by Naomi West
I racked my brain, trying to figure out how he knew. Dino, of course. The rat had already gone to the Morettis, or his spy had. Damn it. “It’s not like it matters. I’m still the favorite son.” That earned me a swift backhand and I spit blood onto the dirty concrete. My hands were each tied to one arm of the chair, and I wiggled them slightly to test my bonds. They would hold for now.
“You’ve been interfering in my family’s business for far too long, Lorenzo, and your little games have finally come to an end.”
I gave him a lopsided smile. “You think you can do anything to me that hasn’t already been done? You think I’ve enjoyed being your father’s little puppet all these years? You think I wanted to be taken in as nothing more than a child and turned into a killing machine? Just go ahead and kill me, Piero. It isn’t as though I give a shit.” I did. I most certainly did, but I knew that Piero had thin skin. It wouldn’t take long to get under it. If I was going to die, then I was going to get what enjoyment out of it I could.
Piero shot forward with his fist swinging. I heard the crack of my jaw and the chair rocked back before falling back on its legs with a thump. “You bastard! Don’t act like you’re the injured party here! You’ve been fucking over my life ever since your little orphan ass showed up on our doorstep. Things were finally going good for me. My father was training me, grooming me, to be the next leader of the family. The reins were practically in my hands. But then he decided you were a more worthwhile protégé. I was shoved to the back of his mind and I’ve stayed there ever since.” He spoke with such fury that spittle clung to his lower lip.
Blood filled my mouth now, the coppery taste threatening to make me gag. I spat again and worked my jaw. Not broken. Piero never had been much of a fighter. “Oh, come on. I’m sure you can find yourself a position in the family business. Jianna is always needing good busboys and waiters, isn’t she?”
Piero didn’t appreciate my humor. He whipped his pistol from its holster and smashed the butt of it against the fingers of my right hand. It crushed them down into the wood and I reeled from the pain. I would have slumped to the floor if the ropes weren’t holding me up.
“You just go right ahead and keep that mouth of yours flapping. I don’t mind torturing you. In fact, I enjoy it. I’m going to enjoy torturing Alexis, too.”
Now my senses were finally coming back to me. I’d been acting on instinct alone, caught by surprise in this situation. But I had arrived at my apartment expecting to see Alexis there. Piero and his goons had welcomed me home, instead. “Where is she? Don’t you dare lay a hand on her. I’ll pull you apart piece by piece.” I would have given anything at that moment to have my hands free and make that promise good.
“It doesn’t look to me like you’re going to do anything, but trust me when I say that I will. She wasn’t hard to carry off. You should have at least given her some training or something. She barely even fought back.” He shrugged. “Hell, maybe she wanted us to take her. Maybe she’s into that sort of thing.”
“If you touch one hair on her head, I swear I’ll—”
“You’ll do what, Lorenzo? You aren’t in a position to do anything about it. I can do whatever I want. Sure, I guess I could do what you did and make her pretend to be my girlfriend, but that’s a little too romantic for me. I’m thinking I’ll just show her what it’s like to be with a real man. I’ve never liked Alexis, but I know a nice piece of ass when I see one. Once I have my way with her, I’ll give her the long, slow death she deserves.” Piero’s eyes were sparking with rage and evil ideas now.
The mere thought made my blood boil. I had tried so hard to save Alexis. At first, I had thought I was just saving her from Matteo. But then I had come to realize I was keeping her safe from Dino, as well. It turned out I couldn’t keep her safe at all. “Listen, we can work this out. Alexis and I will disappear. We’ll move to the Caribbean or Siberia or wherever the hell it pleases you, and you’ll never hear from us again. Tell your father we’re dead, have a funeral, and then take up your position as head of the family. We’ll never come back to bother you.” I wasn’t just bargaining for my life now, but for hers as well.
Piero’s laugh echoed in the emptiness of the building. “Really? You think I’m that stupid? I know what kinds of things you’re capable of, Lorenzo. I’d be one hell of an idiot to let the most talented hitman in the city go free when he’d just as easily turn around and skin me. No, there’s no diplomatic solution for this. I’m going to kill you.”
“Then quit harping about it and just do it,” I growled. “I’m tired of your childish games. If you wonder why Matteo liked me better, then just take a quick look at yourself. You get your feelings hurt too easily and you let that get in the way of getting the job done. You’d rather whine and cry about how wronged you are than pull the trigger. You want to kill me? Then fucking do it.” I wasn’t afraid of Piero. The men who were working for him right now were far more capable of doing the job than he was.
He still had his pistol in his hand and he shook it at me. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? To die quickly and just get it all over with? But you see, dear, dear brother, I need one thing in place before I can do such a thing. A contract.”
It was hard to keep from laughing. “Is that what this is all about? You just want your daddy’s approval to kill me? Come on, Piero. That’s pathetic.”
