Massimo


    Emelia is thest thing I should have on my mind right now as I walk down the alleyway leading to the chamber. That’s what we call it.


    It’s the ce where we question people.


    Question? That’s a mild way to put it since most people we question don’t make it out alive. In fact, I can’t remember whenst that happened.


    My brothers found a guy who’s been working with d.


    They have this fucker now chained to a wall, waiting for me to interrogate him since he has decided he’s not talking. I’m here to make him talk or pay with his life. We’ll see about defiance when I get there.


    It’s going to be one of those difficult nights, so I need to put my mind in the right frame.


    I continue down the alley, my gun in my side pocket, at the ready in case some wiseguy thinks he can take me out.


    Most don’t mess with me when they see me, and most stay clear of this area, gangsters and mobsters alike. They know it belongs to us.


    I get to the door and steel my spine when Dominic steps out from the shadows. It was he who called me toe down here.


    “Hey,” I say.


    “Massimo, this fucker is one crazy son of a bitch. Tried to gouge my fucking eyes out with a knife.” He smirks.


    “Fuck. You alright?” I still think of him as my kid brother, but he can more than take care of himself.


    He nods. “Don’t worry about me, bro. Let’s do this.”


    We continue down the path and head down into the basement. Above is a bookie office we own.


    It’s busier during the day. At this time of night, we have just one guard on site by the front entrance. Tonight, we have three, just in case any shit happens.


    I push open the metal door, and Dominic and I walk into the room, where our guest is indeed chained to the wall. He’s been beaten badly. Tristan is standing in front of him, sharpening my knives.


    The fucker on the wall is a fat balding asshole with two missing teeth. I don’t know if that came from his encounter with my brothers, or if he already looked like that when he got here. It doesn’t matter to me either way. Missing teeth will be thest of his problems when I finish with him.


    “Knives are ready, Boss,” Tristan says with a dark smile.


    I tip my head. “Wonderful, now on to business,” I state, looking back at my guest. “Name?”


    “Yev Lobochev,” Dominic replies. “Age thirty-seven, although he looks like shit. He’s from Russia, of the Pelov Brotherhood, or so he used to be until he joined the Circle of Shadows.”


    “Motherfucker!” Yev shouts at Dominic.


    I answer him with a kick to his stomach, which makes him howl with pain.


    “Speak when you are spoken to,” I hiss and eye him sharply. I look back to Tristan and hold out my hand. He passes me two knives. Throwing knives. I have a set of ten. Usually, on the tenth the victim dies, but by then, I have the intel I need.


    I focus on Yev, and the room goes quiet.


    Clearing my throat, I move a few paces forward, keeping my gaze trained on this fucker the whole time. I don’t even blink.RêAdt??St chapters at Novel(D)ra/ma.Org Only


    “Tell me, Yev, where is d,” I demand.


    “Fuck you,” he snarls. “I’m not fucking telling you shit. You can go fuck yourselves, all of you.”


    That’s it. My patience is gone. I throw one knife into his thigh. He screams, howling like a wild animal trapped in a snare.


    A wild animal I would show mercy. I have none for him.


    As blood pours from his thigh, Yev looks back at me like he can’t believe what I just did.


    Just as he’s about to catch his breath, I throw the second knife into his other leg. Not only does the motherfucker scream louder than before, he pisses himself. Piss trails down his leg and runs onto the floor, pooling around his shoes.


    “Fuck, man,” Dominic says with a chuckle, looking at Yev with disgust.


    “If you shit yourself, you’re dead,” I tell Yev. “I will put a bullet in your fucking head if I even smell anything more than the stench of your piss.”


    My tone and my words are hard, and I get the desired effect when he starts to tremble. From the sneer on his face, though, I know I don’t have him where I need him to be just yet.


    “You animal, I will not tell you anything.”


    That’s what I thought. I put my hand out, and Tristan passes me two more knives. I send both into Yev’s left arm. He heaves like he’s going to vomit after the screams and cries of agony.


    “Ready to talk yet?” I taunt. “We can do this all night. I don’t mind, and neither do my brothers. We’ll be here until you draw yourst miserable breath if we have to. Know why? d is an enemy to us. He’s killed our loved ones, and I’m pretty sure he killed my best guy, Pierbo.”


    Yev wrenches and the chains clink. He looks like shit and worse for being covered in blood.


