DeLuca (Mafia Romance)

Carlo It had been two weeks since Gino’s torture commenced. I stood above the burned, bruised, and bloody man, a sneer of disgust on my face. Gino had cried, begged, vomited, pissed and shit himself over the past two weeks and it left a heavy smell throughout the basement. His shirt was a charred mess, only a few scraps of material dangled off his abused body. He was conscious now, but from the glazed look in his swollen eyes he may not be for long and I needed him awake and alert for what I had in mind next. At my signal Enzo poured a bucket of ice water over Gino’s head. Gino gasped out in pain and struggled to take shallow breaths through his swollen lips and broken nose.

“Gino,” I drew out his name in a singsong voice. “You remember when I took over as boss and I brought all my men together and told them that loyalty brings honor? I also explained that should any of my men die or get pinched while working for me I would take care of their family because I take care of my own?” Gino lifted his battered face to me, his eyes widened and his shallow breaths came faster.

“ANSWER ME!” I roared.

He jumped and stuttered out, “Y-yes, s-sir I rem-remember.”

“Good,” I said, my voice calm once again, “so then you remember the next part of my speech as well, where I told you all that I was not my father and if any of you betrayed me I would murder your family in front of you, wives and children included.” As if on cue, the door at the top of the stairs opened and stuttered foot falls came down the steps.

Good, they’re fighting, this will be better than I had planned.

Gino had a small family for an Italian, just his wife and teenage daughter. Angelo and Sal appeared at the foot of the stairs with Gino’s wife Maria and their daughter Mia. Gino hung his head, defeated. He had known this was coming, even when he was praying I would forget my vow. He knew in his heart he had sealed their fate.

Maria was too quiet and still with silent tears streaming down her face, but she held her head up high and looked me dead on. She knew the sentence her husband wrote her and their daughter when he flipped and she was going to take it. Mia, on the other hand, was thrashing and swearing like a man twice her age. She couldn’t be more than sixteen or seventeen and she was a spitfire.

I had been watching the two women since before I snatched Gino, I knew their daily routine. Hell, I knew what they ate for every meal. Maria was the typical housewife; she ran errands, went to church, met with friends for lunch, typical boring suburban stuff. Mia was a bit of an anomaly. She was not unpopular but she didn’t seem to have any close friendships apart from Gina Salvatore. My men had been watching them for a few months while we were looking into Gino’s defection, and not once had Mia brought a friend home.

She would go to school events and study groups but she never stayed with one person or group for long, never the center of attention, always fading in and out of the background. The only time she seemed to act like a somewhat normal teenager was when she was with her friend Gina. She spent most weekends at her house with Gina’s family. I didn’t understand it, the girl in front of me was full of life and vicious energy, a complete turnaround from the girl the outside world saw.

“Fucking pig!” she spit out at Angelo, “Let me go!”

She was fighting so hard she didn’t even notice her father at first. When she caught sight of him she froze, then slowly and calmly surveyed the room, taking in the look of steady acceptance on her father and mother’s faces. It was odd how in an instant, almost like a switch being flicked off, she went from fighting for her life to stoic.

“What’s going on? Mama?” she looked to her mother for answers but Maria wouldn’t meet her eyes.

I noticed her voice was tinged with confusion and anger, not desperation and panic. Even odder was the fact that apart from her initial shock at her father’s appearance, she hadn’t shown any sort of emotion at all towards him.

When she didn’t get what she wanted from her mother, her eyes landed on me and her brows furrowed. I had never met Gino’s family, but she seemed to know that I was in charge. It made me wonder how much of the business she knew about.

“What the fuck?” she screamed, “Someone tell me what the hell is going on!” She continued to struggle and I was at the end of my patience.

“ENOUGH!” I shouted and the room went still. Mia looked at me with wide but dry eyes.

“I will tell you. Please have a seat.”

Angelo and Sal produced chairs for the women and they sat. I could tell Mia was reluctant to give up the advantage of being on her feet. Smart girl. I looked at the women in turn. Mia was a carbon copy of her mother, just thirty five years younger. She had long black hair and olive skin. Her body was still more on the teenage side, small curves hinting at the promise of a voluptuous woman if she was given the chance to live into adulthood.

Pity, she would have been a knockout.

I addressed Mia first since she seemed to be the only one that didn’t know the score needing to be settled here. “Mia, how much do you know about what your father does? How much have your parents told you about the business?”

“My parents never told me anything,” she said looking me straight in the eye. I could tell she was scared but she was trying her hardest not to let it show. “But,” she continued, “I know who you are and what you and my father do.”

“And what do you think we do?” I asked.

“You’re mafia, you have your hands in everything.”

“More or less, yes. But I’m curious, if your parents never told you anything how do you know?” The girl was intuitive but I wanted to know how she had figured it out.

