Page 26 of Danica's Revenge

“Get your hands off me, Emilio.Do you forget who pays your salary?”Luca laughs cockily.

“Not you, you little shit.”Luca’s third fist to the face is substantially harder than the first two.It breaks the skin on his cheek and a bruise instantly starts to swell.It makes Luca look even more deranged.

I laugh loudly, manically almost.

“I’ve always wanted to do that,” Emilio admits.

Alicia turns to leave, hoping nobody would see her but I catch a glimpse from the corner of my eye.“Don’t even think about it.Stay right where you are, Alicia.You’re as guilty as he is.”

“I’m not going down with him.I told you the truth, you—” she starts to bargain but I hold up my hand to silence her.

“You have nowhere to run, Alicia.So please sit down and be quiet,” I instruct, a newfound sense of power coursing through my veins.She does as she’s told.The thing about a fortress is that it’s as hard to get out as it is to get in.The guards may have been thinned out severely by this week’s massacre but the other two have recovered from their food poisoning and are back at their posts.She wouldn’t get far.With Dante away, everyone accepts Emilio’s authority—despite Luca’s weak demands to be treated like the boss.

I turn back to the men.

“Now.Where were we?”I ask Emilio, ignoring Luca's protests.

“I believe Luca was about to tell us where Don Fera is,” Emilio says, pressing his forearm into Luca’s windpipe, cutting off his air supply.

“Jesus…Emilio…I don’t know,” Luca gasps, trying to push the bigger man away.But he stands no chance against Emilio.Even injured, he is a formidable force, a force that is in way better shape than Luca’s drugged-up, near-delirium body.

“Hold him for me, please, Emilio,” I ask politely.

Without warning, I drive my knee into Luca’s crotch and he lets out a loud howl.He doubles over but Emilio holds him up.

“Stop lying, Luca.Enough now.Tell me where Dante is.”

Luca coughs, the wind knocked out of him completely.

I knee him again and he starts whimpering incomprehensibly.

Luca is a weeping mess, clearly drugged up and sleep-deprived.He shakes his head, crying freely now.

I tilt his chin up, looking him straight in the eye before grabbing the knife from the holster around his waist and flicking it open.I hold it against his pants where my knee had been just moments before, applying just enough pressure for him to feel its shape.

“I’m going to ask you one more time, Luca.Just one more time.And you'd better give me a name or I will cut these clean off, understood?”I press the blade against the outline of his cock, moving it lower down to his balls.My mind has a single purpose—bringing Dante home by any means necessary.

Luca gasps.“No…No.Please,” he pleads.

“Where is he?”

“I don’t know!”

“Who knows?!”I press the blade harder, cutting through the fabric of his pants.

“Roberto!Roberto knows.Please stop!”Luca was howling now, crying loudly.“Please…”

“Roberto who?”

“Ricci,” Emilio answers, easing his grip and letting Luca fall to the ground.“You absolute twat, Luca.”Emilio sighs heavily as the realization sets in.

“Is that bad?”I ask.

“It’s very bad, Miss Matthews.It’s the worst it could be.”

“Is Dante okay?”

“I don’t know.I hope so.But he’s in a lot of danger.”He doesn’t elaborate.

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