36. Massimo
Chapter 36
Massimo
“Y ou wanted to see me?” Aldo asks as he saunters into the room without a care in the fucking world and oblivious to the noose he’s tied around his own neck.
Daniele follows him in, closing and locking the door behind them. I push away from the wall, adrenaline coursing through my veins now that the bastard is standing in front of me. The man conspiring to kill me and those I have a duty to protect.
With a calm I do not feel, I indicate to the chair in the middle of the room just behind where he’s come to a stop. “Take a seat.”
Aldo’s brows lift, but only slightly, and I’m certain that he didn’t mean for me to see. He smooths a hand over his tie and lifts his chin a fraction. “I think I’ll stand.”
I take a step toward him. “I wasn’t giving you a choice.”
His throat bobs in a nervous swallow. Even in the dingy lighting of the room, I can see his uncertainty. It’s like a veil has been lifted, and where I once saw a strong and powerful man, I now only see a weak, greedy rat .
I take another step, and he takes one back, putting him in Daniele’s reach. Clamping a hand onto his shoulder, Daniele forces Aldo into the chair, holding him steady.
He squirms, his eyes wide with panic. “What’s going on?”
Brandishing a zip tie from my pocket, I grab one of his wrists, looping the tie around it before tying him to the chair. His heavy, panicked breathing is the only sound as I work on the other one and then move to his ankles.
“Massimo?” he calls when I step back, curiosity colliding with the worry in his expression. “This is unnecessary. I will tell you whatever you want to know.”
Straightening, I tilt my head. “Is that so? Because I think you’ve had plenty of time to tell me your secret .”
He barks a laugh, darting a glance at Daniele before returning his attention to me. “I have no secrets.”
Liar . The corner of my mouth lifts in a sadistic smirk, and I shake my head before heading toward the countertop where a selection of tools are laid out. “How long have you been working with Elio Morretti?” I ask, catching his reaction over my shoulder.
Panic flits across his features before he shuts it down like the man my grandfather taught him to be. I select a hammer from the counter, the tool heavy in my hand and rusted from use. My arm falls to my side, laden down with the weapon as I turn and prowl toward him, waiting for an answer.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I haven’t spoken to Elio Morretti in years. Not since your father was trying to negotiate with him.”
Shaking my head, I line the hammer head up with his knee. “I have a reliable witness and she has told me otherwise.”
Aldo’s features transform, giving me a peek at the monster beneath the surface. “You mean that bitch of a wife you have? She’s lucky.”
I grind my teeth, forcing my tone to remain calm. “Yeah? How do you figure that?”
“The attempted kidnapping? That was Elio, he had plans for her. She’d have gotten what she deserved being the cheap whore she is. They’d have defiled and murdered her to get you to break. And like the weak man you are, you’d have done whatever it took to protect her,” he snarls.
I swing the hammer into his knee. It hits with a sickening crunch, and his cries echo around the room. “Fucking call her a whore again,” I snarl, spittle flying from my mouth and landing on his face.
Aldo gasps for air, his eyes brimming with hate. It’s enough for my control to snap. I hurl the hammer aside and it clatters to the floor, but the sound barely penetrates the fog of fury wrapped around me. Grabbing the collar of his jacket, I bring my fist back and slam it into his face, over and over again, ignoring the pain that radiates from my knuckles.
A wildness runs through me, untamable and hungry for his blood. Daniele steps in, forcing me to take a step back. He stands between us as he holds my gaze. “We need answers,” he reminds me.
We both know that Aldo won’t tell us what we want to know. Like us, he has been trained to withstand whatever torture methods we might use, but it won’t stop me trying to break him.
I suck in a breath, forcing the room back into focus and staring at Aldo’s now bruised and bloody face. I’ve beaten men before, killed, tortured, and broken them. But this? This is the first time I’ve ever lost control.
We need to know what is coming next, undoubtedly something is, and the man in front of me is the only one who can give us an answer. Flipping out on him and letting my rage get the best of me can’t happen again.
Shoving Daniele’s hands away, I nod before stepping around him, my chest heaving. “Let’s try this again, shall we.” I pick up the pliers from the counter and crack my neck as I move toward Aldo. “Hold his hand steady,” I instruct Daniele, who follows my command without question. Grabbing Aldo’s pinkie, I slip the pliers under his nail. “How long have you been working with Elio Moretti?”
