28. Von
O ut of everything I thought this man might say, being shocked I was alive wasn’t one of them. I stepped back and walked over to the tray with all the gold forks, giving myself a moment to switch gears. This man knew who I was and thought I should be dead. If I knew two bombs had been dropped on someone's car, I wouldn’t expect them to be alive either.
With a fork in hand, I turned to face Corrado. “Why wouldn’t I be alive?”
“I have nothing more to say,” Corrado stated, clearly having recovered from the surprise.
“Really?” I questioned, tapping the fork on my chin. “Oh well, more fun for me. You see I had a brilliant idea for two games we could play. Would you like to know what they are? I always give my victim a choice in how they are tortured or killed, I feel like it gives them a sense of control.”
“Fuck you,” Corrado growled then spat a glob of mucus in my direction.
Sadly for Corrado, he wasn’t at all skilled, and the loogie landed a foot away from where he was tied up.
“Did you want to give it another shot, or should we move on?” I asked. “Wouldn’t want to take the moment away from you if it was important.”
“Go ahead and kill me however you like. I’m not going to give you anything.” Corrado snarled as he yanked at the cuffs.
“Just so we’re clear, you’re letting me pick the game?” I double-checked.
Corrado’s answer was to let out a stream of curse words I found rather impressive. I decided it was a good enough response and I should do as I please. Gripping the fork at the base, I hurled it toward Corrado, but my aim was a little off so it smacked him right in the face.
“Whoops, sorry about that, it’s my first time throwing forks. I figured they’d be a little tricky, but we’ve got plenty of time for me to figure it out,” I assured Corrado.
With another fork at the ready, I made a slight adjustment and sent the fork flying. This time the fork tines buried themselves into Corrado’s shoulder. He hissed at the pain, but I could tell he easily brushed it off.
“Yes,” I cheered, and did a little jump. “I’ll admit I was aiming for the center of your chest, but you have to admit it’s pretty good for my second try. This time I’ll do two back-to-back, for shits and giggles.”
Both forks found their way to impaling him on the thigh and stomach. It was becoming obvious this wouldn’t be as simple as I originally thought. At first, Corrado presented himself as somewhat soft, respectful, and easily manipulated. Now I realized it was all an act and the real Corrado was coming out.
Having run out of forks, I walked up to my living target and started to yank the forks from his body. “Sixteen hits out of twenty tries, not bad for a sport I just invented.”
“Crazy bitch, you think some damn forks will make me tell you anything?” Corrado challenged.
Stepping even closer, I grabbed the fork still sticking out of his pectoral muscle, then dragged it down, ripping his skin and causing him to scream loud enough that my ears were ringing. Blood welled and ran in little rivers down his chest.
“You haven’t seen what I can do with a damn fork, Cor, so I wouldn’t be too quick to judge their abilities,” I warned. “Let’s start with something easy, your roommate tells me you get up in the middle of the night and sneak out of the room. Is this true?”
This time when Corrado gathered up the spit to hurl at me, I was too close to miss. The glob landed just below my collarbone and started to migrate south. I gripped the fork handle and drove the tines into the exact same place his spit landed. Then I did it again four more times before punching Corrado right in the fucking mouth.
“Corrado, you don’t want to push me. I’m the wrong person you want to see lose control. If I were to reach such a point and gave up on getting answers from you, then my sole focus would be on getting you to beg me for death. Did you know if you gut a human they can still live four hours as their guts hang from their body?” I asked, taking the cloth from Apollo and wiping the spit off my skin.
“Treasure, might I offer a suggestion?” Apollo inquired.
I nodded for him to go on as I poured myself another bourbon.
“Have you ever tried using one of these?” Apollo asked as he held out a small blow torch most people used for cooking. “I was thinking if you heat up the fork enough to burn him, it might get him to give us something. Burns hurt like a bitch even after the source is removed.”
Delighted at the idea, I took the torch and clicked the button which ignited the flame. “There are so many ways I could use this. What do you think, Cor, will this get you to tell me what you were doing in the middle of the night?”
As I heated up the fork, I slowly circled Corrado, humming a song from one of the dancer’s sets. When the fork started to glow, I stopped and faced the squirming rat. There was no doubt in my mind this man was one of the moles Serena sent. He knew things no normal new blood would, and I knew there’d be no news coverage of my car being blown up. To do so would only cause panic to the public and start a conversation about attack drones. No one wanted either of these things and to risk exposing the dark underbelly people blissfully ignored.
