REVENGE OF THE MAFIA HEIRESS

Mancini's POV "Where is the body?" I asked with cold indifference; I looked at the man that had come before me; the man looked tiny and frail in comparison to me; I stood at least a head taller than all the men in this room. "He escaped us in the woods, he's running, but we're after him." the man blurted out in fear. "We're using the dogs, boss. We have them a bit of torn clothing with his blood on it; we'll find him boss." the man stuttered; I stood still, watching the man grovelling before me a straight face, then I spoke. "How did he escape?" I asked; the tone of my voice seemed to make the man across him shudder in fear, and the man bent even lower to the ground. "We tied him up as usual but..." The man faltered; the fear that overtook him was overwhelming, and he had every right to be this scared; his very life was on the line, and he was careful with every word he spoke. "He escaped; we never expected it, Boss. But we soon found out immediately that the man had cut off his left hand at his wrist so he could run away," the man said. "We'll catch him, Boss, I swear it; please just spare me." the man pleaded, his eyes bore the desperation of a man unwilling to die no matter what circumstances. "He cut off his hand? But he would not speak to me?" I said thoughtfully; I didn't seem surprised; rather, I smiled at myself; suddenly, I stood up and faced the man grovelling before me. "Find him and bring him to me," I commanded; the man nodded fiercely but still stayed on the ground where he was; he hadn't been permitted to rise or leave. "Leo, my gun!" I called out; a man with thick dark hair standing behind me calmly stepped forward; he pulled a gun out from his holster, latched up to his belt and handed it to me. I took the gun and felt the cold steel glistening with silver radiance; the gun was familiar to me; I then faced the man and spoke to him. "Lead the way, it's time to hunt." The man who had reported stood up shakily and led me and my men out of the room, outside I got into my car and so did the others, a fleet of six cars followed behind me and in the front of my seat was Leo at the wheel, the place we were headed too was on the outskirts on the city, mostly populated by trees and green shrubs, we drove for about twenty minutes before stopping close to a ridge. I stepped out of my car silently and faced all my men; they stood around me awaiting orders; on my hand held tightly was my silver 19, an automated handgun with brutal efficiency. "Well?" The man who had grovelled before me stepped out, "This way, Boss", he said, then walked towards the woods; I followed after him, and so did the other dozen men. He walked through the woods following a small trail in the grass left by the men I had left here to guard the place. I was headed towards a shed, more like my preferred pace to torture. Last night, I had caught the right-hand man of Julius, a gang lord who had dared oppose me, claiming his dominance in my lands. I couldn't be bothered with a lesser gang lord, so I ordered the kidnap of his right-hand man. I stood in front of the shed looking around. The shed stood in a clearing surrounded by grass and small shrubs, and then trees stood a little farther; at the entrance, I saw blood trails; they looked as though someone had been dragged through there. I stepped in and was met with the sight of a man with one hand bound to both his legs, there was a mask covering his entire head and a bloody stump where his hand should have been. "Is he still alive?" I asked the men gathering around before me; the man with a stump jerked up as he heard my voice; no doubt he knew who I was. He tried saying something, but only muffled sounds came out; it seemed his mouth was bound. "Yes Boss, he's still alive," one of the men said, then brought a chair for me to sit; I took the chair and dragged it towards Julius'right-handed man and sat in a position where I could rest my elbows on the backrest of the chair. "Take off the mask," I said Leo stepped forward and took off the mask, the man's face was a bloody mess, he had two holes where teeth should have been, his left eye was shut and there was a gash along the left side of his face, he grimaced in pain as the mask drenched in his blood and stuck to his skin was ripped off his face. "Aargh, Mancini" he spat out a mouthful of blood. "What's your name again?" I asked, genuinely curious; I had a bad habit of forgetting people of no interest to me. "It's Alex, you bastard", he spat back. Leo immediately matched the left side of his face, sending him flying backwards; I chuckled, a bit amused by the scene before me. "Get him back up" I commanded. Two men from behind me left and brought him back up; he had lost another tooth again; it hung carelessly from his mouth as more blood dribbled down from his mouth. "So, how is Julius? I've missed him you know." I smiled darkly at him. He looked away from me and shifted on his seat; he looked at Leo, who stood by his side unfazed as if he had never done anything to begin with. "He... He's fine" he responded. I