Syn

One Hour Ago

With Queen's departure, my patience with Aiden immediately faded. It took everything in me not to tear him apart while she was here and now that she was out of sight, a sense of relief filled me- true freedom to do what I wanted occupied the space and I sighed, setting my sights on him. He knew that he was fucked. I was sure he'd rather watch me fuck Queen for the rest of the night than be stuck here alone with me.

"It's funny how life works, isn't it?" I asked, interrupting his screams. "I can only imagine how victorious you must've felt when you thought she had fallen for you..." I crossed my arms. "It must've come as quite a bit of a shock to you when I showed up on her doorstep, huh? I wonder how you felt— was the world crumbling around you...did your lies begin to suffocate you?"

He didn't answer me but the flicker of anger in his eyes told me all the words I needed to hear. "You're a horrible creature- and I say creature in the most offensive way I can because what you did was inhumane. I've met my fair share of monsters yet you by far are one of the worst.

"You killed without reason- without any boundaries and what's worst is that you took the lives of children whose lives were already discarded. They had one thing in this fucked up world- one fucking thing!" I snapped, letting the chair beside me fall to the ground and he jumped. "Their lives, and you took that. Every single one of them deserved a real fucking shot and you stripped them of that opportunity. Why?!"

"I have no idea what you're—"

"The orphanage, Aiden," I said flatly. "Queen isn't here so you can give up the fucking act. I have CCTV footage of you on the construction site and I know you're responsible for the bombing." He shifted in the seat. "This is not me asking you whether or not you did it, I know you did. I'm asking for a reason. What could you have possibly gotten from this?"

He sat up, snorting before spitting blood on the floor in front of me. "Fuck you!"

I let out a bitter laugh. "Okay." I lifted my shirt above my head and tossed it onto an empty desk in the far wall of the room. Queen happened to like that shirt and I refused to have it stained with his blood. "Have it your way."

I took a couple of long strides to my right, reaching for a serrated knife on the wall. When he saw the knife in my hand, I could almost see the blood dropping from his face— he might as well have been completely transparent. I didn't know if he thought I was bluffing or if he was just an idiot- but either way, he was about to be in a world of pain.

He shook his head quickly as I neared him and I tapped the knife against my palm as I eyed him. "Where to start..." I said. "I did tell you that you were going to lose something for every sin you've committed, didn't I?" I asked. "Maybe I should start with your fingers...for touching what belonged to me...or maybe your hand, for setting that explosive. Your feet would do too for not only walking into her and my son's lie but also walking into a site that you had no business being in— there are endless options...you've done everything."

"Please, don't do this—"

"Since we're just starting and I consider myself an...accommodating host— I'll let you choose where I should begin," I said. "I'll count down from five and if I reach zero and you haven't chosen, I will— you don't want that."

"I- I..."

"You were so bold when Queen was in here?" I grinned. "Talking about fucking her...what's with the sudden change? Am I scaring you?"

"You have the wrong guy—"

"Five," I began and he shut his mouth into a thin line as his heart raced in his chest. "Four." The tears began falling down his face. "Three," I sang. "Two—"

"I can't!" He screamed. "I can't do this, please!"

"Don't," I snapped. "Don't beg me for your life now. I'm sure your victims were begging for their lives as they lay in the ashes of your destruction- where are their bodies by the way?" Still, more than half of them were unaccounted for.

"I don't know." He shook his head, sobbing as he looked down at his lap. I used the tip of the knife and guided his face back up to mine, making him scream.

"You don't know where their bodies are or you don't know what I'm talking about?" I asked. "I could've sworn seconds ago you had no idea what I was talking about."

"Please—"

"Choose," I commanded. When he still didn't answer, an idea surfaced in my mind- one that would satisfy my urge to hurt him further emotionally and physically. "Actually." I lowered the knife from his neck. "I have a better idea. This is your phone, right?" I asked, grabbing the cell phone lying on the floor a few feet away from him. "Let's ask your parents."

