Page 4 of Corrupted

The volume of the music made me wince the moment I stepped through the door at the bottom of the stairs. The room below was soundproofed, so until now, I hadn't heard a hint of the pounding drums or ear-splitting vocals.

Gianni grooved to the sound for a few moments before pulling out his phone and tapping the screen. The music stopped immediately.

The ringing in my ears would last longer.

Leon Graves was chained to the ceiling, his arms above his head. He lolled to one side, the chain holding up all of his weight.

"Thank fuck," he groaned. He raised his face to look up at us. His eyes were bloodshot, the exhaustion obvious. Apart from the knife sticking out of his calf, he seemed physically unhurt.

I wrinkled my nose at the smell. He knelt in what looked like a combination of piss and vomit, mixed in with a bit of blood. Not enough blood, if you asked me.

"People often say that when they see me," Gianni remarked. "It must be my charm."

Leon snorted. Apparently some of his sense of humour was still intact.

"I think he misses your music," I said. "Don't worry, Leon, he'll turn it back on when we leave."

He looked at me like he was considering begging me to kill him so he didn't have to listen to it anymore. Noise that loud would grate on anyone's nerves after a while.

Which, of course, was the point. This wasn't a pleasure dungeon. Well, not for him.

Pleasure came in a variety forms, including seeing someone who had a hand in your personal hell chained to the ceiling.

Leon managed a venomous look before dropping his head back to the side. "I told you everything I know. Kurt is somewhere here in Dusk Bay. If I had more to give you, I would. Anything to get out of here."

I stepped closer to him. "You know you're not getting out of here alive, right?"

"Don't care," he groaned. "Get it over with." He raised his face until his stubbled throat was exposed, begging to be sliced open.

"Tempting," I admitted. "But too easy. Do you think Kurt would have killed me if I begged him to?" I had, but never when he was around. I'd managed to cling on to that much dignity.

"Kurt is an asshole," Leon said. "You can be better than him."

Gianni crouched beside him, gripped the hilt of the knife and twisted it until Leon screamed.

"We are better than him, dickhead," Gianni snarled. "We don't plan to keep you down here for five years. Not that you'd last." He twisted the knife again. "You'll die of cowardice long before that."

Tears poured down Leon's cheeks. "I will, but you could make it quicker. Please, for fuck's sake."

Gianni pulled the blade from Leon's leg and stood. "You haven't even been here for five hours yet and you're already begging to die. That must be a record. Most people last at least…" He held out his other hand, palm up. "Six or seven hours. The best last two or three days."

"He's far from the best," I said. "But maybe we can make this easier on him."

Leon looked up, suddenly hopeful. "Please…"

"You mentioned Jase and Hammer," I said slowly. "Where are they?"

His hope faded. "I don't know. I haven't seen Jase since that night. He might be dead. Hammer, I don't even know his real name. He could be anywhere. He might be dead too."

"You know where to find them," I said. "You have contacts. Tell us who we can ask."

"You're so hot when you're assertive like that," Gianni told me.

I glanced over at him and smiled before returning my attention back to Leon. "It's that simple."

"There's a woman named Martina," Leon confessed. "She deals in information like that. I can give you her number. You have my phone, it's in there." He nodded, then winced as though his head hurt. It probably did. Gianni's music would have given him a killer headache.

"We'll track her down," Gianni said. "With any luck, she'll tell us where they are. Hopefully they're still alive so we can kill them."