CHAPTER 2 - RED
CHAPTER
Red
“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?” Liam yells as I drag the yelping reporter into the games room.
The man clutches his smashed nose that’s already felt the brunt of my fist, his dictaphone in several pieces on the marble floor of the lobby.
It’s fair to say I haven’t even started, and there’s plenty left to do to this prick yet.
“This cunt wants a story about why the casino is closed!” Gripping the man around the throat, his previous jovial and unconcerned countenance long gone, I smash his face into a table.
“I’ll kill this bastard for coming here asking me all these bloody questions just to bag himself a fucking scoop!
Haven’t I got enough to deal with?” I glare at my brothers.
“He could be anyone! Sack the delivery firms. Every single one of them! Being as one of them is so fucking slack to allow this tosser to sneak in, they can all fuck off!”
“He’s a reporter, for Christ’s sake! Jesus, Red. Leave it!”
I shrug my brother’s hand off my arm. What does Liam know about how I feel?
What the fuck do either of my brothers, or, come to think of it, any of my men, know what it’s like to have your wife taken from under your bastard nose?
She’s being held somewhere against her will, being violated, raped and God knows fucking what else, while I stand in my casino like an impotent prat, doing fuck all to stop it from happening!
There’s nothing anyone can say to make my failure to have stopped this from happening in the first place or stopping it from continuing any better.
No one!
My blue-gray eyes grow black with unprecedented rage as I continue smashing the reporter’s face into the tabletop. “You want a story for your fucking cheap rag, do you, wanker?” I roar, my hands itching to strangle the life out of the whimpering cunt within my vice-like grip.
My mind spins, my head thumping. Being as I can’t find where Matteo Galvatore and Luca Bristoni are holding my wife, I might as well expose what they’re doing to the whole of London and draw them out that way.
Without Arianna, I’ve got nothing to lose; nothing to live for and no one to kill for.
Apart from them and everyone who is part of their latest scheme.
Furthermore, I. DON’T. KNOW. WHERE. THEY. ARE.
And this reporter has just reminded me of that.
“Fucking hell!” Liam takes me off guard as he barrels his immense frame matching my own, into my side. It knocks me off course enough to lose my grip of the reporter’s throat.
Righting myself, I spring up, primed to swing for my youngest brother, only to find Cal restraining me from one side and Oscar from the other.
My fury knows no bounds, but as Liam drags the reporter out of my reach, I realize I’m too late. “Leave him, Liam! I want to kill him!”
“Red!” Cal hisses in my ear. “You’ll do more harm than good. Let Liam deal with it.”
Panting with exertion and rage, I pull against my brother and one of the remaining men left I trust and glare at the battered, smashed face of the reporter.
“As you can see, this isn’t a good time.” Liam speaks calmly to the reporter, but his threat is clear. “You have no story to tell here and...” he smiles coldly, “... you’ve realized you don’t actually need one after all, haven’t you?”
I find myself calming down as the reporter frantically shakes his head, droplets of blood from his smashed face flicking off to land on Liam’s shirt. “N-No, you’re right... I... I don’t need a story... I...”
“What you mean is, you’re going to disappear. That’s what you’re going to say, is it not?” Liam continues.
“Please don’t kill me!” The reporter’s eyes dart between all of us in the room, his pitiful form almost tragic.
Knowing I’m past the worst of my white rage as his terrified gaze lands on me, I shrug away from Oscar and Cal. They don’t try to stop me. The reporter jolts back as I break free but is impeded by backing into Liam’s wide chest.
I grab the man by the lapels and yank him towards me. I could easily kill him and probably would have done if my brothers and Cal hadn’t had the sense to step in.
I realize now that I’m gunning for the wrong target. One that my rash decision could have cost, not just me, but all of us. “If you feel the urge to speak of this or publish anything about stepping into my territory, I will kill you,” I hiss, up close to the man’s face.
I can smell his fear. He’ll say fuck all. But if he does, he’ll regret it. “I suggest you follow my orders, otherwise I’ll find you, kill your family and then kill you. You won’t get another chance. Do you understand?” I study his face. “I said, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?”
The man flinches and nods frantically in agreement.
“Oh, for God’s sake!” Liam mutters, staring at the growing pool of piss puddling around the reporter’s shoes.
Throwing the man to one side, I scowl in distaste. “You dirty bastard! Get the fuck out of here before any of us change our minds!”
The reporter bolts from the room quicker than I thought possible. I feel a tiny bit bad, but not enough to lose sleep over. I manage that perfectly well as it is.
I then eye the pool on the floor. Someone else can clean that up. I have things to do. Without uttering another word, I stalk towards the door.
“Where the fuck are you going?” Liam calls.
“You’re not going after that reporter, are you? Fuck’s sake, Red! Killing him will cause us big problems,” Oscar adds.
Almost at the door, I turn around. “He’ll say nothing, so no, I’m not going after him. I’m going to see Emiliano Galvatore...”
Refusing to wait for the fallout bound to follow my announcement, I push open the doors and stride through the lobby.
Visiting Arianna’s father is not a prospect to relish. I hate the bastard and hold him responsible for everything, despite now knowing he wasn’t behind half the things I believed him to be.
But this won’t be easy. Either way, Galvatore is an enemy - an enemy that I have no choice but to approach. He’s the only person who may be able to help.