Aldo laughs, the sound dark and sinister. “You are wasting your time. There is nothing you can do to me?—”
In one swift movement, I yank up, ripping his fingernail from the bed of his finger. Aldo screams, his voice raw before he gasps for air.
“Exactly how long do you think you will last? You know what I am capable of and where this is going.”
“Just fucking do it,” he snarls, pulling at the restraints.
I move to the next finger. “Where is Elio?”
Sweat beads on his temple. “Go to hell.”
His body tenses, waiting for me to strike. I don’t disappoint, pulling up and ripping off another nail, his screams tearing into the air.
We repeat the cycle—me asking a question, him refusing to answer until all of his fingernails have been removed. He’s trembling, his chin sagging against his chest, but he hasn’t broken and he probably never will.
Daniele clears his throat, forcing my focus to shift to him. When he nods toward Aldo’s neck, he pulls at the collar. Fedeltà Eterna : Eternal Loyalty. The same tattoo we saw on the man who tried to kidnap Margot. The one Elio’s men get as their pledge .
Shaking my head, I grab a fistful of Aldo’s hair, yanking his head back. “It’s over,” I say. “Tell me why? Why betray me? My father and his father before him trusted you. They thought they had your loyalty. Betraying me is a betrayal of them. You know how this works.”
His breath rattles. “They did have my loyalty.” His top lip curls, as he looks at me through bloodied, swollen, and bruised eyes.
“I gave everything to your family and when you stepped into your father’s shoes, you all but retired me. The sacrifices I made were for nothing because you never gave me your loyalty in return,” he snarls.
“You thought you would kill me and what? Take over my operations because you wanted a bigger piece of the pie? Get fucking real. Elio would have killed you as soon as you served your purpose.”
Denial floods Aldo’s gaze and he opens his mouth to speak but nothing comes out. I see the moment realization seeps into his eyes, quickly followed by regret. Too fucking late .
I walk to the counter on the far side of the room, picking up the knife I’ve used countless times and turning it over in my hand. The handle is heavy, but it’s the sharpness of the blade that glints under the dim lighting which holds my attention.
“Do you know what the funny thing is?” I pause. “I looked up to you when I took over, but I guess it’s true what my father said, ‘power will rot a foundation from within and greed is insatiable, but the two together. Well, that’s combustible and will ruin a man.’”
Standing behind him, I fist Aldo’s hair, pulling it back until his neck is exposed and he’s staring at the ceiling. I place the blade against his skin, pausing as memories flash through my mind. The one that stands out the most is from moments ago, the disgust on his face and the vile words he spoke about my wife.
Without another thought, I slide the blade across his throat. He releases a gurgled gasp, his body shuddering and his lips moving, yet no words come out. Our gazes lock, and I hold his until the life drains from him, and he goes limp in the chair. It’s only then that I release him and step away. He was never going to win and as he took his last breath, he knew it.
A strange sense of grief washes over me as I walk from the cell without a word. I did what had to be done to protect my family and my men.
There is nobody else to blame for this except for Aldo and he paid the ultimate price. And yet, shame and guilt eat away at me for having allowed him to do what he did, right under my nose and for having to kill a man that my father and grandfather considered family.
Blowing out a breath, I pull my phone out and open the message thread with Romeo before adding Leonardo.
MASSIMO
It’s done.
The two words hold a heaviness to them, but I brush it off and press send before shoving my phone back into my pocket. It’s not really done, in the sense of having gotten rid of the threat, we still have to find Elio and take care of Anastasia but at least now, we can move forward without our every move being reported.
At the top of the basement stairs, I lift my hand to the doorknob, my gaze focusing on the bruises forming on my skin. Hours ago, I was looking at my hand and the ring that represents loyalty, unity, but now all I see is an ugliness on my skin. It’s a bitter reminder of what happened here tonight that will stay with me for the days to come.
As the reality of his death and betrayal sinks in, I let my feet guide me, my mind numb to everything but one thought. I need to see her . I need to know that I haven’t drowned in the darkness and that there is something worth saving.
Margot is the only light I have in the shadows of my life and I want to keep her that way.