Chapter 14 Matteo
MATTEO
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Franco asks, while I check my surroundings in the rearview mirror.
We’re right outside Echo, a club the Agostinis favor, and his car is parked out front.
I already made up my mind the moment I found out about Stella’s bruises. “Positive.”
“What changed your mind?” he asks.
“Stella.” He doesn’t need to know the reasons.
“But we’re outnumbered, five to two.”
“Doesn’t matter. They won’t expect this,” I reply.
“But what if we die?”
“Then so be it,” I reply.
Nothing will stop me from exacting revenge on her behalf. Nothing.
Franco shakes his head in disapproval. “We should have brought more men.”
“I will not risk any more of my men, not for this,” I say. “And if you’re so hesitant to help me, then stay in the fucking car, and I’ll find myself a new second in charge.”
He immediately pulls his gun from his pocket and loads it. “No, sir. I’m quite ready.”
I nod. “Great. I’m glad you came to your senses.”
I open the car door and step out, waiting for the crowd near the club to disperse. This place is Lucio’s favorite spot. I only ever come here to watch him seethe after I’ve taken yet another one of his playthings. But now I’m more interested in getting revenge than in seeing his tears.
If he died now, then all my effort would have been in vain.
I want him to suffer badly, and I will make it happen tonight.
He dared to put his hands on Stella, and I cannot forgive that.
No man should ever hurt a woman. He bruised her skin and gave her permanent marks, so I will make him pay the price for his crime.
I waited all day for him to get out of the club, and now the time has finally come for him to get what he’s owed.
When he steps out of Echo, I make my move.
I beckon to Franco to follow me as we slink past the car, both of us keeping our guns steady in our pockets.
People are everywhere, so I don’t want to make a fuss or a scene.
No one here is going to call the cops, and no one will know we were there until it’s already too late.
We follow him into the dark of night. He’s carelessly strolling around on the sidewalk with his buddies, clearly drunk out of his mind while looking for his car. Does he even care that I took away his prized possession? Not fucking enough.
We sneak up on them from behind, making sure no one notices that we’re following them.
People all around us are too busy chatting among each other to care about us sneaking closer and closer to our victims. The moment I’m close enough, I place one of my guns to the back of the head of one of his guards and shoot.
Bang.
The silencer does its job well, and the man goes down without much of a fuss. I grab him by the arms like he just fell over in a drunken faint, and I drag him into an alley. Throwing him to the wall, I leave him there.
Lucio doesn’t even notice one of his men is missing in action.
He’s too busy balking at his second in charge, while they’re laughing their asses off about some girl flaunting her skills on the dance floor.
I can’t help but notice a pattern of a man with incredible hatred toward women.
He’ll quickly learn what that will cost him.
Franco guns down the other one and slides him off behind a car, so no one will see his body until it’s too late. The last two are right beside Lucio, and they seem to do a very bad job of protecting him, because none of them have noticed that two of them have already gone missing.
Franco and I look at each other, and we nod. We both aim for the two remaining guards and shoot them in the back of the head.
Bang. Bang.
Two shots at the same time, and they both go down as swiftly as those bullets exited our guns.
Death came quicker than the realization of being hunted.
Lucio’s head turns, but before he can scream, I slam my hand over his mouth and drag him off into an alley through which we escape the scene of the crime.
He mumble-cries some words, then bites my hand, but it doesn’t faze me. I’ll take whatever pain I have to endure to make him pay for what he did to Stella.
“Matteo, you piece of shit!”
We drag him all the way to the back of the alley, where I know no one will ever find us. It’s too dark for anyone to spot us here, and now that his lackeys are gone, there’s no one left to protect him from our wrath.
“Let go of me!” he yells.
Franco pulls out some zip ties and locks his arms behind his back, sealing his wrists while I keep him in place. He struggles against me, but I won’t allow him to escape. Not this time.
“You motherfu—”
Franco tears off a piece of his shirt and hands it to me, and I shove it into Lucio’s mouth so he’ll keep quiet.
He yelps against the cloth to no avail, while flicking his enraged eyes back and forth between Franco and me, wondering why on earth we would ambush him like this.
“You think you’re safe from me?” I slap him in the face. “You thought I wouldn’t be able to find you wherever you went? Wrong.”
I slap him again for good measure. Hard enough to leave a red mark on his skin.
His nostrils flare.
“The only reason I let you walk was so I could slowly siphon the joy of life out of your filthy fucking bones,” I spit in his face. “I didn’t kill you because I deemed you unworthy of a quick death.”
He just stares at me, but I know he understands.
I pull my knife from my pocket and flick it open. The glint of the metal draws his gaze, and his eyes immediately widen.
“But then you decided to put your hands on Stella.”
He shakes his head and yelps against the cloth.
“You tried to make her yours when she didn’t want you, and you hurt her out of spite.”
Murder would be too easy.
Death wouldn’t satisfy me, nor would it undo the damage he did. But I know a harsh lesson that will teach him the price. Men like him need to learn through pain.
I grab him by the throat and make him look at me. “Which hand was it? Which hand did you hit her with?”
His eyes are filled with panic.
“Show me, and I may let you breathe another day,” I growl.
Finally, he tilts his head to the right side.
My lip twitches. “You’re going to pay for that in blood.”
Franco hands me the butcher’s knife I told him to bring, then grabs him by the arms and spins him around for me. Lucio screams like an absolute maniac. But no one will come to his aid now.
“You marked her like she was yours to taint. You bruised her skin, so I will take yours as a fucking payment for your crime,” I growl, as I set the knife against his fingers right above the knuckle. “Now say bye to your fucking fingers.”
He cries out in agony as I begin to cut off his index finger with the butcher’s knife.
I slice and slice, while he screams and cries, saliva dripping from the cloth in his mouth.
He’s screaming out expletives, but they fall on deaf ears.
Blood squirts everywhere until I hit the bone, and even then, I continue hacking until it’s off completely.
I grab his other finger and force it to lengthen before cutting it off too. Franco keeps Lucio in place while his eyes nearly roll into the back of his head.
“You thought I was done?” I growl.
I’m not finished until I’ve taken off each one of his fingers. There’s nothing left but an empty hand he won’t ever be able to use.
When it’s done, I stand and show him all the fingers I took.
“You will never hit another woman again,” I command.
Franco shoves him into a corner and gets up too, throwing him a tissue from his pocket. “Clean up this fucking mess when we’re gone.”
Franco hands me a few plastic bags, and I tuck the fingers inside multiple to stop the blood from pooling onto the pavement beneath our feet. I’ll take these with me so he doesn’t try to get his buddies at some underground clinic to reattach them after we’re gone.
This is a permanent punishment, one he’ll have to take to the grave.
We waltz off back through the alley and put on our hats and glasses as we move between the crowd with bloodied suits. Everyone throws glances at us, but before they get a chance to decipher what’s stained our clothes, we’ve already disappeared.