Pink heart-shaped necklace

*Trigger warning: This chapter contains acts of violence and bad language that may be uncomfortable for some readers*

Upon following her into the penthouse suite, I saw Mr. Salvotski sitting in a big chair, mouth bounded, teary-eyed, both arms on the chair's armrest, while two daggers were embedded in his hands all the way to the other side of the chair, holding him still. A small pool of blood formed beside his feet as a result of his wounds.

"Don't just stand there! Close the door. We still have some business we need to carry on," she ordered, dragging a chair and sitting opposite her victim.

I, on the other hand, was just satisfied with standing beside the door as far away from what was going to come.

Ezra looked into his eyes which were displaying pure terror, and said in a low whisper-like voice, "Listen now fatass. I am going to free your mouth and ask some questions. You better answer me honestly. Do not try to scream. If I'm satisfied with what's going to come out of your lips, I might act nice. Clear enough?"

He didn't accept what she said to him and began to move frantically while muffling some words that, even with the piece of cloth in his mouth, were clearly curses. She exhaled deeply with irritation and got up from her chair, violently knocking it on the ground, strolled towards her case, and took her damned ax out, swinging it with agility over her shoulder like it was some plastic toy.

The bloody killer stood high in front of him, raised her sharp tool, and struck down. I closed my eyes by instinct bracing myself to hear screams and bones cracking. But all I heard was the sound of wood being chopped. I looked again and saw the ax stuck in the chair between Slavotski's legs, close to his manly parts. She came closer to his face and yelled with all her lungs' strength.

"LISTEN TO ME YOU FUCKING IDIOT!!! I WASN'T GIVING YOU A CHOICE!!! YOU BETTER GIVE ME WHAT I WANT. I WON'T HESITATE TO DISASSEMBLE EVERY FUCKING PIECE OF YOUR FAT BODY AND I'M KEEPING YOU ALIVE DURING THE WHOLE THING !!!"

In response to her threat, he sat there crying, muffling incoherent words and shaking his head violently. Ezra straightened up and took the cloth out of his mouth, starting to lose her patience. "Please don't kill me...please...I know what you want...you want me to give my bosses away...but...but I can't do that...I really can't...they will kill me..." he pleaded, out of breath with an exhausted expression on his face, obviously from the fear and loss of blood. Speaking of blood loss, I'm curious to see how much longer he's going to hold up before passing out.

"Oh really? But there's something you're missing, dumbfuck. I am going to fucking kill you too if you don't give me their names." She threatened with a sarcastic smile on her face.

"I can't...please...sniff...please don't hurt me...just kill me if you want...but don't hurt me." He pleaded again.

Something isn't right. He is afraid of something much greater than being tortured or getting killed. What could it be?... Is it possible that...? Really?...someone like him? A theory popped into my head and ideas began to crumble inside. I looked back at the interrogation scene in front of me. Ezra was still yelling in the man's face who was still begging her to let him go.

"Arghhh!!! ALRIGHT, I'M FUCKING SICK OF THIS!!! I'M DONE BEING NICE!!!" She exploded with rage and hit his bloody hand with the edge of her ax chopping all of his four fingers off. His screams of pain echoed throughout the whole floor.

I moved my gaze slowly to the chopped pieces which were still twitching on the ground in a bath of blood. Feeling a warm burning liquid coming up my esophagus, I run towards the first thing I located in which I could throw up my breakfast.

While gagging in the basket next to his king-sized bed, I glanced back to see Ezra still hitting and screaming at her hostage, who was uncontrollably sobbing. After taking a deep breath, I sat down on the bed and cast my eyes sideways, far from that horrible sight. My attention was drawn to the bedside lamp when I noticed a pink heart-shaped necklace hanging there. I reached for it and all my past thoughts were finally put in place.

I got up hastily and walked toward the chaos, trying my best to look away from the bloody mess. I reached for Ezra's arm stopping her from doing more damage. "WHAT?!" she yelled, looking at me with her fierce eyes.

"If you keep this up, he is going to die without giving you anything. You have to hold your shit together. Your way won't work. He is not going to speak." I clarified.

"Oh really? He isn't? One more reason to give him more pain." She hissed, lifting her tool again.

I quickly grabbed the ax haft and tried to talk to her again, ignoring her glaring "Mr.Salvotski here has something more important than his life to lose and what you're doing to him won't make him give up." I glanced at him and then at Ezra who was frowning at me in confusion.

Lowering her weapon, I turned to face the injured man "Mr.Salvotski, I made some calls. Our people are on their way to visit your little girl and who knows, maybe we will bring her here to see who her daddy really is."

"A daughter...?" Whispered the woman next to me, surprised.

"Anya?...No...not my baby girl...please...do what you want to me but leave her out of this. I'm begging you..." he begged me, collecting all of his strength to speak.

