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“Si, Signor,” he said, then followed Giovanni up the stairs.
I leaned against the concrete wall as Aurelio sat down in an empty chair opposite our guest and busied himself with laying out his ‘tools’. Knives and pliers, nails and a tack hammer; Aurelio was old-school.
“I want every bit of information he has, Aurelio,” I said, pushing off the wall. “So keep him alive as long as possible.”
“Of course,Signor,” he said. He adjusted a few pieces to lie at just the right angle; I wasn’t much for that psychological shit, but Aurelio knew what he was doing. “Dr. Dawson was quite helpful this evening,” he observed, his voice deceptively light.
“Si,she was.”
“…it seems to me she trustsyou,” Raven had said, but fuck if I knew what to do with that.
“She’s a brave woman,Signor,” Aurelio mused, nodding approvingly. “And I notice you haven’t lost interest in her yet; that’s a good sign.”
Lose interest? Everything about Heidi was interesting, from the way she spoke to the way she fucked. From her dedication to her profession to the way she handled herself under pressure… and the occasional times she let it get the better of her and took it out on a helpless trash can.
I laughed, remembering the sight I’d walked in on in Onyx’s washroom.
Aurelio cocked an eyebrow at me while amusement danced in his eyes. “I’m going to take that to mean you agree.”
“You can take it to mean I find her interesting, Aurelio, nothing more.”
But who was I kidding? No woman had ever held my attention for more than a night or two, and I was still having trouble recalling a single face but hers.
“Of course,Signor,” he replied, smiling knowingly at the same time the asshole in the chair began to stir.
“Do you suppose we could focus on the task at hand now?” I asked, nodding toward the asshole like Aurelio hadn’t noticed the faint stirrings going on behind him.
But of course, he had. He was already reaching for the bottle of water he’d let the asshole sip from before he got down to business.
“That’s it,” Aurelio said encouragingly as he put the bottle to the man’s lips. “Take a drink and get your bearings,” he went on like he was everybody’s fucking next door neighbor.
The man drank back every drop he was offered, losing some in his eagerness as it spilled down his carefully groomed beard. As he gulped the water back, his smallish, close-set brown eyes darted around the room, eventually settling on Aurelio, then on me. Recognition dawned in his gaze, and the tension that snapped in the air all around him shot off the charts. He choked on his final gulp of water, spluttering as he jerked in his chair, yanking violently against the unyielding restraints.
“There now. That’s enough.” Aurelio screwed the lid back on the bottle and set it down on his table of otherwise nasty shit. “We’ll start with something simple, shall we? Tell me your name,per favore.”
The asshole glared, still yanking against his cuffs like he had a hope in hell of escaping. Bound so tightly, he couldn’t even loosen the duct tape.
Aurelio sighed, shaking his head as he grabbed the pliers and got a good hold on the man’s left index fingernail.
“Fighting me will only prove painful,Signor.And in the end, it won’t help you,” he said, then tugged slow and steady, yanking off the nail while the man screamed and his whole face turned red.
The sound reverberated around the room, starting a steady throbbing in my temples.
“We’ll try this again,” Aurelio said once the guy had calmed down. “Tell me your name,per favore.”
The asshole glared while his chest heaved. “It’s Edward. Edward Sterling,” he spat, his British accent thick.
Aurelio nodded. “My name is Aurelio Carbone. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” he said like the two of them were meeting across a backyard fence.
I had to fight back a laugh. Aurelio Carbone was so damned cordial, even when torturing scumbags.
Edward Sterling, it seemed, wasn’t seeing the humor in it. He kept on glaring, shooting daggers from his small, brown eyes.
Aurelio dropped the fingernail in a bucket he kept near him for just such a purpose, then turned his attention back to Sterling.
“I’d like you to tell me why you felt the need to try to murder a child,SignorSterling,” he went on. “I presume you’re also the one who shot the poor boy.” He shook his head disapprovingly.
Sterling turned his head to look at me. “That kid’s nothing to you,” he spat. “Why would you give a fuck if I offed him?”
