Page 54 of Little Deer
“She’s not kind, Lucy,” Sienna warns. “Are you sure?”
Am I? I nod. “I’m not great at figuring out puzzles and stuff, and I’m coming into this so late I don’t know that I’m going to be able to help otherwise. And you’ll probably spend more time explaining things to me.”
Sienna slowly nods. “Alright.” She gives me the journal.
It’s heavy, thick, and wrapped in a soft leather. There’s some distress in the leather, and the pages have yellowed over time, but I’m finding myself anxious to read it. What kind of person was my mother? Other than a bitch when it comes to her children, clearly. But what else? If she was expected to produce boys, I can understand why she was bitter. Especially with a husband and sons like the ones I’ve already met.
“Sofia, you and I should look at the office again,” Gia suggests. “We’ve been around these streets longer, maybe we can see something. And I remember things my father said before, so it might come in handy.” Sofia nods, and I watch inshock as they go to the shelf by the front door, fiddle around under it, and the wall that has nothing covering it suddenly opens.
“What the fuck?” Kida gasps. “Holy shit. Is this some kind of fun house? Secret passages, now secret rooms?”
“This is the new discovery, so yeah, we’re all still surprised from it,” Gia says with a slight smile. “This was Nico’s mother’s secret room.”
“Wait, that’s the one they were talking about in the office. The one with the map?” Gia nods. “I want to have a look. Maybe a new set of eyes might help.”
“You do that with them, and Amara, Rori, and I are going to work on looking at everything we have so far,” Sienna agrees. “Or, are you going to read the journal first?” she asks Amara.
“I’ll start with this, and then do the journal later. The guys are going to be busy, so maybe I’ll read it before bed. Let’s get to work.” Amara sets the journal aside on her station, moves to step with the others in front of the whiteboard and sheets.
I check in on Soren as I sit on the couch, but he’s already fallen back asleep. Looks like I have some time. I look at the book again.
Alright, time to find out what I’m going to think of my birth mother and whether that’s going to end with me hating or sympathizing with her.
27
MASSIMO
I glareat Dante when he steps back. “Fucker, this isn’t the Dante show. The rest of us want a turn.” I wave my hand at my brothers, Lazaro, and Alonzo. All of them glare at Dante as well. Nico and Papa don’t say anything from their position in the corner.
“I’ve seen the work you do, and you’re not going to get this guy crying for mercy,” Dante replies drily. “The others will fall asleep from boredom.”
“I’ll be showing you otherwise as soon as this shit is done and I can make you regret touching my sister,” Alonzo vows coldly. We all make sounds of agreement. Not that Dante cares. He ignores us, grabs another blade, this one larger and sharper than the other one and turns back to the man hanging from the ceiling, blood dripping from the cuts that Dante has already covered his naked skin in.
I stalk forward and yank the knife from his hand, glaring at him. He smirks at me, steps back and crosses his arms overhis chest. “Go ahead, hotshot. The only one that I know can get any information out of anyone is Alonzo. And that’s probably because the fuckers are worried he’s going to eat them with how big he is.”
“Pretty fucking brave for a man surrounded by people who want to take him apart,” Alessio remarks darkly. Dante says nothing, just watches me.
I know what he’s doing. The more we goad each other, the more relaxed our targets will become. I’ll give the fucker some credit—but only a little—that he’s clever. Still don’t think that he’s right for Sofia, but in this, he’s got some brains I can respect.
At least until we live up to our threats and beat the shit out of him and leave him to die in a shallow grave behind Nico’s house. That’s still always going to be the plan.
When I turn back to the man hanging from the ceiling, the other two also dangling, but not lifting their heads, he’s just watching me. Dark eyes glassy from pain, but he’s still got the will not to give in yet. We’ll get that out of him. The other two, they’re going to be tougher, I can tell. Guess we’ll save the good stuff for them.
I bring my hand up, sharp and fast, and slice the blade down the side of the man’s cheek, making him scream in pain as blood wells and drains on the floor. It’s deep enough that I might just see some bone. Huh, looks like Dante had the men sharpen this thing nicely. I don’t say anything to our prisoner. I just do the same to the other side, but aiming a bit higher so that it slices all the way from temple to the corner of his mouth. More screams, but no words slip out.
That’s alright, I’m patient.
I turn back to the table full of supplies and instruments, but don’t see what I want. I scowl. “Seriously, you can’t stock the fucking thing properly?”
“Fuck off,” Dante gripes.
Alonzo hands me what I need, and I give him a grateful smile. “At least someone around here can do things properly.” There are some snickers, and I see Dante roll his eyes out of the corner of mine. Nico and Papa just share a look, but say nothing. Whatever, if they can’t appreciate the show, that’s fine. Alessio gives me a knowing grin, his eyes full of anticipation.
He loves this shit.
I just turn back to our prisoner, who sees what I have in my hand, and he starts to struggle, fear and panic filling his expression. “Ah, that got a response. Now, maybe I’ll go easy on you with this, huh?” I jiggle the container, the contents echoing around loudly in the space. “All you have to do is tell us what we want to know. Quick, simple, and far less painful. So what’s it going to be?”
“Fuck you,” the man snaps, struggling against his chains like he’ll somehow get himself free.
