Page 56 of Blood & Heartache

When I opened my eyes, no one was in the hall. The guard was even gone, but the door to the room I wanted to enter was open. Luca and the knives had disappeared, leaving me no choice but to get creative on how to make my little pig squeal. He had a lot to tell me, and I wanted to know as much as possible before the oath ritual.

Entering the room, I found it completely empty but for the prey I’d been looking for and a knife resting on his chest. Fuck, I was a twisted bitch if I thought that was sweet.

“Astin, you need to listen to me. Ryker and the others have gone crazy. They drugged me, paralyzed me, and left me here like some deadbeat troublemaker,” the pig grunted.

Still barefoot, I padded over to him and snatched up the knife. “Tell me, if you’re paralyzed, can you still feel pain?”

“What? Why would you ask me that?”

Placing one foot on either side of him so I straddled his stomach, I crouched. “Because I want to hear the lying pig fucking squeal as I gut him.”

Using the knife, I sliced open his shirt, not caring that I went too deep and cut the skin along with it. Sadly, he didn’t do much more than groan at the pain, and that wasn’t going to do much for me. I wanted his pain to echo through the halls, letting everyone know he was atoning for his sins.

“Azzy, I’m sorry for this morning. It was wrong of me to say those things, taking my grief and anger over losing Mazi so suddenly out on you. What can I do to fix this? How can I make things better?” the poor piggy pleaded, lying through his fucking teeth.

“You really want to fix this, mend things between us?” I pressed, gesturing between us with the blade. “Fine, but I’m going to need you to prove it to me, and your sweet, sweet Azzy you looked after isn’t here right now. She decided that a lying, conniving son of a bitch like you… needed a little Darkness in your life.”

His eyes went wide with realization. “No, no. You stay away from me, you fucking demon. You’re nothing but a pawn for the Raffas, trying to steal everything we are and worked for. You never should have survived after training… a rabid dog needs to be put down because it’s only a matter of time before it turns on its master.”

“Interesting choice of words since, in this situation, you’re the rabid dog who needs to be put down,” I snapped, dragging the tip of the blade from his neck to belly button, watching as the blood seeped out of the wound. “You already killed one master, though, didn’t you? I’d bet everything that I was going to be next. Maybe even Mathis after you were done. That would leave them no choice but to turn to you.”

“How could you think that of me?” he demanded. “I’ve done everything for this family.”

“Man, Flora must have some kind of special cunt to have you so blind to what’s going on. Mathis and I had a similar conversation to the one we’re about to have. Pain clouds your brain, and you’ll do anything to make it stop, but what do you do when you don’t know how to make that happen? You tell them anything and everything they could possibly want to know. I don’t know what you’ve told him yourself, but he’s incredibly aware of all that’s going on with you, Flora, Harvey, and the founding families,” I shared. “Getting rid of anyone tied to the Raffa would eliminate them and make the other families stronger at the same time. However, if I take my place as head of the Caprioni Family and Raffa, well, pretty sure that makes me top dog now, doesn’t it?”

“They’ll never let that happen,” Athos spat. “If I fail, then they’ll send others. Besides, you have no idea who in this Family is loyal to me and will avenge my death.”

Tapping the knife on my chin, I considered that. “Well, then I’ll have to make sure I bring your head to the oath ritual. That way, they understand that siding with you will land them the same fate you befell. Better make sure I get that look of terror on your face when you breathe your last breath so it makes the biggest impact.”

“You would coat this house in more blood than it already is?” Athos asked as if he was surprised at this.

Leaning forward, I rested a hand on the floor so I didn’t fall on his bleeding chest. “The world needs to know if you come after me, then it doesn’t matter if the halls are flooded with the blood of my enemies. I’ll be standing atop their corpse like the fucking mafia queen that I am. Really the only thing you’ve accomplished is to give me the stage I need to set the tone for my rule. Be loyal to the Family or rot with those who dare to turn their backs on me.”

“Frediano must be so proud of the monster he’s created in you,” Athos bit out.

“Wouldn’t know. The last time I saw the bastard he was forcing me to give my oath to the Raffa Family. Although he did warn me that I was going to need all the skills I’d been taught to survive. I just didn’t realize how right he was about that. Now, I’m going to show you all the skills I learned about torturing people until I’ve gotten everything out of you I need to know,” I said, feeling it was only fair to let him know how monstrous I was going to get.

Placing the knife at the bottom of his sternum, I sliced him open down to his pelvis. Then I sliced from left to right, giving myself plenty of room to work. This time my piggy let out delicious screams as he could do nothing but lay there and take what I was doing to him. Whoever thought to paralyze the man was getting a gold star from me. I might even learn their name for how they were making this so much more fun.

“Did you know that disembowelment as capital punishment has been around for centuries? People perfected the art of keeping the victim alive for hours, if not days, as their organs lay on the ground at their feet. Now I’m not as skilled as all that, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t nick anything important, so we’ll have plenty of time to talk.”

“Why do this when you know everything already?” My piggy whined.

Slapping his cheek with the flat of the blade, smearing his blood on his face, I smiled. “Oh, but how do I know that’s everything unless you tell me? So… chop, chop. You get to the count of five since this is more delicate work. Your brother only got to the count of three so I’m being generous here.”

“So Mathis is dead.”

“Nah, just has a few extra holes in him. He might never walk again or be able to use his right arm the same, but I’m pretty sure he’ll live,” I corrected. “Just so we’re clear… you’re not going to live through this, but you do have control over how long it takes you to die.”

Piggy didn’t seem at all happy with the news I shared, which confirmed that he’d hoped his brother had died—interesting. This was going to make this game so much more fun for me, rooting out the truth as I examined his liver out of pure curiosity. Does evil really change who you are inside? Was I taking that too literally? Guess there’s only one way to find out.

“One,” I said, resting a hand on his stomach and pushing down.

He groaned and managed to shift his body ever so slightly. Either the medication was wearing off, or the body's response to pain and the need to protect itself was rather impressive.

“Two.”

The silence stretched, but since I was the one in power, I was happy to wait. My life didn’t hang in the balance, but his did. What he wasn’t catching on to just yet was the fact this wasn’t going to be quick, and it was going to fucking hurt.