Episode 17

I threw Leone into the dirty, stinking room and deliberately slammed my injured shoulder against the cement floor.

"So, you bastard, we're going to have a lot of fun. I loved playing with Camilo; it's a shame Tito didn't have the same luck as you and ended up falling into Enrico's clutches."

"Go fuck yourself" he grunted.

The place smelled of old, dirty blood, not to mention the pungent odor of urine and feces. This was not the usual interrogation room, since Leone had been seriously injured in the accident and wouldn’t last long enough to make it to the location, so we improvised another room.

Carmen was at home, under her father's care. I hoped she would recover, that she would be okay carrying blood on her hands. The girl did so well that she hit the driver and even managed to take down two other men due to the crash. Only two survivors remained: one was dead, and the other was about to join his comrades.

They came into my territory and even attacked me. They wrecked my car and threatened my fiancee's life. Camilo was lucky to have been caught before the mess his friends made. Smelling his own bones would be a blessing compared to what I had in mind for them.

I pulled a chair into the corner and sat down, crossing my arms as I faced the man with disdain.

"How many of you are in our territory?"

He crawled to the corner of the room and leaned against the wall, flashing a mocking smile.

"Enough to get to your fiancee's whore at some point."

I shook my head.

"At least, unlike your cowardly friends, you’re a brave fool. It’ll be fun to play with you."

Leone grabbed his shoulder and gritted his teeth. He was in a lot of pain, but he was a man raised by the mafia and would never show weakness in front of the enemy, though I could detect it.

"I'm not afraid of you, Dominique Venturelli. You can do whatever you want to me, but not a single word will come out of my mouth."

I stood up in one swift movement and walked over to him. I crouched in front of him, removed the hand gripping his shoulder, and pressed a finger into the bullet hole. He screamed, and I ignored him.

"I truly enjoy your bravado... As I said, I’m going to have a lot of fun with it."

I felt the broken, throbbing skin of his shoulder. I withdrew my bloodied finger from the hole and rubbed it on his face, cleaning it off.

"Shall we get started?" I asked, grinning devilishly.

I stood up and walked to the set of tools. I rummaged through them for what would make him suffer more. Few men could try my patience in a torture session; usually, I'd get too excited to be shaken, but Leone had managed that feat.

I collected the syringe from the corner table and made my way back to him. I leaned in and inserted the needle into his arm. He screamed but didn’t move, afraid it might break in his skin.

"What is this, you bastard?"

I whistled as I finished injecting all the liquid.

"Anticoagulant. I don’t want you dying before your time" I stated.

"I'm a very generous and helpful man. I'm extending your life."

For the first time since he entered the room, I saw fear and terror cross his eyes, serving as a feast for a sadist like me.

"Go to hell..." He huddled further into the corner.

I clicked my tongue against the roof of my mouth.

"Oh, I will, but you’ll get there first."

I returned to the table, humming a soft, calm tune, and examined each of the pliers. I loved pulling nails; the tips of the fingers were the most painful parts of the body. Some men could stay quiet until the sixth nail before spilling their secrets, while others couldn’t endure even half that. I glanced at the drill and picked it up, pivoting on my heels afterward.

"You know, I love having my face stained with blood. It gets me so excited..." I remarked.

Leone looked at me in complete horror and pressed his lips tight. His face seemed paler than usual.

"You’re a sicko. A sadistic idiot."

I turned on the drill and approached him.

"Yes, and I am also the last face you’ll have etched in that little shithead of yours before succumbing to death."

I shoved his arm against the wall and pressed hard as he tried to shake off my grip. I aimed the drill at his shoulder and plunged the bit into the hole. Blood splattered everywhere, covering my face and clothes.

"You bastard!" he gasped, crying like a baby.

I went all the way through, piercing the shoulder, and pulled the tool back, turning it off.

"That was fun." I ran my fingers across my face and looked at them; they were smeared with blood.

"And I’ve barely started, and I’m already dirty."

"What do you want?" he whispered so softly that I had to lean in to understand him.

"Hmm... I’ve already started tearing the truth out early. I confess I thought it would take longer" I sighed.

"Anyway, I want to know how many of you are in our territory and what the bastard Balbino wants."

He spat on the floor and laughed.

"Isn’t it obvious? Balbino will never accept your union with the Moris. As long as he doesn’t kill you, he will go after the girl."

I ran a hand through my messy hair and paced the small room, ignoring the bloody idiot.

"So Balbino doesn’t want to stop the wedding because of the alliance with the Moris family, but to try to get to me somehow?" I murmured, thinking aloud.

"Both" he replied, even though it had been a rhetorical question.

"He doesn’t see the union as beneficial for him, just believes he can hit me if he kills your sweet, young, and beautiful wife."

A weakness.

Balbino knew that, until now, my only weakness had been my family. However, they were out of his reach. But then I entered a marriage of obligation, and getting to my fiancee would be, in his eyes, much easier. This would also cause a rift in our mafia since Enrico would never accept the death of his daughter and would go to war.

That psycho bastard!

I liked Carmen. She was a nice girl, very pretty, hot, and not at all hysterical as I had thought she might be. She should be easy to get along with, which would make our days much more peaceful. But I didn’t love her, nor did I feel anything close to that; I only respected her. I knew it wasn't easy for her, even if she was handling the situation well.

Enrico would hand his daughter over to me, into my care and protection. Her death would be a disgrace, an affront.

Balbino wouldn’t get near the girl, and I needed to make it clear just how “irrelevant” she was to me, to remove the target from his sights.

I let out a feigned laugh.

"He really thinks I’m going to care if he kills the girl?" I retorted, turning to him.

"I entered this marriage out of obligation; Balbino would be doing me a favor if he got rid of her."

Leone narrowed his eyes.

"But it would be dishonorable to let your enemy hurt your wife..." he murmured.

I simulated disdain.

"And a relief."

He fell silent, pondering.

"No matter what you say, Dominique. Balbino won’t stop hunting the girl, and we both know how good a liar you are."

It didn’t matter what I said. I wouldn’t need to pretend for Leone; he would be dead in a few minutes, maybe seconds, if he kept irritating me.

I stepped closer, switched on the drill, and drove it into his shoulder, using strength as the bit snagged on the bone. He screamed and thrashed as his blood sprayed everywhere. I pressed harder; the bone gave way, and the drill sank deeper, sending more red liquid splattering over me.

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