“What exactly have they done to you? You’ve barely shared a single thing about yourself since you’ve been here,” a voice rings out from the back.
I nod my head. “I know. I know I haven’t told you why I want to take the Bianchis out, but that changes now,” I explain. “Stephan Bianchi is the reason my wife is dead. He decided to take out a building filled with families, because there was one man inside he wanted to kill. Mothers, fathers, children, grandparents. My wife. They all died in a horrific fire because he had to get back at one man.”
The room grows quiet, and all their eyes are on me.
“I know I’m not the only one he’s done this to. I know there’s more of you who have lost someone because of him,” I say slowly. “Just in the last couple months that I have been here we’ve lost three of our men to the Bianchi assholes. I can’t lose Tommy too. I…I love him. I cannot lose him like I did her.”
“I lost my girlfriend,” Trish mumbles. “Eight months ago, she was sent on a solo mission to collect intel and never came back. We still don’t know where she is, where herbodyis.”
I swallow through the tightness in my throat.
“That is exactly why I need your help. I need your help to end the Bianchi family and rescue Tommaso Dresvanni. I’m almost positive that they have taken him to their estate. Stephan Bianchi is a confident and cruel man. He thinks he’s won by kidnapping a single brother of the Dresvanni family, but what he doesn’t know is he has actually dug his own grave, because I’m not going in there tonight just to get Tommy back and leave them shaken up. I am going to kill every single last one of them. Are you going to help me?” I watch as the crowd before me looks at each other, uncertain, but then their shoulders straighten.
One by one, a total of six people raise their hands. It’s not as many as I wish it was, but it’s more than I expected in the first place.
Two more people raise their hands at the last second, and I smile softly.
“Good. We are going to need all the manpower we can get.”
Jake steps up from behind me and claps me on the shoulder.
“I’m in. Anything to take those sons of bitches out.”
19
TOMMASO
Everything is dark all around me for the longest time. There’s an ache in my neck that just won’t go away, and my leg is burning. Burning like fire is encasing it from the ankle up. My entire body feels heavy from my toes to my head. Even moving my fingers is difficult.
The only thing I can hear as my head starts to clear a little bit is the sound of mumbling. Or muffled speech. I’m not quite sure how far away it is from me. I try to focus on it because knowing just how far my captors are from me will help me decide what to do next.
A bit of light shines in from what I realize is a blindfold around my eyes. Just a streak of light from the bottom where my nose is pushing the fabric forward slightly. It’s not natural light, this much I know, but rather artificial light from an upwards source.
This means I’m most likely in a room with little to no windows. I inhale slowly, and the scent of the room is slightly musty. My nose tickles from dust with a sneeze that won’t make itself completely known.
As I start to wake up further, I can hear the voices more clearly. They’re quiet, but they bounce off the floors and walls of the room I’m in. No carpeting. Hard floors. Most likely no windows.
I must be in a basement. If I’m correct, I’m pretty sure it’s the basement of the Bianchi house. I have no idea who dragged me out of my own home, but I’d place bets that it wasn’t any of the Carvels. The Bianchis must have been in on the shoot out and taken the moment to grab me. Why me and not Carmine, I’m not sure. Perhaps they think killing me will get them further. That or they simply grabbed whoever was easiest at the moment.
Whatever the reason, I’m now stuck here with my wrists and ankles tied to a chair and my head heavy.
“Finally, you’re awake,” a voice says from in front of me. I vaguely recognize it as Butch Bianchi. I doubt he was the one who kidnapped me, but he’s the one here now.
I attempt to open my mouth to talk but realize there’s tape over it. My tongue darts out between my lips and tastes the adhesive. Duct tape. Typical.
I wonder why they have the blindfold on me? I know what they all look like and most likely where I am. The only reason I can think of is to disorient me in general.
As I’m thinking about this, I feel rough fingers poke and prod at the side of my cheek before grabbing hold of the edge of the duct tape and yanking it off my face. I hiss in pain and aggravation the second it’s gone and feel the throbbing sting left behind on my skin.
“Fucker,” I spit out.
“Now, now, be nice,” another voice says. Dante Bianchi. Of course.
“Daddy sent you to do his dirty work?” I ask them breathlessly. “Can’t face me himself, huh?” I pop a grin on my face and turn my head the direction of their voices.
I can see slight shadows moving at the bottom of my vision where the light peaks in.
I’m struck on the side of my head by a wide hand and my head goes dizzy for just a second.
