking up at the stars, drawing in a breath. I was going to catch hell when everyone realized I had allowed Sobain to come back to the clubhouse, especially from Bur and Ginger.


It didn’t make a difference, though. Nobody wanted her here, and that included me, but I had seen Reifer. I'd seen the anger, the darkness within the depths of his eyes, and for him, I, and everyone else, would just have to deal with it—until Reifer told me differently. That boy was in a bad way. I knew the crap Sobain had claimed he was doing was a bullshit excuse to get her foot back in the door again—I mean, what teenager his age hadn't experimented with alcohol?


Hell, I had years of that shit behind me by the time I had turned eighteen, and having been raised—for the most part—with bikers’, what the hell else could she have expected out of the boy? He hadn’t been raised in a suit-jacket, red-tied, don’t do anything that will screw up your blue-ivy college chances, type of lifestyle.


No, he’d been taught that foul words were just a natural part of speaking, and that drinking and smoking cigarettes and weed were everyday occurrences. Okay, so yeah, maybe our clubhouse hadn’t been the best place for a child in their impressionable years to be raised, but the deed was done. Sobain herself had lived that lifestyle, so it was only natural Reifer would follow the example—even if it was a bad one. No, this had nothing to do with what Reifer was or wasn’t doing, but more with some agenda Sobain had cooked up. I just didn't know what it was yet.


With a shrug, I moved forward in the darkness, heading toward the building housing my bike. I couldn’t worry about Sobain’s docket, not right now. I had more pressing matters to deal with. I had an old score to settle.


Minutes later pulling my bike out of the gates, I gassed it, riding down the gravel road at an ungodly speed. The wind rushed past me, tangling my hair in its grasp. I could feel the familiar ache in my thighs, the familiar burn in my lungs. It was exhilarating. It was freedom.


~~

My grip tightened on the knife, anger coursing through my veins like venom. The betrayal I had long suspected was now confirmed, and it only fueled the fire of vengeance burning within me.


"You admit it?" I said, my voice barely a whisper. "You were involved in their deaths?"


Tears welled up in David's terrified eyes, blending with the mixture of sweat and blood on his face. "I...I didn't mean for it to happen," he stammered. "We were supposed to just scare them, not...not kill them."


The memories flooded back, the night I lost everything. My parents, kind and loving, were taken away from me in a senseless act of violence.


A sinister smile curved on my lips, a reflection of the darkness that had enveloped my soul. "You know, David," I said, my voice dripping with malice, "I've spent years planning how I would make you suffer. But now, I think I have a better idea."


Panic flared in his eyes. "Please, Torintino, I never wanted any of this. I...I can explain."


I scoffed, my laughter hollow and cold. "Explain? What explanation could possibly justify taking away the only people I had left in this world?"


David gulped, his entire body trembling with fear. "I was young and foolish, caught up with the wrong crowd. They promised me money, protection, a way out of my miserable life. I didn't know what they were truly capable of."


I leaned in closer, pressing the knife more firmly against his throat. "Your life is forfeit, David," I whispered, relishing the way his breath hitched at the threat. "But before your punishment, I want you to experience the same pain I felt, the same devastating loss."


David's screams filled the room as I carved a symbol into his arm, a morbid tribute to the mark of suffering etched into my heart. Blood dripped onto the floor, his torment mirroring my own.


I leaned in closer, pressing the knife more firmly against his throat. Sweat trickled down my forehead as adrenaline coursed through my veins. David's eyes widened with fear, his labored breaths punctuated by a desperate whimper.


The room was cloaked in darkness, save for a single, flickering candle casting eerie shapes on the walls. It seemed fitting for the somber occasion, for the retribution I was about to exact upon this man who had shattered my world.


David choked back a sob, his voice trembling, "Please, I'm sorry. I never meant for any of this to happen."


His pleas fell on deaf ears. The memory of a once-steadfast love, now transformed into a gaping wound, drove me forward.


With a swift movement, I withdrew the knife from his throat and stepped back, guiding him to a hard-backed chair. His cries filled the room, reverberating against the cold stone walls. Savoring the moment, I allowed his screams to fuel the fire within me.


Taking a deep breath, I studied David's terrified face. He didn't deserve mercy. I moved closer, my hands steadying the blade as I carved another symbol. Each stroke of the knife became a cathartic release, reminiscent of the anguish that consumed me every day since that fateful night.


David's screams transformed into desperate gasps as the symbol took shape, etching itself indelibly into his flesh. His eyes pleaded for respite, his face contorted by unimaginable agony.


"Remember, David," I whispered, my voice tinged with both fury and anguish. "Remember the pain you have wrought and the lives you've shattered."


As if possessed by an insatiable need to expose his soul to the same torment that haunted me, I compelled my hand to continue. The symbol, wrought in crimson, stood vividly against the pale canvas of his skin.


When I finally retreated, my breath ragged, I observed my work. The symbol, now a permanent reminder of his sins, seemed to pulse with an eerie energy. David's body sagged in the chair, his spirit broken, our pain intertwined.


My mission wasn’t complete though, vengeance still needed extracted. Raising the knife again, I made one smooth slice across his neck, ending his torment, but not mine. I still had three more awaiting vengeance.


Moments later, as I stared down at David, instead of finding the solace I had sought in unleashing the havoc I had upon the man before me, a profound emptiness engulfed me. The twisted satisfaction I had gained had dissipated, and now I was left with a hollowness in its wake. The room, that had once been filled with the echoes of David's torment, now held only the weight of my haunting memories of them. With a heavy sigh, I turned away, knowing I had a grave to dig and that revenge had devoured me, hollowed me out just as I had hollowed out David.


As I left the room which held David's still form, I couldn't help but wonder if the pain of loss truly justified inflicting the same suffering upon another. The profound answer whispered through my broken soul, reminding me that revenge, no matter how justified, would forever leave me chained to the darkness I desperately sought to escape.