***ZANE’S POV***
I walk into the eatery, taking out my jacket and wrapping it around London’s shoulder.
“Put this on, you are too exposed,” I say flicking at her dress.
It is a good thing she doesn’t argue with me on this round because the Antonovs were pissing me off already.
“What is the matter, Zane? Who was that?” she asks her brows curling as she stares at the broken burner phone in my hand.
“No one important,” I sigh out slipping it into my pocket.
We walk towards the wing where Sinner is and I ask London to give me a minute with my men.
She waits outside but stays in my peripheral. Good! I know she is safe like this.
“We got attacked. Enzo wants a war, we will give them that,” I say, Enzo groaning.
“We don’t want to go to bed with the Russians, Boss,” Reaper says, a frown evident on his face.
“No, we don’t have to, but with how obvious they are about destroying our shipments, we have to put a bullet through their thick skulls,” I say.
Sinner groans in pain and I look back to watch out for London, she is still outside, sipping on her cup of hot chocolate. A good distraction seems she seems happy and doesn’t give a fuck about what is happening around her.
“What now, Boss?” Reaper demands.
“You will stay with London here until men can come in to watch after Sinner. I am heading out now,” I say.
Reaper nods in understanding and walking towards him, I give him a first bump.
“I can still work if I am needed, Zane,” Sinner’s dark voice is more of a groan.
I stare at him shaking my head instantly.
“It hasn’t even been twenty four hours since you got shot, I will suggest you stay in here and rest,” I warn him.
“I could help,” I hear London’s voice behind me.
I turn around, anger flirting in my eyes.
“I asked you to wait outside,” I yell at her.
“You don’t have to shout at me, Zane, I can take care of myself,” she tells me.
“Yes, in the grave,” I let out baring at my teeth.
“You don’t have to say that, asshole,” London baits me.
I ignore her calling me an asshole. Turning towards Reaper, I order out,
“The men will come here to provide security, only then will it be safe to move London to the house. If she poses a problem while I am gone, don’t hesitate to tie her to a chair,” I order Reaper.
“Yes, Boss. You have my word, boss,” he says standing.
Reaper looks intimidating without even trying, but deep inside of him, he is a big teddy bear. I wonder if London knows that already.
I walk towards my wife, grab her by the chin, and pinch it until she looks up and at me.
“You better behave while I am gone London, I wouldn’t want to be working and hear that you are causing my men a problem to deal with,” I instruct.
London searches through my eyes, I see rebellion in those eyes but she doesn’t say anymore. She nods.
“Use your words, little girl,” I say pinching her flesh harder.
“Yes, Zane. I wouldn’t be a problem to Reaper and Sinner. Also, I will wait for your man to come before he takes me to the house,” she repeats the words I just said.
I am satisfied by her response, thus, I kiss her plump lips. London doesn’t fight me off, she relaxes in real time and opens her mouth to her.
“Fine, now, go keep Sinner company, and don’t bore him to sleep,” I say trying not to laugh.
London slaps me across the chest before she holds her head high and walks away from me.
When she thinks I am not watching, she giggles lightly.
I make sure to close the door behind me and rush the fuck out of the hospital before I am forced to go back there and take her home.
***
I pulled out to the location where I met The Vincenzos fuming.
Russell has his cigar in his mouth, puffing smoke as he says something to one of his men. He walks to me when he sees me.
“Enzo is going wild coming at us like that,” Russell says.
“Are you sure he wants a Russian empire in Sicily? Because I think there is more to that story,” I say anger boiling behind my eyes.
“He could be mad at us for other reasons, but how will I know?” he asks piping up his cigar.
“How many of our good men got injured?” I demand raising my brow quizzically.
“Three. Minor injuries. We shot one of their men in his foot and he is in the store room. We were waiting for you to question him, maybe he will reply,” Russell says.
Of fucking course, I was their enforcer and I would have guessed that a long time ago, I frown, as he leads the way.
I will have to torture Enzo’s goon until I have a clue of the answers I need.
When I walked into the storage room, it reeked of blood and urine. It stinks but I blink rapidly, turning on the light to the room.
Russell, Alex, and Rio walked into the room, taking the first line to watch me torture the man who caused pain to our men. He was his to do whatever we pleased with.
He was bound by each arm, stretched out, and he was barely staying on his feet as he dangled from one side to the other with exhaustion.
I grab him by the neck and force him to look at me.
“Why don’t we start by introducing ourselves?” I demand, my eyes on him.
When he doesn’t respond, I continue talking, ignoring him.
“My name is Zane, behind me, to the left, we have Rio, and Alex is in the middle. The big bad guy with the cigar is Russell. Do you want to tell us your name?” I ask still being gentle with him.
I don’t care about who got him bloody, I was just playing a mind game whereby, he will think he is our friend and play the game.
Whatever route he chooses, he will still die in the end. I don’t forgive people who raise their guns against the Sicilian Famiglia.
