Page 30 of Vito

"Has he told you anything yet?" Massimo asks me, but his eyes don't leave the man hanging from his wrists as he prowls around him.

I've worked Havel hard over the past two days. His body is slashed everywhere and has chunks of flesh missing. His eyes are slits, and his nose is mush. He's missing all his fingers and toes, with the flesh cauterized so he didn't bleed out, and missing all but four teeth. His broken ribs, based on his breathing, might be starting to puncture his lung.

Oh, and his dick is gone—courtesy of a dull knife that I used to saw it off.

Not that I have a cock fetish. I sawed his dick off because this motherfucker was transporting a woman who had been violated in heinous ways, and who likely died from her injuries in the trunk of Havel's car.

"He's got nothing to tell us." I sigh, walking to the table and setting my knife down. "Like the other two Czech soldiers we've caught in our territory, he's low-level and knows nothing. He was only transporting. Expendable if he gets caught."

"Fuck Simon Novak," Massimo growls, pacing around Havel with death in his eyes. Simon Novak is the leader of the Czech mafia and an increasing pain in our ass as he's one of the enemies testing us for weaknesses.

Massimo clenches his fist as he stares at Havel's lowered head, who whimpers as he floats in and out of consciousness.

I can see Mass is about to unleash. He leaves the wet part of this world to me for the most part, but his frustrated rage is demanding blood for blood. "The woman thisfuckwas transporting has been missing for almost a year."

"The Feds identify her?" Raf guesses.

Massimo plays nice with the authorities when it suits our needs and has a connection with Andrew Glass, the FBI director.

"Tahlia Voss," Massimo growls. "An American who went missing in Brazil."

"Same M.O. as the last two women when we intercepted the Czechs." I frown. "Novak has a regular source. A ring."

Massimo's dark eyes meet mine.

Sophie had been saved from a ring—a death ring that was also involved in sex slavery. We always felt that her father, Geraldo Ortez, and the group he worked with, had a third party backing them to do what they did. Because they had the balls to do it in our territory, as well as a rival cartel's territory, which marked Ortez and his companions for death by their cartel, yet they still risked it.

However, if a third party was involved, they never acted further against Sophie once Ortez and his co-conspirators were blown to smithereens. Still, we're always alert and cautious regarding Sophie and that past threat.

"Czech mafia is relatively small-time," Raf chimes in. "They have to be allying with someone."

Someone bigger, more powerful.

I agree, as does Massimo, butwhois yet to be seen.

We've suspected Eduardo Tocci, a Don withLa Famiglia—another Italian mafia syndicate—who rules Las Vegas. He's close territory-wise, has a history of hate for the Santoros, and is deep into peddling flesh. He's another motherfucker I'd like to put into the ground. It's rumored that he has a network of brothels where people are forced intoservitudeand force-fed drugs to keep them out of it. He's also rumored to run auctions where sick fucks around the world can buy people of any age—the vilest form of 'online shopping'.

We've been searching but have yet to find any evidence to confirm that he's backing the Czechs.

Massimo links his fingers and cracks his knuckles. "Turn off the music, Raf. I want to hear every grunt of pain and every single scream."

I grab a needle of Epi off the tray. Going to Havel, I grip his sweaty hair to yank his head back and slam the needle into his neck, slowly depressing the plunger.

"You want to change so you don't wreck your pretty suit, Mass?" I look at his immaculate suit while my jeans and shirt are covered in blood.

He doesn't answer me, though. Just lands a powerful punch to Havel's side. The sound of bones crunching—breaking further from the damage I inflicted previously—fills the room. Havel's screams follow as he snaps to full consciousness, both from the punch that was like a sledgehammer and the adrenaline now rushing through his body.

"Tahlia Voss." Massimo seethes in Havel's face, gripping his chin to force his head up. "Did you even bother to learn her name?"

Havel howls in pain as Massimo damn near crushes his jaw in his massive hand.

"You fucking piece. Of. Shit." He shoves Havel away, making him swing by the chains wrapped around his wrists, causing more agony. "I vow to make your remaining breaths as painful as fucking possible."

Havel whimpers.

Massimo's huge fists are a flurry after that, raining down pain and judgment on this man's flesh, extracting his pound of flesh for justice for the poor woman.

Raf and I stand by and watch, letting Mass have his fun. He stalks over to the table and grabs a knife and screwdriver. He rams the screwdriver into Havel's thigh, then twists it, and pulls it out. He does it over and over again all over Havel's body, but without delivering a fatal blow.

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