AllFreeNovel
Share Us
When he didn’t answer right away, I laid the smooth edge against his cheek and sliced him from temple to jaw. He cried out in pain. It cut like I was cutting butter. Menace kept his tools in perfect working condition. I gave it a few seconds to sink in that I had cut him before I asked him again what his name was. This time, as I held up the knife, he answered me.
“My name is Elio Colombo.”
Hearing his name, I took a closer look at him. Until now, all I had focused on was he had tried to kill us. Now, I was taking in the details. As I did, things began to become clearer, and a thought began to form in my mind. One I hoped I was wrong about. Elio was a strong built man around six feet tall. He was muscular and had dark olive skin which went with his dark hair and eyes. His name fit him. He looked Italian. I turned to the club.
“Where are the bodies of the other three?”
Several pointed to the dark corner behind them. I saw bodies wrapped in plastic. I went over and unwrapped them enough to see their faces. All of them had a similar look to Elio. I went back to him.
“Law, what’s the matter? You look like you have had an epiphany,” Terror asked.
I looked at Hawk. “He’s Italian and I’ll bet my soul, these other three are too.”
Hawk looked stunned. I left him to think about what that implied and went back to Elio.
“Tell me the names of the three men who were with you? Are they family or just men you work with?”
He glared at me. I sliced him from his sternum to below his ribs. He howled in pain. When he caught his breath, he answered me. “Fuck it. They aren’t worth being tortured for. I’m going to die anyway. Swear on the life of your family that if I tell you everything, you’ll end it quickly.”
“I swear on my kids, Tonya, and this club that if you tell me everything you know, I’ll end your life quickly.”
“Shit, I never thought I would go out like this, tied up like a dog and having a cop torture me. Jesus, God is getting his retribution for all my sins. May God, Jesus Christ, and the Virgin Mary forgive me.”
It appeared I had a Catholic on the table. I didn’t know if God was listening and would forgive him or not. That wasn’t my problem. I prodded him in the side with the tip of the blade. It slid in easily and he was now bleeding from another spot.
“Stop! I’ll tell you. They’re my brother and two cousins. Their names were Aldo, Benito, and Giacomo. Aldo was my brother. We work for another family, a powerful one, although they’re not what they once were. We do whatever they ask us to do. If we don’t, our loved ones will be left to their mercies, which they don’t have. I admit, they pay well, but that money comes at a heavy price.”
“Tell me this family's goddamn name. Enough stalling. I’m getting impatient,” I hissed.
“It’s Greco. The main boss is—”
Hawk and I interrupted him at the same time, “Matteo and his two sons, Carlo and Anthony.”
Elio nodded. “Yeah, that’s them. If you know that, then you know they’ve been in jail close to eight years now. However, they still find ways to run some of their businesses from the inside. We were contacted a few weeks ago and told to come here and take out a woman. They sent us her picture, name, and where we might find her. It was double pay if we took out her kids too.”
The rage inside of me was getting worse. To hear him talk so calmly of killing Tonya and the kids was almost unbearable. Hawk had pushed through the others to come stand beside me. His fists were clenched.
“Did they tell you to take out anyone else?” Hawk asked.
“Not at first. All we knew is they wanted the woman and kids dead. Said it was payback. After we shot her and she ran off the road, we hoped she’d die, but she didn’t. We couldn’t get to her while she was in the hospital since she was never alone. When we reported back our failure, we were told we couldn’t leave until we got the job done. That’s when they added more people to the list and upped the price they were paying. Another woman named Nyssa and her husband, Dane, their daughter, and a cop. Him.” He lifted his chin toward me.
Now that he started, he didn’t stop. “We were to kill the women and children first so the men would know they were dead. They said if we did that, the two men would suffer. Only after they suffered were we to kill them.”
“Did they give you a deadline to make all this happen?” I asked.
“Yeah, we had until the end of this month to kill the women and kids and the following month to kill you guys. Once we were done, we were to clear out.”
“Did you honestly think you could do that and get away with it?” Menace asked him incredulously.
“Why not? You were just supposed to be a bunch of bikers. As long as we kept a low profile and spaced them out, no problem. We used guns and cars that couldn’t be traced to us. We have a rental way out in the goddamn woods where we stay when we’re not watching for her. It should’ve been easy. Who the fuck rides around in bulletproof cars? She wasn’t in one the first time,” he grumbled.
I couldn’t help it. I laid down the knife and drew back my fist. I punched him in the face. I heard his nose break and I think a few front teeth were loosened. He yelled as the blood poured out of his nose and mouth.
I looked at the guys. They all knew who Matteo Greco was. I couldn’t believe, after four years of silence, he’d reared his ugly head again, although I should’ve. Apparently whatever fear was instilled in them on the inside by Bull’s contacts wasn’t working anymore. They thought they could get revenge on me and Nyssa for sending them to prison after killing Frankie. My stomach churned thinking of them. They were such lowlife scum, it made me sick. Four years ago when they sent men after Nyssa, we had decided not to kill them. That was a mistake. I wouldn’t be making the same mistake this time.
Turning my attention back to Elio, I continued, “How do they communicate with you? All their calls and mail are monitored. How do you communicate with them and get the money?”
“There’s a guard who is on their payroll. He’s the one to carry any instructions they give to the outside and we contact him at a certain number to report back. He’s the one who goes to Matteo’s money people and gets the payments.”