swung the gun in my hand carelessly making sure his eyes followed it with fear, no doubt knowing that if he made the wrong move, that would spell his death. "I have done anything to you, Mancini." he spurted out with a mouth full of blood; the sight gave me some gratification; no doubt, I began smiling at him. "Who said you did? I just don't like losing my catches." I pointed the gun at him directly; the man flinched, unsure of how to react; he held his stump in the air along with his other hand as if trying to block me. I looked at Leo expectantly; Leo nodded back at me and simply held the intact hand; he made sure he spread Alex's hand. I aimed and shot him in his shoulder. Alex screamed like a feral beast, he clawed at the ground crying out, wailing and screaming for help but fortunately none came, his cries were like music to my ears, I stood up and walked over to Alex, he looked at me with wide eyes, he looked at me as though he would give anything to have me dead. I bent over and placed the tip of the gun on his other shoulder. Alex looked at me, shaking his head ferociously. I smiled at him ever so gently and shot again. Alex passed out from the pain, but I wasn't done with him; the men behind me untied Alex and slanted his chair, then they covered his face with a light cloth material before pouring a bucket of water on top of his face; a few seconds later, Alex came through breathing heavily like a dog. "You're back, miss me?" I asked him curiously, Alex looked around dumbfounded and confused till he saw my face. "No, no, wait, Mancini, I'll do whatever you want; just let me be, please," he begged me; blood flowed from both sides of his shoulder as he spoke. "You hurt me you know?" I said calmly to Alex, I took my seat and sat just in front of him, a few feet away. "I invited you to my shed" I waved my gun around indicating what I meant, "I gave you a place to sleep in." I pointed to the chair he was tied to. "But you disrespect me, Alex." I sighed out loud, "As gratitude what do you do? You cut off your hand and ran from my household." I said; Alex looked at me confused, then immediately shook his head. "No, I meant no disrespect, I just ..." His voice caught in his throat, he looked unsure of what to say. "Leo, what do we do to people then try to run from my household?" I asked with a serious expression. "I didn't leave your house, Mancini; I had to go..." He stopped mid-sentence and screamed a guttural scream; blood flowed from his thigh as he so desperately tried to hold his leg, "For every time you speak without being asked to, you get shot." I said to him with cold indifference, Alex simply nodded at me as he cried. "So Leo?" I said. "The punishment for leaving the household is to get shot in both hands and legs " he replied. "So do you now understand?" I turned towards Alex; Alex nodded his head ferociously. "I understand ", he said with a weak voice. "So now shall we have some fun?" I smiled darkly at Alex; his eyes widened with understanding; his eyes begged to be free as they were filled with tears, his hands seemed to jerk on their own, and his face had lost some colour to it; no doubt he was losing blood at a fast pace but I couldn't care less. By the time I was done, I wasn't sure if he was alive or not; he just lay on the ground in a pool of blood, unmoving, not making a single sound. Leo handed me a handkerchief, which I used to clean the blood of my hands; I threw it on Alex's body when I was done and left the shed. "Send the body back to Julius; if he does anything unruly or tries to fight back, kill everyone,", I said to Leo as he walked behind me. "Of course, and in the meantime what are you going to do?" Leo asked me, I stopped in my tracks and thought about it. "I'm not sure, Leo. I mean, I'm bored these days, and most of the families around have been taken under me", I responded. "Do you have any ideas for me?" I asked expectantly. "Well, there's that Genovesse family that you had eyes on", Leo replied; my face brightened as I remembered what he and I had discussed. "Yeah, we did talk about that", I chuckled inwardly, "Well, I do have a few things in mind,d, but isn't it a bit too early?" I asked. "Not necessarily, Boss, but you can take your time; it's not like they can do anything about it", Leo replied. "That is true, but I do need a bit more preparation, and for that, I'll need your help so, when you're done with Julius, we can start planning", I said coldly. Leo nodded at me and walked away, leading the other men as they carried the body through the woods, I followed behind them until there was no one left with me. They got into the car while two other men followed me; soon, I was being driven at a steady pace back to my mansion while Leo and the other men had gone to make peace with Julius; I relaxed and thought about what Leo had said. "The Genovese family, huh?" I said to myself, to achieve my goal no doubt I would have to bring down their branch family at first, but now I had to make plans, a detailed plan that even Roberto would have a hard time understanding. "Time to play."