Page 23 of Filthy Desire

Danny stopped rocking, his hands balling up into fists.

“Until this week, a breakthrough. With the addition of a few extra cameras, guess what we found?”

Gio paused and watched Danny’s face get paler, his chest moving in and out with rapid breaths.

“You, Danny. You. Your slight of hand is very, very good. Top notch. No one caught you until the hidden camera picked it up. Well, my guest tonight, she noticed what you were doing shortly before you went on break. But not everyone is attuned to such things. Still, it’s made me revise some of my personnel choices.”

Gio stood up and pulled the knife out, removing the sheath and laying it on the table. Danny’s body trembled as he stared at the weapon.

Gio loomed over him.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Ferraro. I… I needed the money. I got big debts to pay off and I couldn’t keep up. Between gambling and owing my drug dealer a shitload, I’m in deep. And these guys, they don’t care about my excuses,” Danny croaked.

“Neither do I.”

Snatching the knife off the table, Gio gripped Danny’s right hand and cut off two of his fingers.

Danny’s scream echoed in the room as blood gushed onto the floor. Gio stepped around the mess and placed the knife back on the table and sat down again, crossing his arms.

Danny was shaking and writhing, tears and snot running down his face. The sudden stench of ammonia filled the small space. Danny had pissed himself and he was mumbling and crying, begging for mercy.

“Unfortunately, I have no mercy to give,” Gio responded as his phone buzzed. He pulled it out and read a message from Roman. “We went through your locker and found fifteen grand. You stole over two hundred.”

“The… fifteen was… tonight,” Danny panted. “The rest I took over the past month is gone. I…paid off some debts and spent the rest.”

Gio shrugged his shoulders and stood up. “As a business owner, I’m used to dealing with losses. Some small, some big. It’s not pleasant but it is what it is.”

He stood up and picked up the knife again. Danny’s trembling intensified, his body shaking so hard the chair legs rattling against the floor. Gio ran the tip of the knife along the thief’s neck, listening to him weep and beg.

“I have to get back out to my date, so I’ll leave you in Roman’s capable hands.”

Gio looked up at the mirror and nodded.

Thirty seconds later, Roman entered the office and waited in the corner of the room.

“But before I say goodbye, I need to know. Is there anyone else skimming from me?” Gio asked, pressing the tip of the knife into the skin until he pierced it.

A trail of blood seeped down Danny’s neck.

Danny hesitated. Just for a split second, but Gio noticed.

“No.”

He didn’t believe him, but time had run out.

Nothing more needed to be said.

Gio slit Danny’s throat from ear to ear.

Nowadays, he usually left these messy jobs to Roman. But it had been a while since someone duped him and he needed to vent his anger. And Gio had a reputation to uphold so he had no problem getting his hands dirty when required. He may have been born and raised to lead the Ferraro empire, but he still paid his dues.

As Danny’s head fell back, Gio stepped away and placed the knife on the table again.

“Clean it up. And tell Harry to search the rest of the employee lockers now. There’s another person skimming cash. When he finds them, take care of it,” Gio ordered Roman. “I need to change my shirt.”

Then Gio left the room and went straight to the bathroom at the end of the hallway, where a clean shirt, his vest, and jacket were hung up and ready for him. After washing his hands and removing his bloody shirt, he threw on a clean white button down and finished getting dressed. He tossed the stained items in the garbage bin and took the bin to the stifling furnace room. Roman was already at work.

The fire was going to get a lot of use tonight.

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