Vittorio
Vittorio grabbed the man by the hair and dragged him across the room, leaving a trail of blood in his wake.
Teddy was his name and he was one of the men in Anafesto’s upper ranks, a man with power.
Teddy barely made a sound as Vittorio dropped him near the door, crouching down in front of his bloodied face. They had found him walking down the street, grabbing him and stuffing him into the vehicle before he had time to react. Vittorio and two of his men had taken him to the warehouse near the water, and systematically beat the shit out of him for a solid hour for information.
There was none to give, as Teddy had expressed over and over again when he could speak. Now the man gazed at Vittorio through a slitted eye.
“If Rocco took your girl, it would serve you right, you bastard.”
“I’m no more of a bastard than he is,” Vittorio replied. “I will only ask you one more time, Teddy, before I let my men take over. You know what that means.”
The big man didn’t even flinch.
“I knew I was dead the moment you stuffed me in that car, Contarini. I’m not scared to die.”
One of Vittorio’s men kicked him in the leg.
“That’s ‘sir’, coming from trash like you.”
Vittorio held up his hand, stilling the beating.
“It takes a man to admit he’s gonna die. Let him talk. He knows it will be all he ever says once I step out of this place.”
Teddy spat next to him, blood dribbling from his mouth. By the looks of it, Teddy wouldn’t have long to live anyways. The beating had turned his insides to mush. It would be a blessing when they put a bullet in his brain.
“You want the truth?” he continued, every word more difficult to pronounce.
Vittorio nodded, keeping his expression neutral. It had been two days since Sharon had gone missing, two days of him tearing this fucking city apart to find her. There had been no trace and Vittorio was tired of killing people, tired of burning down Rocco’s establishments just to come up empty. He couldn’t sleep, couldn’t eat, couldn’t concentrate on anything except seeing her again.
Teddy’s bloody grin caught Vittorio off guard.
“I was there that day you know. The day that your sweetheart died.”
Vittorio’s heart stuttered in his chest.
“Lara?”
Teddy nodded.
“She was a sweet thing. Boss hated the way you looked at her you know, like she was gonna be your savior. He wanted you to hurt and she was the answer.”
“Shut the fuck up,” Vittorio snarled.
“She wasn’t supposed to die,” Teddy continued anyway, a gleam in his eyes that he had rattled the cage. “She was supposed to just get wounded, same as you, but she jumped in front of you, to protect you. I bet you didn’t see that.”
Vittorio nearly lost his balance as Teddy’s words roared into him. His mind went back to that day, how fucking perfect everything had been up until that moment. The weather had been gorgeous, so nice that Lara had insisted they walk instead of drive. He could never say no to her. She had been on the outside of him, nearest to the traffic, so that he could speak to her father about some business venture he wanted to tap into. The attack had happened so fast.
“You’re lying.”
Teddy shrugged, wincing in pain.
“I was there. I handed out the hit. I should know what my orders were.”
Vittorio pushed to his feet, staring down at the man that had taken his happiness away with Lara and potentially was standing in the way of his happiness with Sharon.
“Death will be too kind to you.”
Teddy laughed, more blood dribbling down his chin.
“Fucking hell, just get it over with already, will ya? I don’t know shit about this new chick since you ran to upstate. She ain’t with Rocco, alright?”
Vittorio didn’t know whether to believe him or not. He waved his hand at the man to his right.
“Make sure he don’t float.”
“Yes sir,” he said as Vittorio walked out of the warehouse
Vittorio took in lungfuls of sea air. He had found Lara’s killer. She had died saving his life. The pain had never truly gone away, but he had buried it long ago. Now maybe she could rest in peace.
Running a hand through his thick hair, Vittorio looked over the water. Where the hell was Sharon? Though he trusted Teddy as much as he trusted Rocco, he would imagine that the man would have gloated over having Sharon. After everything Vittorio had done to the clan over the last two days, someone would have been taunting him, someone would be wanting to show him that they held the power over him.
But there had been no word. No matter how many he killed, how many businesses he burned to the ground, no one was talking.
Vittorio fucking hated it.
He could not lose another one. Was he cursed to never experience love in his lifetime? Twice he’d had it, only to let it slip through his fingers. He was desperate to at least see her again, to apologize for his actions the last time they had been together and to just make sure she was okay.
If Rocco didn’t have her, who did and why? Who else would dare pull a stunt like that? He expected Rocco to do some stupid shit like that, after the intruder had failed to kill its mark, but anyone else…?
The rest of the mafias around New York were small time, most paying Vittorio to stay in the business. None of them would be brave enough to take on someone as powerful as he was.
Stepping away from the water, Vittorio walked toward the waiting sedan, his jaw clenched tightly. He had to figure this shit out for Sharon’s sake.
But it wasn’t gonna stop him from torturing his biggest rival.
That shit was kind of fun.