Chapter 10
ten
Valentina
Valentina
“No!” I say and shift in my seat, and the pain of my broken ribs that still ache from the beating stings. “I don’t need your help. If I’d wanted help, I would have told my brother.”
“You’re hurt, Valentina. Do you really think you can take care of them alone in this condition?”
“I’ll manage. Besides, I’m not alone. If anything goes wrong, Mack is here.” Not that I had any choice. He didn’t leave my side after the incident.
Gabriel looks through the window where Mack is resting against the wall. “I’m glad you have someone to rely on; however, I’m not leaving.” He turns to me, his eyes warning me not to argue. “End of discussion.”
My stomach dips, and not from the pain, but from his words that awaken butterflies and heat my blood.
After what happened, I dreamed of him taking care of me. I dreamed of sleeping in his arms while he told me everything would get better. That he would make it better. Until I woke up to the truth that this is something I need to take care of.
I shift in my seat and narrow my eyes at Gabriel. “If you want to stay, stay. But don’t you dare get in my way.”
Gabriel loosens his jacket in the passenger seat and exhales. “I won’t.” His eyes meet my stare. “So, what’s the plan?”
I glance at the restaurant entrance through the windshield. “They are all going down tonight.”
He lifts an eyebrow. “Care to elaborate?”
“After the guests leave, I’m going in.”
Gabriel’s fingers pause on the dashboard “Okay, and what’s your plan once you’re inside?”
“The kitchen,” I say, my voice low. “There are rumors of a torture chamber behind it. Knowing the owner, those rumors aren’t fiction.”
He studies me for a beat, eyes narrowed. “And that is important how?”
I let a slow grin spread. “I want them to pay in the worst way.”
Gabriel’s jaw tightens. He pushes the door open, the car light spilling into the night. “They’ll pay,” he says, voice flat. “And I’ll watch you get your revenge.”
I watch as the last guests exit the restaurant and look at Gabriel. “It’s time.”
I exit the car and nod at Mack, who joins me as I secure my guns behind my back.
Gabriel grips my hand just a few feet before the entrance. I turn to him, my eyes meeting his concerned ones. “Let me go inside first just to make sure there isn’t anything we need to worry about.”
I bite my lip. “Don’t you dare kill anyone. They’re mine.”
He nods and, catching me off guard, he wraps his hand around the back of my neck, pulling me to him and placing a kiss on my forehead before he turns for the entrance of the restaurant.
I walk close to the restaurant. The warm glow of the entrance spills onto the sidewalk.
My eyes scan the shadows, searching for any flicker of movement, the city’s low hum a background to my focused attention.
When I’m sure there isn’t anything suspicious, I open the door and enter.
With slow and steady steps, I move forward.
I take one of the guns from behind my back and keep walking toward the voices that are coming from the kitchen.
“I know who you are.” Gianni’s wobbly voice echoes.
Gabriel chuckles. “I’m glad you do. Because this face will be the last one you’re going to see before you die.
” I turn the corner and face the voices, where Gabriel has Gianni in a chokehold with his forearm against the wall.
Upon seeing me, he smiles. “But first, I think my future wife wants to have some fun.”
Gianni’s eyes widen, and he tries to free himself from Gabriel’s hold. “That whore deserved everything that happened to her.” He spits. “I just wish I had a chance to be there to ruin that hole of hers. I would have enjoyed tearing her apart.”
My breath quickens, and the rage inside me flows through my veins. I fist my hand around the gun, ready to aim, but the sound of a gut-wrenching roar calms me as I watch Gabriel’s knife digging into Gianni’s torso.
“Not as much as I’ll enjoy watching you being gutted,” he grits out.
“He’s alone. The kitchen crew left just as I entered.” He looks toward Mack. “But so we’re sure, do a tour.”
Mack nods and carefully enters the kitchen. I move toward Gianni, watching his movement as I search for his phone in his pockets. When I find it, I place it in front of his face for face recognition.
I scroll through the text messages, but there isn’t anything that can tell me who those other four bastards were.
I look at Gianni. “Names?”
He laughs. “I don’t know.”
I look at Gabriel, who understands what I want without my needing to say anything. He nods just as Mack comes back.
“Everything is clear. I closed the back door.” Mack narrows his eyes at me. “I found the room we were talking about.”
I smile devilishly. “Perfect. Lead the way.” Mack closes the front door before he leads us toward the room behind the kitchen and into the storage room.
There, we enter another room hidden behind the shelves.
The scent of stale blood fills my nostrils, and I take a look around what looks like a butcher’s room and smile when I see hooks hanging from the ceiling.
“I think he will be comfortable here.”
Mack chuckles. “Yeah, he loves that hook.” He turns to Gianni. “Remember when you dragged us all here when we were kids and bragged about all the people you hung on that hook? After that, you hooked Max to it and made us watch while you beat him up because he refused to work for you.”
Gianni’s eyes widen slightly, and the indifference on his face disappears. I never knew the story behind the triplets and my brother’s friendship, but I know Nico was the one who always took their side, and they would do whatever was needed for him.
Mack takes Gianni from Gabriel’s grip and drags him toward the hook. He takes the chains hanging from it and binds Gianni’s hands to it before placing it through the hook.
“You're going to regret this,” Gianni grits out.
Mack laughs as he pulls on the chains until Gianni is stranded on the ceiling.
I take steps toward Gianni. “I need names, Gianni. Tell me who they are, and I promise you will die quickly.”
Gianni laughs. “You think you can get away with this? I’m a powerful man. I have more influence than that punk, Nico. If something happens to me, there will be hell to pay.”
