Page 204 of La Dolce Vita

"Proof that Giovanni killed the Calderones! Proof that thebastardoshould have slit the throat of hiscugino, not the innocent women and children he slaughtered. He's a baby killer! Because of him, my little brother is dead! Proof that his throat will be cut by his own! Justice!"

Carlo frowned.Was he delirious?Baby killer? Carlo cut his gaze over to Leonardo. His young lieutenant threw a bucket full of scalding water on their captive. Alek screamed in agony. Carlo held the saw next to the cock of the crying and whimpering man. "We start here. Eh? Eh! Do you know how long it takes for your cock to bleed out? Eh? Two hours. Two hours you hang and drip piss and blood into this bucket. You will beg for death. You will tell me what I want to know, or I will saw off your balls and feed them to my dogs."

Two of his men arrived with ravenous beasts. The dogs growled and snapped their jaws at Alek. The chains could barely hold them back.

“We feed them the leftovers.” Carlo chuckled.

"It was Benicia! They ambushed us. They came for her. They came..."

Carlo stepped back. "Benicia has Isabella?"

"Yes. And they took my son too! They said Giovanni sent them. Said he wants to kill my boy!" Alek went crazy with rage and tried to free himself despite his injuries. "They said if I told you they would kill my boy. I swear it. He is all we have left. Kill me. But do not let them kill my boy." Alek dropped his head and wept.

“Giovanni doesn’t have your kid,” Carlo spat.

“How do you know? He has been working with Benicia.”

“I work for Giovanni!” Carlo said.

"You work for Lorenzo! And everyone knows Lorenzo is loyal to no one. Call Giovanni. He'll tell you that he has her!"

“Boss?” Leonardo said. “Someone is outside...”

The men looked back. Before Alek could finish the confessions bullets rang out. The entire warehouse exploded in gunfire. Carlo dropped. The men who weren’t shot returned fire, but the assassins were shooting out several windows. The dogs were slaughtered. Alek Baldamenti’s body was shredded. Then the sounds of cars speeding off were heard in the distance. Carlo ran for the door. He fired at the vehicles, blowing out the back windows. The drivers were gone.

"Who the fuck was that?" Umberto asked. He panted and held his side. Carlo looked over and saw Umberto was bleeding, and Leonardo was dead.

"You hit?"

"I'm fine," he winced.

They had been followed and watched. But no one knew the location of his torture chamber--except for Lorenzo and Giovanni. He was sure he wasn't tailed from Florence.

"Could it be Armando?" Leo asked.

"No. There's something else going on. I need to call Lorenzo."

“He said Giovanni had Isabella. That can’t be right.” Umberto said.

“Not Giovanni. He said Benicia had taken Isabella for Giovanni. Someone is making a move in the bosses name. We need to warn him.”

Umberto nodded that he agreed.

ChapterThirty-One

Exposed

Apple Grove, Virginia

Mirabella opened her eyes. She turned over and was face to face with her husband.

"Buon giorno,"he said.

"Morning," she smiled and covered her breath.

He pulled her hand down gently. "I've been waiting for you to wake up."

"Oh? Yeah, wait, where are the kids--"

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