Mafia Obsession

Elio

I’m just barely keeping myself restrained. The second this piece of filth admitted what he did, I almost went full berserker. The moment Luca clears the room, I will do just that. Snap his limbs. Smash his face with my fist until he’s a bloody, broken mess. Then I’ll finish the job with a steak knife right in his goddam throat.

Russel stares up at me, a coward’s look of complete fear on his face. Fighting a big, angry man is much harder than a short, scared woman.

“Elio,” Mom says, walking up beside us. “Please. You have to stop.” “Give me one good reason,” I snarl. “This bastard deserves it.”

“Please.”

“Listen to your mommy, Elio-”

I drive my fist into Russel’s face. Hard. My knuckle catches his nose, and it erupts with blood. He gasps and starts screaming right away, proper bitch stuff. Proper cowardly stuff. He’s like a little sniveling baby.

“Elio…” Mom touches my arm. “Please. No more. Not now.”

“Then explain,” I yell, glaring at her, something I can’t ever remember doing. Yelling at my mother makes me feel so small. “Why are we in business with this freak? This was your choice, Mom. Dad hasn’t said a goddamn thing since his stroke. I know it. You know it. Luca knows it. You’ve been lying this whole time.”

Mom blinks, tears sliding down her cheeks. Behind her, I can see Luca frowning at me. Even if I said it in the wrong way, it’s a fact. There’s no way around it.

Finally, Mom nods. “Just let him up. Then I’ll explain.” “What if I don’t feel like letting him up?” I snarl. “Then you’ll sacrifice our entire Family,” she replies.

“What? How? How?” “Elio, please.”

“He broke into my woman’s apartment.”

“It’s okay,” Scarlet says. I glance over and see her standing, her hands clasped in front of her, her features flushed. “Your mom clearly needs to tell you this, whatever it is. It’s not like Russel is going anywhere, is he?”

“You should thank her,” I tell Russel, standing and keeping my gaze on him, praying for him to try something else.

He struggles to his feet, groaning as his nose continues to piss blood. “Cover the door, Luca.”

He moves to the doorway, a steak knife in his hand, staring at Russel. I pick up a knife, too, grab Russel by the shirt, and hold the knife to his throat.

“Please move,” I tell Russel. “Please fight. I’d enjoy that.”

“I think you should listen to your mom,” he says, and that almost makes me drive the blade into his throat-the fact he thinks he has any right to get involved with my family. Or the Family, and especially after what he did to my woman.

Mom stands behind her chair, her hand on her head. She glances at Dad, then at Luca. “Luca, please, take your father.”

“Mom-”

“Please,” she pleads.

“I’d listen to her,” Russel says. “Unless you want a nasty surprise-”

I give him a stiff jab at the base of his spine, letting him feel how serious I am. He grunts and stumbles forward. I grab his shirt, pull him backward, and press the knife against his throat again.

“Do it, Luca,” I tell him.

He groans, walking around the table. “Dad, I’m taking you to your room, okay? I’ll have Sebastian stay with you.”

Dad sits there, borderline lifeless. It breaks my damn heart. Luca wheels Dad from the room.

“We’ll wait for Luca to return.” Mom sits, sighs, and waves a hand. “You might as well sit down, dear.”

Despite the circumstances, hearing her call Scarlet dear touches me deeply. I know it’s a small thing, nothing to get overly excited about, but it’s enough to make me think of the future-the days when she and Mom will become friends, all this crap behind us.

Luca returns, closing the door behind him.

“Do you want to tell them?” Russel says. “Or shall I?”

Mom whimpers. “You do it, you evil man. You fucking do it!”

Luca and I exchange a look. It’s rare to hear Mom curse or see her so irate.

“Can I do it without a knife in my throat?” Russel says. “And maybe I could get a damn napkin for my nose?”

“You’ll be a corpse soon,” I tell him coldly. “No need to worry about any of that.”

When he laughs, I almost lose it again. I can only forcibly calm myself down when my Scarlet gives me a look. It’s a complicated look, saying a whole lot. It’s like she’s telling me she wants Russel to pay, but she also wants me to keep the Family safe. Maybe that involves hearing how Russel has Mom so scared.

“Get on with it,” I snap, shaking him.

Russel sighs. “I’ve been the leader of the Shanks for six years.” “You say that like we should be impressed,” Luca snaps.

Russel shrugs. He’s keeping his composure well for a man whose life is at serious risk. I’d admire it if I wasn’t ready to gut him like the pig he is.

“We were less impressive when we started,” Russel says. “Say what you want, but many of our members are rich. We’ve dragged ourselves out of the dirt. We’re succeeding.”

“Good for you,” Scarlet says bitterly. “We should give you a round of applause.”

“Feisty, aren’t you?” Russel says, and then he makes an animal whining noise.

Mom averts her gaze. Scarlet gasps. I don’t give a fuck. I’ve dragged the blade across his throat just a little, not deep enough to cut, enough to make him bleed, but not enough to hurt seriously.

“Say one more word to her,” I tell him, “and the next cut won’t be so nice.” “Even if she talks to me?”

