Shadow Storm (Shadow Riders 6)

He walked right up to the front door, smiling at the man on the door, who looked bored as hell. He was busy looking at his phone and just reached out to pull the door open without even looking up. Valentino recognized him from his childhood. He’d been in Miceli’s organization a long time. He often had a different woman on his arm every month attending parties and charity events. Growing up, Val hadn’t understood why the women kept their heads down and didn’t respond when anyone spoke to them. Biff would laugh heartily if anyone said anything and say they used their mouths for other things.

Val walked into the cool, dark interior of the restaurant, Dario on his heels, sliding in front of him, giving him a glare. Behind him, Luca wrapped his arm around Biff, putting a knife to his throat, while Quintu casually jerked the gun from under his jacket. They rabbit-walked him inside.

“Do you have any idea who you’re fucking with?” Biff demanded, his eyes trying to adjust to the lighting.

Quintu moved around the room, stopping at one table only, then snapped his fingers. “Wallet.” He had pulled up a scarf that covered half his face.

The man handed it over without protest. Quintu took out the license, made a show of studying it and turned to the woman, snapping his fingers. She gave her wallet to him as well. He did the same thing and then handed both back and pointed to the door.

“Leave while you can. No cops or we come calling and wipe out your entire family. We can find you anywhere, anytime.”

The couple instantly got up, and without looking at anyone else, keeping their heads down, they hurried out of the restaurant. Quintu trailed after them and locked the door, turning the sign to closed. The moment he did, Luca shoved his knife through the back of Biff’s skull and dropped him to the floor.

Valentino had leaned over the counter to watch the woman at the register, making certain she didn’t hit the panic button that would tell those in the gambling room they had unwanted visitors. He smiled at her. “Hi, Alice. Do you remember me? I talked to you a few months back. You were dating Angelo, hoping for a ring, I believe. You would do anything for him to get that ring on your finger.”

He reached out and took her hand, stroking her tense fingers. “I don’t see a ring, Alice. Did you discover he had so much pussy available to him that he didn’t need a wife? He likes to play in his dungeon. You were too accommodating. He wanted you to bring him other women, women who weren’t so accommodating, didn’t he? You did that for him, didn’t you?”

Her gaze shifted away from his, and she nodded. He already knew the answer.

“Val, it isn’t my fault. I love him.”

“No, Alice, you really didn’t love him. You don’t now. You wanted out of the trash life you lived and thought grabbing onto Angelo would give you that. How many of your friends did you deliver to him?”

He kept his voice low. Soothing. He already knew the answer to that. She was sick. She didn’t care about anyone but herself and what she wanted. Again, her gaze shifted from his.

“Don’t lie to me, Alice. I’ll know if you lie.”

“Seven.”

“He tortured them down in the dungeon after hours, didn’t he? With you there. Your friends. Women you grew up with. Women who trusted you. He tortured and raped them with you cheering him on. He recorded those sessions and sells them to his sick patrons, making money off the suffering and death of those women.”

“I didn’t know.”

“You knew. You helped set up the recording equipment. You can be heard telling one woman to smile for the camera as she was dying. Where are these women held before Angelo uses them, Alice? If you don’t tell me, you’ll be taken to my interrogation room and I’ll let Dario loose on you. You won’t like what he does. It can last for days. Weeks. The pain never stops. Body parts disappear.”

She went white beneath her beautiful olive skin as she shook her head desperately. “I don’t know. He never told me. I would bring my friend to the club and when we were laughing and dancing, they would drug her and take her away. We were upstairs, not even in the dungeon. I never was told where they held her.”

Her voice resonated with the truth. Valentino sighed. He glanced at Dario as he pulled out his gun. Dario knew as well as he did that Alice couldn’t tell them anything they needed to know. Valentino began screwing on a suppressor, not wanting to alert those down below, but Dario simply pulled the trigger twice and then turned toward the interior with the other four men who had been eating there. They were part of Miceli’s guard. He lifted his gun again. Luca and Quintu added their bullets and all four men went down.