Page 87 of Love & Power

There had been many poisons to choose from, but I wanted all the drama. I was a Raffa, and red is our color, after all, so why not claim the kill in a manner befitting the queen of the Raffa Family? Screams filled the air as people began to panic, racing for the exits, but they were blocked and chained from the outside just like the door I’d entered was. Those in Domenico’s trusted circle were calm as they gathered the others marked with white flowers to the side, away from the chaos of bloody bodies dropping like flies.

My attention wasn’t focused on the madness. No, it was locked on the two oldest men in the room. Each of them was dressed in tuxes with their white and slate-gray hair neatly styled, unfazed by the bodies that surrounded them. I spotted a man behind Gian, who I recognized as his son, Ares, pulling a gun from a leg holster. The angle I was standing, I couldn’t take him out without hitting Gian, but I wasn’t worried.

Before he could get the gun free, Luca put a bullet between Ares’s eyes, dropping him instantly. I heard a few more shots being fired, since we’d guessed there would be a few who wouldn’t participate in the toast or didn’t drink. That’s the true test of a good plan—you would account for the outliers who wouldn’t do or act the way you expected. So far, things were going just as expected.

Slowly, I walked up to the two men who’d haunted my dreams since I was five. The thing about facing your demons is sometimes they don’t live up to expectations. Looking at these men, you’d never guess they’d killed hundreds of people who dared to get in their way or threatened their power. To the untrained eye, these tyrants were a loving grandparent too senile to be considered a true threat, but I knew better.

“Well, gentlemen, looks like we finally get to meet face-to-face,” I said. “So nice of you to dress up for your funeral.”

thirty-three

Without saying a word, my men converged on Gian and Bosco, shoving them into chairs and zip-tying their arms and legs to the metal frames. Neither of the leaders said a word, and I was curious if they would speak at all or if they’d die holding in their cries of pain. It didn’t matter—nothing that came out of their mouths would be of any interest to me. Everything I needed to know about how they viewed my family was made clear by their actions.

This moment was for me. I was the one who had shit to say, and they were going to damn well listen. I’d decided I was going to start with Bosco. He might have been the one to send people to kill my mother, but Gian was the one who gave the order.

Bear dragged over a cocktail table, and Luca placed a leather duffle full of tools he thought I might want to use for this chat. The fun thing about having a best friend and a lover who are assassins, they know the most interesting ways to torture someone. One thing I knew for sure I wanted to start with, was helping Bosco to understand what those women and children went through once they were snatched off the streets.

Luca and I had talked about my idea, which he was all in on helping with. So while he prepared the opening act, I decided to take the moment and share all the things I’d wanted to say to these men over the years. My childhood therapist has always said bottling things up inside was unhealthy. Well, here comes the cleansing.

“Tell me, does it bother either of you that you’re responsible for what’s about to happen?” I inquired, walking a slow circle around them. “Twenty years ago, you failed to kill me along with my mother, but honestly, if you’d left well enough alone, I never would have connected the dots. Is it your egos that got in the way?”

There was no response or even recognition that I was speaking to them. It was as if they’d turned into statues. What they didn’t realize was that the more they ignored me, the more it drove the need for them to acknowledge me.

“From my perspective, it had to be that because why else would you take so long to wipe out my family? You had my father marry a woman you thought you could control… but couldn’t,” I reminded them. “In fact, she took it upon herself to champion my uncle to take my father’s place as head of the Caprioni Family. Surely, she knew what she was doing, but Flora didn’t have enough brains to make that happen without you taking notice. Or could it be that you were just going to let the internal feud cause the family to crumble into nothingness?”

“Mistress, it’s ready,” Luca informed me, holding out a glowing red brand in the shape of a crown.

Walking over to Luca, I kissed him soundly before taking the brand. “Thank you, my love.”

In a dramatic move, I spun around, causing my dress to sweep out around me as I faced my victims. “Eeny, meeny, miny, moe…” I sang while gesturing with the hot poker between the men.

Of course, I’d already chosen Bosco first, but they didn’t know that, so why not take the time to enjoy playing with them? When Bosco saw the glowing metal coming toward him, I finally got a reaction. It was a small one, but it was something, and oh, what joy it brought me.

“Now, Bosco,” I started, then paused to tap my chin as I looked him over. “I know when you help the trafficking ring, you collect anyone you fancy regardless of age or Family connection. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m told you wait until they’re sold, then you mark them with the brand chosen by the new owner. Well, since I now own your ass, it would be fitting to put my mark on you, right? Unlike most of your clients who want to keep all this buying and selling humans’ deal a secret, I plan on doing the opposite.”

Without any warning or preamble, I jabbed the brand right between his eyebrows. The sound of sizzling skin and the stench of burning flesh filled the room. Bosco struggled, fighting against the restraints, but Hound and Jace held him tightly against the back of the chair. Normally, you’d only leave the brand on for a few seconds to scar the flesh, but I wasn’t doing this for any other reason than to cause him unimaginable pain.

“Take it all in, you sack of shit. Each and every person you kidnapped endured this pain which paled in comparison to being turned into a fucking slave,” I snarled, yanking my arm back roughly since the metal started to fuse to the bone of his skull. The brand was still hot, so I went for his cheek right under the eye next. “Here’s a new question for you… did you know your man, Torben, is the new leader of that trafficking ring? That he’s been using you to do the work of building his clientele and acquiring the goods while keeping himself hidden in your fucking skirts.”

Seeing the brand had cooled to the point of not being effective, I tossed it away and grabbed at random for another tool. I grinned when I saw it was a ball-peen hammer with a rounded head that was perfect for taking out kneecaps.

“Looks like we’re going old-school here, boys,” I said with a chuckle. “I’ve always wondered how much force you need to use when breaking kneecaps. It’s a bone, right?”

“You are correct. The patella which makes up the kneecap is a bone,” Atticus confirmed for me.

Twirling the hammer, I grinned at him. “You wouldn’t happen to know how much pressure it takes to break that bone, do you?”

“Well, a rib can be broken with as little as three pounds of pressure, but that bone doesn’t have the support a patella does. My suggestion would be to use all the strength you have,” Atticus offered.

“Excellent, just what I wanted to hear,” I mumbled, shifting to the side like I was gearing up for a golf swing. “Light in the knees, keep the elbows locked, and swing through.”

My aim was slightly off, causing me to miss the knee, but because I followed through with all the power I had, the hammer slammed into the underside of Bosco’s jaw. This caused him to bite his tongue in half which shot out of his mouth to land in his lap. Blood poured from his mouth, soaking his shirt and spilling to the floor.

“Huh…” I grunted, looking at the mess Bosco had turned into. “Didn’t picture that ending.”

With a shrug, I got back into position. “Well, this is why we practice. I need to be sure I have this down so I don’t kill Gian too fast. That would be deeply unsatisfying.”

The second time was the charm, and the sound of bone cracking was unmistakable. Bosco screamed which meant he opened his mouth, and blood started to squirt everywhere. In a surprising turn of events, Bear grabbed Bosco’s face. He slammed the man’s mouth closed then tilted it back so Bosco started to choke on his own blood.