    “Ready to talk, Yev?” I ask, readying to throw another knife. I’m aiming for his stomach. He sees that and starts sputtering.


    “Wait, please… no more,” he wails. More tears seep out of his eyes. “Please. I was just hired to set up someputers for a job. Surveince. That’s what I do.”


    “What kind of job?” I demand, holding the knife out to slice him up.


    “d is working with Rardo Balesteri,” he blurts. My eyes nearly pop out of my head.


    “What?”


    “Rardo Balesteri has been working with him. They want to take down the syndicate.”


    I look at Tristan because he’s the closest to me, then Dominic. Both look shocked.


    “You’re certain of this?” I demand.


    “Yes.”


    Rardo wants to take down the syndicate? Holy fuck. What the fuck?


    I recall what Jacob said. He mentioned a n. d was going toe for me when the n waspleted. Fucking Rardo. They’ve been working together on this n. A n to take out the syndicate. I don’t know anybody who’s sessfully gone up against the Syndicate and managed to take any of the members out. They’re practically invincible. Then again, so are the Circle of Shadows. No one’s ever enlisted them to take out the Syndicate before.


    How the fuck did Rardo manage to do it? They don’t work with Italians. They’re Bratva.


    I push past the shock in my mind and try to focus. I need to get everything I can from this fucker.


    “What is he nning?” I ask.


    “They’re waiting for some important transaction to take ce, then they’ll unleash the n.”


    “What transaction?” That could anything. They have transactions taking ce daily. Everything from million-dor to billion-dor deals in drugs or diamonds, or some other shit.


    “I don’t know what it is,” Yev rasps.


    Fucking Rardo. Damn him. This goes right back to all that money he owed. I should have guessed he would be up to shit.


    What the hell is he up to?


    Yev starts tough. “Look at you, caught in a. I hope d wipes you out. Maybe take that pretty little wife you have and fuck her while you watch. Maybe chop off her head too, like thest girl. Pretty girl. She begged for her life before he killed her. What was her name? Alyssa?”


    I pull my gun and fire one bullet, getting to him before Tristan can. The bullet lodges right between his eyes, and blood stters all over me.


    Four more bullets echo next to me, leaving my brother’s gun. Tristan shoots, firing one bullet after another until the life leaves Yev’s body and all that’s left is a bloody mash-up of blood and gore.


    Fuck, he was one of the guys who took Alyssa, and he was talking about my wife. I understand Tristan’s pain now more than ever. I understand his loss. I understand how he must me himself because neither he nor I could stop them from taking Alyssa.


    They killed her because she married him.


    I don’t realize I’m shaking, seething with rage with the gun in my hand, until Dominic rests his hand on my shoulder.


    I look at him and grit my teeth.


    “Focus,” he says, but I can see the storm brewing in his eyes. “We need to focus.”


    Shit. How can I focus after hearing that? I try because I have to.


    I turn to Tristan, who lowers his gun.


    “I need to cool off,” he says and walks out. I allow him to go. He needs to walk off his distress. We watch him go.


    “I have to contact the syndicate,” I say. I’ll call Pa first. “I need to find out what transaction d is waiting on.”


    “I can look into that and see what I can find out,” Dominic says.


    “Thank you, brother.”


    “Don’t worry. Try not to worry about Emelia,” he tells me.


    If anyone can see straight through me, it’s him. He has a way of seeing past my hard exterior. That’s why he needed to be my consigliere. Even if it’s just to calm me the fuck down.


    I won’t allow anything to happen to Emelia.


    Once again, Daddy Dearest strikes.


    Pa has been going over the Syndicate creed of protocols and policies. I think of them and know straightaway what the fucker is up to.


    You keep what you kill. The Syndicate has a protocol called Code Ten. It’s a way of preserving the wealth umted and keeping it within the group.


    It provides that when one member dies, the remaining members receive their shares and wealth. Ten percent of yearly earnings are put into the Syndicate funds That currently stands at five hundred billion. That’s just the money side of it. There is also the value of services and business specialties the group owns together. If Rardo wiped out the Syndicate and was thest man standing, the fucker would get everything.


    We screwed with him, but little did we know he must have been nning this shit for a while. When his cartel deal went bust and we shit all over his ns, that must have really pissed him off.


    Now I know what’s going on.


    He wants to kill us all. Me included. And take everything.


    That will be how he gets his daughter back.