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“Tell me!” I screamed inches from his face.
“The man in white!Ssomething…” His eyes popped open when he realized what he had just said.
“Swho?” I used my weight to press and rotate the second nail that oozed blood, a dark pool of it now puddled on the ground at the edge of the cliff and caught the reflection of the nosy seagull above. He bucked around, and I released the pressure as I stepped back to think. I thought about all my enemies that started with an S, and many names came to mind.
I dropped down on one knee and forced his head around to look at me. Marco had been with us since the move to Florence, so whoever thisSwas, he must have just surfaced recently. What did he have on my men to make them turn against me?
“Tell me more, Marco.”
“I-I,” he slipped in and out from the pain, “I don’t know any more than that, sir, honestly.” He begged as saliva dribbled down his chin. “I was told to wait around for someone.” His red eyes blinked a few times. “Then Niccola spotted me.”
“You think it’s okay what you’re doing?” I asked calmly.
“No, sir.” He shook beneath my hands. “He did,” he paused to catch his breath, “mention a debt.”
“What debt?” I had no debts. I never owed anyone anything. I knew better.
“I don’t know. He just said there were debts.”
I whirled around and tried to control my temper. “Let me get this straight, you had instructions to wait at my dockyard, and you didn’t think to call me? Does that sound like something you should have done?”
“No,” he whispered.
“What else do you have to tell me?”
“Nothing more.”
I knew there was more; there always was. “So, instead of coming to me with this, you dishonored me and went behind my back to meet someone who was out to get me and our family?”
“I know.” His sob broke, and I felt nothing.
“You risked my business, our family, for what?”
“I know, I know,” he sobbed. “It was wrong, I buckled and, and…”
I stood, straightened my jacket, and turned to find Mariano racing toward me.
“For God’s sake, forgive me.”
“No.”
I used my foot to tilt back his chair while he screamed and tried to move his nailed hands. I gave him a shove backward, and he and the chair spun slowly in the air then hit the jagged rocks below and disappeared into the churning whitecaps of the angry sea.
Mariano was breathing hard as he stopped short next to me. I watched as a wave hit a rock and shot spray into the air.
“I’m sorry. I had to deal with some—”
“Whatever woman of the week you’re sleeping with shouldn’t interfere with family business!” I hissed inches from his face. He knew better than to push me. “What do you know about the debts?”
“What debts?” His face shot back as he tugged at the elastic around his wrist. He snapped it a few times as he often did and waited for me to go on.
“If you had anything to do with that, Mariano,” I looked down into the sea where the body still tied to what was left of the chair now bobbed around the jagged rocks, “we’ll have a big problem.”
“Let’s not forget that I was the one who told Niccola he was there and to go get him.”
I waved him off, not wanting to hear it. He needed to get his shit together. I grabbed my bag and tossed the hammer inside and turned away from him.
“Where are you going?” he grated.
