The Brutal Mafia Empire

3

“I think we’ll be asking the questions,” the one who just had his hands on me says. Something about his demeanor and the way he talks tells me he’s in charge. I mean, they’re both terrifying, but this one has that air of arrogant authority about him too. You know what I mean? Like the top jock in high school who dated the head cheerleader and could walk around the halls like he goddamn owned them.

“Where is Leo?” the other one asks me.

I snort and shake my head. I knew this was about him.

“Was that a f*****g answer, D?” he says to Velvet Voice when I don’t reply.

“Didn’t sound like one to me, Max,” D says as he rights the other chair, taking a seat and watching me intently.

“Where. Is. Leo,” the one I now know is Max asks again. “And if you want to keep those pretty blue eyes of yours, I’d suggest you answer.”

“I don’t know where he is.”

“You know, that’s what they all say at first.” He laughs, then continues, “Until I start applying a little more pressure. You know what I mean?”

“Pretty sure a monkey could understand the threat you just made, asshole,” I snarl, “but that doesn’t change the fact that I have no idea where my brother is. In fact, when you find him, could you let me know? He hauled ass two days ago, taking all of my savings with him.”

Max looks at D, who has an arrogant smirk on his face as he watches the exchange between us. “Did she just call me an asshole?” he asks with a frown.

D nods, and his colleague turns back to me. Max steps closer, before crouching down on his heels. That brings us eye to eye because he is a goddamn giant.

“You think this is some kind of joke we’re playing here, sweetheart?” he hisses, and my blood turns to ice. “Your brother owes my boss money, and we will not be leaving this house until we have taken some kind of payment.”

“I-I don’t have any money.”

“So, tell us where he is.”

“I don’t know. I swear. He just disappears and then turns up when he’s in trouble again.”

“You know you’re covering for a lowlife piece of s**t, right?” he continues.

I scowl at him. Leo is a top-notch jackass who has brought me more trouble than anyone should endure in two lifetimes, but he’s still my big brother, and this asshole doesn’t get to talk about him like that.

“Says the man who breaks into people’s homes and threatens women?” I snap.

“f**k’s sake!” he mutters. Closing his eyes, he sucks in a deep breath as though he’s trying to keep a lid on his temper.

“Max, let me handle this,” the one named D says. His voice is soft, calm and controlled, yet laced with so much menace it makes me shudder.

“She’s all yours, boss,” Max replies, then he throws me a sympathetic look. “You should have let me handle it, sweetheart.”

I swallow as his boss stands and takes two steps until he’s towering over me. He’s about an inch taller than Max but not quite as broad. He fills out his suit like it was painted on his body, and he wears it like he was born in one.

“Katerina,” he says as he pulls up the other chair and places it directly in front of me. He takes a seat and we are so close that his knees are almost touching mine. “My name is Dante Moretti.”

Holy fuckballs, Leo. What have you done? Dante Moretti is Mafia. He is THE Mafia.

“Your brother owes my family a lot of money and I want it back.”

“I told you I don’t know where he is,” I whisper.

He narrows his eyes at me. “Then I’ll have to take something else of value to him.”

“He doesn’t have anything. This house is a rental, and it’s mine. He doesn’t even have a car.”

“Hmm.” Dante runs a hand over his jaw as he stares at me, and I can’t help but think I’m missing something here.

“I’m sorry, I can’t help you,” I say.

For some reason, that makes Max laugh and I swear I want to kick that crazy asshole in the balls.

“I think you’re overlooking his most important asset, Katerina,” Dante says with the hint of a smile.

Leo has no assets. Zero. Whenever he makes even a little money, he gambles it away. He’s never been able to hold on to anything he makes. “And what’s that?”

“You,” Dante says deadpan.

“Me?”

“That’s what I said.”

“B-but I… I don’t have anything. I mean, we could set up a payment plan, I guess, but I can only spare a few bucks a week.”

Suddenly, Max howls with laughter.

“Katerina,” Dante says quietly. “Your brother owes me over a quarter of a million dollars.”

I open my mouth and close it again. That’s not possible. Leo couldn’t owe that kind of money. It’s insane.

He shifts closer, edging his chair closer to mine so that our knees touch. “And when I say I’m taking payment, I do not mean a payment plan. I’m talking about you.”

My head spins because I don’t know what he’s saying and what the hell he means.

“Like, take me? You can’t do that.” I shake my head. “I’m a person.”

Dante sighs softly. “If I found your brother and he couldn’t pay, you know what I would do?”

I could take a pretty good guess, but I’m not going to verbalize it and give him any ideas, so I shake my head.

“I would kill him,” he says, so matter-of-fact, like it’s an everyday activity for him. No doubt it is. “And I would do it very slowly, so that he would feel every single cent that he stole from me.”

My heart is thundering in my ears, and I can’t breathe. The head of the Mafia is sitting in my kitchen, talking about torturing my brother as calmly as he would talk about what to buy for dinner. And somehow, I’m involved in this payment?

“But I haven’t found your brother,” he goes on. “Instead, I found you.”

“S-so you’re going to kill m-me instead?” I stammer as my eyes scan the kitchen, looking for a weapon or a way out.

But what chance do I have anyway? If their physical presence wasn’t enough, their names are. If this is Dante Moretti, that means Max is Maximo DiMarco — ruthless enforcer and unhinged psychopath. Dante slaughtered his fiancée and her entire family on the eve of his wedding. The things these men do to people make those twisted shock-value, horror movies that Leo used to make me watch seem like high school pranks.

Dante leans back in his chair as his eyes scan over my body. “I might be willing to come to another kind of arrangement.”

I pull my coat tighter around myself, as though it might shield me from him. At least it covers my huge boobs straining at the one size too small uniform. Pity my cheap-ass boss won’t buy me a different one. Focus, Kat!

I stare at the devil sitting in front of me. “What kind of arrangement?”

“D?” Maximo says with a frown, earning him a stern look before Dante trains his eyes back on me.

“I think I’ll just take you instead. I’m sure I’ll find a use for you at my house. You can work off your brother’s debt for him.”

Take me? His house? “You can’t do that. You can’t just take a person like they’re a goddamn car or something. You can’t just walk in here and expect me to —”

He stands and looks at Maximo. “Start throwing some of her things into a bag.”

I jump up from my chair. “I am not going anywhere with you,” I shout, but Maximo is already walking out of the room.

“Do not touch my things,” I yell, about to run after him, but Dante holds out his arm and stops me.

“Behave, little kitten,” he warns, his eyes dark and unreadable. “You won’t like me when I’m upset.”

I screech in his face, “I hate you. You f*****g monster! You can’t do this. You can’t…” I beat my fists against his chest, but he doesn’t budge. I may as well be punching a steel wall. After a few seconds, he takes hold of my wrists and I’m left staring up into his face with tears running down my cheeks.

“If I let you go so you can help Maximo pack your things, do you promise not to throw anything else at his head?”

No. I’ll throw my goddamn TV at his head if I get the chance. “Yes,” I sniff instead.

He releases my wrists and steps aside to allow me out of the room, before he follows me down the hallway.

“You can’t do this. People will miss me, you know? They’ll wonder where I am.”

“No, they won’t,” he replies in that calm, confident tone that also drips with arrogance and entitlement.

I die a little more inside as I realize he’s right.