Kill or Pass

Marco

“Congratulations boss,” Rick says, settling himself on the wild cat-shaped couch in my home office.

I decided to work from home today to avoid the storm of the media as a result of yesterday’s happenings and him being here, in my space is defeating that purpose.

I take a puff of the vintage cigar between my thumb and forefinger and inhale deeply before sending him a glare. “For what?”

“For getting married. Smooth move by the way. Danielo Mahonnas would never have given off his daughter to you otherwise.”

“He knew what he had to lose.”

Danielo Mahonnas has had the upper hand more times than I can count. Years ago, when he had me under his foot and crushed. Deep.

Not this time.

This time, it was either lose the most valuable thing in his life, or risk exposure.

Not like his daughter is the most valuable thing in his life, no, even I know that he values his position at The Vices more than he values anything else in the world, but every man’s daughter is his prized possession, especially if that daughter is unmarried and that plan just fell into my lap like a pair of cheap hookers.

“I heard you made him beg on his knees,” Rick piques gleefully. For a man his size, he sure does perk up a lot. “Dang, I wish I was there to see that.”

I smirk and take another puff of the cigar in my hand.

It was fun, more than I care to admit, seeing the leader of the Vices go down on his knees to beg me to spare his daughter. I hadn’t of course, but it was always an interesting sight to have the upper hand made more appealing by how long I’ve waited.

The Vices are not a group to play with because they hit back thrice the number of times they were hit.

But that’s just the thing.

I am not playing.

I intend to take them down, starting with the man I hate the most in my life and it’s just a shame that his dumbass, innocent daughter got caught up in the gunfire. Now if he ever needed a reminder of just how far I can go, I’ve got a Mahonnas on my arm to remind him.

And that is just the tip of the iceberg. I’ve got a whole lot of comebacks under my sleeve.

“What did you have against him?” Rick asks, “No one has ever been able to get a hold on any member of The Vices. C’mon, give a learner some points.”

“You’ll know in time,” I tell him, “Soon enough.”

It took years to get something on Danielo. Years of searching and digging and plotting. I’ll still leak his secrets out eventually, but now isn’t the time.

Now all I need to do is flaunt my victory for everyone to see. My victory that came in the form of a pretty, daft and pale dark-haired beauty sobbing in pitiful fits in her new home now.

She had no choice. It’s funny how people become tied up, useless, unable to act, when the ones they loved are threatened.

Just another reason I never waste my energy on something as futile and fragile as love.

Rick speaks again, finally saying something that doesn’t revolve around the Mahonnas. “I’ve got some news on Project Six.”

I grind the butt of my cigar on an ash tray. “Why didn’t you start with that?”

“Well, I thought congratulations are in order.”

Rick is my second-in-command and as bulky as he looks, it takes everything within me to resist the urge to snap his neck sometimes.

“What’s going on with the Project?”

“We targeted the second subject,” he says, shifting into business mode automatically, “we are waiting on your order on what to do. Kill or Pass.”

I don’t miss a beat. “Kill.”

“But boss,” he clears his throat, “Antonio felt the need to interrogate first and make sure—”

“Good thing Antonio is not the boss then.”

“He’s got uh…” Rick trails off, his face taking on an unnatural blush.

“What has he got to make you think I still don’t want to fucking end his life?”

Rick’s eyes dart sideways, like he is ashamed of his own sympathy. “He’s got a newborn kid.”

I relax on my chair. “Go on.”

“I mean his uh… his wife just gave birth and he’s got like this fresh kid who – listen boss,” he holds up his hand in surrender, “it’s your call. You want us to kill the dude, that’s what we are going to do. I just think we could bring in him for some kind of … interrogation.”

He got me at ‘newborn’. I’m cruel but surely not that cruel.

“Twelve hours.” I tell him, “give him twelve hours to show his face. If he refuses, shoot him in the head.”

“Aye boss,” he straightens, “there are some members of The Vices that believe you ma—”

The door slams open and my fingers curl around my gun automatically before I see the face that caused the obstruction and I force my hand to relax a little.

Rick rises from his spot and flexes his arms, his face taking on a look to impact fear, “You’ve got to show some respect and leave now ma’am.”

My new wife narrows her eyes and stares him right in the face. I’ve got to give it to her, most people ran away at the sight of a man as thick as Rick but apparently not her.

Her eyes slide to me, totally ignoring the man in front of her. “We need to talk.”

Rick’s hand shoots out to grab her arm. “I said—”

“Let it be,” I tell him, before his fingers close around her arm. “I’ll handle it from here.”

“You sure boss?”

