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‘THEN WHO IS?’ Salvatore shouted.
Bruno, acting on a nod from Salvatore, kicked at the back of the chair Enzo was sitting on, causing it to fall suddenly forward and Enzo’s face smashed into the resin floor. The sound of his nose snapping echoed around the room. Blood mixed with air bubbled against the glittery looking surface. As his screams then bounced off the metal walls, for the first time I felt as though I wasn’t as strong as I’d always thought I was. The repugnant air was making my stomach churn and I was scared I’d have to leave the foul-smelling room before I was sick.
So, while Enzo fought for the life that was already lost to him, I struggled against my flight response, knowing that today I needed to follow and be with my husband. I needed to be with him every step of the way. Only with that could we both find the freedom our love required from the pains of the past. So, I remembered the way him whispering that he loved me had made me feel and used it to dull all my senses. Effectively, blocking out all that wasn’t us.
‘TELL ME!’ Salvatore shouted at the top of his voice, making me jump in the process. Feeling me start, his right hand came around his back and he held on to my arm to check on me again.
‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry… sorry, sorry,’ Enzo replied.
‘Tell me where you took her and what you did to her?’ Salvatore tried again.
When no coherent reply came from Enzo, Salvatore spoke again.
‘Do it,’ he instructed Bruno.
I was pulled by his hand close into his back and hid willingly. I had already worked out what was coming next. Bruno and Aldo righted the chair Enzo was restrained by and connected the car battery to somewhere on his wet skin. I’d watched Gianni preparing it only minutes before, and now I knew he was going to step up.
The men had without discussion worked as one, and now I knew it was his turn.
‘Answer him,’ Gianni encouraged.
‘It wasn’t me… I can’t. I didn’t do it,’ Enzo retorted.
Instantly, the air was filled with the odour of burning flesh and hair, reminding me of a pig we’d roasted many years before at home in England. And the air around us was occupied once again with Enzo’s screams.
‘Tell us what you did with her?’ Gianni asked.
‘I can’t,’ Enzo protested once again. ‘I didn’t do it… Please, Don De Luca, take pity on me.’
I heard the buzz of electricity again and the shrieks that followed and realised that my eyes were now screwed up tight and if I wasn’t Salvatore’s wife, I would have thrust my fingers into my ears in the hope of drowning out his pain.
‘Pensa ai tuoi peccati,’ Gianni’s voice sounded out and, in my head, I interpreted the Italian to English, “Think on your sins,” happy to have something else to focus my mind on.
I’d heard the saying before and screwed my eyes even tighter as I tried hard to remember where.
‘Pensa ai tuoi peccati.’ Gianni shouted again as he attempted to drown out Enzo’s screams.
In one swift movement, Salvatore released my arm, removed his gun from his shoulder holster and took a step forward. In desperation to not lose the shelter he was providing, I moved with him.
‘YOU!’ he accused.
One shot sounded out.
One bullet screeched through the suddenly claustrophobic air. In the metal box, we were confined in the noise was deafening.
Enzo’s screams died and I was certain the bullet had put him out of his misery. As much as I hated him, somewhere in the background I was also relieved for him.
The silence was instantaneous, a relief.
‘Drop it, now,’ Salvatore demanded.
In a bid to see what was happening, I stepped out from behind Salvatore to see Gianni releasing the wires in his hands that were joined to the battery. As they hit the wet floor sparks appeared and then died.
‘What’s wrong?’ Gianni questioned, as he looked from Salvatore to my papa and back again. ‘He was going to admit to his crimes, Salvatore, my son.’ I felt Salvatore stiffen beside me at his term of endearment. ‘All we have been fighting to uncover was about to be ours. If a little torture isn’t to your taste, then perhaps heading up this family is not the job for you.’ With a small smile on his face, he opened his arms wide and looked around the twenty or so men in the room for support.
The men around us shuffled their feet on the resin, but no support was forthcoming, and the smile disappeared from his face. And it was in that second, I understood where I’d heard the saying before.
‘Enzo has paid for his crimes and now you will pay for yours.’
