Page 24 of The Silence Lies

And I bet Giovanni has a fuck ton of them.

Giovanni

I watch the interaction between Luca and Serafina. He’s a hard-ass, that much I can tell. Poor Donna Bianchi can’t seem to catch a break around him and from the interactions I’ve seen so far, he’s not willing to let her off so easily.

Deep down, I can tell he knows his father’s death wasn’t her fault. When you’re at the top of the chain, every one below you must fall down first, and that’s exactly what happened. I guess it’s easier to blame the living than the person you lost. I know that to be true most of all. I’ve had to face that guilt personally, until the only person left to blame was myself.

“I’ve got him!” Levi bursts into the room, his hair flopping over his face.

Sera jumps from her chair, followed by Luca.

“Where?” Sera snarls.

“Basement.”

With that, we all follow Levi to the elevators. Sera continues to roll her shoulders impatiently, while Luca is looking more and more agitated by the second. I can’t help but drink her in. The way she forces her confidence into her strides, or the way she instantly morphs into another person. It’s fascinating; something I’ve never seen before.

Men in her position are dicks from the start, but not Sera. I sense she wants to find her place in all of this, but that’s going to be damn hard when she’s the only woman in a room full of men.

I glance at my reflection, locking eyes with Sera. For a single moment, I see the flicker of a smile, but it’s quickly replaced with a thin lipped smirk as the doors open before us.

It doesn’t take long until we’re all standing in the basement, staring at a burly bald man with tattoos all up the side of his neck and scars covering his face. If I didn’t know my own capabilities, I’d be wary of this guy.

“Georgio Brady,” Serafina states, regarding the man tied up in front of her. She approaches with venom in her walk, like a predator ready to pounce. Eyeing the man up, she tilts her head. “That didn’t take long.”

“Yeah,” Levi agrees, booting the leg of the man in the chair. “He wasn’t hard to locate, especially with security cameras. Guess someone doesn’t have much in the way of brains, huh?”

Sera looks from Luca to Levi, seemingly deciding what to do next. I assume she’s never been in this situation yet. It makes sense seeing as her first day in her position earned her a target on her back and an attack at her grandfather’s place.

I don’t take on jobs without doing thorough research. Not that I needed to. It’s been the talk within the chains of command for weeks now.

Luca is the first to step forward, getting into the guy’s face. With his brooding personality and attitude problem, I can tell he’s a bit of a psycho when it comes to torturing men for answers. He’s already got that sadistic glint in his eye, I saw when he took a hit from Luciano earlier.

“Now why would a guy like you threaten the safety of Donna Bianchi?” Luca questions, his deep voice booming against the concrete walls of this tiny room.

The man before us, Georgio Brady, says nothing. His shoulders slump forward, his eyes avoiding contact with every single person in the room.

“Fontana asked you a question!” Levi barks.

“I had no choice. Verdi made me.” The words come out soft and deflated. Right now, I can tell the man knows there’s no way out of here now. His life is in the hands of the three people in front of him, and while I don’t doubt the experience of Fontana and Marchese, Serafina is going to be the one to decide this man’s fate.

“What did Verdi offer you?” Luca growls. He doesn’t need to say more than that, it’s clear the culprit knows he can’t lie his way out of this one.

There’s no emotion crossing his features, no fear or worry, just acceptance. He knows what he has done, he knows there’s no point in lying. “Money,” the guy answers simply.

“Do I not pay you enough?” Sera grits out, going to stand beside Luca.

Georgio Brady doesn’t look at her, probably too ashamed with what he’s done. With a tough yank of his hair, Levi forces the guy to look Serafina in the eyes. “Answer her,” he snarls in the man’s ear.

“He offered me more. I needed the money, for my fam—”

“Don’t you dare!” Sera snaps. In a blink of an eye, Donna Bianchi goes from being the sweet girl with baggage of guilt, to a fierce woman with no room for excuses. “What kind of man uses their family as an excuse?”

“A weak one,” Luca mumbles beside her, though it’s loud enough for the man to hear.

“Have I not been a reasonable employer?” she asks as she begins circling him. Fierce is an understatement to describe what I’m looking at now. I can’t deny that I was already in awe of her, but she’s just outdone herself; prowling like a predator, making this man feel about the same size as an ant.

“Yes, Donna Bianchi,” Georgio says beyond a gulp.

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