“I’m not stupid. My father never being home, Mama never having an explanation except ‘he had to take care of some business’ come on!” she rolled her eyes. “No car salesmen has business to take care of in the middle of the night that causes him to come home with blood on his clothes. I’ve known for sure since I was eleven and caught him burning his blood spattered shirt in the fireplace.” She didn’t seem outraged or disgusted by her father’s work, more pissed off that they had thought her stupid enough not to figure it out.

I was surprised by this, turning to Gino, “You piece of shit,” I said, “you let that come into your home? You exposed your wife and daughter to that part of the business?” I don’t really know why I was so pissed, but this idiot put himself and convenience above his family-he was not worthy of them.

I turned to Mia, “Yes, your father worked for me and my father before me. And then he betrayed me and turned rat.”

Mia looked surprised at first then a look of resigned acceptance fell over her face and she turned to her father. “Really?”

“I’m sorry baby girl, so sorry.” He cried.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

Noticing the shame in his voice she seemed to fit the puzzle pieces together, her face hardening before she turned back to me. “What is he talking about?” she asked, but from the look in her eyes she knew.

“There is a code among the family, Omertá. Your father swore an oath when he joined the family. An oath he broke knowing full well the consequences. If one of my men betray me and this family, his family pays the price as well as himself.”

Mia’s head snapped back to her father, a look of pure disgust on her face. “What did you do?” she hissed, glaring at her father. The contempt at which she looked at him made me think their relationship may have been strained to begin with. When Gino didn’t answer she turned back to me with a coldness in her amber eyes that startled even me, although I didn’t show it. “If I am to pay for the sins of my father I deserve to know what it was that condemned me.” I would have told her anyway but I had to give it to her, she was bold and from the look on her face, beyond pissed.

“He flipped sides to save his own ass, told family secrets to the Russians, and became a spy for them.” Up until that point Gino hadn’t known that I knew the extent of his betrayal. I glanced over at Maria who had stayed silent throughout this entire exchange. “And, from the look of it, your mother was aware of your father’s actions. I know you knew the consequences, didn’t you Maria?”

When Maria didn’t respond, Mia looked at her incredulously, “Mama?”

Only then did Maria turn to her daughter, “A good wife stands by her husband no matter the cost.” That was all she said.

If Mia’s visceral reaction was any indication that was the wrong thing to say. Jumping up she backhanded her mother across the face, “You fucking cunt!” she screamed.

My men were so surprised by her outburst it took them a second to jump into action and make her sit back down.

“You knew? You knew we had a coward and a rat living in our home and you did nothing? You knew two weeks ago when he didn’t come home that he had been caught, didn’t you? You knew they would come for us and still you did nothing to protect yourself or me? It’s not like he was such a good husband! He is an abusive piece of shit! What the hell is wrong with you?” Mia was enraged. Her face was red and she had been struggling against Angelo who was holding both her arms during her tirade but she was still now, an eerie calm washing over her. “You’re pathetic,” she said and spit in her mother’s face. Out of everything, that action surprised me the most. As a rule Italians never disrespect their mothers and spitting in her face was worse than hitting her. She must think since she’s about to die she has nothing to lose.

“Look what you did Gino, you greedy, selfish bastard!” I said. Turning, I walked over to Mia, but before I could say anything she spoke and surprised me yet again.

Looking into my eyes she said, “Kill me last. I want to watch them die.”

I blinked, the only show of my shock, “Are you sure that’s what you want?” I was finally realizing that there was more than a little bad blood between this girl and her parents. Some dark secrets were hidden behind those beautiful eyes.

“No,” she spoke quietly but her voice was strong, her eyes never wavering from mine. “I want to kill them myself but I’ll take watching as a consolation prize.”

I stared at her, this beautiful young girl willing to accept the fate her parent’s betrayal brought upon her. She really did want them dead. Not because they turned on the family, although she did seem pretty disgusted by that, but because they betrayed her. They failed her and from what I witnessed this wasn’t the first time her parents failed to put her needs and safety first. No, the hatred in her eyes was not new. She had suffered at their hands before. I had a plan but this girl just turned it all around. Time for a new plan.

“As you wish,” I nodded at Angelo and he let go of her but not before giving me a questioning look. I walked over to stand in front of her. “Stand up, Mia.” She stood, her eyes still on me.

“I wouldn’t let you kill your own mother,” I said as I pulled the gun from my waistband and without looking, shot her mother in the forehead. Mia flinched at the loud noise, but kept her gaze on me. I took her by the shoulders and stood her in front of her father. “But something tells me that letting you kill your father would not cause you to lose any sleep.” I pressed my gun into her right hand and she took it. “Are you sure this is what you want?” I asked.

She looked at me over her shoulder, “More than anything.” She said and turned back to Gino, “Rot in Hell.” was all she said before unloading the clip into him.