I nod, my eyes burning hers, “If the missus said she wanna talk, we’ve gotta talk.”

Rick nods and exits the office but not before I see the amused tug of his lips.

She stomps up to me, “I’m not your missus.”

She is in a slightly loose pink dress that is making her look like she lost a lot of weight within the last few hours, and her eyes are puffy and red like she spent the night weeping.

But even at that, it’s hard to not to acknowledge the beauty that is my new wife. Her hair, dark and wavy rest on the small of her waist like an obedient child, her deep blue eyes are clear, sharp like she is waiting for the first sign of danger to bolt, and her perfectly structured Italian features are just another touch to the Mahonnas beauty.

I send her a smug look. “The ring on your finger says otherwise. I see you like the diamond better.”

I switched the plain rings at the wedding for a set of freshly cut diamond ones and I genuinely thought she would have abandoned it by now.

She looks down at it like she too is surprised it is still there on her finger, then she grabs it and smacks it down on my table.

“There. I’m not your missus.”

I relax in my chair and light up my cigar again, “Too bad the certificate says otherwise.”

She scowls at me, “Where is Rafael.”

I take a puff. “Who the fuck is that?”

She glowers, outraged, “The man you kidnapped.”

“Kidnapped?”

“The man who was supposed to marry me!”

“Ah, the Conti. Bit convenient for a Conti to marry a Mahonnas innit?”

“Where is he?!”

“How the hell am I supposed to know?”

“I don’t know, maybe because you kidnapped him?”

I stare at her coolly, “I didn’t kidnap him.”

If only she knew anything about the guy she wanted to marry.

“What did you do?”

I take a long puff of cigar, intended to infuriate her the more. Then I say, “I hit him on the head and left him there to die.”

Her face morphs into one of total horror, “You did what??”

It’s ridiculous but for some reason, I am tempted to laugh, “A jest. The Conti is safe.”

She visibly relaxes. “Safe? Good. Where is he?”

“I said he is safe. I didn’t say I was going to hand him over to you.”

“You should know, Marco,” she spits, “The Contis are going to do everything to get Rafael back.”

“You should know, kid,” I fingered the layers of my gun because she is beginning to piss me off, “I don’t give a fuck. I just defeated the Mahonnas, compared to them, the Contis are a child’s play.”

She shoots me a dirty look, “I hope one day you’ll come to realize just how much of a jerk you are. Where is Rafael!?”

“Watch your tone, woman. Your sick little boyfriend is safe. But not for long.”

She pales. “What do you mean?”

I shoot up and round the table, grabbing her wrists and pinning her against the hard mahogany desk.

She gasped.

“I mean,” my hands slides up her thigh slowly, “his safety depends on you.”

She shakes her head, squirming under my touch, “You can’t –”

“I can do whatever I want to do,” my hands ride further up her thighs and she shivers, “Make a move to infuriate me, like what you are doing now, and just like that, the Conti bastard is gone.”

“I won’t stand for you to threaten me this way.”

Despite her words, her body is lax under my touch. Her lips are parted, her eyes are slanted and her squirming is slowly reducing to soft pushes.

Good. Suddenly I want to know how far she can go.

“Try me,” I whisper, my breath fanning her ears, “You’ll be surprised at what I can do.”

I see the slump of her shoulders, “But- how did you- my father would never let you—”

“First thing you need to know,” I tug her silky hair back so she can stare up at my face, loving as her eyes go wide at the sight of how close I am, “your father’s got a lot of things to hide. And he’d rather give you up than jeopardize his reputation and position at The Vices. Second thing,” I caress her lips with my thumb, watching as her cheeks turns a crimson red, “I don’t like answering questions. Third thing,” her breath becomes shallow as my hand tightens on her waist, “you should never ever barge into my office again. Fourth thing, you disrespect me one more time, you’re going to wish you never met the Conti boy. And lastly,” I tug her closer so that her hardened nipples are pressed against my chest, “I want to see you only when I have to. I’ll send in someone to lay the rules down for you. You remind me so much of your father and I’ll rather fuck a pig then stare into the eyes of another Mahonnas.”

She breathes, “Then why did you— why are you touching—”

I release her and step back and she stumbles a little as though her mind is in a daze. “What I’m trying to say is —” I pause, thinking, “what the fuck is your name?”

“Vienna.”

“Good,” I round the table and crash back on my seat, “What I’m trying to say Vienna is, get the fuck out of my office.

Her face is flushed, “Wait—”

I grab the gun. “Now!”

Then I watch her scurry off in fear just the way a fucking Mahonnas should.