Chapter Twenty #2
I smiled, leaning back to stare at the ceiling.
“We use work phones but install the same Apps with our user details on them. It makes tracing someone as easy as following a trail of chocolate buttons.” I moved my attention to the man watching me.
“You made my job very easy for me, and I would suggest easier for Rocco since he had interactions with you.”
He looked at Jake, who shrugged. “You can die in the knowledge that all your family will die horrible deaths at the hands of Rocco, or you can decide someone is more important than your worthless ass.”
“Rocco is only one part of an organisation which has been growing in recent years,” he replied. “This goes deeper than any of you in the echelons of power know, and the cancer has grown beyond what you can heal. It is you who should be afraid.”
That caught my attention since I had heard mutterings of an underground alliance. Every time I thought we had a lead, it had vanished. Now we knew of one family involved in it, and had phones we could track information through.
I knew by the way Jake was typing on his phone, he was already getting Ryan to start searching for this organisation. This was our city, and no one took a shit here without our knowledge or consent.
“Well, it seems you have made your decision,” I said, standing and looking at my phone to show him he meant nothing to me. “I wish you a pleasant journey to Hell. Please give my best regards to the other souls I have sent there.”
I turned on my heel, and stalked toward the door.
“There was an assignment available with your new wife’s photograph on it,” he called after me, and it felt as if someone had poured a bucket of cold water over me. “It was worth a lot of money, but your reputation is pushing the price up as no one wants to become your target.”
Every muscle in my body tensed at the fact Olivia had been mentioned in this room. The monster that resided in my chest erupted in rage, craving violence and the need to tear the throat out of the man who had threatened my wife.
Instead of lashing out, I slowly turned to face him. “There has been a threat on Olivia from the moment my ring slid onto her finger. You telling me some assholes have put a price to accompany that threat doesn’t bargain for your pitiful life.”
“Do you know what is worse than Maximus losing his temper?” Jake asked, clicking his finger joints.
“There is something infinitely more terrifying about a calm Maximus, because that man will peel your skin off, and remove your organs one at a time without anaesthetic. Can you begin to understand how much agony the human body can withstand before you eventually die?”
The asshole looked between Jake and I to try and ascertain if we were playing good guy, bad guy. There was no good in either of us, so he was out of luck.
“Everyone who enters this room has one chance to gain a favour from us, and the majority of people use it to plead for their family. I respect those people. By mentioning my wife, you have revoked any benevolence we would have shown.” I turned, and stalked out of the room.
A person could survive for weeks attached to a drip to keep them alive and nothing more.
Their mouth became so dry it slowly drove them insane, and their muscles atrophied until they burned with pins and needles.
The rooms were soundproofed, and when the lights were turned out, all stimulus was taken from their world.
I didn’t have to lift a finger to torture him, his mind would do that for me, breaking him one piece at a time until there was nothing left.
I heard him shouting as Jake left the room, turning the light out behind him.
“The human mind is more fragile than their body,” Jake said when he wandered into the control room behind me. “He doesn’t seem to enjoy being by himself.”
I flicked on the CCTV, and watched him shout at no one in the room. “Apparently not,” I replied. “Maybe it’ll teach him some manners.”
“I have Ryan searching for Rocco right now,” Jake said. “We’ll track him down, and keep eyes on him.”
I nodded absently, taking a drink from a cool bottle of water. “Inform all our relevant people to keep their ears and eyes open. I want to know what the fuck is going on out there.”
“We had heard rumours, Max, this just confirms it.” Jake went to the fridge and lifted a bottle of water. “You want me to issue extra security for Olivia?”
“No.” I shook my head. “I refuse to let them get under my skin. Olivia was always going to have a threat on her head as my wife. I’ll arrange a few social events to show whoever it is that I have no intention of showing any fear.”
Jake’s phone pinged. “Lucio has reached out for another line of credit at our bank.”
I had created a bank a few years ago. No one knew it was funded by the Rossi family, undercutting some of the other businesses with interest rates. It gave us a steady income stream, and was legal in every way.
“What for?”
“Who knows?” Jake shrugged. “I haven’t cancelled his other lines of credit yet, which makes me think that he is amassing money from different streams to fund something big.”
“Bring him in,” I said. “Have one of our men he doesn’t know go through the paperwork. He can’t take Poppy with him to a meeting like that. I’ll message Mum, and tell her to get Poppy ready to run.”
Jake stared at me steadily. “What if he has his men briefed to keep her there?”
“You go and pick them up,” I replied. “Everyone knows that Mum treats you as her second son. I’m sure you’ll find a way of making sure Poppy is in the car before you leave.”
“Anything I’m not allowed to do?” he asked, drinking the last of his water, and throwing the bottle in the bin.
“Nope. Get my sister out, and put her on our jet and out of this country,” I replied.
“I can do that,” Jake muttered.
If anyone would get Poppy out of that house, it was Jake.
He would probably blow the house up to ensure he got her out, or put a bullet into the head of every security guard who looked at him wrong.
Love made us do crazy things, but suppressed love turned us into psychotic maniacs who destroyed the rules – after all, that’s how I got the woman I wanted with my ring on her finger.