Page 70 of Bastard Prince
I didn’t have a chance to see what it was, however, because the door to our room burst open, revealing not one, but two giant assholes.
Sheriff Bradford and none other than that fat fuck, Dino Bertoli.
“Oh, you havegotto be kidding me,” I groaned, tilting my head back. “What the actualfuckare you doing here, Dino?”
“Shut your filthy mouth, you bitch,” he spat, marching up and backhanding me across the face. “You don’t talk, you hear me?” His face was red and decidedly moist-looking as he loomed over my kneeling form.
“Hey! Don’t you fuckin’ touch her, you fuck!” Enzo shouted.
“You can shut up, too, Argenti. I’m not letting you fuck this up for me.”
Enzo looked at me, and when I nodded that I was alright, he turned back to Dino and the Sheriff, making sure he was facing the threat head on.
“Aren’t you a little out of your jurisdiction, Dino?” Enzo asked calmly. Too calmly. “I mean, you’re a long way from driving Don Carlo’s dry cleaning around, ain’t ya?”
Bradford laughed, and that only seemed to piss Dino off even more. He marched across the space, lined up and slugged Enzo right across the jaw. It took everything I had not to gasp out loud, and as I watched Enzo spit a mouthful of blood onto the dirt floor, I silently vowed that there was no way Dino was gonna make it out of the desert alive.
Anita would thank me.
“You think you’re such hot shit, Argenti,” Dino growled, spit gathering at the corners of his mouth as he talked. His gray button-down shirt was soaked, showing that he was as unhappy with the Nevada heat as I was. “Showing up, thinking you can just walk into aCaposeat because you married this dirty whore.”
“Watch it,” Enzo snarled menacingly.
“Maybe I should give that a try, hey?” Dino looked over at me, his pudgy face suddenly terrifying. “What do you think, Sheriff? You think if I fuck this bitch like he did that I’ll suddenly be gifted a seat at the table?”
Bradford stroked his mustache like a bad Bond Villain. “Only one way to find out.” Stepping forward, Bradford clamped a hand around my upper arm and hauled me to my feet.
“Hey!” Enzo shouted. “You get your fuckin’ hands off her! You hear me?”
“What you want doesn’t matter anymore, youbastard,” Dino said calmly, delivering yet another punch to Enzo’s face, this time knocking him over onto his side.
“You touch her and I’ll fuckin’ kill you, motherfucker!” The rage in Enzo’s voice reached deep into my soul, and I cast one last glance back at him, his face murderous as he struggled to climb to his knees, screaming the entire time about all the ways he would end Dino and Bradford. “Francesca!”
Then the door to the room closed and I was shrouded in near darkness again.
Neither man spoke as they dragged me through the next room, empty except for some sagging cardboard boxes stacked against the back wall. Moving quickly through that area, Bradford led me into yet another room, this one looking like it had been used as some sort of office, with a few folding chairs arranged around a shitty looking metal desk, the kind you’d find in a 1980s classroom. In here, the windows were bigger, letting in enough light for me to see the dusty desk chair and boring filing cabinet topped with a creaking oscillating fan that was blowing dust and loose papers across the otherwise barren space.
“Dino,” I said with fake enthusiasm. If I could keep them talking, keep them distracted by my sarcasm and not my current vulnerability, it would give me time to try and find a way out of these handcuffs. Squeezing the fingers of my left hand with my right, I attempted to compress the bones enough to slide my hand out of one side. It hurt like hell, but it didn’t seem to be helping; Garcia may have been a rookie, but unfortunately for me, he knew how to secure a set of handcuffs. I released my fingers and started discretely looking around the desk for a paper clip or something, anything I could maybe use to try and pick the lock, but the place looked barren. Dragging my gaze back to Dino, I continued. “I see you’re moving up in the world. Out of the gutter and into the dumpster. Your father must be so proud.”
“Mouthy cunt,” Dino snarled, grabbing me by the hair and ripping me out of Bradford’s grip. “I don’t remember you having so much to say back in New York. I guess being away from your rat of a father has cost you your manners.”
“My father was no rat, and you fucking know it, Dino,” I spat, my whole body vibrating at his implication.
“Maybe not, but you certainly didn’t help his situation none, did you? Letting that fed between your legs put the whole Syndicate at risk.” He smirked, his beady eyes filled with something that made my stomach turn. “You must have some grade A pussy, Francesca. What else could any of these idiots see in a scrawny, ugly bitch like you?”
“What’s the matter, Dino? Not interested anymore? Seems to me, you were pretty quick to put an offer on my scrawny ass just a few short weeks ago? But Don Carlo slapped your wrist and your ego got bruised, didn’t it?”
Snarling, Dino twisted my body until I landed on my knees before him. This room had the benefit of having a poured concrete floor, and I knew I was going to have a pair of nice matching bruises on my kneecaps tomorrow.
Assuming I lived through this.
“He’s not the Don anymore though, is he?” My stomach sank, but I refused to show it.
“Doesn’t change the fact that you’re still not gonna get in my pants, Dino.” I shot him a sarcastic look. “I’d be a fool to let you near me; you haven’t had your shots.”
“There goes that mouth of yours again.” Dino was leaning over me, enjoying his position above me like it gave him real power. Unfortunately, with my hands still cuffed, it really did. Otherwise, pound for pound, I could easily level him on a good day.
Today was not a good day.