"This has nothing to do with them," he snarled through gritted teeth.

"Oh, it has everything to do with them. They raised you, didn't they?" I tapped on the screen of his phone, scoffing as I saw a picture of Queen light up the screen. A keypad waiting for a password replaced the image and I sighed. "Oh, I wonder," I said in a bored voice.

"I'm not telling you my password—"

"No worries. I got it."

I typed the last number in and his face dropped at the sound of his phone unlocking. "You don't think I know my girl's birthday? Your obsession is predictable, Aiden. I'm far beyond in love with the girl yet I'm not this stupid." I scrolled through his contact list, looking for this mother's phone number, silently ignoring his pleas in the background. "Relax, man. You act like I'm about to kill them, I just have a question..." He relaxed the slightest bit. "— if they don't answer, THEN I'll kill them."

I smiled when his fear returned and I pressed the call button as I found his mother's number. "Mommy?" I whispered, reading the contact as it rang. "That's wild."

I lifted the fallen chair from the ground, setting it in front of Aiden before taking a seat. The ringing sounded through the small basement, and I sighed as I glanced at him. "Of all the times for her to miss your call..."

"Hang up the phone," he demanded, making me raise a brow.

"Answer my questions."

"I have nothing to say to you—"

"Well, then I have a lot to say to your mother." The line trilled for another second before a soft voice spoke into the phone, making Aiden tense as I put it on speaker.

"Aiden," she spoke. "I've been calling—"

"Mom!" He shouted. "Hang up!"

"No, mom," I said flatly. "Don't hang up."

"W-what's going on?"

"Don't listen to a thing he says, mom! I'll explain everything when I get home—" I stabbed the knife into the wound I created earlier, cutting Aiden's words off with his scream.

"Don't be like that, Aiden." I sat back. "It's rude. I just want to talk," I said. "Besides, don't give her false hope. You won't be returning home."

"Aiden!" She yelled into the phone. "What's going on?!"

Tsk tsk tsk...I clicked my tongue. "Shhh," I spoke into the phone. "Calm down. I need to ask you a very important question. How painful the moments leading up to your son's death will be, lies in your hands."

"No, please!" She screamed. "If you hurt him—"

"Spare yourself the energy of trying to threaten me. It won't work and the more you piss me off, the worse it'll be for him."

She continued crying and screaming into the phone, calling for Aiden's father and I rubbed my temples. "Yes, yes, give the phone to your husband. You're giving me a headache."

"Who the hell is this?!" I heard the man growl.

"Mr. Greene!" I grinned. "It's a pleasure to be speaking with you. How's your night going?"

"He has Aiden," I heard his mother sob in the background and I rolled my eyes.

"Who are you?!" He snapped over the phone.

"Wow, the both of you have no cellular manners," I teased. "You should work on that."

"I won't ask again, young man."

"Oooh," I said in surprise, looking at Aiden. "Young man. I can't say anyone's ever called me that."

"What do you want?" He asked. "Money? I can send you everything I have in my account—"

"Oh? I've never held anyone for ransom before." I gasped, raising a brow in amusement. "I'm not exactly calling for money but I am curious to hear how much you believe your son's life is worth."

"I can give you fifty thousand now," he said. "And another fifty when you let him go."

"Pfft. That was anticlimactic," I said. "You're a millionaire, Mr. Greene. That was a lowball offer and if I was calling for money, I would've shot your son the second I heard that shit—just for future reference if you ever get that ransom call from anyone."

"Please—"

"I have a question for you, Mr. Green," I interrupted him, my eyes remaining on Aiden whose eyes were shut. His father began to speak up and my patience began to thin. "If I'm interrupted again I'll let you listen to me kill him. Shut the fuck up for a second."

