Twin Tormentors By RARE

Chapter 60 LORENZO POV “Sir, you can’t go into the ER while the doctors are treating the patient. Kindly wait here and w e will get back to you.” A very stern nurse called out trying to pushfrom the doors which were engraved with huge block red letters.

I robotically just stared ahead, staring into nothing in particular.

“Hey...” Someone gently tugged on my shirt, | looked back to find Val looking atwith a very concern-filled stare, she wasn't judging. She was being the stronghold | needed at the very moment. “She's is going to be alright. She is a fighter.” She informed in a small voice, adding a little bit of smile. | turned my head and looked at the door yet again. Everything just felt so hallucinatory. Nothing about this whole vendetta made sense. It was as if someone had just pulled a cruel prank on us, and | was still recovering from the aftershocks. Or | had been too happy and caught up in the moment forgetting how cruel and unforgiving life actually is.

I just couldn't find the answers, the sense in all of this. One minute we had been happy with Ari, our lives so complete and not lacking of anything, and the next thing I had held her while she laid in the pool of blood, body limp and cold in my arms.

“Ma’am, please get your husband to sit down.” The annoying nurse said once again, now in an exasperated voice. | didn’t budge. Val took careful steps and defensively stood in front of me, gently nudgingbackward with her arm, “Can | ask you, how long have you been working here?” she asked in that badass voice she always switched to when she was about to yank srandom bitch down her high horse, “For stnow.” the nurse replied boastfully, “Okay! That couldn't be more obvious. Listen, since you are new here, | am going to let it all slide. This man right here can make you disappear with just a snap of his fingers and you would be wiped from the surface of the earth and no one would even know where your sorry ass was dumped, not even the gods themselves | tell you.

You may not know this, but this hospital, he donated shit-ass money so that you can get sjob here, wear these little scrubs, and have a nice rented apartment with an indoor gym and a little pool by the side. And if this is how you are going to treat your benefactor, then | don’t know what to say about your sorry becursed self. | suggest you behave before things get really ugly because he is so not in a good mood right now.” The little nurse let out terrified puffs of air, “And oh; he is not my husband. He is my boss and his wife is lying on that cold table in there with a bullet inside her stomach. Now pick up your jaw from the dang floor and fuck off.” She barked causing the little nurse in scrubs to swallow audibly and scurry away hurriedly, the sound of her heels echoed further and further as she left the hallway.

“Asswipe!” Val cursed and pulledby her arm, then carefully laiddown on the chairs in the hallway.

“Want something to drink? Water, anything?” She offered from the corner of my eye. | took my minute comprehending her words and then shook my head softly.

She perched herself next toand rubbed small circles on my back, without saying anything.

After a long pregnant pause, the fractions of memories flooded back into my mind, the sight o f Ari laying in blood replaying itself. | so wished my mind was a computer where | could just delete off the damn nightmare, get it out of my mind forever. | saw her once again, | felt that sense of helplessness, that brutal stab in my heart that had knockedto my knees when she said those words before her eyes fluttered closed, It had been the cruelest minutes of my life. Every breath | had taken since that moment felt like a waste on me. | had just stared defeatedly as the paramedics whisked her away onto the stretcher.

“There was so much blood.” | intoned out my thoughts, “I know. | saw that too.” Val replied in a smooth voice and hurried her rubs on my back.

“No! There was just so much blood, and she had wounds all over. He hit her, Val. My father hit my woman and he was glad for doing it. And Raquel...” | let the words hang heavy between us. It still sounded foreign even when | said it. There was no way Lorik could have done that, | mean he was our dad. Yes, we didn’t have the cutest dad- sons relationship we saw on TVs, but still, he was our dad.

“I can’t believe it either. Ari was so good to him.” She replied, “She’s so good to everyone. Tesoro is kind to everyone, even enemies. You saw Xander, he has grown on her.

Because she’s my angel, our angel.” | had no idea of what | was saying, | just had to talk, to get rid of this pent- up tension that was boiling inside me.

Val didn’t reply, just sat there quietly and listened. “Lorik has never loved Vernero. He always thought of him as weak and pathetic. | remember when we were six, Mom arrived hwith a little cute bunny for Verzi. Verzi was just so empathetic, he felt more than everyone else. And dad knew this. He despised him for that. And when mom brought that bunny for him, dad had screamed at her, | remember holding Verzi in our bedroom, my hands on his ears so that he couldn't hear all the shouting. He just sat there holding the little white rabbit, with a huge smile on his face. And downstairs, it was so noisy, so loud. The last thing | heard was the sound of glass breaking, that was the last day we saw our mother. We never saw her after that. And when Verzi asked where she was, Lorik said she visited grams. We believed him, Val, we were so young and we didn’t know that our father killed our mother while we were hiding in our bedroom. Mom never cback, we asked dad about her but he always dismissed the topic about her. And when Verzi grew attached to the bunny, my dad killed it, cooked it, and fed it to him. Can you believe it? He forced him to eat it while he stood there with a whip in his hand. Verzi ate his friend in tears, you could have seen him, Val. | have never seen my brother so shattered in all my life.” A small sob escaped my throat.

