Page 66 of The Hitman's Secret Baby
And yet, when she vanished and whispers of tragedy began to spiral through the city, it would not have served Luca's purpose to annihilate a family cloaked in the trappings of grief.
To the outside world, they were parents mourning a lost child, not architects of betrayal.
So, he let them live, because in a world ruled by shadows and spectacle, the illusion of restraint could be just as powerful as vengeance itself.
I rise slowly, stepping closer to the man in the chair.
His breathing is ragged now, each inhale a tremble, but I don't move fast. I let the moment settle around him.
Let the weight of what's coming grow teeth.
"I can make this slow," I tell him. "Or I can make it art."
A muffled sound catches my attention from the stairs behind me.
Footsteps.
Too light to be one of the soldiers.
Seconds later, there comes the sound of someone hurling.
It has to be Zio, my nephew, and now, the rookie.
Barely out of adolescence, eager for blood, but not yet accustomed to the sight or smell of it.
I make a mental note to remind my nephew later—this is not about volume.
It is about stamina.
Let fear do the work, not your voice.
Let the man tell you the truth because heneedsto, not because youdemandit.
It's the difference between extraction and chaos.
Between fear and theater.
Blood is the ink.
But silence writes the truth.
And I have never forgotten how to listen.
It's the first lesson you learn in our world.
Before the blade, before the bullet, before the oath and the suit and the silence.
Listen, and you will survive.
Listen long enough, and you will rule.
The man in the chair breaks before the next breath.
It takes nothing more. His lungs collapse around a sob, his voice unraveling like an old thread.
"I told Marzelli everything," he chokes. "The docks, the containers, the tags on the trucks. The shipments that came inthrough Grimaldi's men, the payment channels from Palermo. He gave me cash up front. Said the Salvatores wouldn't notice a few gaps in a port ledger."
He wheezes, his chest jumping against the tight bands of rope.