“She can sing you a fucking song,” I say, which would be more than he deserves, hearing her angelic voice. “You’ll still keep your worthless mouth shut.”

He sighs. “The point is, fellas, I’m always looking for a way to advance my cause and help my men. I put feelers out years ago, dozens of different plans. The Irish mob, the Cartel, the Marinos… any way I could get an in. For years, I searched. For years, I failed. I’m man enough to admit that.”

Mom shudders, squeezing her hands together. On the exterior, she looks glamorous, her rings flashing, but a desperate sadness tells me something terrible is coming.

“Get to the point,” Luca says.

“I finally got a lead,” Russel says. “A man heard I was searching for a way in. This fella was real smart and real scared. He was sitting on some dirt that could tear your Family apart, but he didn’t have the manpower. He didn’t have the vision. So he sold it to me instead.”

“Sold what to you?” I snarl.

“A tape,” Russel says, a sick note in his voice. “Are you sure you don’t want to explain this part, dear Alessia?”

Mom looks up, tears in her eyes. “You’re a dirty, disgusting man. You’re not even a man.”

“What sort of tape?” Luca says, but the hitch in his voice tells me he already knows.Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

“What do you think?” Russel snaps. “Twenty years ago, your mother had an affair. They made a little video together.”

My blood turns cold. The mob life is hypocritical. I’ve never agreed with the rule that the woman has to be loyal and the man can sleep around if he wants. When a man chooses his woman, they should both be loyal. Dad feels the same. He’s told me it many times, but Russel’s right. If this got out, it would be a massive blow to the Family.

“Blackmail,” Luca says in disgust.

“Not just simple blackmail, my friend,” Russel says. “That’s a very simplistic way to look at it. I knew I would have to wait for my chance. Leonardo Marino has a fierce reputation. I had to be careful.”

“But then he had a stroke,” I growl, “and you knew Mom would be vulnerable.”

“He said I had to go along with it,” Mom whispers. “I had to pretend Leo was talking to me.”

“For the stadium project,” I say, applying more pressure to the knife. “He knew we’d never do business with a scumbag like him otherwise. What else did he make you do, Mom?”

“Nothing,” Mom replies.

“It was all set up,” Russel says. Even with his voice made quieter by the pressure of the knife, he sounds proud. “You had to believe in the lie. So, for the time being, I had your mom pretend your dad was giving her regular instructions. Keep the business running. Nice and simple.”

“And then the stadium,” I say, nodding. “Well done, Russel. You sick fuck. You exploited my mother’s moment of weakness.”

“Not just a moment-”

Luca suddenly springs across the room, murder in his eyes, fists clenched.

“Wait,” Mom cries, leaping to her feet and pushing her chair into his path. “You can’t hurt him.”

“Oh, really?” Luca snarls, trying to get past Mom, but she blocks his path.

“If anybody hurts him,” Scarlet says, glaring, “he’ll release the video somehow. That’s it, isn’t it, Russel? That’s what you are. A pathetic lowlife using a woman’s sexuality against her. I bet that’s it.”

Russel wisely doesn’t respond to this. I wonder what my woman thinks about the cheating. I can’t let myself think about it right now. Twenty years ago, when I was twenty-two. Mom and Dad have been together since before I was born. I never could’ve imagined her having an affair.

“I check in with one of my boys every four hours,” Russel says. “If he doesn’t hear from me, he has instructions to release the video. We’ve got the email addresses of several of your men. We made sure to choose the more old-fashioned and power-hungry ones who’d use it as an excuse to start a war. Your Family will tear itself apart.”

“So as long as your men hear from you every four hours, the video stays hidden,” Luca says, nodding. “You stupid fuck. You shouldn’t have told us that.”

A shiver moves through Russel. I feel it through the knife. “In p-person,” he says.

“Nope,” Luca replies. “You can’t lie now. Dumb fuck. Right. Let’s tie him up, bro. We’ll force him to check in.”

“You can’t make me,” Russel whines.

Luca finally walks around Mom. He stares at Russel with his intent and capability completely clear. He’d ragdoll him without a single question. He’d slice him to pieces. “There are ten ways I could force you,” Luca says, “and that’s just off the top of my head. I’ll get some rope.”

“Oh, lord,” Mom says, burying her face in her hands and bursting into tears. It’s like all the pain of the last few months, ever since Dad’s stroke, is catching up with her. She melts into her chair. I can’t go to her, but even if I wasn’t guarding Russel, I’m not sure I would.

She cheated on Dad. How am I ever going to be okay with that?

Scarlet walks over to Mom and sits beside her, placing her hand on her shoulder. Mom turns and collapses against my woman, crying desperately. Scarlet hugs her tightly. There’s a twitch in my chest when I see my woman comforting my mom.

When Luca returns with the rope, we tie Russel to the chair.

“Can you stay with him?” I ask Luca. “I’m going to take Scarlet and…” I trail off, realizing it’s better not to talk about this in front of Russel in case he somehow gets loose.

“I got you,” Luca replies. “You should probably take Mom and Dad too. I’ll tell the staff to leave. From now on, vetted, trusted Family men only.”