The room was dark except for the single hanging bulb, swaying slightly from the chain it hung on. The shadows seemed to breathe along the damp stone walls, and every drop of water from the ceiling echoed louder than it should have.
Gianluca Moretti sat slumped in the chair, wrists shackled to the armrests. The once-pristine suit was torn, caked in dried blood and sweat. His breathing was shallow — but not because of exhaustion. It was fear.
From the far corner, the sound of deliberate footsteps. Adrian Valgrave emerged from the shadows, gloves still stained from the last “session.”
Adrian: “Day nine. You’re still breathing. Impressive.”
Gianluca’s voice was hoarse. “You don’t understand… I did what was necessary for the family. For the Valgrave name.”
Adrian crouched down, bringing his eyes level with Gianluca’s. “No, you did what was necessary for your pride. And in the process, you broke a child who should have been protected. My nephew.”
He stood and walked slowly behind Gianluca, picking something from the table — a length of steel wire.
Adrian: “Do you know why I’m not killing you? Not yet?”
Gianluca swallowed. “Because you want me to suffer.”
Adrian: “No. Because you need to understand. Every humiliation you made Luce endure? Every cruel word, every deliberate slight? You will feel them. One by one.”
The first lash of the wire across Gianluca’s back sent him forward, teeth gritted. The second made him gasp. By the fifth, he couldn’t keep count.
Memory Breaks
Between beatings, Gianluca began to hallucinate. Sometimes he saw the boy — Luce — standing in the doorway, silent, staring at him with those cold eyes. Sometimes he heard Elda Korugane’s voice from their last argument, calling him “a shame to the Valgrave name.”
On the third night, he began muttering to himself.
Gianluca (to the empty air): “I… I gave him shelter… I trained him… he should be grateful…”
But the words sounded thin, even to him.
Adrian’s Patience
Adrian never raised his voice. Never once screamed. His cruelty was measured, surgical.
Adrian: “Pain fades. But shame? Shame digs into the bones. I’m going to make you carry yours until you can’t tell where you end and it begins.”
He would leave Gianluca alone in the dark for hours, then return without warning. A single question, a sudden blow, a silence that lasted long enough to make Gianluca’s thoughts turn in on themselves.
By the end of the second week, the man who had once stood at the head of the Moretti clan no longer sat upright. His back was permanently hunched, his eyes unfocused.
The Breaking Point
One night, as Adrian prepared to leave, Gianluca rasped out something he hadn’t said in years.
Gianluca: “…Tell him… I’m sorry.”
Adrian stopped at the door. “You’ll tell him yourself. If you still have the mind left to speak when I’m done.”
The door closed. The darkness swallowed him again.
ns216.73.216.33da2
and then Add to home screen.