Page 139 of Disgrace

John only nodded to himself.

Almost over.

Stepping back a few paces, John bent down to dig through the bag Pink had set aside. He pulled out a few items—a knife, ice pick, and two small handguns. John much preferred something a little heavier when it came to guns. An Eagle was perfect, but these would do the trick.

Keeping the items hidden at his back, John moved closer to Roy again. “I will let you clean up, and give you clothes. You will sit in a chair, and say exactly what you are told to say. And should you disobey, or fight, I will start with the ice pick. It will remove your ability to walk when I break it through your kneecaps before I start removing the tips of your fingers with a knife. Do you understand?”

Wild, terrified eyes stared back at John from the floor.

He only smiled.

“Wh-what?” Roy stammered.

“You will do as you are told, or for the unforeseeable future, this will be your life now. Darkness, humiliation, and pain. I won’t kill you, no, but I will have someone come in everyday to remind you of why you should have simply listened to me in the first place. I will feed you just enough to keep you alive, and then make you wish you would die every single day for the rest of your life. You can choose allowing your wife to get your remains back a battered, unrecognizable mess, or something far easier to understand.”

Roy gaped.

“Do you understand?” John asked, bringing the ice pick out to swing it back and forth. “Well?”

Weak men were predictable.

Roy was a weak man.

“Y-yes, I understand.”

Just a little longer, Andi.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“DO YOU WANT the good news first, or the good news last?” John asked.

Siena grinned. “Well, where does the bad news fit in?”

“That’s the thing—there is no bad news.”

Her laughter drew the attention of the other guests eating with them at the restaurant table, but John paid his family no mind.

“Just tell me,” Siena said.

“Ginevra is coming back to the city this weekend—Greta and Giulia will be the first to greet her.”

For a split second, Siena thought her heart had stopped. But no, the beats just took a chance to recharge before picking up an even faster pace.

“Really?”

The girls would be ecstatic.

They had been asking … and asking more.

Siena didn’t know what to tell them.

“Really,” John said.

Not even thinking about it, she leaned over to give him a quick kiss. She planned to pull away just as fast—no need to give everybody else a show, but John held her there for an extra beat in time.

“Since you’re sharing news, what do you have on Andino?”

Siena frowned when John’s attention drifted away from her momentarily to deal with the men who had filed into the restaurant moments before. His uncles, and his father, each took a seat at the table.