“Did you, by chance, ever have freckles as a kid?” I inquired. “You seem like someone who’d have freckles, but your skin is so clear, even I can’t be sure. Let’s test my theory by creating some fake freckles with my handy dandy fork. Bear, would you lend me a hand, I want to make sure Cor doesn’t move and fuck up my work.”
Bear came to stand behind the cross and gripped Corrado’s face in his hands. I watched for a moment as Corrado thrashed and tried to free his head, but with the way he was tied down, there was no chance of succeeding. Confident I wouldn’t get bit or head-butted by Corrado, I rested my left arm on his chest for stability, then proceeded to brand his face with freckles.
Corrado held out for one whole cheek, but when I started on the second, involuntary tears leaked out of his eyes. “Do you mind? Your tears are cooling down my fork too fast,” I muttered, heating the tines up again. “Are you ready to tell me anything yet?”
“Die, you fucking bitch,” Corrado swore.
I sighed and stabbed the fork into his groin, which had Corrado screaming bloody murder. “Honestly, who trained you? Don’t you know not to piss off the person torturing you? It’s like lesson one-o-one in the torture handbook. Unless you think getting me mad will cause me to lose control and kill you faster. Hate to break it to you, but I’m one of those people who does the opposite of what people want me to do.”
Without warning, I used the torch to light Corrado’s pubic hair on fire and stepped back. For the first time true terror shimmered in Corrado’s eyes. Now this man was taking me seriously, but would he tell me what I wanted to know?
“Okay, okay, I’ll tell you, please just put the fire out,” Corrado begged, his body convulsing as he tried to do anything to save himself.
“Answer my question first,” I demanded with my arms crossed. “What were you doing in the middle of the night?”
Corrado screamed in pain and anger as the flames reached the bottom of his bush. “Fucking your brother.”
“I’m sorry one more time,” I pressed, cupping my ear.
“I was fucking your brother Matteo,” Corrado spat, his body shivering as the flames died out. “Did you know your brother was a pillow-biter? God, you should have seen the way he would bend over and beg me to ruin his ass like a bitch in heat. Some underboss he turned out to be. I wonder, do you think Matteo’s begged his twin to fuck him? It’s the only way his secret could have been kept for so long.”
Furry bubbled in my veins, but I kept it in check. This was how he wanted me to react, it was the whole purpose of why he was saying these things in the first place. I poured myself a drink, took a sip, savored the taste, then tossed what was left onto Corrado. He groaned deeply as the alcohol burned as it touched split or chard skin.
“First of all, Matty is bisexual, you cock sucking leech,” I announced. “Also, news flash, it’s not a secret. No one in the Zuccaro Family gives a flying fuck who my brother sleeps with. For fuck’s sake, when will we all catch up to the current century?”
“If no one cares who he sleeps with, then why have me sneak into his room?” Corrado argued.
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Wow, I can’t believe I have to explain this to you. Half the fun of sleeping with you is the illusion it’s forbidden. Matty gets off on breaking the rules, and no new blood is supposed to have any relationship while going through the process. So what you two are doing is breaking the rules, not to mention adding in the fact you’re a grunt and he’s the underboss.”
Corrado was stunned speechless for a moment as he processed what I said.
“Kinda took the wind out of your sails there, didn’t I?” I chuckled, picking up the staple gun. “Let’s cut to the chase, I know you’re a rat Serena sent to get revenge for my family helping to take out the Accardi Family. My guess is you were chosen to get close to Matty, expose his predilections, and then blame his death on suicide or something equally ridiculous. Am I close?”
The set of his jaw as he clenched his teeth told me I was close. Twirling the staple gun around my finger, I stepped into his personal space once more. I reached out and swirled a finger around one of his nipples until it perked up, then I pressed the staple gun over the nub and squeezed.
“Shit, fuck, damn,” Corrado bit out.
I moved on to the second nipple and did the same thing before moving down his chest. Now Corrado looked as if he’d had some type of surgery where they opened him up from neck to belly button. I yanked out the fork since it was getting in my way, but I ripped off a chunk of flesh since the burned skin melded with the metal.
“Ooo, yeah, that’ll leave a mark.” I cringed, tossing the fork to the floor. “Do you know who the other men Serena sent are?”
Not trusting his words, I watched Corrado’s expression for even the slightest hint he knew the answer. I didn’t want to waste my time if he’d been kept in the dark. However, micro expressions never lie, and his told me he knew.
