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“Do you know what your father used to do for me?”
He nodded, “Yes, Sir.”
“And did you know that he was stealing from me while he did it?”
I watched the young man’s face and could see instantly that he didn’t. “No, Sir.”
“Good.” I put my hand around the back of his neck and forced his head down, so he stared at his father who had a peculiar gurgle coming from his lips with each breath. “Let this be the only time I have to show you what happens to men who steal from me. Because if I have to show you again, you’ll be the one bleeding out on the floor while your family watches. Understood?”
“Yes, Mr. Capasso.” He nodded eagerly.
“Good,” I repeated and let him go, shoving him back toward the wall. “You’ll take over pickups in your father’s place. Three times a week you’ll travel to the meat district and pick up packages of fish for me. You’ll then deliver them to my warehouse along the East River, and finally you’ll go about your merry business the other four days of the week, and you’ll be paid well for it. It’s a simple job, far easier than going to work in a boring factory to make a third of the pay for seven days straight of labor wouldn’t you say?”
“Yes, Mr. Capasso.” He nodded quickly.
“You’ll have a man watching you for a while, so don’t fuck it up.” I pressed the toe of my shoe into the seeping wound on his father’s stomach causing him to cough and cry out for mercy. “Worthless.” I turned my attention nodding to where the woman seethed at me with daggers flying from her eyes. “Would you be so angry at me for killing him if I told you he has another family near the warehouse that he visits on his delivery days?” She stilled, looking at her husband and then back to me. “A woman half your age with two sons of her own made directly from his loins, ages six and four.” I kicked her worthless husband again. “She gets more than half of the money he makes from me each week while you’ve been what I’m assuming is a loyal wife to the man for more than two decades; living in poverty.” I tsked my teeth and shook my head, looking back to Anthony and his brothers. “Something tells me you three will make quite the names for yourselves without your father’s despicable shadow keeping you here inside while he plays both sides of the game. Just remember who is giving you the chance to do that.”
They nodded their heads, no doubt out of fear alone. Matteo, waiting for me to conclude, opened the front door and we walked out of the rundown apartment onto the pavement outside. “Where to now?” Matteo asked.
“Back to the penthouse.” I slid into the back seat of the car while he got in on the other side before my driver pulled off.
“Thought you’d be chomping at the bit to get back to Armarow.” He taunted me as I scrolled through my emails, trying my best to ignore him. “You’ve avoided it for three days now.”
“So what.”
“You’ve avoided her for three days straight. I’ll be honest, I didn’t think you had it in you.”
“Fuck off.” I snapped, closing my email and putting my phone back in my pocket. “Before I break your teeth.”
“Eh,” He shrugged and ran his hand over his jaw, “They’re all fake at this point anyway. If you want to take a couple shots at them to avoid acknowledging your own fuck ups, go ahead.”
“Asshole,” I grunted.
“So what did you do?”
“Who said I did anything?” I argued, hating that he knew me so well. In truth, it was me who did something. I had choked her out, cutting the blood and air off to her brain long enough for her to faint and then I carried her limp body to our bed and laid her down in the center of it.
I stood over her body and watched her chest rise and fall as her neck bloomed red with my mark until I couldn’t stand to look at her for a moment longer.
And then I packed a bag and left.
For her safety.
She turned me into a monster that even I didn’t recognize. I never intended to render her unconscious or leave her as long as I have. I had envisioned my evening with her turning out completely different. She had been a perfect angel on my arm at dinner and then after, charming my men and following the cues I gave her. I planned to retire for the evening and spend it buried between her thighs, giving her everything she deserved for being my good girl all evening.
But instead, I walked into my bedroom and overheard her telling the doctor of all the things she fantasized about for her life and how everything she’d experienced with me had fallen flat and I… lost myself to the monster inside.
She was the last person I wanted to lose my composure with, yet I had done it twice. First on our wedding night when I bent her over the chair to show her who was in charge, and then again after the dinner.
I showed her the monster everyone else knew I was, and it left me feeling unsettled.
So I ran.
“Our thirty-year-long history did.” He scoffed.
I grumbled and adjusted myself in the seat, trying to ignore him and watch the city pass by the tinted windows of my car, but I gave in to his bait. “I didn’t do anything I didn’t plan to do.” I finally said after a while, when I could feel his eyes still on me.
“Then why does it bother you?” He questioned and I glared at him, “And don’t say it doesn’t bother you, because if it didn’t, you wouldn’t be hiding out at the penthouse. Avoiding your blushing new bride.”
