Chapter 5
Chapter
Five
DOMINIC
I ’m still cursing myself for treating Roisin so insensitively when I arrive at the warehouse, where I’ve arranged to meet Mika to let him know what I’ve discovered. The things Roisin confided in me change the situation significantly, and knowing she took a chance on telling me, her jailor for all intents and purposes, means I’m feeling guilty for not being a little more considerate of how my actions might be perceived. My guess is she probably thinks it was all a ruse to get her to talk, which was far from my intention, but there’s no time to dwell on that now.
For better or for worse, I’ve arranged for Kaiden and Tommaso, the two who kidnapped Roisin, to be brought along, as I have a hunch they can shed some light on this Orla woman.
Tommaso is expendable, a mere associate, not even a soldier, although he has plenty of ambition. Sadly, not a lot of brain, though. But then, Vito doesn’t want his thugs to think, just do without questioning anything, so he certainly fits the bill there.
Kaiden is an altogether different matter, and we’ll need to tread carefully there.
“So, what’s all this about?” Mika asks, casting a dubious eye to where the two of them sit tied to a chair. Tommaso is rocking and struggling, noisy as he can be from behind his gag. Kaiden is the opposite, sitting quietly and glaring at the two of us with furious eyes which nevertheless show little surprise. I’ve noticed that about him before. It’s like he expects this kind of thing as a matter of course.
“I had an interesting conversation with Roisin Maguire today,” I tell him, ensuring our two captives can hear. “It seems there’s more to what’s going on than a simple case of retaliation for the abduction of Maricela.”
Tommaso stops struggling and goes quiet, his shifty eyes suddenly everywhere but on us. Kaiden’s attitude doesn’t change.
“What do you mean?” Mika demands, not unaware of Tommaso’s behavior himself.
“What I mean is it seems there was a reason for the Irish mob to target Maricela. A woman by the name of Orla was tortured, raped, and murdered before being returned, unrecognizable, and hung, naked, on the gates of ár n-áit. Apparently, they were only able to identify her by way of a tattoo that had deliberately been left unblemished.”
“And how did they tie this to us?” Mika demands angrily. “No such attack has been sanctioned against the Irish mob.”
I look at the two men, both silent now. Kaiden looks rather green if I’m any judge, but the other sickly smug, making me want to wipe the look off his face… with a crowbar.
“Well, it seems the viper stuffed into her taped mouth was a bit of a giveaway.”
Mika curses creatively, and for a moment, I almost think he might explode with anger. Then, he gets a hold of himself and makes a visible effort to calm himself. It’s no secret that Mika is vehemently against any kind of assault against women, and that he’s actively trying to shut down the Cosa Nostra’s remaining ties to the skin trade, so it’s no wonder Kaiden looks concerned.
Tommaso still doesn’t get it, of course, and starts mouthing off behind his gag again.
“You have something to say?” Mika asks, marching over to him and snatching the tape away from his mouth, harshly enough to make him yelp and for his lips to bleed where the skin’s been pulled off with the tape. He spits out the blood that runs into his mouth, then casts angry eyes at the pair of us. “She was puttana ,” he declares, as if telling Mika she was a whore will make things any better.
Mika’s eyes narrow. “So, she was hired, and paid, and came to the compound of her own free will?” he asks with deceptive calm.
“Stupido!” Tommaso guffaws. Yeah, never a good idea to call the underboss, the son of the Don and heir to the organization, stupid. Even Kaiden rolls his eyes. “We take her. We have some fun.” He lewdly thrusts his pelvis as much as he’s able, still bound to the chair, but the action is obvious enough.
“By whose order?” Mika asks coldly. “Because it sure as hell wasn’t mine.”
You’d think the idiot would have read into Mika’s tone and taken care, but no.
“The boss, of course,” Tommaso pronounces, his eyes widening when Mika leans his hands on the arm of the chair and gets right into his face.
“I am the boss,” he reminds the man, who still doesn’t get it.
“The top boss, of course. Vito.”
