Chapter 61: Chapter 61

"Sacrifice, that's the thing we do for the people we love."

-Gayle Forman-

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Raphael and Corentin had been waiting in a building on the rural area of Paris. For the first time they were seated beside each other eagerly waiting with the same goal. The building itself belonged to Corentin's family and it was used for emergency meetings. Because the location was far from the public's eyes. No one else would have cared to know more about it.

It was a rare occasion for them, who have enjoyed a position of comfort their entire life to bother with the street work. But just this once, they were willing to get their hands dirty. Keep in mind, these two men were sophisticated members of society, who had an immaculate reputation, but each man have their own dark side, including them. When combined, it became even more deadly.

The door slammed open and the men they have sent came inside the room with Renee with them. They pulled a chair and slammed her there. They tied her hand and legs with a wire rope to the chair, with zero possibility of escape.

They removed her mouth seal and her first word was "Bastard!"

Raphael's blood was boiling, but her face remained cold. If it was any other situation, he would never believe how harsh he could be.

Both him and Corentin knew. Handing her over to the authority and letting them do the work is too forgiving for her. It would be all too easy escape. They would not be able to do much harm to her, after all she was also partially protected by her wealth.

But Renee was dead wrong if she thought she could mess with The Desroches and The Leclair. Even her family's name and fortune could not save her in front of the two beasts. She needed to suffer more. It was what the two men agreed on.

Cruel? Yes. Justified? Definitely.

The large men stood behind her to prevent her from doing anything funny, while in the room there were four more large men, all dressed in black suits. They were watching her intently. One thing which most people did not know about Corentin had a few acquaintances and relatives in Sicily who are part of the Sicilian mafia. They borrowed a few men and transported them all the way to Paris. It was an easy matter for him to negotiate. Raphael had to admit that Corentin himself was quite a terrifying man. Despite his laid back, calm and composed personality, once he was truly mad, he could take extreme measures which went against his own moral boundaries. However, not all those who lack morals, lack insights. Both men were circling her, she was struggling in her seat. she gave them a sharp glare. Both were unshakable. All Raphael wanted to do right then was to strangle her to death, but he did not want to get his hand dirty, murdering a woman like her was not worth the risk.

"What are you two doing, let me go." Renee demanded.

"You poisoned Clara, do you think you could get away with it?" Raphael approached her, he grabbed her neck and pressed his fingers, digging his nails deep, it almost felt like he could just tear her apart right then. She groaned in pain, after a few seconds he released his hand from her neck and she was choking in pain. Raphael felt no remorse when he watched her suffer. Corentin, who usually had a pretty good sense of humanity, felt absolutely no mercy for her. Both of them wanted her death, Yet, death would be too easy of a punishment.

"You know, I really want to torture you right here, make you pay for whatever you did to Clara."

"You want to beat a woman?" She challenged.

"A man should respect a woman, they said..." Corentin spoke in a low husky voice. At this point she knew nothing she said would stop him from doing whatever he wanted with her.

"But a wicked woman only bring misery to the society. Justice which we know as it is has been watered down, it has grown weak. Thus we need to bring matters into our own hand." One of the man untied her and dragged her down to the floor, pushing her. She was then kneeling on the floor. Corentin grabbed a fistful of her hair, pulling it, so they were then facing each other.

"You have a pretty face, but too bad. It does not match what is inside." he released his fist and one of the man approached her and pulled the back of her dress, till her back was exposed.

"What are you trying to do!? Are you going to make them rape me?"

"No, we are not that shallow. But we would do something you will never forget for the rest of your life" Another large man went to the fireplace, he was holding a long steel pipe with a round steel stamp. At this point she had known what was going on, her face looked mortified, she was starting to panic. The previous anger and fury she had turned into fear. It was getting real. She thought she was a psychopath, and she was, but these two men, they acted like refined high functioning sociopath.

She looked at them with a begging stare. Her eyes were red and the veins started bulging from her neckline. She looked mortified, and for the first time, the psycho felt fear, when they were not supposed to.

As the whole thing happened, Raphael and Corentin did not seem to care, they were watching without blinking. Their face was cold. It was like all human emotions were removed from them altogether.

The man holding the iron stamp pushed the now heated stamp and without any warning, pushed it right on her back. She screamed as hard as possible, but the place itself had been made perfectly soundproof, no one outside the room would hear her. The warmth of the steel touched her back, she screamed. It was burning her skin, and carved a mark on her she would never forget. After a few seconds he pulled it back, and a burning mark was visible now on her back. She was crying like a mad woman. The mark was a large C shape. Coincidentally, an initial for Clara. Had that been their intention, only them would know.

"This, you will never forget for a lifetime. Every time you take a look at your back in the mirror, you will always remember this day and you will always remember what you did to her. You asked this for yourself, now you must bear the consequences" He signaled for them to release her tie and they picked her up. At this point she was broken from the freshly inflicted wound. There were no signs of resistance, because though she was crazy, she was not physically trained for combat, while the men in the room could easily killed her in a blink of an eye.

"The police will be having you soon. You could try to bring this matter to the courtroom, I will call my team of lawyers. We have backups everywhere. Take this as a lesson. Do not mess with Clara" The men brought her out. Raphael fell on his couch. He was tired and looked like he was going to pass out. Corentin handed him over a glass of water, he seemed awfully more composed than Raphael. For once, they had something to agree on.

"The things we do for love." Raphael put down his glass and took a deep breath.

"We did what we have to do. The prison would only confine her physically, but she needed a mental lesson." he added.

"I hope we did the right thing." Corentin smirked and patted Raphael on the shoulder. He said nothing else and left. Raphael was seated alone with two of his personal bodyguard. He stared down at the iron stamp, picked it up, and threw it to the fireplace.