Leave Me Alone, Big Brothers! [BL]-Chapter 147: The Price of Obsession

Meanwhile, Steven walked down the corridor at a fast pace. He carried a padded case in his left hand. He reached the heavy door at the end of the hall and stopped. Leo’s room.

Steven raised his hand and knocked firmly. "Leo? It’s me, Steven!"

There was a short pause. Then a voice came from inside. It was low and distant. "Come in."

Steven pushed the door open. He felt the handle turn easily. It was not locked. As the door swung inward, he was immediately hit by a deep, saturated color.

The entire room was bathed in a red glow. The light was so intense that it made the edges of the furniture look sharp and black. It was a stark contrast to the warm, yellow light of the corridor.

Steven was used to the strange things that happened in this room, but he had never seen it looking like this. The red light came from a long digital tube mounted on the wall. It hummed quietly.

He stepped inside, closing the door behind him. He moved slowly, his eyes adjusting to the crimson environment. He looked down at his feet, making sure to avoid the various cables, pieces of equipment, and who knew what else scattered across the floor.

"A new lamp?" Steven asked. He walked further into the room, his shadow stretching long and distorted across the floor.

Leo was sitting in a dark corner near a desk covered in monitors. He stood up slowly and walked toward the center of the room. He wore a white shirt and dark trousers, which made his pale skin look almost translucent under the red light. He stopped near a large leather sofa and looked at the glowing tube on the wall.

"I find it amusing," Leo said. He sat down on the sofa and leaned his head back. "White light gives me a headache. This light is much more tolerable to the eyes. They should make white light illegal."

Steven sat down on a sofa across from Leo. Despite his familiarity with Leo’s habits, he couldn’t help but look past the sofa toward a thick stone pillar near the window. A body was positioned there.

It was a young man, completely naked and bound tightly to the pillar with thick, black industrial ties. His head was covered with a heavy black blindfold. He was slumped forward, his chest moving slowly with shallow breaths. He was alive, but he did not move or make a sound. The red light made his skin look as if it were burning.

"You still need a lot?" Steven asked, his voice low.

Leo did not look at the man tied to the pillar. He kept his eyes on Steven. "I will never stop. They give me energy and amusement."

Leo paused, then tilted his head toward the captive. "For the current case, I just need one more, but not him. He is not eligible for the sacrifices. He is just my new toy."

The way Leo said "toy" was flat. There was no joy or malice in it; it was simply a classification. Leo looked back at Steven, his expression expectant. "Did you get his blood?"

Steven snapped his attention back to the business at hand. He reached into the padded case he was carrying and pulled out a small glass tube. It was filled with a bright red liquid. He leaned forward and placed the tube into Leo’s open hand.

"Here," Steven said. "I took more than you asked for. I have several more tubes in the cooler if you need them, but I thought you usually only wanted one bottle."

Leo held the tube up to one of the red light sources. He rotated it slowly, watching the blood coat the inside of the glass. "Yes. This is enough."

Steven never knew what the bottles were for, and Leo never told him. He wasn’t sure the man told Alexander either.

Steven looked back at the man tied to the pillar. The captive’s fingers twitched slightly against the stone, but that was the only sign of life. He shouldn’t care about him or any of Leo’s other toys.

"What should I do with him?" Steven asked, gesturing toward the bottle in Leo’s hand.

"The usual," Leo replied without looking back.

"You can sell him as a slave or do anything, or kill him if he is no longer useful. His physical condition is not very good. He is too thin, so he won’t bring a high price."

Steven nodded. He showed no emotion at the instruction. "Well, okay. I’ll have my men take him out before dawn."

Steven stood up to leave, but Leo stopped him.

"Where is he now?"

"He’s in the back storage area in the lower basement," Steven said. "The kids seemed too interested. We decided to keep him there for a while to make sure they don’t accidentally find anything."

Leo nodded. He seemed to think for a moment. "I’ll check on him later."

Steven’s eyebrows rose. He looked surprised. Usually, Leo only cared about his subjects when they were brought into his room.

"You want to see him?" Steven asked.

"Yes," Leo said. "I want to see him."

Something about his latest victim intrigued him. The man was so cheerful and pleasant. It was a shame he had to hurt him.

"Sure," Steven said. Then he turned and walked out of the room.

Inside the room, Leo walked back to the pillar. He reached out and touched the cold skin of the man’s shoulder. The man flinched, a low groan escaping his throat beneath the blindfold.

Leo didn’t say anything. He simply watched the man shiver. He found the physical manifestation of terror to be the most honest thing in the house.

He checked his watch. It was late, but the night was only beginning for him. He picked up his tablet and began scrolling through the live feeds on the screen.