Neither Kaiden nor I as much as blink when Mika takes a dangerous step back and whirls around in a spectacular roundhouse kick that hits Tommaso square in the face, toppling him onto the floor, chair and all, out cold.
“Well fuck,” Mika comments, looking at the guy’s prone form and giving him a kick in the gut for good measure. “He’s no good to me like that.” Mika turns his attention to Kaiden and purses his lips. “Looks like you’re up.”
Kaiden is stoic as Mika pulls off the tape… a lot more carefully than he did with Tommaso.
Kaiden licks his lips and stares at the two of us. “You don’t need to torture me,” he says. “I’ll happily tell you whatever you need to know.”
Mika locks eyes with him for a long moment, then slowly nods his head. “Okay then. Start talking.”
“Vito heard the girl was warming Maguire’s bed, but didn’t have protection, so he sent me and Tommaso to get her. And before you ask, yes, I knew the order didn’t come from the top, but since the alternative was painful, I did it anyway.”
“What happened to her?” Mika asks, and Kaiden looks away.
“Nothing good,” he mutters darkly. “But I can’t give you details, because he sent me out on another job… probably so he could make sure I didn’t snitch.”
“Where’d you get the black eye? You didn’t have it last night.” Mika asks him, tapping the vicious purpling bruise and causing Kaiden’s eyes to tighten in response, the only giveaway to the pain he must be feeling from the eye, which is almost swollen shut. When he doesn’t immediately answer, Mika glances at me, and I shrug, letting him know neither me nor the men I sent to detain Kaiden, were responsible. “Well?” Mika prompts. “I thought you just said you’d tell me anything I wanted to know.”
The expression on Kaiden’s face is full of reproof. “Where do you think?” he spits. “Vito seems to think I’m the reason you interrupted his fun with the Maguire girl.”
Mika raises an eyebrow. “Why would he think that?”
“Because he’s an asshole,” Kaiden grits out. “But if you want the rest, I need you to have my back.”
“You’re not exactly in a position to make demands,” Mika reminds him.
“Then put me out of my misery, and at least make it quick, because I can guarantee I’ll end up six feet under at the hands of the Viper, but he’ll extract every ounce of torment he possibly can first.”
Mika stares at the man who was forced into this life as a child, and although nothing shows on his face, I can sense the moment he softens. He gives a short, sharp nod. “You have my word.”
Kaiden holds Mika’s gaze a moment longer, as if he’s gauging his sincerity. But everyone knows Mika’s word is gold.
“Okay then. Vito... he's been making moves behind your back. Says you're too soft, and you're gonna ruin everything your father built."
Movement on the floor alerts me that Tommaso has come to, and I notice his eyes are wide now, clearly realizing the gravity of what Kaiden's revealing, and it’s clear, despite his low rank, that this isn’t news to him.
"He's been gathering support, promising the old guard a return to the way things used to be. Promising associates accelerated promotions," Kaiden continues, casting his eyes at Tommaso.
I feel my blood run cold. This is worse than I'd imagined. A quick glance at Mika shows his face wreathed in disbelief, which is shallowly masked by fury.
From the ground, there’s a rustle, and Tommaso mutters, glaring at Kaiden. “ Sporco traditore .”
Mika looks over at me, and I yank Tommaso up off the floor, so he’s seated again. “You too,” he spits—literally — as I do.
A moment later, he’s on the floor again, the wooden chair splintering under the strain as Mika crushes his boot against the idiot's windpipe.
“And how exactly are they traitors, when I’m the one in charge around here?” he questions. “Perhaps you’re the one who needs to be giving me all the details.”
Despite the foot to his neck causing his eyes to bulge, Tommaso vehemently shakes his head. I watch as Mika increases the pressure on Tommaso's throat, the man's face turning a virulent shade of purple. Just as I think he might actually kill him, Mika eases off slightly, allowing Tommaso to gasp for air.
“I suggest you tell me everything,” Mika says coldly. “Or I'll make sure you never speak again." He removes his foot entirely, and Tommaso coughs violently, sucking in desperate breaths. Tommaso's eyes dart frantically between Mika and me, seeming to weigh his options, but he says nothing.
