The bathroom has no closet to squeeze into, nor a shower curtain for the tub.
There’s nowhere to hide.
The air in my lungs evaporates as black boots layered in dust breach the bathroom’s threshold.
“You,” I say through a shudder.
His head tilts as his gray-green eyes move down my chest. “I would’ve thought you figured it out by now. You had a feeling it was me, yes?”
I gulp and walk back at his advance until my butt hits the closed toilet lid. “I had my suspicions. It had to be someone privy to Benny’s business. You had access to the warehouses and shipments. You’ve been staring me in the face this whole time.”
Luiggi squats in front of me, his crooked nose only a strike away. “You are very smart. Do you like this place?” He motions toward the stone bathroom decorated in soft nudes. “I helped my business partner keep the purchase a secret, or so I thought until you pulled my work emails that no one thinks I use. Clever girl you are.”
I shift away from his touch. “Why are you doing this?” My voice shakes from the nerves suffocating my chest. Luiggi never shows his emotions. Right now, he looks purely evil.
“Ah, you want a motive,” he says, his voice flat. “I’m taking what’s mine. It was only a matter of time before someone knocked Salvatore from his throne. He thinks he’s untouchable, that no one will challenge him for power. That’s what I want, Bianca. Power.”
“He loves you like I brother,” I plead.
Luiggi sucks his teeth. “He only cares about himself and what others can do for him. At least he did before you came along.” A crooked smile tilts the scar across his brow. He strokes my cheek, turning my face sideways. “I almost talked him out of selling you.”
“Benny?”
“He refused to expand the business. With him out of the way, we can.”
My stomach churns. “You and Tino?” I jump at his laugh. It’s cold and calculated, like him.
“What’s left of Tino’s body is downstairs. The evidence of his murder leads back to Salvatore.”
“I don’t understand why you w—“
I gasp at the hand around my neck. “You think you’re some fucking savior?” He drags me to my feet. I wince at his grip tightening around my throat and claw at his forearm. “Don’t insult my intelligence with your games.” He squeezes harder. “Your charm won’t work on me the way it did on Scemo.”
I swing my knee up to collide with his balls.
The bastard’s grin widens.
“I like it rough,” he sneers.
Stephanie jumps onto his back. “How ’bout this, bitch?” She stuffs her panties into his mouth.
“Aargh!”
Her legs lock around Luiggi’s body, trapping his arms as her hands form a rear-naked choke. He spins left, then right, to shake her off.
Vince taught me that when fighting a larger opponent in tight quarters to close the distance to neutralize their reach. The double jab I follow with a cross and an elbow explodes across Luiggi’s face. He swings wildly at a slower pace, with Steph raining elbows to the back of his head.
“Die, you dickhead!” She squeezes his neck with both hands.
He chokes on her underwear still lodged in his mouth and loses his footing with the hook I send to his body.
“Now!” I shout.
Luiggi fights against my shoves to his chest. Steph pulls him back while I push to get his strong ass into the tub. I kick his knee out. He wails around cotton soaked in gray goo before white foam spills from his mouth.
That’s new.
Steph jumps off him, pushing his shaking body into the water. I turn on the table lamp I plugged into an outlet above the sink and lift it over my head.
