Page 7 of Running

“You threatened my wife? You threatened my Violet? Where is she?”

To Santo’s credit he doesn’t cower as Bosco screams and towers over him. “I got rid of that worthless bitch before she dragged you down. Before she dragged down the whole family.” Bosco kicks Santo in his injured knee. He cries out.

“She was my wife. My Queen. She saved my life. She would have been a better partner than that whore I got stuck with.”

“Hang on.” Ricco interrupts. “Violet? Wife? You mean your high school sweetheart Violet?”

Bosco runs his fingers through his hair. The crazed and angry look in his eye hasn’t diminished. “Yes. I loved her. I still love her. One weekend I took her to my father’s cabin. The Irish attacked us. I was held at gunpoint while Violet hid. Or I thought she hid. The woman ignored me and snuck around them. She took both men out. Saved my life.” He begins to pace behind Santo. His eyes never leaving where he lies on the floor. “I knew she was the only woman for me. That night we flew to Vegas and married in secret. Two weeks later she was gone. Santo and my father told me she had been in an accident. Her car had run off the road. It was so mangled they couldn’t identify her body. They had to do a DNA test. All these years. I believed it.”

I turn to the woman. “She’s alive?”

“For now.” She replies with absolutely no emotion.

Bosco stops pacing. “What the hell do you mean for now? If you hurt her I swear to….” He takes several aggressive steps towards her.

“You’ll what?” Damn this girl has balls. “You talk a big game for a man who so quickly accepted that the woman he supposedly loved ran away. Did she seem like the type to run away when things got tough?”

His eyes soften. “No. She wasn’t.”

“Did you even look for her?”

“Of course I looked for her!”

“Why do I not believe that? You, with all of your resources as Don, couldn’t find an eighteen year old woman, but thirty-six of your soldiers could? Thirty-six of your supposed loyal men were paid by Santo to hunt her down and put a bullet in her head.”

Bosco goes back to Santo and kicks him again, and again. “You slimy piece of shit. You worthless cock-sucking asshole!”

“How do you know all this?” I ask her. For someone so young. Someone I’ve never seen let alone met knows more secrets of our family than the Don or myself.

“You haven’t figured it out yet?” She smiles brightly. It’s deceiving. There is a hellcat under that smile. A psycho not afraid to rain hell on those around her.

“You said Violet is alive. Where is she? Can I see her?” Pleads Bosco.

“Get him to call off his dogs and we’ll see.”

“His dogs?”

She huffs and rolls her eyes. “The contract. The hit. He has assholes still after her. Until I know she’s safe from them, you aren’t getting anywhere near her.”

Bosco looks at Ricco. “Get the guards. I want him in the basement. Now.” The basement is Bosco’s personal playground. His dungeon of torture. Santo won’t live through the night once the guards get him down there.

Ricco nods and goes to the door. He returns a few moments later with Massimo and Tony. While he’s gone I keep my eye on the woman. She seems to know a lot, but I don’t trust her. She could be lying. Violet could be dead and she is just messing with Bosco. She could be plotting to get him to second guess all those loyal to him. It could start a civil war.

Her face is calm. Her hand steady with the gun at her side. Until she lays eyes on Tony. There is an instant fire in her eye. She moves to the keyboard and slams on the keys. Bosco moves to the back of the room to talk to Massimo. Looks like he’s telling him not to provoke the girl. The keys continue to slam. What the hell is she typing?

She swings the screen of the computer around. A low resolution video beings to play. Her gun goes up. It’s aimed at Tony. Everyone’s eyes are on the screen. I’m pretty sure I am the only one watching her. I want to move, to jump, and grab the gun but the desk is in my way. She could get off a shot before I can get to her.

A voice from the screen cuts through my thoughts. “Be a good girl. Scream loud for me. Daddy can’t save you. No one is coming.” I know that voice. I look to the screen. Quality is bad but there is no denying that that voice and figure on the screen is Tony. He’s hovering over someone. A woman. No a girl. Too young to be tied down to the bed she is on. The image is grainy but it is obvious that she is pulling frantically at her bindings and doesn’t want to be there.

Pop!

The gun goes off. A single shot. Tony falls to the floor. “Get that rapist out of my sight!” She says with a slightly raised voice. She might not be yelling but the venom of her words floods the room. Bosco grabs the gun off of Massimo and shoots Tony four more times. It wasn’t necessary he was dead already. She had hit him between the eyes. A perfect kill shot.

The sounds of the girl in the video screaming pierces the air. I don’t want to listen. I can only image the pain and suffering she experienced. As though the woman can read my mind she stops the video. “It gets worse. You can watch it if you need to. That asshole deserved a slower death.” She sinks into the chair. Her voice dropping to almost a whisper. “I couldn’t save her.”

“She’s dead?” She doesn’t answer me with words. It looks like she is getting chocked up. She nods instead. “How many others?”

“Girls? I’m not sure.” Her voices cracks before the strength in her voice returns. “At least a dozen. Three I know are dead.”

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