AllFreeNovel
Share Us
We both followed our father like dutiful sons, only this time I was under the shoulders and Rafael was holding on to his ankles. We moved throughout the house and into Dad’s office. He was already getting fresh plastic put down, ready for the blood splatter thatalwayscame with jobs like this. It wasn’t the only liquid that escaped the human body when you pushed it to its limits though.
Too many times I’d watched a guy piss himself and…the other end too. It smelled horrendous, but it made Dad laugh every single time. I didn’t want to be around that shit—literally—but fuck, you couldn’t control how someone would react to their nails being pulled out and then forced down their throat, or their tongue being cut out and thrown across the room then hitting the wall with asplat.
“Fill me in,” Dad said, placing a chair in the middle of the plastic. He was still in his robe, but with the way he carried himself, you would have thought he was in a designer suit.
We placed the guy on the chair and chained him to it. I knew the drill, and from the way that Raf did it on automatic too, so did he. I narrowed my eyes at him, realizing that the years I hadn’t lived at home, my father must have turned his attention to him.
I didn’t have time to think about that right then though. I needed to get these chains locked and try to explain how the hell I’d ended up here.
“I…” I pushed my hand through my hair and took three steps back. The room was so big that I was still ten feet away from Dad’s desk. “Shit, I don’t know where to start.”
Dad pulled the blinds down on the one window in here, but luckily it only looked out into the hallway. The room darkened instantly, but as soon as it hit a certain darkness, the light came on automatically.
“You’ve been undercover with the Pozzis,” Dad said, turning around. He crossed his arms over his chest, staring down at me with that same look he gave me when I was a kid and he wanted me to listen. Only this time, he was waiting to hear from me.
“Yeah.” My gaze slipped to Raf. Of course he would have told him what was happening.
“So…this is one of his minions, then?”
“Yeah.” I pulled at my hair, pacing back and forth. I hated how I couldn’t get a real sentence out. I’d never intended on telling Dad what had happened, but if there was one person I knew who wouldn’t judge me, it was him. I couldn’t keep it inside any longer. Ihadto tell someone.
“Fuck, Dad.” I spun around, slamming my fist into the wall. A picture of him and Mom rattled, but I refused to look at it, needing to get this over with. “I fucked up.”
“Explain,” he said, softer than usual, but if you didn’t know Antonio Pagani, you would have thought he was angry. And maybe he was, but to us, this was the calm version of our father.
“They took Mr. Blue’s niece.” He tilted his head, acknowledging that he knew that already—of course he did. “Gio has a sex club—” I cut myself off and groaned. “But you already know that.” Huffing out a breath, I tried to figure out exactly where to start, and what he wouldn’t know.
“I found her. She’s there.”
“You did?”
“Yeah.” I paced three steps, then spun and took another three. Lorenzo and Dante clearly hadn’t told anyone else that bit of information. Part of me wondered why, but in reality, I knew that it would then get back to Mr. Blue and he’d be camped out at the mansion wanting us to get her out, not letting us do what we needed to do. “But…”
I halted in the middle of the room, staring at Raf and then my dad, but it was Dad who I kept my attention on. “Gio set me up. He gifted me one of the women. And…I had to…” I dropped my head back. “I had to keep my cover, so I…fuck!” I slammed the sides of my fists against my thighs, needing something to get me the hell together.
“You fucked her?” Dad asked.
I nodded but shook my head at the same time. We all knew that it wasn’t consensual but none of us would say it out loud. “It was her…Mr. Blue’s niece.”
“Well, shit,” Raf murmured. “I didn’t see that twist coming.”
Focusing back on my dad, I tried to get a read on him, but it was impossible when he shuttered his emotions off. Now wasn’t the time for that. Now was the time for him to guide me, to tell me that I hadn’t completely fucked up.
“I went back there last night and…” I took a breath so deep that it burned the back of my throat. “He’d dislocated her shoulder and she was black and blue from all of the bruises.” I rolled my neck, starting to feel the effects from the lack of sleep I’d been getting. “And he sent her to spy on me. He was watching us again.” I paused, taking a step toward my dad. “I gotta get her out of there,” I pleaded with him.
He blinked, watching me silently. “Who knows you have him?” He pointed at the man chained to the chair. He was starting to come around again, but this time we’d leave him awake, that way we could get answers.
“Just us three.”
He knew what I was saying and within seconds he darted forward. “I’ll warn your mother.” He moved toward the door. “And I’ll get dressed.” He halted at the door, pulling it open and taking one last look at me. “I’m glad you came to me, son.” There was something shining in his eyes, but I wasn’t quite sure what…pride maybe? Either way, it was gone as quickly as it came as he left the room, leaving us alone.
I didn’t want to talk, didn’t want to go over it, so I moved to the corner of the room and slid down the wall, crouching there, waiting, my head in my hands, not knowing what to do next.
Was this plan even going to work?
I had no idea, but I was determined to get as much information as possible without anyone finding out.
* * *
