DeLuca (Mafia Romance)

Carlo

It had been two weeks since Gino's torture commenced. I stood above the burned, bruised, and bloody man, a sneer of disgust on my face. Gino had cried, begged, vomited, pissed and shit himself over the past two weeks and it left a heavy smell throughout the basement. His shirt was a charred mess, only a few scraps of material dangled off his abused body. He was conscious now, but from the glazed look in his swollen eyes he may not be for long and I needed him awake and alert for what I had in mind next. At my signal Enzo poured a bucket of ice water over Gino's head. Gino gasped out in pain and struggled to take shallow breaths through his swollen lips and broken nose.

"Gino," I drew out his name in a singsong voice. "You remember when I took over as boss and I brought all my men together and told them that loyalty brings honor? I also explained that should any of my men die or get pinched while working for me I would take care of their family because I take care of my own?" Gino lifted his battered face to me, his eyes widened and his shallow breaths came faster.

"ANSWER ME!" I roared.

He jumped and stuttered out, "Y-yes, s-sir I rem-remember."

"Good," I said, my voice calm once again, "so then you remember the next part of my speech as well, where I told you all that I was not my father and if any of you betrayed me I would murder your family in front of you, wives and children included." As if on cue, the door at the top of the stairs opened and stuttered foot falls came down the steps.

Good, they're fighting, this will be better than I had planned.

Gino had a small family for an Italian, just his wife and teenage daughter. Angelo and Sal appeared at the foot of the stairs with Gino's wife Maria and their daughter Mia. Gino hung his head, defeated. He had known this was coming, even when he was praying I would forget my vow. He knew in his heart he had sealed their fate.

Maria was too quiet and still with silent tears streaming down her face, but she held her head up high and looked me dead on. She knew the sentence her husband wrote her and their daughter when he flipped and she was going to take it. Mia, on the other hand, was thrashing and swearing like a man twice her age. She couldn't be more than sixteen or seventeen and she was a spitfire.

I had been watching the two women since before I snatched Gino, I knew their daily routine. Hell, I knew what they ate for every meal. Maria was the typical housewife; she ran errands, went to church, met with friends for lunch, typical boring suburban stuff. Mia was a bit of an anomaly. She was not unpopular but she didn't seem to have any close friendships apart from Gina Salvatore. My men had been watching them for a few months while we were looking into Gino's defection, and not once had Mia brought a friend home.

She would go to school events and study groups but she never stayed with one person or group for long, never the center of attention, always fading in and out of the background. The only time she seemed to act like a somewhat normal teenager was when she was with her friend Gina. She spent most weekends at her house with Gina's family. I didn't understand it, the girl in front of me was full of life and vicious energy, a complete turnaround from the girl the outside world saw.