“We hit a bit of a snag,” this guy––who I presume is Eugene––says. “We can’t get the money to you until next week.”
“Ah,” Nate says as he bobs his head up and down. “Next week. Well, why didn’t you say so?” He laughs, but I know it’s not genuine. I can hear the under-lying threat in his tone, but clearly this Eugene is too fucking stupid to see the same as me.
Eugene looks to his other guys and they all join in the laughter, their shoulders instantly relaxing which is a foolish move if ever I’ve seen one.
“I knew you’d be cool about it,” Eugene says as he gets off of his seat and goes towards Nate, clapping him on the shoulder. I watch as Nate’s head turns to the side and his eyes land on Eugene’s fingers.
And then his face changes.
His eyes darken, his jaw tenses, and before I know what is happening, Nate has Eugene’s hand spread out on a table to the right of him and he pulls a knife from his pocket. Eugene starts to shout, as do his men––or whoever they are. Nate ignores it all as he brings the knife down, holding it above one of Eugene’s fingers.
“I don’t appreciate being fucking lied to, Eugene, so just pay up and I’ll be on my way,” Nate grits out, and I can see the knife is a whisker away from Eugene’s skin.
“I’m not lying, Nate, please, I need more time––” His words are cut off as Nate’s patience wears thin and he cuts Eugene’s finger off, slicing it as if it were no effort at all. Eugene’s men all stand up, some of them knocking their chairs over behind them as they stare aghast at the finger that has been separated from Eugene’s hand. Eugene has gone a shade of grey as he looks to his hand in shock.
“Now, I’ve shown enough patience with you, and I don’t have much more to give. So just hand over my money and this ends,” Nate says, cool as a cucumber. Just another day at the office, clearly.
“Get the money,” Eugene manages to say as one of the guys goes to some cupboard which is hidden behind a dirty as fuck blanket. He pulls a wad of cash out and starts to walk over to Nate, but Stefan beckons one of Nate’s other guys over and he takes the cash from the guy, counting it to make sure the payment is all there.
“One month here, boss,” he informs Nate, and Nate lets out a fake as fuck chuckle.
“Not enough,” Nate says as he gets another of Eugene’s fingers and slices it clean off. Eugene squeals and I can’t take my eyes off of what is happening in front of me.
This is the man I am marrying.
This man is going to be my husband, and I have to be okay with this?
“I want the full amount,” Nate tells him, and Eugene’s panic goes up a few more notches.
“I don’t have that kind of mon––” Another finger is sliced off and Eugene howls so loud that it hurts my ears. One of Eugene’s guys looks like he’s going to be a fucking hero as he moves closer to Nate, but then Nate’s men pull their guns out, training one on each guy. Stefan is the only one who doesn’t, and I guess that’s because he’s fucking babysitting me.
“You only have two left on this hand, Eugene, and I’ve got no problem cutting them from the other hand before moving to your toes because I am not leaving here until I get my money.” Nate’s threat echoes around the room, and I start to wonder why the fuck he brought me here. I’m not sure what this is supposed to achieve.
“Please, Nate,” Eugene begs, but all Nate does is grab another finger and cut it right off. Blood covers the table and I suddenly wish that I were anywhere but here.
“Only one left, Eugene,” Nate taunts him, and I see Eugene is struggling to stay upright. To be fair, I’d have probably passed out by now from the sheer fucking pain of it all.
“Last chance before you lose the last one on this hand,” Nate says.
“Get him the money,” Eugene rasps out between breaths, sweat pouring down his face.
Nate turns to the men behind Eugene and says, “Well, you heard the man, go get my fucking money.”
The guy who grabbed the first wad of cash disappears into another room, returning minutes later with a bag which he drops on the floor. One of Nate’s guys goes and gets it, unzipping it, and I get a glimpse of the amount of cash inside. I feel like my eyes bug out of my head from the sight of it all. I have no idea how much is there, but Nate’s tactics sure worked.
“That wasn’t so hard now, was it?” Nate says as he lets go of Eugene’s hand and he crashes to the floor, blood starting to drip off the side of the table.
“I never want to see any of your faces again,” Nate says as he points the knife to each of them individually. None of them speak, they just stand there, gobsmacked and trembling as Nate swiftly walks towards me, taking my hand and leading me out of the building. I have to walk fast to keep up with him, and I have never been so grateful to be out of a building in all my life. I get to the car and plonk my ass in the seat, shock taking over my body as I start to tremble from what I just witnessed.
Nate gets in the car and buckles up before turning to me. “You okay?” he asks and I turn to face him, fucking flabbergasted.
“Am I okay? Am I fucking okay?” I say to him, my voice high-pitched. “What the hell was that? Was it supposed to scare me?”
“Not at all. I just thought that you needed to see some of what I do and trust me when I tell you that was tame. I wouldn’t usually deal with shit like that, but I didn’t want to throw you in the deep end,” he says, so blasé about it all. He reaches over and takes my hands in his before continuing to speak. “You never have to be scared of me, Kat, but everyone else does. I would never hurt you; I just need you to know that.”
“Right…” My voice trails off because I really don’t know what to say.
“I just… I told you that I have a darkness inside of me, and if you are ever going to accept me then you have to accept every part of me.”
