Page 27 of Of Desire And Deception

“Something big is coming in next week,” Luca said, rubbing his hand across his stubbled jaw. He needed to eat more.

Fuck, I sound like Mamma. She was always piling more food on people’s plates and waiting until they finished every last bite to avoid offending her. She would never have allowed Luca to get so thin.

I rolled my eyes at the drama. “That’s rather cryptic.”

“They won’t tell us what,” he explained, his leg bouncing in agitation. “It can’t be drugs or guns because we know when those runs happen. I don’t know for sure, but one of the guys let it slip that he once unpacked a shipment of women.”

“Not in my fucking city,” Dante growled, his hand balling into a fist. He jerked his head at me. “Luca can tell you where the drop is. I want this one intercepted. Send a message that the flesh trade won’t be tolerated under my rule.”

“Happily.” It looked like I was going to get to have some real fun. My blood heated at the prospect of extinguishing the lives of men who didn’t deserve to spread their poison through the earth. Men who would harm innocents. My body tensed, the edges of my vision blurring. I needed to find my next guest and return to my dungeon. “I’m going to head out and get started.”

Dante waved me away. “Let me know how it goes.”

“Will do.” I saluted him and walked briskly back to my car, mentally compiling a list of things I’d need to retrieve the wayward capo.

It was time to play.

“Come now, Elio,” I cajoled, clicking my tongue at the naked man strapped to the chair in the middle of my tarp-covered dungeon floor. “You’ve never stubbed a toe and lost a nail before?”

“You fucking ripped it off, you psycho!” he screamed through the tears streaming down his face. “You sick bastard.”

“If only I were a bastard, I might not be in my current line of work, and you may not be facing your inevitable end,” I theorized wistfully, circling my guest. His eyes followed me until he had to turn his entire head. That second when he couldn’t see me, that fraction of a moment he didn’t know what I’d do, made beads of sweat break out on his forehead.

I chuckled, pacing the other way and waiting until I was in Elio’s blind spot to drag my knife across his upper back, slicing a clean line just above the chair. He screamed again, pulling against the cuffs that secured him to the metal seat.

“Unless you can bend steel, your actions are futile.” I shrugged as he glared at me. “I don’t use those furry prop handcuffs you’re used to, baby doll.”

“Fuck you,” Elio spat, and a stream of Italian epithets followed. “You can’t fucking do this to me!”

“You know,” I said conversationally, leaning my ass against my tool table. “Ad hominem attacks are a sign of a failed argument. I believe you were trying to convince me to let you live. Unfortunately, you have failed to sway me from my intended objective.”

“What in the hell are you even saying?” Elio cringed as he shifted his feet, no doubt sending pain shooting up from his nail-less toes.

“Let me put it in words you can grasp. Playtime is over. Time to get down to business.” I reached behind me, wrapped my hands around a cordless drill, and then held up a long, rusty screw. Something about a dirty piece of metal inflicted more fear than something shiny and new. “Are you up-to-date on your tetanus vaccination?”

When the man blubbered incoherently, I sighed and shook my head. “I suppose it doesn’t really matter, does it? Now, let’s play twenty questions. I ask, and the faster you answer, the faster this will be over.”

“Where is the munitions warehouse?” I knelt on Elio’s foot and held the screw to his flesh.

“No!” He gasped as I applied the drill, then shrieked as I inserted the screw through his foot.

Slowly.

Methodically.

Inch by bloody inch.

It didn’t take long to get an answer from him.

By the time I’d extracted the information I needed, Elio looked like a nonna’s pretty flesh pincushion with screws protruding from his extremities. He’d stopped cussing me out halfway through our question-and-answer session, and now he wasn’t much fun at all, sitting there with his head lolling forward and moaning down at his chest.

It didn’t surprise me that a man weak enough to break during basic interrogation had betrayed my family. For years, I’d proposed a testing period before men were made, where I would get to toy with them and see if they would fold. My father never let me, and Dante didn’t seem inclined to change his mind on the matter. He did look more closely at their lives, having them followed for months and compiling dossiers on each man. It was a start.

“I-is that all?” Elio rasped, looking at me through puffy, tearful eyes. He was a pathetic excuse for a capo.

“I’m finished with my questions,” I said, turning my back on him and gathering what I’d need next. “However, you’ve been a very bad boy. It’s time for your punishment.”

“Please,” he begged, groaning as he shifted in his seat.

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