The serpent’s kiss

“Well well well, look who we have here. The one and only Marco D’Amico. The great mafia boss is right in my custody! Who would have thought? Huh?” James said, laughing out loud while looking at us with great accomplishment, while Marco looked at him with fury and disdain. “What did you think? That your money and connection would save you from me? James continued to ask with a smirk on his face while holding his prisoner by the collar. “You’d be nothing but fishbones when I’m done with you,” he spat. I never believed in my entire life that we could catch the great Marco D’Amico. It took us a whole six months to be able to orchestrate a plan to bring him down and it worked. In this city of Orvieto, the Mafians rule here and we federal agents stand no chance of defeating them, but my team and I work so hard and would do anything to scrap them out, no matter the cost. “You cannot harm me, James, you've got nothing on me. You just got lucky this time and trust me…” he didn't get a chance to finish his statement before he got knocked on his face, blood staining his abuser’s hands and dripping to the floor as Marco began to gargle, but James wasn't finished yet. He dragged him to the floor and punched his face repeatedly till his clothes splashed with droplets of red. “Hey hey.. You shouldn't harm him, boss” I said, panicking as I crossed swiftly to Marco and James. I tried pulling James off him but he pushed me so hard that I landed butt down on the floor as I winced in pain. “Boss, please calm down”. Matteo interfered, trying to control James. “Get a grip on yourself, Boss!!! Stop it” I yelled, rushing back at him as I lost patience. “How dare he?! Does he know what I went through? What do we go through?” he yelled in anger, his eyes fiery as he punched him in sync with every word he said. Matteo and I were finally able to drag him off the almost unconscious Marco, his face already battered with blood coating every corner of his face. Marco started to cough uncontrollably as he struggled to breathe. I rushed towards him in fear and started to continuously hit his back “Help me hold him Matteo”, I called out desperately. Matteo rushed fast and helped him sit up as I continued to hit his back till he threw up what was blocking his lungs It was his tooth I sighed “Thank Goodness, that almost went the wrong way” I massaged my chest to calm my nerves “Boss!” I yelled looking at James “Do I need to explain why we need to be careful?? You need to f*****g attend anger management classes! You're a boss, act like one!” I yelled at my boss, yeah it’s wrong but someone’s gotta put him in the right place. We can't afford to lose everything we worked so hard for some stupid anger “ Boss, we need to be careful. We don't want him dying on us. Look, you pulled out his tooth with just a blow” Matteo gesturing to the tooth “Well, I guess he wasn't so tough after all” James said, rolling his eyes. “He provoked me!” he nearly screamed “I honestly don't blame him Aurora. You do know how long it took us to find him” Matteo countered “Really? Now?! The unit head is literally on our neck, we are not anybody’s favorite right now so imagine telling them that Marco, the wanted criminal is dead, who do you think is going to go with him to hell? Us!!” I waved my hands in the air. “Please guys, now that we have Marco, we have to play by the cards and plan our next step. We still have Lucchese remember?” I said looking at both of them. “Please let's not do anything to worsen this situation” I begged “I’m sorry” James apologized, his eyes filled with realization. “I went overboard, I was upset. He provoked me” he pointed to the now unconscious Marco “Do we beat up every single criminal that provokes us?” I asked. It looked like the roles here were reversed and I was the boss. I can be authoritative especially when there is no order and that is one thing James likes about me. That's why he trusts me and that's why we are a team. “Fine! You win” he sighed, sitting down “Good” I smiled “What's the next step now that we have gotten Marco?” Matteo asked “Well… we wait for Marco to wake up” James answered We didn't wait. We tied him to the chair and poured a bucket of ice water on him. He sputtered and coughed till he opened his swollen eyes “Marco D’Amico, can you hear me?” James asked him “Of course he can James, he lost a tooth remember? I'm sure he’d be finding it hard to speak” I said “Oops! Sorry” James laughed and I rolled my eyes He went over to Marco and loosened his cuffs handing him a glass of water “Drink” he commanded Marco looked surprised but he still grabbed the water and downed it like a thirsty lion that he was. When he drank to his fill, he looked up and stared at us “What now?” Marco spat his words with irritation, thick with his Italian accent. “Let's make a deal,” James said sitting down. “I’m no fool, James, you and I both know that there's always no right deal with the police,” Marco said struggling to talk. His wrinkled face was already stained with blood. “Come on James” Matteo scoffed while I looked at the drama unfold. “Hmm, well you have no choice now, do you? But we play no games here trust me, there’s no time for that” James replied “What do you want James?” he looked at him in defeat. “Let’s play a little game” he smirked. I didn't know what game he meant, but I sure knew that if James Norwill smirked like that, he sure had something up his sleeve