Everyone in the room freezes and I feed on the power I feel from that. I don’t take my eyes off of Pagolo, but I can see the last couple at the table get up and leave. They don’t look our way nor do they say anything. Most people would worry that they would call the cops. I don’t. This is my neighborhood and in my neighborhood, no one calls the cops. We are the authorities here. If you need help, you call us. We can do so much more than the police can.
Because of that, Brooklyn seems like a fairly crime free area. The statistics are low here. They are also skewed.
I focus back on Pagolo as he gulps.
“I was joking sir.” He casts his eyes down.
Lo gets up and closes the doors to the party room now that we are alone.
“Repeat your words.”
“Someone is going soft. I meant it as a joke. Not to offend.”
“You think that joking about your Don being weak is okay?”
“N-no.”
He gulps again.
Lo keeps a sliver of the door open as he watches the dining room.
“Your girl is coming this way, Bash. Either shoot him now, or put the gun away.”
I do neither. Lo lets out a sigh as he opens the door and ushers her in. She is holding a tray of food, which she almost drops as she freezes inside the door. Lo grabs the tray as he closes the door.
“W-What is going on?” She breathes out.
“Pagolo here thinks I am going soft. What do you think, Tesoro?”
The term falls out of my mouth before I can question it.
“I think that if you kill a man in my dining room, you are going to pay someone else to clean it up.”
She crosses her arms over her chest and pops her hip out. I smile at her response. She is not like most women, that is for sure.
“Gio, your silencer.”
I put my hand out and he hands it to me. At this point, the man is quivering in his chair and crying. He is a weakling. He would crack in a minute if he were pinched. I glance at his friend from his crew as I screw on the silencer. He stares straight ahead with no emotion on his face. He doesn’t even look bothered that I am about to kill his friend. Only one action will test his loyalty.
I am being reckless and I know it, but I also cannot let him get away with his words. I am already being viewed as soft because of Sofia. If I let him go, there will be no question of if I am soft.
I point the gun back to his head and press it against his forehead. I smell the piss before I hear the liquid hitting the ground.
I angle the gun down so the bullet will go out of his head and into the floor instead of the exterior wall behind him. He doesn’t look at me. Instead, he is praying in Italian. I turn and look at Sofia. She is still standing in the same position, but some of her confidence has left her eyes. Lo sets down the food on a table and sets up behind her, ready to silence her if she screams.
I stare right into her eyes and I pull the trigger.
Chapter Three
Sofia
I jump a little as he pulls the trigger. I expected a loud bang, but instead there was a small pfft. I don’t take my eyes from Bastiano. My heart is racing and I can feel Lorenzo at my back, but I don’t dare make a move or sound.
I just watched him kill a man.
I let that sink in and feel my body being to tremble, but I take a deep breath to calm it. Even though I have never seen someone murdered before, I need to put up a strong front. Either they are going to kill me now, or they will try to scare me to stay silent. Neither one really scares me like they should.
Oddly enough, seeing the power he has actually turns me on. I feel a warmth spread to my center and I feel slightly embarrassed by my reaction. This dark and deadly man has a power my body craves.