“Oh my goodness,” Val whispered and then laid her head on my shoulder, | continued: “He took us to Poland after that. Left us to fend for ourselves. We were only 8 by then. He got u sa maid who conce a week to cook and make sure we had everything we needed. We met Ari by then, she was just so small, so tiny and chubby and cute. She becour best friend, we loved her. She grew on us. For 10 years, we lived with Ari. We would go for sleepovers, she would invite us for hearty meals, good food that was prepared with love. Life becmeaningful with her around. We even forgot we had a son of Lucifer as our father. He never set foot in Poland. He never called. He completely vanished from our world. But we never ran out of food, our fridge was always full and we were never expelled for not paying the fees. He showed up 10 years later, telling us we had to leave Poland. Oh, how we reigned hell on him. There was no way we were going to leave Poland. Not when we had a reason to keep living. Ari! She was our reason to dream for tomorrow. Do you want to know what he said? He said we could take her’, Val. And we did. Forcefully, we took her innocence and claimed her. For years, we had fantasized about having her, and by then, that moment where we had her between us, was so bewitching. We let our father hurt her through us.” 1 By now tears were unforgivingly pouring down my face, the snort blocking my nose making i t so hard to breathe. But | kept going, | spilled my heart down. Everything that has happened since then, all cback and crashed down on me, knocking all the air out of my lungs. | heaved for air, trying to make up for the lost oxygen.

It had been so much. And for the first tsince it all began, | allowed myself to be a child, to feel weak. | was tired of being the hero. Because no one ever saved the hero.

Sitting on the cold chain in the hallway of the hospital while my woman was just behind that door fighting for her life, | let everything out. And gosh | cried.

| just never knew. | never knew | had this much burden on weighingdown.

“After manipulating us into believing that we were doing the right thing, we raped her. And then left right at that moment and went away with him. Arriving in Italy, he showedthe acceptance letter from Harvard. | had no idea how he got it, especially because | never applied to Harvard or even had the thought of leaving Poland. | told him | was going with Verzi, he refused. The following morning, he tookto the airport, and sendto the US. | didn’t want to leave my little brother with that monster. But | had no power to go against him, so | left. | left my brother with that monster and he destroyed him. He separated us, Val. He killed our mother, got rid of everything we held dear, manipulated us into hurting the only woman we cared for, then separated us. He removed my other half from me. | didn’t hear from Verzi for the next full 6 years. | wasn’t allowed to go heither. | stayed in the US for that long, no word from him, from Verzi. | missed him, so much. | wanted to hold him, | wanted to know how he was doing, to hear his cheerful voice. But | couldn't. | finished my studies, from bachelor’s all up to a doctorate. The night of my graduation, | found a random man in my room, tellinghe was takingback home. There was something dark and evil about him, and I just knew he had something to do with my father. So | left with him without question. Traveled for two days and nights straight, then landed in Russia. | remember being thrilled by the idea of being in Russia. | always loved Russians...” | let out a bitter chuckle.” We arrived at a huge castle-like property. It was so big and | wondered why | was being taken to such a grand place. | was shown to my room where | freshened up, Later that evening, my father cand tookto the dining hall. | found Verzi sitting on the right side of him, with so many people dressed in black. | remember being glued in place as his eyes landed on me.

They had been so cold, so lifeless. The man | saw that night wasn’t my brother. My brother was full of life, he had this vibrant energy around him, always wore his smile heart on his sleeve. The lifeless, stone-cold creature covered in tattoos was not my brother.” The day replayed in my mind as clear as the day. | remember how he had angrily looked at me. There had been so much | needed to tell him, so much | needed to hear from him. But | couldn’t. Because my brother was gone. All that was left was the shell of his former being. And | remember wishing to see the smiling boy I left that morning I flew to the US. But he was gone.

“Lorik broke him. He made sure to get rid of the kind little lively boy. He broke him in ways | never redeemed possible. He made him the monster he was. Growing up, | was the tyrant because | was protecting my mild brother. But now? You'd think | am just bluffing.” | wiped the tears and looked down at my wet hands. Gosh, | was a mess! “He took everything from us, but Verzi; my poor brother had it worst. He took HIM from himself, he shredded off his being until all that was left was the soulless shell. I! HATE! MY! FATHER!” | stated the last words with long heavy pauses in between, making a very strong emphasis on them. “I am so sorry Enzo. | am really sorry. | had no idea.” Val sniffled next toand tightened his hold on my arm.

“I wish | could see the look on his face as Verzi takes his life. He won't spare him. | mean that’s what he wanted from the beginning. For Verzi to be remorseless. Now he gets to have the taste of his own medicine. And | won't even shed a tear for him.” As soon as the words left my mouth, the ER door slid open, and out cthree doctors. | was out of the chair in a heartbeat waiting to hear what they had to say: “Family?” one of the doctors called out, my mouth felt so dry | couldn't say a word.

“Oh, she’s my boss. This is her...” Her voice trailed to nothing..

“Mr. Cattanio.” One of the doctors called out and stepped forward to shake my hand. | shook it back and looked at him with pleading eyes, “Madam is out of danger.”