8
GIOVANN I
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.
After one revolution of the chair, Serafina crouches, coming face to face with a now trembling captive. “So if you needed the money for your family, why did you not come to me? ”
If it weren’t for the calculating tone, I’d believe that Serafina was showing too many of her cards. I’ve never seen a leader extend an olive branch quite like this, hell, any guy whose enemy showed up at their place unannounced would be dead. Serafina gave Luciano a chance to leave, something I’ve never seen someone in her position do before.
“Why does your family need the money?” she probes.
We all know that’s not really any of her business, but from the look in her eyes, I can tell what she’s doing, and it’s working.
The man shudders beneath her gaze, and if it’s even possible, he shrinks a little farther.
“I thought so,” Sera sighs disappointedly, like she already knows the answer.
The room lapses into silence as Sera turns on her heel, but before she can take a step, Brady cries out for her.
“I’m sorry, Donna Bianchi!”
Sera halts, head dropping, but she doesn’t turn around. Instead, she looks up and locks eyes with me. Something close to helplessness swims in her eyes and she’s gazing at me like I’m the one to give her the strength she needs. For a moment, I see the vulnerability and uncertainty she only allows me to see. We don’t know each other that well, but the few seconds she exposes herself to me are enough for me to accept what I need to do.
All I do is nod, a simple acknowledgement that I know she can do this. She has three guys to back her up and all she has to do is say the words.
My gesture seems to be enough because she takes a deep breath and nods back. She shakes off whatever just transpired between us and offers me an appreciative smile.
“I know,” she finally answers sternly. “But if you had come to me before, none of this would be happening.” In one swift glance at Levi, she walks across the room, away from me to rest against the wall.
“Are you sure you want to stay for this?” Luca questions her. Just from the concern etched in his voice, I can tell he’s unsure whether Sera should watch this. It’s not to protect her by any means. But we all know what’s about to happen, I’ve seen it done a thousand times, even more than that. The first time is always the most harrowing, but she’s remaining resolute, showing strength and authority. This is what a leader does. There’s no mercy for disloyalty. No second chance for those who betray their leaders or families. Serafina just found her shoes, and she’s walking damn proud in them.
“Go on,” she orders, folding her arms across her chest. She paints on the perfect mask of boredom, a look of stoic impatience that would otherwise scare anyone else. But not me.
“It’s playtime, Brady,” Levi grins while prowling around the chair.
While Levi and Luca both draw out their knives, Sera’s focus drifts to her manicured nails.
“It’s a shame, really,” Levi laughs, the sinister tone of his words coaxing a chill to envelop us. “I was taught to bring torture to men with various tools.”
Serafina scoffs at him, rolling her eyes at Levi’s theatrics.
“Same,” Luca joins in. “Pliers are my favorite.”
Georgio quivers in his chair, his shoulders slumping even further as he resigns himself to his fate. If ever there was a moment where a man felt truly helpless, being at the hands of these two is probably rock bottom of that realization.
“Boys,” Serafina warns boredly.
“Oh Donna Bianchi,” Levi lilts, turning his attention to his leader. “Playing with the prey is the best part.”
In any other circumstance, I would agree with the guy. Torture is all about the game, the unknown, the wait. It’s every torturer’s dream.
“I don’t have all night,” she huffs.
“Fine,” Levi sighs. “After you Fontana.”
Luca smiles, an evil, sadistic grin that I have seen countless times on numerous faces. It’s the look of excitement blended with concentration. The expression of a man ready to inflict all the pain and torture he can to the man who exchanged loyalty for money.
He draws his knife down the man’s shirt, the material tearing under the force of the blade. Georgio’s chest is exposed, tattoos and more scars decorating his body. I can already tell by the look in Luca’s eyes this isn’t his first rodeo. He’s most likely been conditioned for the enforcer role, taking the mantle as one to inflict pain when the time comes. Just by the way he surveys Brady, I can see the cogs turning. He’s methodical in his practice, logical and precise in the way he wants to deliver pain.
“I’m not going to lie,” Luca murmurs to him, barely audible over the excitable tension suffocating the room. “This is going to hurt.”
With those words, Luca drags the tip of the blade down the man’s chest. Crimson liquid spills outward from a singular line drawn in the scarred fleshy canvas.
Brady stifles a groan, biting down on his bottom lip to mask the pain.
The single line transforms into the letter ‘F’ as Luca marks the man with his initial, sick pleasure widening his smile. The floor pools with Brady’s blood, the coppery smell filling the room. Luca wastes no time in dragging the blade down the sleeves of the man’s jacket, slicing through the skin and muscle of his biceps at the same time.
A stomach-curdling scream tears from Georgio’s throat, cutting short when he gasps as the hilt of the blade meets the man’s hand, pinning it to his thigh. He makes no attempt to beg. No pleading for his life. He got into this mess himself and now he has to pay the consequences.
Blood spots the ground, absorbing instantly into the porous tiles.
Leaving the blade in his hand and thigh, Luca takes out another. He repeats the same action to the other arm, finishing with the final plunge of the blade into his thigh. The man looks like the reverse version of Jesus. Instead of being nailed to the cross, the one he had to bear, Brady is pinned to himself. It’s like a poetic symbol, the irony that he was his own undoing in all of this.
When Luca finally steps back to take a look at the simple masterpiece, he nods to Levi to take over.
Levi takes his own knife in one hand, grabbing the man’s hair with his other. He tilts his head back, glancing once more at Serafina for confirmation. We’re all looking at her, waiting with bated breath for her to give the signal .
“Do it.” She murmurs, stepping away from the wall. Even in the shadowy room, I can make out her sullen features, and I sense she has had enough of ‘playtime’ as Levi called it. She won’t be the one to admit she doesn’t want to watch the rest, so I approach her, placing my hand on her back and guiding her towards the door.
“I’m fine,” she snaps once the door closes behind us. I’d believe her if it weren’t for the fact she pauses her defiant footsteps and presses a back to the wall. Her chest rises and falls as she gulps down air, and when I take a closer look, she’s clammy.
Stepping forward, I lift her chin, watching a single bead of sweat drip down her temple.
“I’m fine,” she whispers, but she loses all strength in her words.
It’s no use fighting each other on this and she knows it. I recognize the resignation in her eyes. She leans into my palm, her cold cheek cupped by my hot hand.
“I’m fine.”