My Mafia Madness

Chapter 17 - Making an Example

Alexa noticed that there were a group of men standing just inside of the entryway to the warehouse as she and Dante walked in together.

Their eyes all locked onto her for a moment, and she eyed them with caution before Dante decided to take control of the scene, as per the usual.

“Where?” he asked, glancing across at none other than Nicola who had just approached them.

“Downstairs boss.” Nicola replied, his eyes darting toward Alexa for a moment before adding, “Uh, boss… should she be here?”

Dante looked him dead in the eye as he spoke.

“The lovely Miss Myers and I are still in the middle of our dinner, Nicola.” he went on to explain a little more.

“I promised her dessert before we organise signing her contract… and as you well know, I always keep my promises.”

Nicola seemed uneasy about Alexa’s presence in a dangerous place such as this, and he let out a heavy sigh before twisting his lips awkwardly off to the side.

“It’s just… well, this might not be the kind of thing she wants to see you know?”

Dante appeared to take his suggestion on board, considering what he said and what he had meant by it.

Nicola was right.

A second later, he nodded his head and turned to face Alexa as she waited patiently behind him with his expensive black suit jacket draped over her shoulders.

It made her look tiny in comparison.

“I need to go and see to something downstairs, bella. The boys here will keep watch over you until I return.”

Ignoring the new nickname he had chosen to use for her, Alexa instantly panicked at the thought of several strange men watching over her.

Was he really going to leave her here, all alone with them?

“Wait, please! I don’t know if I’m comfortable with that. I mean, you’re not really going to leave me alone with several strange men, right?”

He appeared baffled by her concern.

“I can vouch for every one of these men, Miss Myers. They will keep you safe, I assure you.”

She still seemed hesitant.

“Still… it’s just that… I don’t know any of them.”

She looked off to the side where the group were still standing, some of them watching her with demeaning smirks spread across their faces.

It gave her the feeling that they would jump her the moment they got the chance. The moment their boss had left.

Dante could see it was causing her obvious discomfort and felt that he couldn’t allow that.

Then an idea crossed his mind and he smiled.

“You’ve already met Nicola here, correct?” he gestured towards his second-in-command with his hand as he spoke.

Alexa looked to Nicola and nodded in agreement.

“Yes. We met earlier on this evening at the restaurant.”

This wasn’t exactly a lie. Part of her response was truthful, though she obviously failed to admit that they had met once before tonight.

When he ultimately chose to save her life.

Nodding, Dante had made his decision.

“Very well then. Nicola, you will remain here to watch over Miss Myers in my absence.” he commanded.

“Try and keep her entertained until I return.”

Nicola gave his boss an expression of disbelief at what he had been commanded to do.

He wanted to be part of the interrogation downstairs, not forced to sit out here and watch a woman.

“Boss, I was hoping to help out, you know. With the-”

“-No need, I’ll handle it myself.” Dante cut in quickly as he then turned and strolled away.

Several other men followed along behind him, including Stefano and Luca.

This left the giant henchman and Alexa alone, with apparent time to kill.

For a while they merely stood in silence, unable to meet one another’s gaze.

Alexa could see that Nicola was not happy about having to stay back with her and she wanted to remain on good terms with him.

He’d already been so nice to her up until now.

“Come on, this way. We can wait up there.” he suggested with a gesture of his hand towards the staircase off to the side.

“It’s much more comfortable in the office than it is out here with those hyenas.”

Alexa took one last look at the remaining henchmen he had been referring to and nodded her head in agreement with his suggestion.

“Yeah, that sounds great, actually.”

With that she and Nicola began to make their way up the staircase and into the main office located within the warehouse.

There they were to wait until Dante’s return.

-

Beneath the warehouse were several floors known only as ‘The Basement’.

This was a dank, horrible place where terrible things such as interrogations, torture and even murder would take place.

And Dante was on his way down to meet with their latest apparent snitch.

They unfortunate man’s name was Raymond Percy and he had been brought in for what they called an interrogation.

He’d been caught red-handed interfering with a local shipment of drugs and ammunition by none other than Nicola himself.

“Give me the details.”

Dante commanded the others as he marched along the long, dark corridor leading into each of the various chambers and rooms down in the basement.

Luca stepped forward and began his report of what they knew.

“Name’s Raymond Percy. He’s thirty-years-old, only been working for us for like six months. He was caught out selling products from our latest shipment on the black market at double asking the price.”

“Little fucker got greedy, did he?” Dante mused with a smirk as he began rolling up his shirt sleeves, one by one.

He didn’t want to get himself too dirty. Not when he had Alexa still waiting for him.

“Yeah, that’s what it looks like.” Luca nodded his head as they stopped before a closed iron door.

There were two armed men standing either side of the door, both nodded their heads with respect toward Dante as he did the same.

As the door opened with a loud ‘creak’, Dante wasted no time marching on inside, followed along closely by Luca and Stefano.

The door closed behind them with an equally loud ‘clang’ once they were inside.

-

The room was quite large, around seven by four metres and had a fairly low ceiling which had a singular light hanging down from it.

The light swayed slowly from side to side, revealing the blood-stained walls on all four sides.

This was one of the rooms that fronted as both an interrogation room and if need be, a torture chamber.

Dante grabbed a metal chair beside him and made his way towards the man in the centre of the room.

Raymond had been tied to a chair of his own and was currently hunched over, with his medium-length brown hair covering most of his face from view as he breathed in and out slowly.

It was evident that he had already been badly beaten, with his shirt torn and stained crimson with his own blood.

The Mafia Boss moved with one agonisingly slow step after the other, dragging the chair along the ground behind him as he did.

Just to antagonise his captive.

It ‘screeched’ loudly against the cement floor.

There were several tables lined against the walls, each covered in an arrayment of various types of tools and implements that could be used.

But Dante would get to those a little later.

First, he wanted to have a little chat.

Stefano and Luca both stood in the shadows of the room, waiting to be called upon if necessary.

Positioning the chair backwards, right in front of Raymond, Dante casually sat down on it reverse style and proceeded to light up a cigarette.

“If you’re gonna kill me, just go ahead and get it over with.” Raymond sputtered.

His voice was husky and pained. He kept his head down, even with the knowledge that none other than the Reaper himself was sitting right in front of him now.

“Nonsense, Raymond. I’m just here to have a little chat.”

Dante lied, taking a deep drag from his cigarette before blowing the smooth smoke back out again.

“A chat huh?”

Raymond chuckled before coughing and wincing in pain.

He slowly began to lift his head up and meet the emerald eyes of his former boss through the cloud of smoke.

“How are things, Raymond?” Dante mused.

“I hear you’re doing quite well for yourself, hmm? Selling my products on the black market behind my back?”

Raymond closed his eyes and let out a long sigh.

“You heard about that huh?” he spoke with sarcasm before coughing again.

“This is my city, amico. (friend) I hear everything, remember?”

“So, with this being your city and all… I guess you know who I’m working for then?”

Raymond’s question was intended to throw Dante off, and it did just that, as expected.

“Well, you did work for me up until… oh, I’d say a couple of hours ago.” Dante teased, glancing at his expensive Rolex watch.

Raymond shook his head and gave a sinister laugh.

“You think you know everything! The big, bad Reaper knows everything that happens in his city, right?”

Raymond met his piercing gaze now with some form of gathered bravery.

“Well, this won’t be your city for much longer... That, you can count on!”