The line silenced and I let out a satisfied breath. "Thank you," I began. "Now, your son- believe it or not has murdered a lot of people I care about. Hundreds of people. The two of you will never hear from him again after this call—" I heard his mother sob. "What I will grant you, however, is the opportunity to choose which body part of his I will cut off," I chirped and they responded with scared gasps. "What can I say, I'm feeling generous. I can send it to you guys if you'd like...something to remember him by, maybe."

"You're sick!" His mother screamed.

"No, your son is sick. But don't worry. After I get rid of him I will send you a detailed file of everything he's done," I said, making Aiden tense. "You may not understand now, but you will. It'll hurt but his death will be easier to live with once you understand how much of a monster he truly is."

"I'm going to call the police!" His father snapped. "I have lawyers that'll make sure you never see the damn light of day—"

"Listen, I get it, okay?" I sighed. "I'm a father and from a parent's perspective—I'd probably feel the same as you do. I get it, and I sympathize. If I thought the police were worth a damn, I'd call as well," I admitted. "But as the man who's about to murder your son, I suggest you try not to get the police involved.

"It would be so easy for me to pay you all a visit in that nice house of yours- the window in the second bedroom from the stairs on the second floor doesn't close all the way. Your alarm gets triggered often- you're used to it. I don't want you both to have to lay awake at night hearing that same alarm and wondering whether it's me or not," I said. "So choose, or I will choose all of you."

His mother spoke up first. "We would never do that—"

"Make a decision, Mr. Greene." I took his silence as him thinking it through and I smiled. The man was truly a businessman. His career relied on him evaluating potential risks- figuring out whether they outweighed the reward. He was the one I needed to answer me because as fucked up as it was, he'd actually make a decision.

"His ear." He spoke, making Aiden's mother scream out loud at him. Aiden's eyes snapped open, shock painting his features and I looked at him.

Yikes. That had to hurt. I didn't give them much of a choice but if my child were the one at risk like this, I would've let the fucker come kill me before I made a choice.

"Thanks," I spoke.

"Wait!" I heard. I hung up the phone before they could speak and blew out a breath before tossing his cell phone to the floor.

"No, call them back!" Aiden screamed. "He was about to say something."

"Yes, he was." I shrugged. "But now you'll never know and they'll forever wonder what your response to it would've been. It's what you deserve. There are two hundred victims that had thoughts and dreams- wonders about what they were going to do with their lives. They'll never know either."

I sighed, placing my hands on my thighs before standing up and walking toward him. I pinched his ear between my thumb and index finger before holding the jagged knife against it. "It's kind of strange that he chose your ear...of all places. Did you not listen growing up?"

He tried to move his head, screaming as I held him in place and I sighed tiredly. "This will be a lot cleaner if you stop fighting." He didn't stop, thrashing against the chair and I shook my head. Fine. I brought the knife down, moving it side to side- tearing through his flesh as he screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Stop!" He begged, his garbled voice cracking through the scream and I ignored it. "Please, I'll talk!"

"Not good enough." I cut. "I gave you multiple opportunities."

"I'll give you a name!" He choked out with a shriek. "Just stop!"

I paused, the knife halfway through his ear. "Go on then."

He cried in pain, his blood spilling down the right side of his face and I waited patiently. After a few seconds, I tugged on the ear slightly and he screamed. "Okay! Drake Kincaid! He sent me to the orphanage. H-he said if I didn't do it, he'd kill my family. I had no choice!"

"You did have a choice," I snapped, fuming as Drake's name once again came up in conversation- the millionth time throughout the year. He was a fucking pain. "You knew who I was and you knew how much he hates me- you could have told ME! I would've offered you and your family protection but instead, you murdered them!"

"I'm sorry." He sobbed.

"No. You're not, yet. But you will be."

"Wait no, I give you the info and you let me go," he argued, "That's how this was supposed to go!"

"I'm the devil, Aiden. Did you truly expect me to show you any type of mercy?"

꧁꧂

See, me personally? If Syn asked for a body part...I wouldn't hesitate. I'd give the man options, let me tell you.