Page 57 of Brutal Legacy

The cars pulled to a stop right in front of me, gravel and dust flying through the air.

The cops opened the doors, and the black metal of their handguns glinted in the sun.

“Put your hands up!” the shouts came from all directions.

“I’m just doing a favor for theprocuratore!” I called, a certainty landing in my heart that I’d just fucked up.

“Hands up! Or I’ll shoot, kid, I swear I will.”

The chief of police was staring at me, a wild light in his eyes, and I knew right then and there that he was telling the truth. He would shoot. I’d walked into this, and if I wanted to get out of it, I needed to do what they said.

I dropped the bag and the package and put my hands up. Officers swarmed me.

“Okay, okay! Here, I’m complying,” I called, then a sharp pain to the back of my head sent a veil of darkness rushing in front of my eyes.

The world fell away.

I wokeup an unknowable time later to a light swaying feeling. A van hurtling over rocks? I sat and groaned, my head screaming at me.Where am I?

It was dark inside whatever kind of vehicle I was in. Old blood sat on my tongue, and my head was splitting. I swung back and forth, dizzy.

Before I could do more than try to get my bearings, the van stopped, and the doors slid open. Men in uniforms grabbed my arms and hauled me out. The door shut behind me, and they dragged me through metal gates and past security doors. The buzzes of the armed doors opening ricocheted around my head.

Where the hell are they taking me?

It was dark, so it wasn’t easy to see, but bit by bit, as they hauled me down a long, sterile-looking hallway, I got it.

Prison. This was a prison.

They shoved me into a room with a metal table and handcuffed me to one of its legs, so I had no choice but to kneel beside it.

I had no time to process what was going on. The guards left, and a man entered.

Alfredo Bellisario.

“Well, well, Santori, seems like you need a lawyer, or should I call a public defender for you?”

I stared at him. “What are you talking about?”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about.”

“I only took your things… I moved them according to your instructions!” I shouted.

He chuckled. “Do you really think you’re here because of some drugs and money in a bag? You’re here because you didn’t listen to me. I told you to stay away from my daughter. You didn’t. Now, you’ll face the consequences.”

I shook my head. “You can’t do this. I haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Oh, but you have. You have trespassed on that which was mine… my daughter. You’re lucky to be alive. Honestly, the only reason you are is because I want to see you rot in here… I want to watch it break you.”

“You can’t do this,” I repeated numbly, even knowing that those words were a lie.

A man like Bellisario in a place like this could do whatever he wanted. The guards would be in his pocket, and the cops, too. The judges, the whole rotten system. They could make a man disappear without killing him.

“Of course I can.”

“Georgia won’t accept it. She’ll try to find me.”

“Don’t you worry about Georgia. I’ll look after my daughter. You, enjoy the life you chose.” He stood and nodded at the two-way glass.

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