“We don’t need to—”
“Why don’t you shut the fuck up?” Galiza said. “Let him do his job.”
“I wanted pecan pancakes this morning with chocolate chips and syrup. There’s a restaurant that serves really good pancakes. You ask the right person, they make them when you arrive and serve them hot with warm maple syrup. Delicious. I was going to go there this morning.”
“Shit, you haven’t had your pancakes?” Daniel asked.
“I’ve not had a single bite to eat.”
“Damn, this is not going to go easy for you. Not in the slightest. You should have at least let the guy have his coffee.”
“I don’t know anything. I was told to be at a time and at a place. I promise.”
Vincenzo hated it when grown men became bumbling pussies. Getting up from his chair, he made his way toward the briefcase he’d brought with him. There was a table in the corner, and he placed it near the man bound to the chair. Picking up his briefcase, he placed it on the flat surface, doing the code that would unlock it.
“I’m very old school, I am,” he said, removing his tools from the briefcase and putting them on the table. Opening out the case, it showed some of his tools from a variety of knives to pliers and other pieces of equipment perfect as a personal torture kit. “You know I went to college. Took several classes in human biology and of course medicine as well. What makes these two arts fascinating is I learned exactly what body part I can take and also how to keep a person alive long enough to make them talk but to also tell me all of their secrets.” He grabbed the man’s hand and, with the clippers, snipped off the man’s ring finger.
The screams echoed around the warehouse.
Vincenzo was used to them.
They ran off him like water in a shower. This was what he’d been trained to do, knew nothing else and wouldn’t ever change who he was.
“Fuck! Please, please, no more.”
“Wow, he’s already pissed himself,” Daniel said.
“How long have you been in contact with this person?” He believed this man didn’t have a clue who’d called him. The truth of the person’s identity would come in the finer details. It was amazing how a person sounded, what they said, what their instructions were. He knew when he got the call today that Galiza had nothing to do with this. That he didn’t even have a fucking clue about it.
The finer details.
It was what torture was all about.
Learning those little facts.
The reporter gave up very little, and what little he did have, wouldn’t lead them to find out any more clues. Someone close to Galiza was doing this, but it was a smokescreen to hide something. Vincenzo had an idea who was behind the reporter’s sudden appearance, but he wasn’t willing to call out a traitor without actual proof.
He slit the guy’s throat, waiting for him to die and then removed his eyes.
“Why the fuck did you do that?” the oldest Galiza asked.
“Simple. His body will be discovered, and every single reporter will know if they work to bring down the Galiza in any way they will answer for their crimes. Be careful what you look for, I’ll be coming.”
“You did wonderful,” Galiza said, coming to him, slapping him on the back.
“I need to look at his camera, and I’ll need forty-eight hours to go and check out his apartment.”
“Do what you need to do. I’ll keep his body on ice until then.”
With that, he left the warehouse with Daniel in tow.
“What are you thinking?” Daniel asked.
“It’s one of them in there,” Vincenzo said.
“The sons?”
“Yep.”
“Why?”
“Power. To overthrow their father. I don’t really care who it is. I just know we’ve got to find the one responsible.”
“Why now?”
“Because we’ve got that camera and the resources. I’d start watching your back, Daniel. They’ll come after us next.”
****
Arika’s feet hurt, but that was to be expected after a ten-hour shift with no break in between. They’d been swamped with customers, and that was a good thing. No customers, no work. Lots of customers, plenty of work.
She liked working.
It helped to take her mind off everything else going on in her life.
School.
Studies.
Life.
Him.
She tried not to think about him.
He’d not been wrong about his plan. It truly had been a one-night affair.
It had certainly been a night she wouldn’t be forgetting any time soon. She’d been fucked in every single way that mattered, and now he’d ruined her for anyone else. Rachel was constantly trying to set her up with someone, and Arika turned her down flat. The last thing she wanted right now was to date anyone.
Walking up the stairs to her apartment, she stood outside and worked the three different locks. Stepping inside, she quickly locked the three and bolted the rest from the inside. If anyone tried to break down her door, they could just splinter the wood with enough force. At least it gave her some semblance of being protected. Not a lot but enough.