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Chapter 108
I held up my shield in front of me.
As I reached the top of the stairs, the gunfire down below ceased.
“It’s over,” Adriano said.
But I didn’t answer him because I was too overpowered by the sight of Lucia.
She was sitting in a chair, her hands bound behind her.
She had a black eye, but other than that, she seemed unharmed.
She stared up at me with tears running down her cheeks –
And a smile of utter joy on her lips.
But her smile slowly faded and was replaced with horror.
I could imagine why.
My shield was caked with the blood and brains of a half-dozen dead men.
My own blood dripped down my face and into my beard, pouring out of tiny shrapnel wounds I’d suffered from the gunfight in the bell tower.
I must have looked like a demon straight out of hell.NôvelD(ram)a.ôrg owns this content.
But I was a demon of vengeance –
And my final quarry was in front of me.
Aurelio crouched down behind Lucia’s chair, his eyes wide with terror –
And a pistol at her head.
“S-stop,” he said, though his voice was terrified rather than commanding.
I glanced over to my right.
Zollner’s body was lying on the ground, the top of his skull a bloody mess.
“Looks like your mad dog got put down, cousin,” I said quietly.
Aurelio’s entire body was trembling. I could hear the gun shaking in his hand.
“I’ll kill her if you come any closer,” he threatened.
“I’m staying right here. Are you alright?” I asked Lucia, looking at her tenderly.
“Yes.” She paused, then said, “…considering. Better than Elmer Fudd, anyways,” she said, tipping her head towards Zollner’s corpse.
I laughed darkly, then looked at Aurelio. “Listen to me, cousin. Are you listening?”
“Don’t you – ”
“Shhhhh,” I hushed him. “Even after everything that’s happened, I’m willing to cut you a deal. If you put down your gun, I’ll put down mine. I won’t hurt you. You’ll have to go before the Council at Rome and tell every Cosa Nostra family what you and Fausto did… but they’ll decide your punishment, not me or any of my brothers.”
“You gotta be fucking KIDDING me,” Adriano growled in my ear. “Hold on, I’m coming up.”
I ignored my brother and focused on Aurelio.
The fear had left my cousin’s eyes, and I could see cunning creeping back into them.
“But,” I continued, “if you hurt her in any way… I’m not going to kill you. Not today. Not in a month, or two months, or a year. I’m going to take you somewhere no one will ever find you… and I’m going to torture you for weeks on end.
“First, I’m going to crush your balls with a pair of pliers. I won’t do anything else – I’m just going to listen to you scream. Then I’m going to cut off your cock… an inch at a time… day by day. But I’ll cauterize the wound so you don’t bleed out. In fact, I’m going to do everything in my power to keep you alive. I’ll give you blood transfusions… antibiotics… feed you through a tube… anything I need to so you stay alive as long as possible.
“Then, after I’ve turned your dick into a charred stump, I’ll start taking off your fingers, joint by joint… day by day… one by one. Once I’m done with your fingers, I’ll do your toes the same way. Then your hands up to the wrist… then your feet up to the ankles.
“But I’m not going to cut off your arms and legs. No. I’m going to break them in a hundred places, along with all your ribs… and I’m going to stuff you in a tiny little cage in a fetal position… and I’m going to leave you hooked up to the IVs and everything else to keep you alive… and I’m just going to leave you like that, in agony, in your own shit and piss… alive… for years. And I’ll come visit you every day and say, ‘Remember that time you could have saved yourself, cousin? Remember when I was willing to cut you a deal?’ And you’ll beg me to kill you… but I won’t. I’ll keep you alive, in an unending hell of pain, until you die at a ripe old age.”
“Jesus,” I heard Adriano whisper in my ear.
“OR… you put down your gun… and I won’t hurt you. You’ll stand trial before the Council… but I won’t harm you, and neither will any of my brothers or my men.”
Lucia stared at me, unsure what to think of the demon in front of her talking about horrors beyond imagining.
But Aurelio?
Aurelio was listening.
“Swear it,” he demanded.
“I swear it on my life – on my soul. May I die and burn in hell if I break my word to you.”
He looked at me sideways as though trying to figure out if he should trust me…
And then he lowered his gun to the floor and set it down.
“Kick it over here,” I instructed.
He did.
I tossed my own gun to the side, then took off my shield and let it thud to the floor.
I limped over to him, a kind smile on my face. “Good choice, cousin. Stand up.”
He obeyed, but he looked at me uncertainly.
I smiled… patted his cheek with my bloody hand…
And then grabbed his jacket and pushed him backwards onto the balcony.
My face was a mask of rage –
And his face was absolute terror.
“You PROMISED!” he shrieked. “You SWORE – ”
“On my life. But I don’t give a shit about MY life. Only my brothers’ and HERS. But I will be merciful and make it a quick death.”
“YOU SWORE ON YOUR SOUL!” he screamed.
I smiled at him – but this time with fury and hatred. “Then I’ll see you in hell.”
I heaved him up in the air, raised him over my head –
And I threw him over the side of the bell tower.
He screamed all the way down, 130 feet –
Until his head struck the walkway on the ground and a sheet of blood spattered across the tiles.
It was over.
It was finally over.