Page 39 of A Taste Of Darkness

It might’ve not been rape, or so Milo assured me, but it was close enough and obviously left some scars.

21

DEVIOUS PLEASURE

Milo Marucci

I’d let Pino and his brothers off the hook last time. Well, more or less “off the hook.” They were still very much captured with no release in sight.

They were still being tortured for information. I’d gotten a couple of new ones these past two days, but my cousins were trained to keep their mouths shut.

I was running out of time. Sterlie and my plane would take off in three hours, and though we’d use my private jet, I didn’t like to be late. It was safer to use my jet, so I got Sterlie a refund for the tickets she already bought. Well, I refunded her, but it was the same thing.

We were scheduled to leave for Italy after the weekend, not in three hours, but after what happened earlier, I could no longer push back the inevitable.

Since my cousins weren’t talking, my only way to get answers was to go back to where they wanted me. I knew my way around Palermo, I could walk around without being seen. I could find out why they wanted me back so suddenly.

As Michael said, they knew where to find me. It was obvious where I’d been. If they had wanted, they could’ve found me seven years ago. Something was up.

No matter what was happening behind closed doors of the Cosa Nostra, I knew one thing. I wasn’t going to let Sterlie fall victim to another one of my family’s schemes.

Besides, Sterlie insisted we leave today. She said she wanted to try to get her memories back and thought perhaps she could trigger them by being around a “familiar” place. Her chances were slim, I knew that, but she wouldn’t believe me.

She didn’t lose those memories because her brain made her forget them. She wasn’t repressing them. Sterlie was drugged, and not with some light shit either. Though I guess it wasn’t impossible to get some of her memories back, it was still very unlikely.

“Pino!” I clapped my hands once as I walked into his cell.

It was astonishing how little the police showed up at a club where they knew they’d find most of the wanted and most feared criminals. To be fair, this was a place of honor. Not once did illegal things happen inside these walls… known to the public anyway. There were like three incidents, but whatever happened inside Tartarus stayed right here.

The police didn’t have a right to search Tartarus anyway, which meant I could’ve kept as many people captured in the basement as I wanted. Nobody would’ve found them.

If they did… well, I guess I had a bunch of new visitors then. I aimed to make everyone’s stay as pleasurable as possible. For me.

“Tutto bene?” [Everything alright?] I asked. “Come sta la tua famiglia?” [How’s your family?] I didn’t exactly care, but it felt intruding to just walk in here after not showing my face for a whole day. Maybe he had something to share with me, who knew?

“Fuck you, you fucking piece of shit.” Pino spat at me; though he was a bit dehydrated, so it was only the sound that reached me.

Good thing I brought water, which I immediately showed him, of course. “Hm, and here I thought you’d appreciate my coming a bit more.” I tsked, walking over to my dearest cousin.

I wasn’t going to sit down in front of him this time. The whole room reeked of piss and vomit and, given that he couldn’t move since he was still tied to that chair, it was all on the floor around him. At least my men tried to clean up before I made an entrance.

“I hear my men don’t feed you.” I sighed forcefully. “What a shame. I trained them to be more welcoming, but I suppose they made a special exception for my guest of honor.” I lifted his face, so he’d look at me, chuckling when he tried to pull away from me. “Do you not want to drink? It’s not poisoned… yet.”

“I’d rather die than drink your water.”

I shrugged. “Fine. I’ll just leave that here, then, alright? Perhaps if you ask nicely, one of my people will give it to you.”

I unscrewed the cap and set the bottle down beside him. He couldn’t reach it even if he tried to. The open cap was for my pure enjoyment. If he ever caved, the water would taste like shit. Not literally, but stale water was just gross.

If he only asked, he’d have gotten fed and been given new clothes. He could’ve even used the bathroom. I wasn’t a bad host. People having basic needs was very well integrated into my brain, I never intended to take those from my prisoners.

Nothing ever came for free, though; so, what was more degrading to a member of the mafia than having been captured?

Asking for help. Asking for their needs to be met.

They’d rather sit in their piss than ask to use the toilet.

What a shame. Pino could’ve had it nice here, but he chose to suffer. Unlike his brothers who were well-fed. Some even got a TV.

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