I drive us quickly to one of our warehouses outside of the city, and I drag her with me inside the desolate place.
The reckoning has arrived.
"Enzo, what is the meaning of this?" She frowns as she looks around the dilapidated warehouse.
While I was waiting for the test results, I'd had enough time to think of all the ways I'd make her pay — because in my mind she'd been guilty from the get-go. But now I can get a little more inventive.
She dared touch Allegra.
And that means her death won't be swift.
I lock the door at the warehouse, and I take a seat on a chair, watching. She knows something is about to happen. I can see the restlessness just beneath her facade of calmness.
"You can drop the act," I start, "I know exactly what you've done."
She laughs, whirling around to look at me.
"Enzo, you shouldn't listen to that bitch. She doesn't know about our bond." She has the gall to smirk, slowly making her way towards me.
"Why?" I don't elaborate, and she knows exactly what I'm talking about.
"I couldn't let your seed take root in her body," she drapes her hands over my shoulders. I keep on watching her, the desire to finish her here and now overwhelming me. But not yet...
"So you decided to poison her."
"Of course. Now if she died..." a smile plays at her lips.
"She's alive and well, mother," I inform her, and her features morph into cruel anger.
"The same can't be said about you, however," I stand up, my fingers circling her wrists and dragging her to the table in the center. Only when she sees the shackles on the table does she start to struggle in my hold.
But it's too late.
The back of my hand connects with her cheek and she reels back, stumbling on to the table. Momentarily confused from the slap, she doesn't even budge when I shackle her feet to the table, one in each corner.
I do the same for her hands, and for the first time I see some real fear on her face.
"You see, mother, I've been made aware of everything you've been doing to Allegra and," I let that sink in before I continue, "I'm not pleased."
"The bitch deserved it! How could anyone like her be with someone like you? My beautiful baby boy needs someone far superior, not average like her." She spits the words out, and I start to see the root of her hate for Allegra.
"Hmm, and who might it be? That superior person you speak of?" I feign curiosity as I take a step back from the table, assessing her. Her limbs are spread into an X, her dress hiked up her hips in what would certainly help with my plan.
An eye for an eye.
A manic smile appears on her face and I can already anticipate her answer.
"Me! I gave birth to you so you can only be mine. There's no one worthier."
"Really," I drawl, disgust settling deep in my gut as I remember just how entitled she'd been to me and my body. "Is that why you kept trying to fuck me in my sleep?"
"It's not as if you didn't like it," she raises an eyebrow. "I can still remember the taste of your cum in my mouth," she makes a sick noise with her mouth and I already feel like taking out my gun and shooting her.
Not yet!
"You're fucking sick." I shake my head in disbelief.
"Imagine the perfect children we could have!" She continues to blabber, more absurdities coming out of her mouth.
At this point I can only conclude that she's either the most depraved being on earth, or she's just mental.
Or maybe both.
Taking out my phone, I dial Nero.
"Come in," I tell him, and he soon appears from a hidden door of the warehouse carrying two small cages.
"I always knew I was going to kill you someday, mother," I casually circle her table, and she looks at me suspiciously. She has absolutely no idea what awaits her. "I only held off because of my sisters, even though you've never been the exemplary mother to them either. But you had to touch Allegra," I make a tsk sound as I stop next to her head. "You see, she may be average to you, but to me she's everything." Her eyes widen at my emphasis on the word everything.
"You can't mean that," she whispers, and for the first time desolation ravages her features.
"Oh but I do," I give her a half-smile as I stoop to whisper in her ear, "and that means I will show no mercy." I hear her tiny intake of breath, and she must realize I'm being serious.
"But your father... he won't allow," she sputters, and I can only chuckle.
"As far as everyone knows, you are now on a flight to Sicily for a prolonged vacation. Do you really think my father will ever remember you? There will be some postcards here and there, of course, but other than that he won't care that you're gone."
She pales at my words, mostly because she knows I'm right. Throughout their marriage he's made no secret of his many affairs or mistresses, or the fact that he simply has no lost love for her.
"I will show you exactly what it feels to be stuck in your own skin, with no control over what happens to your body. And don't think I have no affection for you," I add, and a spark appears in her eyes only to be crushed when I finish my sentence, "I spent a great deal of time thinking of the perfect way to end your existence. Granted, I've had more than a decade to think in detail what I'd do to you. But this?" I incline my head to where Nero's standing, "is for Allegra, with love."
I stand up, and lighting a cigarette, I bark my first orders.
I'd chosen Nero for this specific venture because I'd seen how trustworthy he could be. He's also a cold, psychotic bastard. I don't think he has any limits to what he can do to another being. And so, the fun can begin.
Nero goes to the table and rotating a small wheel, inclines it forty-five degrees, mother's head oriented towards the floor while her feet are in the air.
He opens a duffel bag full of tools and takes out a speculum.
"What?" Mother's eyes widen when she sees it, and she starts thrashing within her holds. It doesn't help, since I'd made sure of the tight fit.
Nero's face is professionally blank as he throws mother's skirt over her hips and removes her underwear.