When I thought the guy wouldn’t speak, he opened his mouth and shocked me.
“What about you fuck off?” he says.
I open my mouth to reply and he spits across my face, a mixture of spittle and blood.
My fist was grinding into his face before he knew it.
“Oughphh!” the son of a bitch groans as blood gushes out of this bloody face.
I take a step backward and remove a handkerchief from my pocket to clean my face with. Walking over the enemy, I squeeze his jaw with my free hand and stick the handkerchief in it.
“Eat that, asshole,” I grit out.
I take my time undoing my cufflinks, not wanting to stain them, well, it was already stained with blood from the force of punching the guy harshly.
“If you still wouldn’t talk, I will treat you the way I treat men who are brought in here,” I say.
“A scalpel, please,” I say and Rio moves to hand me one.
I see the guy’s eyes widen as I approach him, going to his thumb.
I pull it out and he screams in pain. Good.
Spitting out the napkin, he shouts put his bloody name.
“Joe. My name is Joe,” he says screaming harder as he looks at his thumb, where his nail was supposed to be is now empty.
“Hmm! Joe, that wasn’t hard then, was it?” I tease out as I walk towards the cooler, removing a bottle of water.
I remove the cap and hand it to him. I watch how he fights to drink as much water as I poured it into his mouth.
Discarding the bottle, I grab hold of his shirt and with one swift movement, I tear it to the ground.
“Now, now! Let’s get to serious talk. Why did Enzo send you here?” I question staring at him.
Joe shakes his head, refusing to reply to me.
“I can’t speak,” Joe says.
“You can’t or you wouldn’t,” I demand holding a hammer next and bringing it towards him.
His eyes bulge with fear.
‘There you go, fear me,’ I say mentally, crashing out the voice warning me not to kill Joe at once.
We still needed answers from him.
“It’s not like that, man. Just that the Antonovs will murder me if I leak one of their secrets,” he begs.
“You are a dead man either way,” I say cracking a few of his ribs with my hammer.
Screams fill the storage room as Joe cries out, he has an ugly snout running down his nostrils.
“Please, man, please,” Joe begs.
“What was the aim of you coming here?” I demand anger causing me to be harsh on you.
“It doesn’t matter if I tell you,” he says shaking his head.
I raise my brows at him before anger spills through me.
“Prepare the oven,” I order.
Joe’s eyes widen at the sound of that. He starts fighting against the restraints on his hands, fighting harder to get off as if his flesh could tear those heavy chains.
“Are you a psychopath? You fucking want to kill me?” he says fighting harder.
I don’t say anything. The heat wouldn’t kill him, but it would give him a good taste of what hell feels like on Earth.
“It’s all set, Zane,” Alex says.
Helping him, I push Joe into the heated oven.
“Sixty seconds, I will see you after the timer stops. Maybe I’ll have a good roasted human to feast on,” I say locking the oven.
The terror on the other side of the oven is worse than the actual punishment. If Joe thinks that he is going to die, well, he might be weak, but very much alive.
If torturing him makes us get the answers we want, then, I don’t give two fucks about what he goes through to give us the information I want.
“Are you sure?” Russell asks frowning.
I chuckle lightly, nodding my head.
“Of course, he will have to learn to answer the questions if he wants to survive,” I tell him.
“What if he doesn’t utter a word?” Alex asks.
“Then, I will kill him with my bare hands,” I mutter as the bell dings.
Walking towards the oven, I open it as a weak, yet screaming Joe is being pulled out.
I sit him on a chair and grab a bottle of water for myself. He eyes it, his flesh red and tender.
“Tell me, turkey, you want some?” I ask and my brothers laugh.
“Yes, a drop will do a good thing to my burning flesh,” he begs.
“Why don’t you give me the answers I am searching for and I give you the water that will quench your taste?” I ask raising a brow.
“It is too late now, it doesn’t matter if I tell you or not,” Joe says.
I knew that tingling feeling I had wasn’t for anything because I grab the fucking dude by the neck and threw him over the wall.
Russell grabs me by the arm while Rio picks Joe up, using his forearm to pin his neck to the wall.
“I have accomplished my mission, and I can die in peace,” he says.
“What mission?” Alex asks tapping Rio’s hand, letting him release his grab on his neck to enable Joe to talk.
“To lead all the Vincenzos out here thinking I have intel to give them,” Joe says, a dark grin on his face.
“What does that mean, Joe?” Russell asks.
I hold my breath waiting for the reply.
“It means Enzo’s men are on their way to him right now if the operation worked well,” Joe says happily.
“What operation?” I manage to ask my words fading with anger.
“The one to kidnap a lady. London?” he says.
I tore my arm from Russell’s grasp as I pushed Rio and Alex away from Joe.
“This was a diversion. A goddamn trap,” I shouted as I slammed my fist into Joe’s body, punching his guts, his face, and everywhere that I deemed fit.
I don’t know how long I punch but it keeps going on until my fist hits raw flesh.