"I promise nothing will happen to little Anya if you cooperate with us. Now, how about we make this quick before you pass out? Give us names."

"F-fine...I will. But.. I want proof that you actually have my daughter and that she's fine."

"I don't know Mr.Salvotski, do you want to take the risk and wait to find out?"

"N-no...o-okay...I will...I will tell you but please keep your promise and don't hurt my daughter." I nodded and he proceeded to breathe out all the names he had.

"That's a good boy, isn't he doc?" she mocked, writing down the last name.

Getting sick of the smell and sight of blood, I rushed her, walking to the door "Come on, let's get the hell out of here."

"Yeah...yeah" she mumbled before a gunshot sound got me to turn around in shock.

"W-why?...why did you do that?!" I screamed, looking at the lifeless body on the chair who now has a hole in his forehead.

"What are you yelling at me for? I gave the guy something I don't usually give. I had mercy on him. I could have just left him to bleed slowly to death." she reproached, walking outside the room after collecting her suitcase.

"B-but...he gave us what we wanted. Couldn't we have just left him be?"

"For real?...how can you be so smart and so dumb at the same time? I don't get it." She asked in a low voice like she was talking to herself while passing by me. She jumped off the group of dead men and reached for the elevator button. I walked in and stood next to her after carefully stepping away from the dead bodies that reminded me of the pain I have in my sides.

"Don't look that upset," she started "if we had left him alive he would have come back for us. And plus, he is not the type of guy the world will miss."

"I know." I simply answered.

"How the fuck did you know he had a daughter he cared about?"

"I just took a guess based on the necklace I found in his bedroom and his actions showed he was trying to protect someone."

"A necklace? How did you guess it was for his daughter and not one of his girlfriends'?"

"If he had any emotional connection to a woman to the point of keeping her necklace hung close to his pillow and keep it in his sight when he sleeps, we wouldn't be here in the first place, would we? So, the only second explanation was a girl that he likes enough but not in a romantic kind of way that he's willing to sacrifice his life for, and who fits that description? A daughter or a sister but I went with the former which was more probable."

"Good job. I have to say, you did impress me. I may start to believe your claims about having those observational powers." She praised, looking at me half smiling and I opened my mouth to speak but didn't have the right words. "What now?" asked my companion.

"Ummm...you have a little something on your face...you should wipe it before we reach the hall."

"And you're telling me now that I have blood on my face?! What if someone had seen me like this? We would have been fucked." She scolded me, wiping hastily the stains off her face with the back of her hand adding some of her salivae to rub the dry ones.

We reached the receptionist and saluted her on our way out but she didn't answer back; maybe still bitter about what happened earlier. We walked out of the hotel and down the street.

"What now? How are we going to find the girl?" I asked

"Find the girl? What girl?"

"His daughter."

"Why the hell would I want to do that?" she questioned in surprise.

"What do you mean why? We promised him that we are going to protect his daughter. Remember?"

"I promised nothing to no one, darling."

"What?! So you're simply going to let a little girl get killed by these monsters?"

She stopped walking and turned to look at me, narrowing her eyes "Are you criticizing my morals right now? You? The guy that just threatened to hurt a little girl to make her father speak?"

"That doesn't mean anything. It was not true and plus, I saved the man from a lot more pain."

"That's what you want to believe to make yourself feel better, right? In reality, you know you are not a normal person and that deep inside, you are no better than me. The fact that you're still here after witnessing so much is the biggest proof of it. So shut the fuck up before I knock your ass out." she threatened, walking away.

The worst part is that I know she's right. I thought to myself, running to catch up with her, wondering how she could walk so fast with 4-inch heels. We marched for a few minutes. I was sulking behind her when she turned her head to order me. "Instead of looking at the ground feeling bad for yourself, how about you make yourself useful and search for an Italian restaurant?"

"An Italian restaurant? What for? Are we having pizza now?" I asked half-jokingly.

"No, genius. Roy said that we would find an apartment close to that man's hotel above an Italian restaurant."

"Are we going to stay that close to Salvotski's hotel? Isn't that dangerous?"

She didn't answer me and exclaimed suddenly "Here it is!!" pointing towards a little shop with pictures of pizza, pasta, and many other Italian dishes displayed on the glass. We climbed the stairs, which were next to the small restaurant, and reached a red wooden door. Ezra stopped in front of it and knocked violently.

I looked at her in shock "What the hell are you doing? You said Roy got you that apartment so why are you knocking? Don't you have the keys?"

"You were with me all the time, dumbass. Did you see me get any keys?"

"I can't really answer this. You always manage to get things out of nowhere." I mumbled and she raised her eyebrows in confusion "A-anyway, is there someone in there?" I asked, gazing back at the door.