Then, he pushes the speculum into her vagina, enlarging the opening.
I take the last drag of my cigarette before throwing it to the ground and lighting another, moving around to get the full experience of mother's emotions as she experiences the violation of her body.
Only, I'm not so vile to use rape. On the contrary, my gentlemanly senses tell me I should be more gentle than that. She is my birth mother after all.
Leaving the speculum in place, Nero brings forward a jar with a yellow substance inside.
I'd instructed him to make a very particular concoction. I admit I'd drawn a lot of inspiration from the ancient practice of scaphism, but I'd made a few tweaks to it so it would accommodate a different medium and a few other participants.
He opens the jar and starts pouring the contents in her vagina.
A mix of peanut butter, honey and maggot eggs, diluted with some milk to give it a lighter consistency.
Mother starts screaming as the liquid makes its way inside her womb, the honey sticking to her uterine walls; the eggs embedding themselves into a very warm and welcoming environment — the perfect place for them to grow to adulthood. Due to gravity and her position, no corner of her uterus will remain untouched.
I signal Nero and we both retreat for a few hours — enough time for the eggs to start moving.
When we come back, mother is in tears, her skin red and hot. One quick look and I can see some larvae moving around.
It's not a coincidence, as I'd had someone harvest these eggs for a while now, playing with the temperature of their environment to ensure they would be ripe for mother's enjoyment.
"Please," she whimpers when she sees me, but I just shrug.
This is just the beginning.
I wonder how it feels to have your body invaded by foreign objects — moving, squirming inside of you...
; As I watch the agony reflected on her face I can't muster any pity.
She tried to kill my little tigress, and that's enough for me. Already I don't know if she can ever forgive me for what happened that night. If I'm being honest with myself, I doubt the drugs had been entirely responsible for my behavior. Not when I've been repressing my desire for her for so long, scared for the intensity of emotions she awakens in me.
And now? It happened and I barely remember it.
I nod to Nero and he takes one of the smaller cages, opening it to reveal a couple of starving rats. Taking them by the tail, he pushes them slowly in mother's body, the rodents wiggling their way inside her vagina in search for the sweetness of the peanut butter and honey.
Already mother starts screaming in pain, and I guess they're biting more than their fair share, nibbling at her walls.
The entire time, the rats are ravenously eating at her insides, and I watch her facial expressions, and the way the agony is inscribed on her face.
More... she deserves so much more...
But I don't have time for that. Not when my wife is weak and feeble, recuperating from a bout of poison.
Phase two done, Nero begins phase three.
Using an instrument resembling a scalpel, but longer, he starts cutting at mother's uterine walls, leading directly towards her intestines. The liquid from her womb flows freely into the newly empty cavity, and with it the rats burrow further inside her.
Her voice is ragged, almost out of power. But she's still awake.
I light another cigarette, releasing a cloud of smoke as I study her features. She's resilient, I'll give her that. But it's only helping me and what I have planned for her further, with phase four.
"Do it now," I instruct Nero, afraid that if we wait much longer she might pass out from the pain.
Her eyes are half-closed and glazed, and no matter how strong she is in front of pain, even she can't take rats literally eating her entrails while alive.
Nero brings forth the second cage, handling it with far more care than the first.
Inside is a medium-sized yellow-green python. Equally as starved, Nero is particularly careful with the mouth, holding the snout closed with his hands.
Mother, even in her languid state, opens her mouth to exclaim her disbelief at the sight. Measuring well over two meters, the python looks threatening, especially for her current condition.
Her eyes widen before her brows crease and I know she's realized the purpose of the snake.
With great care, Nero eases the python inside her vagina, and when it's well inside, he lets go. The snake slithers his way deeper, hunger gnawing at him as he searches for his prey.
It's pretty obvious when the first feeding occurs, as mother's stomach expands with the python's jaws as he gulps down one rat, slowly swallowing it whole and letting its digestive agents work at dissolving the organic matter.
Mother's entire body starts convulsing, and the corners of my mouth slightly pull up at the sight.
The python should be hungry enough for the second rat too, and even more, ensuring that he'll be swallowing some of mother's organs by the end of it. Another tidbit I'd learned in my research is that snakes digest food better when they are warmer, so mother's body should be the perfect environment to ensure an almost endless hunger.
Well, if that doesn't kill her, then hemorrhage, sepsis or even a heart attack from the pain might.
"And now, mother, I believe my wife is waiting for me at home. I'll be sure to send her your regards, especially when I get her pregnant with our first child," I bring my hand up in a mock salute, but her almost-dead eyes barely react.
Satisfied with the turn of event and knowing that she won't last much longer, I instruct Nero to let me know when she's finally died, and to throw her corpse in the Hudson afterwards. It wouldn't be fair to exclude aquatic predators. Everyone should have a go at her.
Hmm, was I too easy on her? Maybe I should have auctioned parts of her body on the dark web.
It's late when I finally make it home, and Ana informs me that Allegra is asleep in her room, recovering from the traumatic experience of having her stomach pumped. I ask her to keep me updated, not wanting to intrude where I know I'm not wanted.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU need to get her pregnant?" Maman Margot asks, scandalized.
