30. Salvatore
thirty
Salvatore
Destruction.
Mayhem.
Chaos.
Madness.
All the control I learned during the years I promised to be different from my father has vanished. Replaced the monster I am. The one I kept hidden. I lost it since Isabella entered my life. This is the second time I’ve lost control, and both times were when she was in danger. Both times were because of me.
I was the target, not her.
My decisions led Sabatini to those rats. I should have killed them, but I was trying to do better. Better for the future of the family, to give them something I and others didn’t have.
A choice.
I left a gap for those traitors and filled it with my enemies. No more. I’m taking that gap back and taking complete control, one way or the other.
It is time for the annihilation of my enemies.
Time to show them who I really am.
I’m standing on the corner of the street, waiting for that bastard Russo to come out.
I’m not alone. I have the whole army at my back, but this is my mistake, and I like to take care of my problems alone. My men can take care of Russo’s men, but the man himself is mine.
I would love to drag him back to my basement. Unfortunately, I don’t have time. This needs to end now.
Russo rushes from his house with a bag in his hand. I follow him as he closes the driver’s door and slide into the passenger seat beside him, my gun firmly pointed at him.
“Going somewhere?” My sharp voice cuts through the small space.
His eyes widen, horror flooding his face. He reaches for the door handle. “I wouldn’t advise you to do that.” He stops at the warning. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way, your choice. Either way, you are going to die. You can choose a bullet in your head or pain that will last for days before you finally die.”
He puts shaking hands on the steering wheel. The sweat drips from his greasy forehead. He decided.
“First, I need names. Disobey me, or I will make sure you watch each member of your family die before you do.”
His whole body shakes. “No, please. They have nothing to do with this. They don’t even speak to me.” His voice shakes and he whines in agony.
“Names,” I order not caring about his pleas.
He exhales deeply, spilling out the names of the men I will hunt and kill.
“You need to stop, Salvatore.” Gabriel tries to stop me from entering the building where one of Russo’s men is living. “Let me handle this. You are going mad. I know this is personal because it was you who let them live. However, your current state of mind is spiraling. You need to take a break.”
“I’ll take care of the rest of them. You already did enough,” Dante says from behind me.
Do I want to stop? Is my adrenaline so high that I’m spiraling? I’ve killed people before, but never so many in one day. I took care of Russo and the six others he mentioned. Those I needed to look in the eyes when I killed them. Men I gave a second chance to, thinking they’d be better. But all I did was lose control and now I have it back. I killed them all, and the men that were following them.
I take a deep breath. I need to control myself.
“Fine, but I’m not leaving.”
I let Gabriel lead the way with Dante on my heels. I had each one of them take a couple of men as I had myself. Catching the traitors wasn’t hard since they didn’t expect us.
According to Russo, after I killed Bernardo, the agreement with Sabatini fell apart. When ‘‘Ndrangheta cut all connections with him, he changed the rules of the game. One after another, supporters left him until he was alone, which caused last night’s events.
This place is supposed to be their base. The place where they gather and play cards, drink, and have women around. From the corner of my eye, I catch Dante’s men following us.
Gabriel opens the door, and before we enter, he searches the area, making sure we don’t walk into a trap.
We enter after him into the dirty place; the windows are covered with drapes, and there is a strong stench of stale cigarettes and alcohol. A laugh comes from the door on the right side next to the corridor. We move toward it, hearing voices and laughs.
Gabriel opens the door, with Dante and his men following him inside. Screams and grunts come from the room. I enter only after Dante and the men have things under control.
The first thing I see is three obviously underage girls in nothing but an excuse for a dress, and from their expressionless faces, they are probably on drugs.
I say to two of Dante’s soldiers, “Take them, put them in the car, and stay with them.” I’ll deal with them later.
“What do we have here?” I ask when the girls have left the room. There are six low-ranked soldiers. Lowlife men who wanted to get rich quickly and rise through the ranks without working their asses off for it.
I take a look at each one of them. Dante has them all on their knees with their hands bound behind them. Clenching my fist, I stop myself from punching them in their faces and finishing them myself.
“I came here to end your useless lives, but I need some answers.”
I motion with my head to the table where stacks of money are laid out by a game of poker. There is a bag with money that I don’t touch, but one look at it and I know there’s a million in it.
“Where did the money come from?”
None of them says a word. They just look at the floor.
I tsk. “So loyal.” I take a seat in the chair. I may look and sound calm, but I’m far from it. My blood is boiling, and only when I catch Sabatini will it cool down. “Your own boss sold you for quicker death,” I say, claiming their attention. I smirk. “Yes, Russo is dead, and so are the others. So, your destiny is in Dante’s hands. Quick or slow?”
“He wouldn’t,” one of the men says.
“Oh, and why is that? You think you’re special. That he would choose you over himself?”
“He promised…”
“Shut up, Al,” another one barks at the guy.
“He promised what?” I ask, interest spiking inside me.
“Don’t you dare, Al.”
“Tell me, Al,” I order, I lean forward and look at the young man.
“He told us we will become captains after they take over.”
“Figures.” I look at Dante, tired of this shit. I give him a sign with my head, motioning to him to take over and finish this.
He takes his knife and slices Al’s throat. His men do the same.
I watch as the crimson blood leaks out of them.
I watch as their bodies jerk like slaughtered animals.
I watch as their souls leave their bodies.
When they are not moving anymore, I order the men, “Erase every sign that they ever existed.” I stand and exit, with Gabriel following me. “We need to find Sabatini.”
“He’s gone,” Gabriel says. I stop in my tracks and turn to face him. “I got a call from Di Angelo. Sabatini is not in the States anymore. Nico thinks somewhere north. The guy who helped him is Canadian, so there is a good chance he’s already crossed the border.”
“Fuck!” I punch the wall near me. Rage in me rises again, the control I gained from killing all the bastards has vanished. I open and close my fist, and not even pain can relax me.
“We will look for him. Come, let’s get out of here. We need to regroup and see what Marco has for us.”
We drive back to the new house I bought for us. I tremble from the inside because the house I referred to as ours is Isabella’s. Our arrangement will end no matter the agreement with her father. After I kill Sabatini, everything will be over. And the thought of sticking to our agreement and letting her go, because of the monster inside me, is making me see red, filled with rage oozing out of my pores. Rage that no amount of violence can tame.
The longer the monster stays outside, the more everything in front of me is black, and I crave only one thing that can tame the monster inside me.
Isabella.