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“I’m going to leave his boyfriend a little note,” Gene said. He rummaged through the kitchen drawers and triumphantly held up a pad of paper and pen. Gino watched as he scribbled his message to Bruno and tossed the pen and paper onto the counter.
“Ready?” Gene asked.
“Can’t wait,” Gino grumbled as Victor shoved him out to their waiting SUV. He got into the backseat, as ordered, and took one last look back at the cabin praying that it wouldn’t be the last time that he’d see the place. He sat back and closed his eyes as if the cabin was too much for him to continue to look at knowing that he was about to lose everything—the man he loved and the life that he was finally allowing himself to dream about.
* * *
Gino woke up to Gene and Victor standing over him. “Wake up, sleeping beauty,” Victor taunted. His head felt heavy, and his mouth was dry. Gino was sure that they had drugged him.
“You put something in my water, didn’t you?” he accused. Gene and Victor laughed as though he had just told them the best joke and Gino moaned. The sound hurt his damn head, but he had a feeling that things were only going to go from bad to worse. He looked around the room they had him in and knew that he wasn’t going to get the welcome home party he was hoping for. They had brought him to the room in the basement of the Gluttony building where they liked to torture guys for information. He was pretty sure that the information that they wanted was where Bruno was, but he’d never give them that. He’d die before giving up the man he loved to the asshole father who wanted to kill him.
“Did you honestly believe that we’d just trust you to be on your best behavior?” Gene asked.
“If you asked me nicely, I would have considered it,” Gino mumbled. “You do know that old man Gluttony is using you both, right? He doesn’t give a fuck about anyone except himself. He’s willing to murder his own son. Doesn’t that tell you what kind of man you’re working for?” Gino asked.
“I know exactly who I’m working for,” Gene shouted. “And until recently, you had no problem working for him either.”
“You’re a sellout, that’s what you are,” Victor yelled. They could call him every name in the book. None of that mattered to him. The only thing that he cared about was keeping Bruno safe.
“You two are ball suckers,” Gino taunted. “You get off sucking old man Gluttony glistening balls.”
“Fuck you, Gino,” Gene shouted.
“You were always a smart ass,” Victor accused. “Let’s see if we can shut that mouth up for a while.” Gene punched him in the jaw and Gino groaned. He knew that it was only the beginning, but he was already done with playing the punching bag.
“All you have to do is tell us where Bruno is and this all ends,” Gene said. He was pretty sure that meant his life would end, and not just the torture. Gino knew how things worked around here. Hell, he was in charge of torturing people in this very room. The irony was almost laughable.
“I’d love to say that I believed you both, but that would be a lie. I’m not giving up Bruno and you trying to beat it out of me is going to end in one way—with me being taken out of here in a body bag and you two bozos having to clean up a shit ton of blood.” Yeah, he was taunting them both, but he also knew that the more he talked, the longer he’d last. They would let him say his peace and then they’d finish the job.
“Well then, if that’s the way you want to play things,” Victor said. “I guess we’ll call in the cleaning crew for later and make sure that they bring a body bag with them.” Gino knew that they weren’t making idle threats. They were going to do just what they said, and if Bruno didn’t hurry the hell up, he was going to end up in that body bag, rotting in a ditch, and there would be nothing he could do to stop it.
Bruno
Bruno knew that it would only be a matter of time before Gino would be dead. He got the note that his father’s two goons left for him, and he knew that they would be torturing his guy by the time he read it. The last thing he wanted was for Gino to take his place. His father wanted him, not Gino, but turning himself in would only serve to get them both killed.
He knew that the only person he could trust, besides Gino, was Trisha. His sister would tell him what he should do because right now, he was too crazy to come up with a valid plan. Bruno pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed his sister.
“Hey,” she answered. She sounded as though she had been sleeping.
“Sorry to wake you, Trish, but I don’t know what to do,” he said.
“What’s wrong?” Trisha asked.
“They took Gino,” he breathed.
“Who did?” she asked.
“Victor and Gene—they found us at my cabin and took him while I was picking up groceries.” If he had just stayed home, he might have been able to keep Gino safe. The guilt was eating him alive.
“They’ll kill him trying to get to you,” Trisha said. He knew exactly what those two guys were capable of and the thought of them laying one finger on his guy made him sick.
“I’m aware,” Bruno growled, “what the fuck am I going to do about it?”
“Hold on, I’m going to put Victor on the phone,” she said. Victor Sloth was his new brother-in-law and the head of the Sloth family since Bruno’s old man had Vic’s father killed. If anyone could help him, it would be Victor.
“Hey, man,” Victor said. “Trisha has filled me in. I think that you need to join the alliance now. I know that you were holding off until your father was out of power, but there isn’t time for that now. You need to go to the other Syndicate families and ask them to back you. I’ve heard rumors about unrest in the ranks since your father put a hit on you. With Trisha out of the picture for marrying me, and you dead, the family will have no one to put into place once your old man kicks the bucket. They want him to stand down, they just need you to stand up.” Was it really as easy as Victor was portraying it to be? He knew that there were always unhappy members of the syndicate. They didn’t agree with his father, but they never dared to speak up against him. That would mean certain death and his father wouldn’t hesitate to put down every rebellious member of the Gluttony family. If he took over now, while his father was still head of the syndicate, would the other families still back him?
“While you are talking to them, I’ll contact Damion Pride to ask him for help. I’m sure that he’d be willing to give it,” Victor said. Between the two of us, we’ll get the other families to agree to let you into the alliance even while your old man is still alive.