“Since you seem to know my brother’s kinks, would you like to learn one of mine?” I asked as I poked at the blistering flesh around his cock. My gaze flicked up to his, but Corrado’s eyes were closed as he took shaky breaths, riding out the pain.
Only when I grabbed his singed cock did his eyes snap open revealing just how scared he was. “What is your kink?” Corrado asked.
My grip tightened as I pulled his soft dick away from his body until the skin was taught. “Dick piercings.”
Corrado thrashed as he begged and pleaded with me, but I ignored it all. After I placed six staples down the length of his dick Corrado gave up the goods.
“Stop, please, I’m begging you,” Corrado sobbed. “I’ll tell you what I know if you put down the staple gun.”
“Deal,” I agreed and handed the staple gun to Apollo. “Start talking, and if I find out you’ve lied to me, then I’ll staple your dick and balls inside your ass. Then you can shit on yourself like you shit on your word.”
Corrado nodded, snot and tears streaming down his face. “The one you really need to be worried about is Silvio. He was put in charge of taking out your mother and father, that's why he’s not here tonight.”
Instantly, Bear handed me his phone with it already ringing. I didn’t have to look, I knew he’d called my father because he was the only one who would pick up his call no matter what.
“Hello,” Dad answered, sounding as if we’d woken him up.
“Dad, I need you to listen to me carefully, don’t speak, just listen,” I barked out. “Silvio is one of the moles, and his objective is to take out you and Mom. Get to the safe room, and don’t even think about going after this guy. I would bet your life he’s a trained assassin.”
“I hear you, Von,” Dad assured me. “I’m going to put the house in lockdown, if he’s already here, he’ll be trapped inside. If he’s not, it will be nearly impossible for him to break in.”
“Good plan, oh, and don’t bring the new nurse with you into the safe room. Katarina knows what to do, there's no need to be locked away with someone you might not be able to trust,” I cautioned.
There was a moment of silence. “Von, are you telling me the new nurse isn’t to be trusted? Has she done something to my wife?”
“There’s no time for me to explain now, get the three of you safe, lock down the house, and we’ll be back as soon as we can,” I instructed, then hung up. “Bear, text the twins and give them a heads up we might need to leave on short notice.”
Having dealt with one situation as best we could, I refocused my attention on Corrado. I pressed a hand against the staples on his chest as I lifted a foot and pulled the blade free. Corrado moaned, his body sagging as the pain became too much. Using my knife, I slipped it under one of the staples and ripped it free.
“You said no more if I talked,” Corrado cried as I continued my work.
“Consider this a valuable lesson, Cor, never trust the word of a criminal,” I shared. “I might stop if you tell me the rest of what you know. If you’re in charge of dealing with Matty, Silvio is focused on my parents, then who is gunning for Laz? My guess had been Tony, but it seemed so obvious and far too easy.”
Corrado started to cough, so I grabbed the bottle of liquor and forced open his mouth. He managed to spill more than he drank causing himself more pain, but it seemed to loosen his tongue.
“Tony was brought into the plan, but he's not one of Serena’s people, Ruby is,” Corrado revealed. “She was a stripper at another club, and your brothers were over the moon about her. When they bought this place one of the first things they did was to bring her here. Those two idiots even put her in charge of drug distribution within the club.”
Serena had studied my family well for her to plan this attack so specifically on each individual. What made my stomach churn was how close all of them had been to death.
“What were you waiting for? It’s obvious all of you gained the trust of your targets some time ago, why not act?” I pressed.
Corrado met my gaze as he answered. “We needed you dead before making our move. Serena knew if you were alive and discovered she’s the one who killed your family, nothing in this world would keep her safe.”
I smiled widely and leaned in. “She’s right, you know, they don’t call me The Wolf for nothing.”
Having gotten the information I needed out of my victim, I deftly slit his throat. I felt the warmth of his blood as it landed on my skin and listened to his final breath leave his body. This was one situation I needed to be damn fucking sure he was dead.
Stepping back, I was careful not to slip on the blood pooling at the base of the cross. Bear offered me a hand, which I took, and led me to the couch. Once seated, my loyal shadow got up and walked away, only to return with a bowl of water and a cloth. Silently, Bear worked to remove all traces of Corrado’s blood from my body, even going so far as to wipe off my shoes.
“A traitor's blood has no place touching the skin of my goddess, ” Bear informed me as he looked at me with an expression I knew was love.
He was right, there were ways to say you loved someone without using those exact three words. Yet I still didn’t know how to do the same for him, so I leaned in and kissed my grumpy Bear hoping he’d understand.