“You won’t be thinking that way when I come back here officially hired for the hit. I’m leaving you here, but you’ll have good company.” Piero motioned at the other three men in the room. “I’m going to let my father know everything. He’ll know how you betrayed him, how you lied to him, and how you risked the very lives of his men with your little whore. I won’t even have to ask him for a contract; he’ll give it to me in a heartbeat. Then I get to kill you, earn my father’s favor, and fuck your girlfriend all in one evening.”
I didn’t doubt that those were his intentions, but I needed to focus on something else besides his showboating. Alexis was out there somewhere, in the grips of a few capos who supported Piero. Where was she? What were they doing to her? How was I going to get her back, especially bound to a chair? There was a way; there had to be.
“You just sit tight.” Piero laughed at his own joke. “I’ll be back soon.” He had the audacity to turn his back to me to leave the building, something he never would have done if I had been free.
“Now, don’t try anything stupid,” said the biggest guard, once Piero had zoomed off into the night. I’d never worked with him closely, but I recognized him. He was a big guy, and not the brightest.
“Jim, knock this shit off and get these ropes off me. You know I never betrayed Matteo.” I didn’t have much time to get out of there. I didn’t know where we were exactly, but it wouldn’t take long for Piero to get the contract he desired if he revealed my secret to Matteo.
The big man rubbed his chin. “I’m not going to fall for that. Piero told us everything.”
“And he had you abduct an innocent woman. All that shit about Calzoni is a lie, but Piero isn’t going to listen to me about it. I have to get out of here and get to her before he does. You have to let me save her.” Some truth, some lies. I would say whatever I needed to.
“Well,” Jim thought as he rubbed his lantern jaw. “I didn’t really like that part much. She’s real pretty, and she was scared when I picked her up and put her into the trunk. But Piero said I had to take her to—”
“Shut up, you idiot!” screamed one of the other men. He was a skinny little fuck, one who had always been loyal to Piero. I had a feeling that his gambling debts were always magically paid off, buying his allegiance. “Don’t tell him where she is!”
But Jim had come a little closer as we spoke, and nobody had accounted for the fact that my legs weren’t tied. I swung out with one foot as hard as I could, taking Jim’s knees out from under him. He hit the floor with a crash, but he had no time to do anything else. I leaned forward and swung around, bashing the chair in
to his side and knocking him the rest of the way down. Two of the legs splintered off.
“Fuck! Get him!” the skinny one called. He and his remaining partner came at me. My hands were still bound to the remainder of the chair, but it only took one more spin into the third man to break the seat from the back. I ripped my hands free. The arms of the chair were still attached, but I could move.
With one man down and only the thin man remaining, I wished I had my gun with me. I’d been disarmed as soon as I was captured, but it would only have taken a few seconds to have these men taken out for good. I braced myself for the bullet that would be coming soon.
“That’s enough of this, now.” He had his gun out and gestured with it toward a nearby office door. “You get in there and settle yourself down. Piero is going to be back any minute.”
Unable to do much but comply, I backed slowly toward the door. I realized then that this man wouldn’t kill me unless he absolutely had to. Piero was determined to be the one who ended my life. If his goon stole that chance, then he would be dead too.
The office door hand an inward swing, and I kicked it shut as I backed into the room. It slammed the man’s wrist in the doorjamb, and he instinctively dropped his gun. I scrambled forward for it, retrieving it from the floor just before his fingers closed around it once again. I shot him through the crack in the doorway and ran back out of the office. Piero had crushed my pinkie and ring finger, but he’d missed my trigger finger.
Jim was waiting for me, the side of his face already turning purple. “That wasn’t a good idea, Lorenzo. I wanted to be nice, but now I can’t.” His meaty fists came up toward my face, but even with half my hand broken I was faster with a gun than he was with his hands. He sent a shudder through the building when his body hit the floor for a second time, but he wouldn’t be getting back up.
The crack of another gun spun me around. The third man was scrambling back to his feet. He had a broken leg from one of the chairs in one hand and his gun in the other. His bullet had skimmed my temple. Mine went straight into his forehead.
I knew I had to work quickly. Time was running out.
Chapter Nineteen
Lorenzo
It hadn’t been easy to get all those men crammed into the tiny office, but I couldn’t leave them out for Piero to find when he returned. With a little bit of luck, he would never even have the chance to find them.
The warehouse was dimly lit and that was to my advantage. Piero wouldn’t know anything had gone wrong for a moment. I found another chair identical to the one they had tied me to originally. After kicking away the broken pieces of wood, I place it in the center of the room and sat in it. The remains of the ropes they’d bound me with were still attached to my wrists. I could have cut them off, but they would just add to the look of the scene I was creating.
The minutes ticked by as I waited for Piero. I couldn’t help but think about Alexis and where she might be. Jim had nearly told me, and he was stupid enough to have given her location away if the skinny man hadn’t interrupted. Still, I had one more chance to get the information I needed.
Finally, I heard the gravelly crunch of someone pulling up outside. Piero slammed open the door and strode forward confidently. “Just as I said, Lorenzo. I’ve got the contract right here. I should thank you for being such a traitor. It made your price go up quite a bit. Wait. Where are they?” He looked around the warehouse frantically for his hired soldiers.