"Yes, there is. An old lazy fucker!!! Open the goddam door before I break it down!!!" She yelled at the wooden piece.

A few seconds later, we heard a click and the door opened, revealing the last person I anticipated seeing so soon."Why are you always so impatient? Like a fucking spitfire." grumbled Roy, yawning.

"Were you sleeping, old man?" she scolded, walking past him inside the apartment.

"You know I'm always tired after long flights." He defended and then moved his eyes to me.

I was in great shock to the point where I just stood there, my mouth wide open in disbelief. "Ohh? Your pet is still alive? That's a great surprise. How did it go, doctor? Everything okay?" asked Roy.

"H-how?....How did you?... It's impossible...It's an eleven hours flight from New York to Bucharest and we took the last one...so how did you get here that fast?" I tried to understand, stumbling on my words.

"Hah...you still ask annoying questions. I guess you're fine then." He announced, going in, I stepped inside and closed the door behind me. Roy was in his usual position, sitting on a chair, his eyes glued to the cell phone's screen. I find it amazing that a man his age is into technology like this.

"Did you take a private jet?" I asked, sitting across from him on the light green sofa.

"Wow...you're so smart," he answered in a tired voice, without looking away from his phone.

"You own one?"

He lifted his eyes and fixed me, displeased "Do you think if I actually had the money to buy a private jet that I would use it to take an endless flight to Bucharest and babysit a crazy serial killer?"

"No...?" I answered hesitantly.

"OF COURSE NOT!!!" he yelled, "I would be in Hawaii sipping a piña colada on the beach, watching almost naked hotties." He then got up and walked towards a bedroom, still talking "So to answer your stupid question, no, I don't own one. I have a lucky bastard friend that does. Now, don't wake me up unless Ezra decides to have a role in the outbreak of World War III."

I sat alone in the cozy living room, gazing at the wall for a few minutes, lost in thought. Suddenly, a door on my left opens and Ezra walks out, changed into a white hoody, very short black shorts that barely were visible, and a clean face.

She looked at me then looked around, scanning the room "Where the hell is Roy?"

"He went to sleep," I answered.

"Hah...I heard him yelling. What did you say to irritate him like that?" She asked, breaking into laughter.

"...Nothing. Forget about it."

"Alright," she said, ending her laugh and sitting next to me on the sofa "I'm dying from hunger. I will order something from the restaurant. You want anything?"

"Yeah, I'm hungry too. I haven't eaten since we landed. Get me anything you want." I replied, swinging my head back to rest on the edge of the sofa. She nodded, went to make the phone call, and came back. She then opened the small fridge and took out two cans of beer.

I took one from her but didn't open it "He said that it will be delivered to us in 15 minutes." She started talking, probably trying to break the silence "If he doesn't, I'm going to take them for free, cut the delivery man to pieces and turn him into a barbecue." She joked around but it didn't make me laugh. Instead, I said what was bothering me.

"Hey...Ezra" I called and she stopped sipping from her can to look at me "Can't we...? Can't we do anything about Salvotski's daughter?"

"Are you still stuck on that?!" she asked in irritation, slamming the can loudly on the coffee table.

"What if they do hurt her like he said they will? Wouldn't that be our fault?"

"Who cares about that?! She is not yours so why do you give a fuck?! And no, it is not our fault, it's her daddy's fault for being a shitty man!!! Stop rattling my head about it."

I wasn't able to answer back because knockings on the door interrupted our argument. Ezra got up from the sofa and threw the can in the trash on her way to open the door. A young man in his late teens stood there, holding our boxes of food. His eyes wandered on Ezra's body slowly.

"Do you have my food, kid?" she asked impatiently.

"U-umm...yas...yas" he answered, handing her the delivery hastily.

She gave him money and told him to keep the rest but he didn't stop looking at her with a stupid expression. "What? Is the tip not enough for you?" snarled Ezra, losing her calm.

"N-no miss...b-but...I have a question. D-do you have boyfriend?"

"Bye," She cut his advances off, slamming the door in his face, and strolled back to the living room and put the food on the table, opening the pizza box. "Seriously. What's up with these kids always going after older women." She complained to herself, taking a big bite of pizza.

I also took a slice and asked "So what's the plan now? Are you going after those men?"

She swallowed her food quickly and answered before taking another bite "My plan now is to stuff my belly full and go to sleep because it's 5 am in the fucking morning, and the plane wasn't comfortable at all. Roy will take care of those names. What about you?"

"I guess I will just sit here and maybe take a shower. I'm not sleepy."

"Suit yourself," she said before adding "Try not to think too much. Trust me, it will only make you go nuts." I nodded lightly and we didn't say anything else until she went into the other room to sleep.