He saw the camera in the back storage room. Ray was curled in a corner, visible only as a dark shape on the gray concrete. Leo watched the screen for several minutes, observing the way Ray’s shoulders shook with quiet sobs.

Then Leo’s eyes moved to another screen. This one showed the corridor near Nathan’s room. He saw Eli and Gabriel running back toward the guest wing. He saw the panic on their faces.

Leo leaned back against his desk. He tapped his fingers on the screen. The kids had seen something they were not supposed to see. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

"Amusing," Leo whispered to the empty, red-lit room.

He picked up the tube of blood Steven had brought him. He placed it with dozens of other bottles in a special storage room. He had work to do.

"Where is Mom? Why didn’t she see my message?" Leo whispered, staring at his screen where he had last sent a message to Natasha.

Leo then grabbed his jacket and walked out.

The man tied to the pillar made a choking sound, trying to speak beneath the blindfold. Leo didn’t even turn his head. He was already lost in his thoughts as he walked.

***

Ray lay on the cold concrete floor of the storage room. His breathing was shallow and uneven. Every time he moved, a sharp pain shot through his ribs and head. He had a deep cut on his forehead that had bled into his eye, and the blood had dried into a stiff, dark crust.

His wrists were raw and purple, and there were fresh cuts still bleeding from his palms. The skin on his wrists was broken by the iron handcuffs that held his hands behind his back.

He was terrified. The room was small and smelled of damp stone and dust. There was no window, only a single light bulb that flickered occasionally.

He had tried to scream until his throat was raw, but no one had come. He had tried to kick the door, but his legs were too weak from lack of food and water. He felt as if he were slowly dying in the dark.

As he lay there, Ray’s mind went back to how this started.

He first saw Leo Salazar a year ago at his university. Leo had come as a guest speaker for a science seminar. He was tall, calm, and spoke with a level of intelligence that fascinated Ray.

From that day on, Ray became obsessed with the Salazar family. He spent hours on the internet trying to find information about them, but he found almost nothing. They were a family of secrets.

Two months ago, Ray was working his shift at the cafe when Leo walked in. He was there to meet a boy named Nathan. Ray recognized Leo immediately. His heart raced as he served him coffee. To his surprise, Leo began to visit the cafe more often after that day.

Ray eventually found the courage to speak to him. One night, as the cafe was closing, Leo stayed late. They talked for nearly an hour.

Leo was a good listener. He seemed calm, kind, and genuinely interested in Ray’s life. Ray felt a connection he had never felt before. He fell in love with the mysterious man. He thought Leo was the perfect gentleman.

Then Leo stopped coming. For days, Ray waited by the cafe window, hoping to see the dark car pull up, but it never did. He felt heartbroken.

Last week, Leo finally reappeared. He didn’t stay for coffee. He simply walked up to the counter and invited Ray to his house. Ray was so happy he could barely speak.

He thought this was the moment he had been waiting for. He imagined introducing Leo to his family. His parents would be so proud to know he was spending time with a man as successful and prestigious as a Salazar.

When Ray arrived at the estate, he wasn’t met with a romantic dinner. He was met by Steven and two other men. Before he could even ask what was happening, he felt a sharp prick in his neck. Everything went black.

Now Ray turned his head to look at the heavy steel door. He regretted everything. His obsession with the family had led him into a trap. He was no longer a person to the Salazars; he was a subject, for who knew what.

He heard the sound of a digital keypad beeping. The heavy deadbolt slid back with a loud metallic clack. Ray’s body tensed. He tried to crawl toward the corner, but his muscles failed him.

The door opened.

The bright light from the hallway spilled into the room, making Ray wince and close his eyes. He heard the steady, slow footsteps of someone entering. The person stopped a few feet away from him.

Ray opened his eyes and looked up. It was Leo.

Leo was wearing a black jacket over a white shirt. He looked exactly the same as he did in the cafe: calm, neat, and professional. He held a digital tablet in his hand.

He looked down at Ray as if he were looking at a broken piece of equipment. But his gaze was still the same, calm and mesmerizing.

"You are still awake," Leo said. His voice was flat. "How are you, Ray?"

Ray began to sob, his body shaking on the hard floor. "Leo... please. Why are you doing this? I thought... I thought you liked me."

Leo didn’t respond to the emotion in Ray’s voice. He tapped something on his tablet and stepped closer. He knelt down beside Ray, reaching out to pull Ray’s head back so he could look at the cut on his forehead.

"It looks so painful," Leo whispered, his eyes scanning Ray’s face.

"Please let me go," Ray begged. "I won’t tell anyone. I promise."

"I’m sure you will not."