Page 22 of And Twice as Twisted
The near-death experience at the water’s edge seemed to diminish my ability to recall events. The twoboysthought they had gotten away scot-free, but they hadn’t. My body was on the rebound and I had no doubt I’d find them. Their faces, they were right there… yet I couldn’t grasp them. Until I closed my eyes and the past came throttling to the forefront of my brain. And then I realized why this was happening.La verità ti renderà libero.My past had come back to haunt me and Sienna paid for those crimes.
“How did it feel?” I directed my question to the slumped and barely conscious man. He was tied to the metal table and stripped bare.
“Huh, wh-what?” he mumbled, his eyes opening wide and taking in his surroundings. “What the fuck? Who are you? What the fuck are you doing?” he stammered, echoing the same questions screamed by my previous victims.
“Answer me.” My pointer and middle finger pressed into the center of his forehead, slamming his head back down onto the table. “How did it feel? Did you enjoy his cries of pain? Did he call out for his mommy or daddy?” When he didn’t answer, I continued. “I know exactly who you are. Eugenio Affanad, once a member of Mario Agostino’s trusted counsel. Husband to Mary and father to two sons, Carlo and Fausto. And a fucking philanderer with a grotesque affinity for little boys.” I snarled the last sentence. “Tell me. Have you touched your sons too?”
His eyes popped open and a look of disgust marred his face as he hurled some creative words my way.
I was going to kill him and allow his sons the peace of not knowing the disgusting creature their father truly was. “You are my first kill... unassisted. I guess you should feel pleased by that fact.”
Carlo and Fausto. They were the spitting images of the man who had died on my table, and clearly out for unjustified revenge. They had no clue as to their father’s guilt and now we’d suffered for it.
Mario didn’t want the boys or anyone to know the truth about Eugenio. He knew they’d be tainted by the memory of their pedophile patriarch. That was a mistake. I didn’t hurt the innocent, but they shattered their ability to be called that as soon as they harmedher.
Dressing quickly with two guns strapped to my chest and a knife on my belt, I left my room. The first time since being shot. So consumed by my mission, I missed the soft body coming up the stairs, my chest shoving her backwards. She tried grabbing the railing, but it slipped from her fingers.I lunged for her,pulling her to my chest but lost my footing. As Sienna screamed, I turned us and my back took the impact as we slid down the remaining steps. The stitches in my shoulder split and the pain coursed through my body. But worse… my dick came to life with Sienna’s ass pressed firmly against it.
“You motherfucker!” A click sounded above us and I looked up into the barrel of a nine.
Sienna pushed off my body to stand. “Al, stop. He didn’t do anything.” She stood in front of the gun. “This time.”Holding my bleeding shoulder, she helped me sit up and started unbuttoning my shirt. I hadn’t even realized I wasn’t wearing a jacket as she pulled my arm free. She poked and prodded, inspecting the wound before nodding. “It’s fine. The stitches are still mostly intact.” Then she turned on her heel and headed into the family room.
“Cold.” Al chuckled, extending a hand. “Where are you off to?”
“I found them.” Saying it aloud appeased some of my rage.
“Office. Now.” Mario stood outside the door, while his tone left no room for argument as we followed him inside. “Who are they?” The tick of his jaw proved he was mad at himself.
We never should’ve hidden Eugenio’s past.
“Al will go with you.” He stopped my interjection. “I let you fucking live because you’re a son to me. But donotpush me, Apollo.” I nodded in respect to the man that helped me harness my cacodemon. “I am also bringing additional reinforcements into the city,” Mario added.
Into the city. Fucking Romano…
“We need to cut ties with Philly. He’s a threat to you… to Lucky.” It wasn’t often I challenged my boss, but I couldn’t hold my tongue.
His moment of silence was deafening. “There is more at play here than you realize. Philly will stay in line. I’ve assured it.”Mario lit his cigar, puffing a few times. “Tell me. Why do you have such a problem with Philly?”
I was mute. Unable to articulate my reasoning.
“Nothing to say?” he challenged me, but I clenched my jaw and remained stoic. “Lucky may be preparing to take over my reign but let me make something perfectly clear to you. This ismycity. And Romano knows that.” The cigar smoke puffed in my face. “Now tell me, Apollo. Is there anything concrete that points to Romano being a threat tomy city? Or is it not my empire that he’s threatening?”
I always listened to my gut and it said to put him six feet under.
“Al! Go with him.” Mario’s command was final and I was dismissed.
I felt the tension lightening with each step I took, the proverbial burden being lifted from my shoulders. Their death wouldn’t right their wrongs, but it would alleviate some of the affliction on my psyche. It would appease the tarnished fragments of Sienna in my head. The images of her beaten and bleeding, begging me with her eyes to save her. Their deaths would serve as the recompense for her pain. And I would savor killing them.
Chapter 9
MARIO AGOSTINO
Idestroyed my family. Me.
All the years I’d spent fighting to be the most powerful man in New York. All the blood and sweat I put into owning the mafia. For what? It was gone in the blink of an eye and my children were paying the price.
Octavia. My sweet, sweet Octavia. It was a silent agreement in the family that she was to be protected. My youngest girl was too good-natured for the world she’d been born into. Far too loving and kind to be the daughter of a mafia boss.
Each of my children inherited something from me. Each with a personality trait or strength that was a direct reflection of one of mine. Except Octavia. She had her mother’s kindness and generosity. But where my wife was fierce, Octavia was submissive.
