Page 20 of A Taste Of Darkness

“No.”

“No?” I looked around myself, making sure that we were still in my boutique. We were. “I feel pretty watched by them.” But thinking about it, they barely ever looked at me. Still, hanging around me was basically the same thing as watching me. It was stalking, nonetheless.

Milo typed something into his phone before he looked back at me. “You’re moving back in with your sister until this is dealt with. It’s safer that way.”

“Pardon?” I mean, Flora and Kai’s place was pretty great, and living there did seem pretty safe, but he couldn’t just decide that for me. “I am old enough to live on my own, thank you very much.”

“Uh-huh. I never said you were too young to live on your own. I said it’s safer that way.”

“Not sure why you’re suddenly concerned about my safety, but to ease your concerns, I guess I could do that.”

11

AN ITALIAN SURPRISE

Milo Marucci

“Chi vi ha mandato?” [Who sent you?] Arlo asked for the third time in the past ten minutes. All five of them, who were now covered in blood and bruises, still refused to say a single word. “Non fatemelo ripetere!” [Don’t make me repeat it.]

I hadn’t paid much attention to them when I stormed into Sterlie’s boutique because all I cared about was making sure she was safe. Now that we were at Tartarus, and I knew she was safe in my office, I decided to head to the basement to check who dared to scare Sterlie.

When I told her that she hadn’t been watched, it was more an assumption from Arlo than a fact, but now that I stood before the men, I knew he was right.

“Was it Adriana?” I asked as I finally stepped closer to my cousins. It had been years since I’d seen them or heard from them.

I walked past all five of them and looked them right into their eyes one after the other to figure out which one was the “leader.” Sure, they all answered to someone back in Italy, but there was always another leader.

Four out of five flinched as much as they could when my eyes laid on them, only Pino looked as if he wasn’t fazed by any of this. He was the strongest of them, which told me everything I needed to know.

When neither of them answered me either, I turned toward my men. “Take care of these four.” I pointed at each of my cousins except Pino. The others would crack easily but Pino needed special attention. He deserved my attention.

They wouldn’t die, not unless I found a reason to kill them. I wasn’t someone who killed for no reason, but I sure loved a little cruelty if necessary.

Once my men took my cousins and brought them all to separate rooms to torture them a little, and Arlo, Pino, and I were alone, the fun could begin.

I sat down on the floor before Pino, crossed my legs. He’d been tied to a chair and couldn’t move a muscle even if he tried to because my men had orders to temporarily paralyze my hostages from the neck down.

It was amazing what a little anesthesia could do.

“Long time no see, Pino,” I said. “Was wondering how long it’d take you to find me.”

Pino always had this anger inside of him, even when we were kids. He always came second to Arlo. Anything he did, his older brother did better. I bet it was his time to shine when Arlo “couldn’t find me.”

Oh, Arlo found me within a week. He had orders to bring me back to Italy dead or alive, but he didn’t want to. My dear cousin had as much interest in being part of the mafia as I had.

“Now, allow me to repeat Arlo’s question because I fear you didn’t hear him with your bad hearing,” I said. “Who sent you?”

I didn’t expect an answer; he was trained better than that. I did, however, have a phone and a speaker. Sounds were great when you wanted someone to talk, especially when those sounds were ones like nails and chalk scratching on a blackboard, pen clicking, dogs barking, et cetera.

While others used violence to harm, I chose annoyance. Mostly, anyway.

As expected, Pino stayed quiet, and so I clicked one little button and the first round of annoying sounds started to play. Baby cries.

All four speakers in each corner of the small room blasted baby cries at full volume. I could tell Pino wanted to laugh at the ridiculousness, but let’s be honest, we all knew I’d be the last one who laughed.

“Enjoy, cugino.” I stood, then walked over to Arlo before I sent another quick glance back. “This is only stage one of the crying. It gets better. Twenty minutes in, and that little fella really gets into it.”

“I have an idea,” Sterlie told me as soon as I entered my office. Kai and Flora were on a date or something, and since Sterlie didn’t want to be alone, I suggested she could come with me to Tartarus until her sister was back home. “Instead of temporarily moving in with my sister, I’ll just go on vacation. Nobody can stalk me there, can they?”

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