Owned By The Psychotic Billionaire (Mafia BL)

WHAT ORION SAW...

”Do you recognize him?” I ask softly. I lean down, resting my chin lightly on his shoulder, feeling his body tremble beneath my touch. ”Look closely, duckling. Take your time. Don’t rush. The show hasn’t even started.”

The man tied to the chair shifts violently the moment our footsteps echo through the quiet space. He lets out a muffled, frantic whimpering sound through the thick black tape sealed over his mouth.

His body twitches, but every time he moves too sharply, the dangling ropes sway, threatening to disturb the floating boards and tip the candle flames straight into the pools of fuel beneath them.

Adrien takes a half-step back, but I keep my hand anchored on his waist, keeping him flush against my side.

He stares at the man in the chair in horror.

The man’s clothes are filthy, stained with dirt and sweat. His hair is greasy, sticking to his forehead, and his face is red with frantic panic. Dark rope burns mark his bare arms and legs where he tried to pull against his bindings earlier.

Then, the man lifts his head, his wide, bloodshot eyes locking onto Adrien through the dim light.

I feel the moment the shock hits Adrien’s body. He gasps, every drop of air leaving his lungs in a single second.

He knows those eyes. He knows that face.

I watch Adrien’s face as his mind travels back seven years, dropping him right onto that rain-slicked street corner near the old playground.

This is the man.

This is the first person Adrien met after he escaped the academy on that rainy night. The man who found him shivering behind a jungle gym, weak, hungry, and entirely alone.

The man who offered him a dry blanket and a warm loaf of bread, only to show his true intentions less than an hour later in a locked room that smelled of stale beer and mold.

I would know because he confessed it all to me.

He was the one who taught Adrien the way of the streets, forcing him to surrender his body to filthy, disgusting people just to earn a warm meal and a place to sleep.

He was the one who took a fragile, runaway boy and tried to break him into nothing.

Adrien’s knees go weak. He draws short, jagged breaths, his fingers clutching tightly at my coat sleeves.

”You...” Adrien whispers, his voice cracking in the quiet warehouse.

I feel the deep tremors running through his frame. I move my hands up his arms, smoothing over his shoulders, turning him slightly so I can look down into his pale, trembling face.

I cannot hide the excitement in my eyes. I feel like a child standing in front of the person he loves most, presenting a prized creation, waiting for him to realize how much work went into it.

”I found him for you,” I murmur, my hands coming up to gently frame his face. I use my thumbs to wipe away a tear that slips down his cheek. I want to taste it.

”He put his filthy hands on you when you were weak. He thought he could take something that belonged to me and walk away freely.”

”Orion... oh god, Orion,” Adrien gasps out, his hands gripping my wrists as his eyes dart back and forth between me and the platform. ”How... how did you find him? I ran away years ago.”

”Nobody runs away from me, Adrien,” I whisper, my fingers lightly tracing the soft line of his jaw. ”I tracked every single person who ever looked at you while you were away from me. I bought his debts. I bought his house. I bought his worthless life. And then I brought him here.”

Adrien stares at me, his vision blurring with fresh tears. ”Orion... what did you do to him already? Look at his arms!”

”He tried to fight,” I explain with a light sigh, as if talking about an untrained dog. ”He didn’t realize that pulling against the ropes only drags the fuel higher up the lines. He did that to himself out of stupidity, but I kept him alive. I kept him whole enough for you to look into his eyes.”

I step closer, resting my forehead gently against his. I can feel his warm breath fluttering against my lips.

”I am giving him to you, Adrien,” I whisper, letting my voice carry all the heavy, steady weight of what I feel for him. ”He is your gift. You can watch him burn, or you can let him sit there until his heart gives out from the fear. You can do whatever you want. His life is in your hands now. Say the word, and I will tip the candles myself.”

Adrien pulls back slightly, shaking his head as if he cannot process the room around us.

”Why?” he chokes out, his knuckles turning white against my sleeves. ”Why would you do this? You didn’t care about me back then! You hunted me down like an animal! You wanted to break me!”

Are we really doing this again? Do I look like a man caring for his favourite animal? Would I make love to an animal?

”I have always cared about you,” I answer smoothly, keeping my voice calm and low. ”You ran from me, Adrien. You threw yourself into the streets. You surrendered your youth, your body, your pride to scum like him, just to stay out of my reach.”

I press my thumb firmly against his lower lip, tracing the soft curve of his mouth.

”You sacrificed everything you were just to escape me,” I continue softly, looking deep into his dark, tear-filled eyes. ”You chose to be hurt by strangers rather than be kept safe with me. Do you have any idea how much that tore through me? Do you have any idea what it felt like to realize you preferred the violence of street rats over staying with me?”

”Staying with you?” Adrien lets out a harsh, wet laugh, tears spilling over his dark eyelashes. ”You call what you did care? You would have kept me locked in a cage or killed me! You treated me like a prize!”