Page 9 of Vanished in Vegas

"No!" Joey shouted as Paulie and Marcel grabbed him and yanked him out of his seat. The chair crashed to the floor as Joey tried to break free. "Boss, I swear! I'm no rat! I cut off my finger!"

"Get that piece of shit out of here...And make him suffer," my father added with a smirk.

"You got it, Boss," Marcel and Paulie replied.

Al opened the doors. Joey was dragged from the room, kicking, screaming, and begging for his life. His pleas fell onto deaf ears. Once my father made up his mind that was the end of the discussion.

"You girls will be leaving Jersey," my father said, grabbing my sisters and my attention.

"Leaving?" Rose asked.

"Yes. It isn't safe here, my flower," he replied before he opened his cigar box and pulled out a cigar. "Hand me my cigar.”

Sick fuck,I thought. Only a psycho could use a cigar cutter that was just used to cut a man's finger off.

"Yours is dirty. You can use mine, Boss," Carlo offered, pulling his cutter out of his pocket. He swiftly clipped the end of my father's cigar. My father nodded his head in acknowledgment.

He placed the cigar in his mouth then flicked his lighter, sparking the end of his cigar. He inhaled sharply. The gesture of a cigar being lit always made my stomach knot. I hated cigars almost as much as I hated my father.

"We are leaving, Papa?" Arianna asked, prompting the conversation. No doubt she wanted the conversation to hurry up so we could leave the room.

"Yes. It isn't safe here. Not after the shit that happened to the Levi Family," he shook his head.

"Will we be going to the university early?" she asked.

"No," he replied cooly, taking a puff of his cigar. "You will be going to stay with the Rossi's. Rose will go to Portland with the Tacchelli's."

"And Sofia?" Rose asked on my behalf.

I already knew where I was going. My stomach knotted and I fought the urge to rip my father's fucking head off.

"She will be going to Vegas to stay with your Uncle Tino," my dad replied.

"I can go to Vegas instead," Arianna offered.

"I'll be fine," I stated. She and Rose looked at me. Rose looked terrified. Arianna's eyes were emotionless; however, deep down I knew she was angry with my father's decision.

Our Uncle Tino was a druggy, sleazeball. Drugs and prostitutes were his thing. I had spent one summer there by myself, when I was twelve and almost ended up sold to a Cuban drug dealer for a shipment of cocaine. I never told my father because my father thought his little brother was the best thing next to sliced bread.

"Then it is settled." My father took another puff of his cigar and blew the smoke up into the air. "You'll pack your things, say goodbye to your mother and be on your way."

"As you wish... Papa," I replied. My icy stare set on him as I bowed my head slightly.

Rose and Arianna would be safe under the protection of the Tacchelli's and Rossi's. I, on the other hand, would have to fear for my life. There was no way in hell I'd stay with my Uncle Tino and worry about being sold off for drugs, but arguing with my father was pointless. He wouldn’t believe me that his brother was a piece of shit.

For now, I'd do as I was told, make my way to Vegas and then I'd vanish. I'd be safer on my own anyway.

CHAPTER SIX

ANTONIO

"Ear," I growled, sitting back in the chair.

"No! No! Please!" Manny screamed.

Manny Paloma ran a small crew under me. He did as he was told and kept his head down. Other than his weekly check-ins I didn’t see him much. Didn’t care to see him much more than that. As long as he followed the rules, he was fine to live his life as he deemed fit. In his case that involved booze, drugs, gambling, and laying low– Until a few days ago, while I was in Miami for the wedding. That’s when the tables turned and Manny made my list.

"You got it, Boss," Flint replied. He grabbed a scalpel off the table then cut the flesh where Manny's ear and head met. Manny shouted out in pain. He bucked frantically in the chair he was bound to.

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