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TOB 55 ETHAN'S POV My eyes open slowly, my eyelids sticking together. The first thing I notice is that I'm sitting down and bound to a metal chair. Plain gray walls surround me, and rusty metal machines flicker in the corners.  I shake my head—it's my vision, not the machines, that's unsteady. I try to move, but thick ropes hold me in place. My hands are bound behind my back, and my feet are strapped to the chair's legs. This setup is familiar to me. With enough wiggling, I can flip the chair backward, bend one of its legs, and once I free my ankles, I'll have more leeway to release myself. Before I can act on my plan, I'm surrounded by the lucky seven who captured me. They didn't even bother taking me to one of their compounds; they just moved me inside the warehouse. If the location holds no importance, it means my life or death doesn't matter to them. Hades steps forward, handing his jacket to one of his underlings, and makes a show of rolling his sleeves to his elbows, revealing his  tattoos.  While doing so, he watches me with his usual grumpy, brooding expression that makes him such a bore. 'I didn't know we were close enough to play kinky games, Hades. Before we start, my safe word is ‘let me go.'"  My tone is humorous but doesn't camouflage the taste of betrayal burning in my throat and over my chest. Rose didn't just poison me; she also handed me over to her men so they'd finish the job. I'm supposed to be mad, to let my anger take over, but any semblance of it is squashed by that burning feeling. 'You're quite edgy, aren't you?" I continue in the same joking tone. 'Is this place similar to where you usually live?" 'This will be your grave if you don't answer our questions." 'I don't like knife play either. All that blood is a hassle to clean." 'Are you done being a smart f-cker?" 'I'm just communicating legitimate concerns, Hades. We need to have ground rules for these things." 'Rules?" He scoffs. 'Since when do you believe in those?" 'Your rules are no joke, mate." 'I'm not your mate. Either answer me, or we'll start with the knife you hate." He pauses to drive the point home. "Who's your insider with the Irish?" 'And I should tell you because…?" 'Because if you don't, you'll regret it. That's your final warning, Hunter." 'I know we're doing kinky stuff, but we're not exactly at the point in our relationship where we'd have a cheeky heart-to-heart, eh?" Hades raises his fist and punches me across the face so hard I flinch in my seat, and blood explodes from my upper lip. Motherf-cker. 'This will only get worse with every wrong answer." He tightens his fist. 'What are your plans?" 'Going home to my beautiful wife. Do you think she'll mind whatever kink we're exercising here since she's the one who set us up together—" I'm cut off when he jams his fist into my face, nearly breaking my nose. I gasp for air, spitting out blood. Hades doesn't seem bothered by the red smudging his fingers; this entire scene is his playground. 'I repeat, what are your plans?" 'I just told you. It's not my fault you don't believe me." He punches and kicks me in the stomach simultaneously. I fall backward with the chair and hit the ground with a loud thud. I spit blood on the floor as Hades henchman lifts me up so he can hit me again, using his fists as if I were his punching bag. While Hades isn't the most reckless like Pharaoah or the most ruthless like Laye, he's the most brutish and doesn't hesitate to use his force to get what he wants. I need to do something before he smashes my face into the ground and walks all over it, but I have no clue how much they've figured out.  This could be a ploy to make me talk, but that's improbable since Hades doesn't move without concrete evidence. Until I figure that out, I can take the torture. Having my background comes in handy at times like these. I had torture training, which was basically being tortured until I was hallucinating and feverish, on the verge of death. After all, the only way to survive torture is to go through it. Physical torture is nothing. I've lived through it and know exactly how to handle it.  Pain is concentrated in nerve endings; the best way to get past that is to numb it. If you don't think about it, the agonizing sensation eventually vanishes. The pitfall in my plan is that I can't forget the reason I'm here in the first place, the reason I am now serving as Hades' punching bag. My wife. That type of torture is way different from physical pain. That type of torture has led countless men to their breaking points. Sucking in a breath, I meet Hades's gaze. While it seems like he's watching me with a neutral expression, deep down, it's anything but.  He must be celebrating the chance to finally hit me. After all, he's hated me ever since the day I came back and snatched Rose from under his protective shield. It's not jealousy since I don't think he can feel romantically. It's more that he thought Rose was his responsibility after he pledged to Elliot that he'd protect her. "How did you get me, Hades? Because we both know it wasn't strength." "Do you want to feel my strength, Ethan? I've been taking it easy on you, but I have no reason to refuse if you insist." Easy? He disfigured my face and called it easy. "I just want to know why you must be so difficult by tying me up." 'You're here to answer for your sins." 'Sins?" I laugh through the blood. 'Have you suddenly turned into God or something? But it's useless since I don't believe in holy things." "Just because you don't believe in them doesn't mean you get to escape them." He drives his fist into my face until I hear a crack of bones. It hurts like a mother, and I grit my teeth against the constant pain pulsing through my body.