I grimace as I think of a way to explain this to her without seeming like the worst cad.
"She needs a reason to stay," I add rather weakly.
The aftermath of my atrocious behavior and her poisoning hadn't gone too well. I've become obsessed with keeping her safe — tucked away from the world so that no one can harm her; but also so that no one can steal her from me.
I'd started small. In the beginning, I simply stopped her from going outside, even with her bodyguards. Seeing her crouched on the floor in pain and bloodied had done a number on me. I'd suddenly started having recurring visions of her getting into a car accident, or worse, getting killed by a madman.
The visions had turned into nightmares, and I started barely sleeping for fear something might happen to her and take her away from me.
I'd installed cameras in the entire house, alternating my time between necessary business meetings and watching her.
She'd sensed the change in me and had become even more withdrawn.
I'm loathe to admit, but the hate I'd instilled in her might have started to fester... and I only have myself to blame.
"What do you mean I'm not allowed to go anywhere?" She'd asked, outraged, when I'd refused to allow her to go to the grocery store.
"It's dangerous." I'd lied to her, even though I'm well aware the danger is only in my paranoid mind.
"What's wrong with you?" She'd whispered, her eyes filled with hurt.
"I'm just looking out for you," my reply had had no effect on her, and since then our conversations have become more and more strained.
It's only at night that we seem to get along, and it had been entirely surprising that she hadn't rejected my advances — all things considered.
Faced with the evidence of what I'd done to her, I'd been wary to even go anywhere near her. But one night, when I'd had slightly too much to drink, I found myself knocking on her door.
I hadn't been drunk enough to not remember it the next day, and I'd savored the feel of her in my arms, the way her expression changed in a moment of pleasure.
But as much as I'd started feeling more confident about our relationship, outside the bedroom the situation had worsened.
"So what," she'd arched an eyebrow at me, "just because I'm a woman I can't enjoy sex? I need to get at least something out of this relationship... if you can call it like that," she'd rolled her eyes at me.
"So that's it? You're just using me?" I'd been rather taken aback by her comment.
She'd shrugged. "You can't offer me anything more than a good fuck, Enzo. Let's not kid ourselves that there's anything deeper to what we do. We fuck. Hard, fast, like animals. There's nothing tender or loving to it," she paused, studying my reaction. "And I'm perfectly fine with that. I don't think you have it in you to give me more," with a friendly slap on the shoulder, she'd gone to the bathroom, leaving me alone in bed and staring at her retreating figure. She'd taken my words from before and twisted them — and I'd realized just how it felt to be on the receiving end of such mockery.
It was at that moment that I knew just how wrong our relationship had become. She even stopped arguing with me, and the apathy was killing me.
And so our strange dynamic had persisted — at night we'd find pleasure in each other's arms; and during the day we'd ignore each other.
For a month now, though, Allegra has become more secretive than usual. So I snooped into her diary — again.
But what I'd found shook me to the core.
My little tigress was planning to leave me. She'd made detailed plans, keeping track of the change of guards and the schedule of busses at the nearby station. She'd been extremely thorough in
her observations, and I knew it was just a matter of time before she executed her plan perfectly — leaving me forever.
"Enzo..." Maman Margot shakes her head at me, and I can see the disappointment in her eyes, "what did you do?"
"I just need her to stay," I repeat, a hint of desolation in my voice.
I know I could lock her up, isolate her even further than I already have. But that would make her hate me even more.
And now more than anything I want her not to hate me.
No, I need her to want to stay of her own volition. And I know a child would be the perfect reason for her to stay.
"Have you been having relations?" Maman probes, and I nod. "Protected?" She adds, and I frown.
"No, we've never used protection."
Maman narrows her eyes in consternation.
"Never? How long have you been sleeping together?"
"Almost a year now."
"God, Enzo... it's hard to believe she hasn't conceived by now. Maybe one of you has fertility issues..." She trails off. "But also, maybe she's been taking something to prevent pregnancy?"
I still, the idea absurd at first, but starting to make sense the more I think about it.
"Certainly, there could be fertility issues, but..." I'm suddenly struck by a thought. "She's always taking a pill at 3pm. I've asked her about it and she told me it was vitamins." I say and maman just purses her lips.
"Vitamins don't need to be taken at the same time every day. Contraceptives do."
"Fuck," I mutter low, and I try to remember how she would have gotten them in the first place.
Ana...
She's the one delivering her vitamins every month.
Fuck!
How did I not see this? She's been planning everything, hasn't she?
"What can I do, maman? I can't lose her," the pain in my voice must be palpable because maman gives me a solution — even though she doesn't agree with it.
"You better treat that girl right, Enzo," she warns me as I leave.
After doing my research on her pills, I stealthily switch them with placebos, hoping it won't be too long until I see results.
Late at night, when I go to her room, I find her already asleep. Shedding my clothes, I slide between the sheets, hugging her to me.
Morally Decadent (Morally Questionable Book 3) Page 24