“Looks like this is going to get messy,” Mika says with an exaggerated sigh.
I step forward, cracking my knuckles. "Want me to handle this, boss?"
Mika waves a hand. "Be my guest. Just make sure he can still talk when you're done."
I grab Tommaso by the collar and haul him up, slamming him against the wall, careless of the pieces of splintered chair that are still tethered to him. Knowing at least one piece has punctured his thigh if his groan and the way his leg gives way are any indication.
Finally, Tommaso croaks out, "Okay, okay. I'll talk."
“So, what happened to the girl?”
“You should know, you took her,” he responds, spitting more blood.
I narrow my eyes at his deliberate misunderstanding. “The first girl,” I growl, tightening my fist around his already bruised throat.
“She was nobody,” he chokes out. “The boss… Vito,” he amends at Mika’s growl. “Wanted to send a message. Let the other organizations know he’s playing hardball.”
“Why’d he target the Irish?” Mika asks from behind me.
Tommaso looks away and to the left, and I know he’s trying to think of a lie. Since he’s slow to answer, I knee him in his soft gut, holding him up by his collar as he doubles over and sucks in a wheezing breath.
“How about we treat you the same way you vermin treated her?” I ask conversationally, letting him fall to the ground while I reach into my pocket, extract a cigarette, and light it.
I see the exact moment Tommaso realizes what I have in mind, but he clenches his jaw and grunts through the pain as I stub out the lit end on his chest through his shirt. Twice, three times, and he remains silent, so I turn to Mika and say, “Hey, can you pass me that bat?” I nod towards the baseball bat on a side table.
Mika throws it, and I catch it with one hand, still restraining Tommaso with the other. “Of course, she was being raped at the same time… do you think I might be able to jam this handle up your ass so we can recreate that?”
He flinches but says nothing. His eyes dart between Mika and me, but he’s not looking nearly worried enough.
"Last chance," I growl. "Tell us everything, or things are going to get very unpleasant for you."
He presses his lips together, which means I guess we’re playing hardball — literally. So I swing the bat and hit him — hard — in his family jewels. He doubles over, a high-pitched wail making the rest of us wince in associated pain.
When he subsides, I allow him to slide to the floor, where he pants and curls into a fetal position. “Next, I’m going to ream your ass with this unless you tell me what I want to hear,” I tell him, flipping the bat into the air and catching it.
I think maybe I’ve made my point, and he believes me this time, since he wheezes what may — or may not — have been a word, but nods his head.
Since I’m not a monster, I allow him a few minutes to regain his equilibrium, and during that time, I take a knife and cut the ropes binding Kaiden, gesturing for him to get up off the chair. He’s aligned himself with us now, and anything he reveals to Vito about what occurred here, will likely go worse for him than keeping his mouth shut. Kaiden’s not stupid, and I do believe he hates the Viper as much as he claims. We need to show our own faith by trusting him.
I haul Tommaso off the floor and dump him into the empty seat, accompanied by a renewed scream of pain as his tender parts hit the solid wood.
“Now, I repeat, why did Vito target the Irish Mob?” I remind him. Just in case he’s forgotten.
Tommaso’s voice is thin and strained. “He wanted to send them a message.”
Since he doesn’t expand, I take my knife and signal Kaiden to hold Tommaso still while I proceed to slice one of his fingers off. “Next time, it’ll be your fucking cock,” I tell him, burying the blade into his groin. Clearly, far too close for comfort, because his next words are no more than a squeak. “They refuse to allow him access to their docks.”
“I’ve never had that issue with the Maguires,” Mika interrupts. “So, what is my uncle smuggling that has them denying him access?”
Tommaso stalls, his eyes darting everywhere but Mika, so I swing the bat back again. “It’s girls!” Tommaso shrieks, holding up his hands to ward off another blow.
Not that it matters. A moment later, a furious Mika, who has serious issues with the skin trade, pulls out his gun and shoots the doomed man right between the eyes.