Page 45 of Vicious Souls

“You’ve been a busy man, Tomas,” I say, walking briskly toward him. He views me from beneath swollen eyelids, sending me a supersized dose of resentment. When I am close enough that I can almost reach out and touch him, he spits at me, his disgusting glob of saliva falling at my feet. I snicker – if that is the worst he can possibly do, everything is going to be fine.

“Tell me what I need to know and maybe I’ll take mercy on you and grant you a quick and easy death.”

“Fuck. You.”

His voice is so resolute. I’m sure he believes he won’t actually need to divulge anything useful, which only makes me laugh. A devilish laugh. I would have some fun with him one way or another.

“If you don’t tell me, you know one of your men will,” I remind him. There is always thatone.The one man that thinks he’ll escape death by giving up his boss. It is only brief, but I see the flicker of fear that enters his wide eyes, then just as quickly disappears. “If you want, I can even bring them out one by one so you can watch as I get what I want, then extinguish your men’s lives before I exterminate you.”

I’m met with dead silence. He doesn’t think I have it in me. I don’t have a reputation for being a killer. I’ve been known in these circles to prefer words over violence, and I know my father believes this has put my authority at a disadvantage, but I know for a fact that my way has seen some success. I may be known as soft, but when the need arises, I know exactly how to get what I want.

In this instance, I am not understanding what is buying his silence, especially as he won’t be around to cash in the two million dollar bounty he’s been working so hard to secure. I nod in the direction of one of my men, telling him to bring out one of the Savages locked up in a back room.

They choose a man at random, his hands and feet bound in chains. He hobbles along until he is standing in front of Tomas Wojcak, who fixes him with a savage look, daring his betrayal.

“Your boss over here,” I start, “seems to think me incapable of doing what must be done to get the information I want. I’ll need to make an example of you, unless you can tell me what I need to know.”

I look from the man to Tomas, carefully cataloguing their eye contact, what is said versus what is not. Tomas snickers. He has taught his men well. The man remains tightlipped, his mouth sealed shut, unwilling to share anything that could possibly betray his leader. I respect his loyalty, even though I think it is misplaced.

“Yes, he did indicate he didn’t think any of you would give him up. Let me put it to you this way…” I grab my gun and trace it across the man’s face slowly. “By staying silent, you’re choosing this pariah over yourself – one of you has to die today.”

The man remains close mouthed, but sends a fearful look towards Tomas, who continues to snicker cockily, believing he has the upper hand. I cock my gun and lift it to the man’s head, holding it there against his temple as he squirms uncomfortably. Then I turn to Tomas and arch my brows in question. An invitation.

“Care to save this man’s life by telling me what I need to know?” I ask.

Tomas laughs, his belly doing a shaky dance as he chortles like a hyena. He laughs until the sound resembles a cackle, and there doesn’t appear to be any respite in sight. I count the seconds, hoping against hope that he comes to his senses. But he continues to laugh and carry on as I slowly start to lose my patience.

I pull the trigger.

There is a deafening roar.

The man’s brains land on the side of my face.

The laughing stops.

And Tomas pisses his pants.

41

DANTE

Iwipe the blood and tissue matter from my face in the bathroom. I stare at myself in the mirror, wondering what I’ve become. All I can think is that I need to shower as soon as I get home, before Kingsley can see or smell me. I don’t want her to know what’s happened here today. I don’t want her to smell the stench of blood on me. She can never know what I’ve become. And I don’t want her to ever see this side of me.

“You okay?” Marco asks.

“Hang him upside down until he squeals,” I order. This is the moment where I’ve become a monster. This is the moment where I’ve let a woman become the center of my universe and I realize I will do anything – even kill – to protect her.

Marco pauses at the door, as though waiting for a change in directive. I glance at him in the mirror, my hooded eyes absorbing his uncertainty.

“You heard me,” I tell him, and my voice is so firm, he knows I won’t change my mind. This is what it has come to. At some point, as head of the Accardi family, I would have had to make this call. The story of how I coldly wiped out the men who betrayed our safety would surely make the rounds, and I would come to be known as a beast. Not that I was aiming for that title. But people would forever think twice about crossing us before they do so. Indeed, they would think long and hard before they go down that road.

Marco turns and walks away. I listen as Tomas’s deafening screams echo through the deserted building, for once his voice filled with fear. It is not bad enough that he wet his pants, now he’s shown just how spineless he really is. Serves him right for having underestimated me.

“I will ask you one last time,” I say, walking rapidly towards him, a lead pipe in my hands.

I angle my body around Tomas, walking in circles around his torso, at times tapping the pipe to his legs. And by tapping, I mean smacking. By this time, he resembles a rag doll, but still he refuses to break and give me what I need. Even shooting out the brains of one of his colleagues does not seem like it’s enough to loosen his tongue.

I am losing my patience. With every turn I make around his body, expecting that this will be the moment that he spills his guts, I get more and more impatient as I wait restlessly for him to give up the information I want. There is only one thing I want more than to put an end to this, and that is to go home to Kingsley. It amazes me that I now consider her my home. Being apart from her is doing things to my heart I can’t explain.

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