Page 112 of Savage Enemy

I refused to let Enzo down again, to walk into the house once more without his mother. I couldn’t do that to him again. I wouldn’t do it.

So, like a fucking fool, I asked the question of the hour.

“Where do I sign?”

Lordi gave me a shit-eating grin and slapped my shoulder.

“Good man. Let’s get that finger cauterized, so we can get to dotting all the I’s and crossing all the T’s.”

I nodded, my head pounding, my vision darkening at the corners. I needed the wound cauterized immediately, then I needed water and food. Tony could get me both as soon as we got the fuck out of Lordi’s place.

Don Lordi called two men into the back room.

One carried a metal plate with a long wooden handle, and the other held a blowtorch. It took a few seconds for them to heat the metal to a fiery red before they handed me a leather strap to bite down on.

It hadn’t occurred to me until that moment that maybe the reason they waited thirty minutes was so the newly fingerless would pass out from blood loss.

A kindness disguised as a cruel punishment.

I had no time for that.

I waved away the strap. “I don’t need it.”

“Sir, I’m going to have to insist,” one man said.

Goddamn it. I grabbed the handle from the other guy’s gloved hand and pressed the metal plate to the end of my finger.

Fuuuuuuuuck.

My vision blacked out, but I forced myself to stay upright, to keep breathing. Sweat drenched my back and brow, but it didn’t matter. I had to take the pain. Had to bear the nauseating sizzle of my skin and ignore the putrid smell of burning flesh that filled the room.

I held the steel plate to my finger for a few seconds before pulling it away and handing it back to the man who had heated it.

“Do you need something?” Lordi asked. “I’m sure one of the doctors here has morphine or something.”

“Just water,” I rasped, my mouth completely dry.

I drained the glass of cold water placed in front of me. My vision slowly returned though with occasional white flashes. The wound burned and throbbed like a motherfucker.

“Another.”

By the time I finished draining the second glass of water, my headache began to ease some, and I could think a little more clearly. The pain still muddled my thoughts, but I could piece together coherent enough sentences that no one would know.

As the other members returned to the room, they stared, watching my every move.

“Can we get this moving, please?” I asked.

“Sure. All you need to do is sign the papers.”

Lordi strolled back to the leather folder with the treaty and came back with a small stack of documents.

“This is your contract with the Commission. This one makes you part of the council. This one details the laws, punishments, responsibilities, and the dues owed to the Commission.”

“Dues?”

“Only upon your initiation. As you’ve pointed out, you rebuilt your family’s business. It’s not the same as it once was, so you’ll have to pay the dues again.”

“And what’s that?” I asked, keeping my voice steady.

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