“That’s what you think. After you’re gone, and with Mario in prison, there will be space for a new underboss. Someone who will not abuse his power to climb the food chain on the backs of those who work for him.”
“Mario will get out, and sooner than you think.”
I approach him until I can clearly see his eyes. “Then I’ll need to make sure he never does.”
He fights the chains. “You little…” His sentence is interrupted with a moan of pain caused by Gabriel, who kicks him in the side, in his kidney.
“Let’s get this over with.” He takes off his tux jacket, and for the first time tonight, my attention strays from my vengeance to something else. To Gabriel, who exchanged his black slacks and black shirt for a tux. I close my eyes, remembering again that I was supposed to meet him in New York.
Anger rises one more time. Anger at being prevented from showing up. It was supposed to be our first date.
He rolls up the sleeves of his shirt and looks around. “We only have guns here.”
I shrug. “I’m sure we can find something.”
Gabriel tilts his head. “Or we can just shoot him.”
“No!” I say.
Gabriel walks toward me. When he’s in front of me, he takes my chin between his fingers, his eyes capturing mine.
“What do you want exactly? Tell me what you need me to do, and I will. I will torture him. I will make him regret the day he was born if that’s what will make you happy.
I will do your dirty work, and you will have your revenge. ”
Yes, yes. I want all that. The bastard deserves it.
But I want to do it; I want to hurt him like he let those animals hurt me.
Rage that has been simmering for days is waiting to be released.
Only, I can’t. I’m too tired; my body hurts.
And with every move, I feel the break of my ribs again.
I don’t elaborate on my feelings or my thoughts.
I bite my lip while Gabriel continues. “I will do whatever you want and end this so we can go back to our lives. You’re going to become my wife in three weeks. ”
He brushes a strand of hair off my face and traces the bruises on my cheek with the back of his hand. “Now, tell me, what do you want?”
“I need names. Make him suffer.”
He cups my face and nods. He leans and presses his lips to mine in a chaste kiss. I watch as he pulls away and turns toward Mack. “We need some tools. See what you can find.”
“On it.”
Gabriel strips Gianni of his clothes, leaving him naked. “We’re going to have some fun. Your cooperation will determine how much fun we’re going to have.”
“You’re going to regret this,” Gianni spits.
Gabriel chuckles. “You keep saying that. But from what I see, you don’t hold any power here. You say you’re powerful, and I say I will shove that power up your ass. So, you’d better start talking.”
Gianni spits on Gabriel. “I will hunt you from my grave, you bastard.”
“No, you won’t, because I will make sure you don’t have one. I will chop you up and feed you to the fish in the Hudson River.”
“Found some good butcher’s knives,” Mack announces.
“Perfect.” Gabriel grins. “Shall we begin?”
Gabriel takes a long, narrow knife and places it under Gianni’s throat. “I will ask you one last time. Names?”
“Fuck you.”
“Wrong answer.” He thrusts the knife into his skin and slices him down from his torso to his belly.
Gianni screams in pain, cursing. His fresh blood, a dark, glistening crimson, splatters onto the cold, hard floor. The metallic scent fills my nostrils, and with each drop, the anger inside me fades away.
I should be horrified by the sight and the torture inflicted by the man in front of me, but I’m not.
Relief hums through me, steady and cold, as I watch the man who once thought himself untouchable finally pay for his sins.
He deserves worse. So much worse. For everything he did to me… and to those before me.
He pleads, trembles, breaks, but I don’t move. I just watch. Every flinch, every gasp, every useless attempt to bargain feels like another weight lifting off my chest. I thought revenge would taste like fire. Instead, it’s clean. Controlled. Almost calm.
“Stop, please. I will tell you the names,” Gianni cries out.
“Talk!”
“They are Mario’s crew. Vito and his cousins. Please, stop. Just kill me.”
Gabriel looks at me. “You know who he’s talking about?”
I nod. “Yeah. You know one of them, too.”
“I see.”
Gianni’s bloody, pleading eyes catch mine. “Tell him to kill me already.”
I laugh and push off the wall, reaching him in a few steps. “He told you he would skin you alive, didn’t he? But what he didn’t tell you is that I will enjoy every second of it.”
I turn toward Gabriel and take the knife from him. I look Gianni in the eyes. “But there is something I want.” I swallow and take his tiny cock in my hand, and in one swift move, I place the knife on it, digging in and cutting it off.
My breath quickens, and I block out Gianni’s desperate cries and watch his blood as it disappears from his body.
I breathe in and out, and for a second, I’m at peace because he got what he deserved.
But his desperate cries are annoying. I look at the flesh in my hand and laugh.
Then I look at Gianni and do the only thing left to do; I stuff it into his mouth, feeding him his own cock, and leave him to choke on it while he bleeds to death.
I exit the kitchen and search for some water, gulping it down in one go. I need to calm down; I can hear my heart beating in my ears. A hand touches my shoulder, and I turn to Gabriel.
“You good?”
I shrug. “Why shouldn’t I be?”
“You’ve done something like that before?”
I shake my head. “No.”
“Okay, you're running on adrenaline. I want you to tell me if you start to feel dizzy after the adrenaline subsides.”
“I’ll be fine.” I look him in the eyes. “I don’t regret what I did to him. What I did freed me, and after the rest are dealt with, I will be even better.”
Gabriel studies my face for a moment longer before he nods. “You know how to reach Vito and his crew?”
I smile. “Yes. I also have Gianni’s phone. I’ll make them come here, and you and Mack make sure they are captured.”
“Do you want them to suffer slowly, or do you want it quick and done?”
I contemplate my choices and decide that it’s time to move on. “Make it quick, but make them suffer.”
He smiles, cupping my face. “Let’s get that over with so we can focus on our future together.”