CHAPTER FIFTEEN

When you look outside the warehouse, you'll see an unused building. Algae clung to some sides of it, the yellow paint almost brown from heavy rains and lack of maintenance over the years. It was also in one of the worst parts of the cities, where gunshots rang daily, and gang violence was the norm. Everyone knew the rules; no snitching to the cops; nobody saw anything, and if your young died? You bury that motherfucker quietly, hoping he didn't have a debt to be collected on.

We bought this place after we rose to the top, deciding that we didn't want to interrogate people where our mom and sisters would live. I was still building the house, and I wanted them to feel safe in every way. I couldn't have my mom stumbling into places because she heard screaming. She would have whacked us for bringing violence to the house.

I follow after Emilio, the smell of disinfectant and the sound of a man's groans gracing my senses. It seemed Xiomar was already busy.

Emilio opened the door to the room where Thomas was currently being kept. Thomas Sanders, our deckhand. 35, married with two daughters. Surely, he understood the importance of not selling humans with two daughters?

Thomas groaned loudly again as Xiomar punched the back of his head, not hard enough to crack it. I knew the force of my brother's punch, having been on the receiving end time and time again during his manic episodes. He was being tame.

X grinned. “Late to the party boys.”

Thomas' eyes opened, and he cried. “Boss, please, you have to believe me. I know nothing.”

Xiomar laughed. “You weren't even asked a question yet, Tommy boy. What is nothing?”

Emilio stood at the corner, watching. I hated this part. Interrogating. It made me itch, made my skin crawl. I would rather just put a bullet between the eyes of my enemies, but information was important.

“Thomas.” I began. He nods at me, an eye already swollen with a few teeth missing.

“I put you in charge of a reason, Thomas.” I grabbed a chair and sat opposite him, folding my arms. “You really want me to believe that you know nothing?” I ask sarcastically.

Thomas groans. “Boss, you have to believe me. I don't know what is going on here.”

I lean forward. “The truck, Thomas.”

He paled. “Is it the missing drugs, boss? That isn't my jurisdiction, boss. I just count the trucks and make sure they're parked where you asked them to be. I don't open them or anything.”

That was true. His job was just to count the fucking trucks. “So tell me then, how do we have six drugs in the docks?”

Thomas looked at me, and I watched when he discovered what I was talking about. It was comical watching a grown man die, blood draining from his face.

“So, you do know something, Thomas,” Emilio whispers. Thomas looks at where he is and pisses himself.

“Eww. Are you so scared of me that you piss your fucking self?” Emilio scrunched his nose at the smell. The pee stains the jeans he has on.

“Please Achilles. Kill me. Don't let him at me.”

Ahh.

“Thomas, you're not going to die that easily. So you know what is going on?”

Thomas starts bawling, shaking against the ropes tying him to his chair. “They threatened to take them,” he screams at me, snot coming out of his face.

“Who?”

“I can't say. They'll kill me.”

Emilio palms a small knife. “Are they more scary than I am?” he asks.

Thomas nods. “You wouldn't hurt my family. They would.”

I get up and pay his shoulder in understanding. “You should have come to me, Thomas. I liked you”

“Boss, they came in the night and threatened me. I was weak. They took her” he cries out. I look at him, pity in my eyes. He has already signed his fate by not coming to me. Betrayak was unforgivable.

He heaves, snot falling from his face. “I couldn't. They already took Susie.”

Susie. His five year old daughter.

“How often have they used my docks? My trucks?” I ask.

Thomas sighs, “I caught them for the first time three months ago. I didn't see their faces. I wanted to make sure they couldn't tell I saw, but somehow they did.”

They had been smuggling people from my docks for three months. Blood rushed to my head. I stood up and gave him a punch, breaking his nose.

“So, do you have names for me?” Emilio asks. He shook his head no.

“They did leave me a message for you three. That the King would be back.”

“The king. Who is the king?” I ask him.

“I don't know boss. I don't know. All I wanted was to keep them safe.” He looks at me with plea in his eyes. He's a orod man, born and raised in the Mafia, he wouldn't beg.

“Very well. This would be quick.”

Emilio's moves fast, grabbing him by his hair and raising his head up. “I'll get your daughter back.” He slices his throat open.

Thomas shakes viscously, the sound of him blood gurgling and choking on it. He stares at Emilio, his tears falling.

He's gone in a minute.

“So,” X says, “someone is moving bodies again.”

I seethe. I wanted to clean the street. Make sure people are safe. I may do bad things but human trafficking? Children trafficking was fucking prohibited in my books.

Emilio swipes the knife in his tongue. “Hmm, his blood is not too bad.”

.

He looks deranged. “Who's next?”

“We didn't get anything from him,” X says, taking the knife carefully from my brother. Emilio pouts.

“I honestly thought I'll get to torture him more. He wasn't so bad. I wanted a bad bad man,” he turns and looks at Thomas' body.

“Well, as much as he knew about it, he was innocent. His only crime is betrayal,” I snap. Emilio raises his brow at me.

“Calm down Daddy A. Just need to feed my bloodlust,” he grins at me.

“We need to be quiet about this. They don't know we are aware now.” Xiomar says, untying Thomas from the chair. He was in charge of disposing of bodies and I rather not know what he did with a lot of them. Although I had a clue it had something to do with pigs.

“Yes. And Achilles?” Emilio walks in front of me, pointing the knife at me. “I want in.”

I study my brother carefully. He said he didn't want anything to do with the Mafia. No direct contact with the men. He couldn't stand people. “Why?”

He smiles. “I need new toys to play with.”