Chapter 196 - 10

WARNING!

This chapter can be highly disturbing. A certain scene will be clearly brutal and may give the reader unhealthy satisfaction. Be aware that you read it at your own risk.

That day, Marek did something that was beyond his character, something that surprised even himself. It was something that contradicted the essence of Marek Marczak.

That day, Marek said goodbye to his fantasies of acquiring a certain inaccessible man.

Loving someone who doesn't want your love, having someone who doesn't want to be owned - maybe there used to be an exciting element to it, but today it was just disgust at the thought of imposing yourself on someone so much.

If there is not even the slightest chance of reciprocity, there is no point in demeaning yourself. If there is no chance of reciprocity, you have to admit defeat, walk away and find that chance for yourself. After all, there were more men (and women) in the world who could make Marek passionate. It was enough just to look away from Dominik and Andrzej and just go further. 

Marek knew there would never be anything between him and Nowicki, but that didn't mean he stopped loving him. He just did not know what exactly is this love? Andrzej fell in love for the first time at the age of twenty-eight, Marek discovered this feeling only at the age of forty. Love really was unpredictable.

This weekend made Marek realize that both Dominik and Andrzej were forever beyond his reach. Their affection was so special that it would probably survive the end of the world. There was no point in fighting him, going between them. Marczak was not one of the people who gave up easily, but he also did not intend to fight battles in which he had no chance of winning.

And so his first dream of love ended.

He felt disappointed and sad. He knew it was a natural reaction of the body, pure biochemistry and not any emotional nonsense. Chemistry was responsible for falling in love, for euphoria, and for all the rest of the romantic gibberish. Maybe that was why he had taken this end of all hope really well. In a few days, he will probably meet a new pretty face who will gladly jump into his bed and pamper her a little if it works. If not, there are more to come. Life is too short to waste it on some pointless meditation on the past and idiotic weeps over it. Today matters. Tomorrow matters. Yesterday won't come back and can't be changed, so why bother with it?

The phone had been ringing for a long time before he heard it. The first words that came out of the handset took Marek to his feet.

"Boss, we got him!"

"Where?"

His man indicated the address of one of the niche clubs that was under Marczak's tutelage. A bit out of the way so that wild parties can be really wild. If someone liked expressive games straight from "Hammer for Witches", this place was perfect for him. Same as for Marek's goals.

"Get him ready," he ordered. "I will be soon."

The excitement surged within him, suddenly bursting him all over. Finally, he will look at the mouth of the beast that killed little Iwo Mężyński. Look at his face and frame him like a pig. He will regret being born.

The animal had the surprisingly human, ordinary face of a twenty-something-year-old manual worker, marked by sun, wind, and effort. She wasn't beautiful, but she wasn't off-putting either. Ordinary. So the biggest monster cannot be recognized from the face, decided Marczak, still staring at her. Or is there a monster in everyone?

The guy was completely naked, tied well and hanging from the ceiling in an uncomfortable position with his arms twisted back and his legs spread out, bent at the knees. He had been hanging like that for a while, so he stopped playing dude. The ropes cut into his body, and the joints forced to hold in an unnatural position and burdened by his weight must have already made themselves known. It hurt. It must have hurt. The men standing next to him knew their stuff. Marek employed only professionals.

"What do you want from me?" He groaned bound. He sounded pathetic. "I'll do anything, anything, just let me out!"

Marek walked over to him and punched him in the face. He had a strong right hook, so the man's head jumped and blood was dripping from his lips.

"Oh, you…!" He tried to pose, so he got one more blow. Marczak rubbed his hand. Even he felt the impact.

"How sure are you?" Marek Marczak asked one of his men. The guy was short, in his late forties, and wore an inexpensive, unfashionable suit.

"One hundred percent," he replied. "Krystian broke into the police database to compare DNA. One hundred percent compliance."

"He confessed?"

"We didn't ask."

Marek took a photo of Iwo Mężyński out of his pocket. The boy smiled at him with the fullness of his youth. He should keep smiling like that for many years to come, until he grows old. Marczak grabbed the man by the hair and lifted his bloody face. He put a photo under his nose.

"Do you recognize him?" he asked.

"What? No!"

He lied. His eyes recognized the boy in the photo immediately. The dog was lying to avoid punishment.

"Maybe you've already noticed, but we're not the police," Marek explained. "We don't have to follow procedures, or, say, human rights, to extract the relevant testimony. Since these statements will not go to court, we need not worry that they were obtained illegally by force. I guess you know what that means?"

He knew. Only a fool wouldn't guess hanging from the ceiling and dripping blood.

"Have you seen my two colleagues who look after you in this place?" Marczak pointed to tall, fleshy men looking like torturers from heavy BDS & M films. "The boys can't wait to give you back for Iwo. They just waiting for my permission. I will give it to them, don't worry," he smiled ad it was a smile of a devil. "I guarantee they will have more fun than you with this boy."

His face changed instantly. You could see terror filling every cell in his body. This sight gave Marek some satisfaction. Not enough.

"So what, do you remember now?"

"Yep."

Marczak felt relieved and furious at the same time.

"So now, why did you do it?"

"I ... I saw him sometimes. He was always smiling, fagot one. Thought he was some god or something. He looked a bit like this actor, Dominik Śliwiński, and acted like a star. He made me angry with his fagging. I wanted to teach him a lesson."

So that's it, thought Marczak and felt disappointed. A typical homophobe, a hidden gay who is unable to cope with his identity, smothers it to such an extent that it turns it into a hatred for anything and everything that could free his inner desires. And yet, at the moment of the most violent outbreak of this hatred, repressed instincts also come to the fore and he loses control over himself. It turns into a wild, brainless animal.

His story was so simple. Seeing Iwo, a handsome young man who was not very hiding that he was gay and was happy, he felt attracted to him, maybe a fascination that he could not even admit to himself.

It was sad. Pathetic. A psychologist, or someone like Dominik, would find understanding and extenuating circumstances for him. But not Marek. What mattered to him was the fact that Iwo, his man, had been brutally murdered and his tormentor hung in front of Marczak's eyes.

So this beast didn't deserve to be treated like a human. She didn't deserve to be handed over to the police, put on trial, and with a lawyer mock the judiciary. Human law, criminal law was too lenient to really punish such a hideous crime. Because the law saw a man where there was only a mindless animal. Because the law said that even an animal that rapes and brutally murders an innocent man has human rights that must be respected. And then such a murderer complains that his human rights are violated, because instead of a hundred channels on TV, he can only receive twenty in a prison cell.

Only the old law could do any justice to the unfortunate Iwo.

An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth.

Pain for a pain.

"So that's it," he said, looking at the swollen and bloody face. He didn't even try to see him as a human. The man was Mężyński, not that something. "Guys, you can start. Do your best."

"Yes, sir."

Marek headed for the exit.

"What…? What do you want to do with me?" He heard a desperate squeak behind him. "No! Leave me alone! No!!!"

This is for you, Iwo, Marek thought as he closed the door. He will scream ten times more than you. He will cry and beg for death, not for life.

And if he survives the session with the guys ... Well, then maybe he'll become someone's toy in a prison cell.