Cruel Mercy (Dark Mafia)

`Twenty years ago

Michael

My eyes snapped open. It was still dark out. I rubbed my face, looking around sleepily. I glanced to the side, where my cousins were laying still, utterly peaceful. They felt safe here, I knew. They were over at my house more often than not these days.

After their mother died, mine did her best to take over the job of mothering them. Our Auntie had flown over from Italy and moved in with them, too.

But it wasn’t enough to shake the haunted, lonely look in their eyes. Eyes that were too old, too knowledgeable in a child’s face. But in our world, we grew up fast.

I had been lucky not to be born like they had.

I hadn’t been born to wear the crown.

Vincent and Anthony lived in a huge mansion in the center of the city. I lived in a more modest home in the suburbs just outside. But I would take my cozy, happy home any day of the week.

Their dad was a cold, cruel man who ran a brutal crime family. My dad was a Law Professor. My mother had wanted out of the life and my father had agreed to it.

So we had less money than my cousins, who were rich as little princes. But I didn’t mind. Almost everybody had less money than they did.

I sat up straighter, hearing voices. Angry voices. My parents were fighting, I realized. They were speaking in hushed tones, but the sense of urgency was there.

I tiptoed to the top of the stairs and paused.

My parents were in the kitchen. Arguing. I crept down a few steps, making sure my older brother or nosy little sister hadn’t followed me.

“You are going to get killed. That bastard–”

“You mean my brother,” I heard my father correct her. “The father of those two motherless boys sleeping upstairs.”

“Its his fault they are motherless,” I heard my mother hiss. “Do you want our kids to end up without a father, too?”

“It is not going to happen. I am protected.”

“You promised me we would get out of this life. You swore.”

“I love you. I will keep that promise. But my brother needs me right now. He–“

My foot creaked on the stairs. I held my breath as my parents stopped talking for a moment, then began again. I strained to hear but their voices were too low to hear. I slowly backed up the stairs and hurried back to bed.

My cousins slept quietly while I contemplated what I had overheard. My father was in danger. And my cousins… well, we all knew they had lost their mother. But I hadn’t realized the connection. Apparently her death was directly caused because of their father. I decided I hated my uncle in that moment. I would grow up to protect my family, including the two boys I considered brothers sleeping beside me.

I stared at the ceiling until the sun came up.

A few months later, my father was dead.

Chapter One

Michael

A knock on my subterranean office made me scowl. The requests were never ending, since I took over for Vincent as head of the Margarelli empire. So were the number of problems.

I had a headache. It felt as if I had since the moment I stepped into Vincent’s very, very big shoes. Meanwhile, he and his new wife were living in a bucolic dream in Italy, along with his brother and sister in law and their young family.

“What now?” I asked, staring at Tiny.

“Issues at the dens.”

“The ones we gave to Marco?”

“Yes. They are roughing up the girls, boss.”

I stared at Tiny then let out a long stream of curses. Vincent and I had been afraid something like this might happen. It was unacceptable.

True, our former employees had chosen to stay when we handed over operations. But part of the deal had been to take it easy on them. Especially the women.

If there was one thing I could not abide, it was mistreating women. Why so many pieces of shit seemed inclined to do it, I would never understand.

I stared at the bar, wondering if it was too early to make a drink. I hadn’t been doing anything else to relieve my stress. I had stopped working out weeks ago. And it had been months since I partook in my favorite stress relieving activity: sex.

I had no interest in women. And they still offered. That wasn’t the issue. I just had not taken the bait.

I was tired of the mundane. The overly available. The stench of desperation.

I was tired. And stressed. And everyone was pissing me off.

“I need to talk to Marco.”

“Yes, boss.”

“Set it up. And if he doesn’t clean up his crew, we do it for him.”

“Yes, boss.”

I gave the big man a look. I could never tell if he was fucking with me. He was so fucking huge, it wouldn’t surprise me if he could take a bullet and keep going. He looked like a goddamn tank.