“I wanted my last meal, so I sent them out for pizza,” I explained calmly. “I told them to get pepperoni, but you know, I wasn’t even thinking about what you would want. Maybe you should call them and tell them to add some anchovies or pineapple.”
His face flushed red with anger. “What the fuck are you talking about? Where did they go?”
“They’re your men, not mine,” I replied calmly. “It’s your job to keep track of them.”
Piero whipped out his cell phone and began dialing. I could see the fear in his eyes. He couldn’t imagine that I had possibly overpowered all three of them, but he could see them betraying him and walking away from the job. Adrenaline surged in my bloodstream as I prepared for my next move.
A ring tone sounded from the other side of the office door. “What the …” Piero muttered as he strode across the floor to open it.
“Maybe they’re throwing you a surprise party,” I joked. “It’s not your birthday, is it?”
But Piero was ignoring me. He was too focused on the whereabouts of his men. I took my cue and leaped out of the chair, running after my adversary at top speed. He didn’t have a chance to turn all the way around before I knocked him to the floor, grabbing his wrists and pinning them behind his back. I would have loved to simply shoot him, but I needed something first.
“Where is she?” I thundered. “Where is Alexis?”
“Like I’d tell you, you cocksucker!” Piero struggled underneath me, trying to get his hands down within reach of his gun.
I pressed my knee into his lower back. He gasped in pain, his hand rising up just long enough for me to grab his weapon and fling it across the floor. “If you want to live, I suggest you tell me where she is.”
Piero’s laugh was more of a choke from his current position. “You’re going to kill me anyway, Lorenzo. I know that.”
“You think you know me so well? Then you should also know that I didn’t really want to kill anybody. If you’d kept your nose in your own business, then Alexis and I could have just left. You would have had your position in the family, and you never would have heard from us again. I wasn’t lying about that. Now tell me where she is so we can end this.” It would have been so much easier if I had done things differently. If I had just killed Alexis—even though the thought made my stomach churn—I would never have been in this mess. If I had acted faster and gotten us the hell out of there, then Piero wouldn’t have had the chance to pursue us. I was ready for it all to be over with.
“Fuck you. What favors have you ever done for me?” Piero squirmed underneath me, but I had him.
“Favors? Why should I have done you any favors? You did nothing but cause trouble for me. It wasn’t my fault your father took me in, but you always made everything impossible. You’ve been watching and waiting for me to fuck up, anxious for the day you could run to your daddy and tattle on me. Well, you’ve finally done it. Tell me, Piero, does it feel as good as you thought it would?” I clamped his wrists together in one hand, feeling the bones grind together as I grabbed his pinkie and bent it backward.
“It was worth every second. The only thing I would change would be to act sooner, so I could have enjoyed that horrified look on your face when you understood I had taken Alexis just a little bit longer. You’re dumb enough to have fallen for that slut. You should have heard the way she begged for her life and the things she offered to do to me. As soon as I kill you, I’m going right back there to take her up on it. Argh!” He screamed as I snapped his pinkie toward the back of his hand.
“You’ve got nine more fingers, Piero. We can make this take as long as you want. I know I still owe you at least one more for what you did to me.” I grabbed his next finger and popped it back quickly, feeing the fine bone snap in my grip. “Then there are at least three more for making me kill those men of yours.” I grabbed his middle finger and began pulling.
“No, no, stop! I’ll talk! I’ll talk!” Tears leaked out of the inner corners of his eyes.
I let him go, but I didn’t take my knee out of his back. I wasn’t going to give him the chance to get away. “Better do it quickly.”
Piero pulled his hand around in front of him, cradling the injured one and gasping for breath. “I took her to a place I have out on the edge of town.”
“The address?” I put all my weight on my knee. I imagined some scummy sex den where he took hookers.
“Ow! Stop! I can’t breathe! It’s 434 Industrial Avenue. She’s on the seventh floor.”
I released a little bit of the pressure on
him as I envisioned the area he spoke about. There were no apartments over there. “The seventh floor? What kind of place is she in?”
“It’s an empty office building, near the waterfront,” he gasped. “I was going to turn it into a hotel and casino once I got the funds.” Piero was beginning to regain his composure, though he still lay on the floor underneath me. “Now, you better hold true on your word. You said you and Alexis would disappear, and I’m counting on it. If I see you again, you’re dead.”
“Wait just a damn second, Piero. I tried to strike that bargain with you earlier, when I was the one held at gunpoint, but you wouldn’t have any of it. Don’t act like we ever agreed on that.” He was a cocky fuck to think that I would just let all this go. He’d hurt me, and I had a good feeling he hadn’t been kind to Alexis.
“What are you gonna do, Lorenzo? Kill me? I’m Matteo’s son, remember? If you kill the son of a mafia boss, you might as well turn the gun back around on yourself as soon as you’re finished. Matteo might not love me, but he won’t rest until he has his revenge. And might I remind you that he already knows about everything you’ve done.” I could hear the fear in his voice.
