Page 56 of Prince of Malice

“You need something from us, don’t you?” I ask him through gritted teeth.

Angelo rolls his head back with an exaggerated laugh. “Don’t think that you’re going to get me monologuing like some action movie.” He returns to his new emotionless composure. “All you need to know is that you’re here to watch me beat you.”

“Obviously, I’m a bit biased,.” I chuckle. “But I think you’ve beaten me enough already.”

Angelo stands from his desk, his hair falling in front of his eyes again. “Is that all you’ve got? Jokes?” He gets up in my face again. “Even for you, this is pathetic.”

Surrendering against his cold stare, I hang my head low in shame. “You’re right,” I tell him pitifully.

He looks down at me as I wallow in my defeat, feeding off of my failure. “I have hadto put up with your bullshit for months now, and finally you learn to shut your mouth. I should have done this a long time ago,” he gloats.

“I get it. You’re better than me,” I mumble. “In every single way, you’re better than me.”

“If you think your blatant flattery will get you out of this, you’re more desperate than I thought.”

“I don’t care anymore,” I admit. “Even before all of this, I had no chance of doing what you’ve done.”

Angelo shakes his head and turns away from me, trying to stop listening to my praise.

“I mean, you’ve lied to me for months, you’ve manipulated almost everyone around you, and you’re about to bring down two of the city's biggest crime families, and you act like it’s no work at all.”

With his back still turned to me, Angelo boasts, “They won’t be the biggest for long.”

“But, hey, at least we can relate on one thing,” I say.

Angelo spins around on the spot to face me. I have his attention now. He doesn’t wantto ask about what I mean, but I know he could never go without knowing.

“We both get the same credit from our families, right?”

“What are you talking about?” he demands, his tone starting to falter.

“I’m just saying, you’re doing all that work to bring the Grecos back from obscurity, and your dad still won’t let you share his name? I get that kind of treatment, and I’m a deadbeat.” I laugh.

Angelo tries to keep his cool, but it’s not working for even a moment. I can see the frustration in his eyes, the fire burning inside him as he can’t stop his hands from shaking. “That’s not what’s happening.” “Are you kidding? When he’s ready, we can always tack my name on the end too,” I quote. “How long has he been saying that?”

“That’s not true,” he persists, but it sounds like he’s trying to convince himself.

“Sure, man,” I chuckle. “You keep telling yourself that.”

Angelo huffs and lets out a series of half sentences. “No, he-he… I mean… He knows… I-I have done so?—”

He gives up on whatever he was trying toconvince himself of, and without adding another word, Angelo storms out of the back office and leaves me all by myself, completely unattended.

Perfect.

18

LUCA

My feet drag against the rough floor of the storage room I’m thrown into, and I crash down onto a hard wooden chair before the men handling me tie me down to it and vacate the room, leaving only myself and Antonio alone in there.

The air is cold, the chair beneath me is almost painful to sit on, and the wrappings around my wrists are tightly fastened. Everything about this is designed to keep me as uncomfortable as possible.

Antonio parades around the small room, already celebrating his victory over us. “If only you could have learned a thing or twofrom me,” he mocks.

Fighting back against the intense agony radiating throughout my entire body, I struggle just to sit up in the chair. Every muscle in my body aches and just wants to give in forever, but I force myself to persist and lift up my head to face him.

“What could I have learned from you?” I ask him, my words coming out with a lisp due to my busted lip.

---