Don Vidal

18 - Not a total psychopath

Draven

I wouldn’t say I was a total psychopath. I wouldn’t say I was completely sane, either. I take pleasure in hurting those who deserve it, and I do mean l love it.

What man wouldn’t love to have ultimate power over another human being?

What man wouldn’t want to see the look of fear in a man’s eyes as he looks down the barrel of your gun?

Or the force of a powerful fist?

What man wouldn’t want the power to give or take life without consequence?

Don’t lie, you know you would.

Take the guy I ended tonight. He was nothing special and didn’t pose any real threat to me or my family. All he really did was mouth off about not wanting to pay for the protection I offer. By doing this, he disrespected me. No one disrespects me and lives! Especially when I’m still angry about what happened to Marnie. Still, I can’t stop the rage or need to hurt those around me.

So, what do you think I did with him?

Well, let’s just say he looked nothing like the man he used to be by the time I was done with him. Having your face burned off with acid will do that for you. That’s not even the worst thing I did to him. Trust me, there are far worse things.

One thing he should have remembered was never to disrespect me. You disrespect me, and you end up a broken mess of burned and charred skin and bone. But not before I’ve carved and mutilated, electrocuted, waterboarded, starved, mentally tortured, stress tested, and broken every bone in your fuckin.g body with my bare hands! And not necessarily in that order.

When I’m finally done with you, after I’ve put you somewhere, even the crows can’t feast upon what's left of you, I’ll end your entire bloodline! Every last man, woman, and child.

Lucky for the wife of this motherfuckin.g piece of shi.t, she didn’t deserve it. He beat her all the time and abused her badly. She deserved to be free of him. Cunt gave her a life of hell, and I gave her freedom, money, and a way out of this town for good.

The woman didn’t even bat an eyelid. She asked me if her husband would return and if he’d find her. I told her he’d never be coming back. She looked at me for a moment before smiling and telling me, Thank you.

Thanks aren’t needed in those situations. Women like her remind me of my mother and how I wish I could have helped her leave my father before it was too late. But I didn’t help her, she died, and there isn’t a damn thing I can do about it now.

I can ensure nothing like that ever happens to my sister or Marnie. Marnie. I still haven’t been able to put what she went through at the hands of the Elders out of my head. They may have paid, but I almost lost her in every way but death. For a while there, I honestly thought she’d walk away from me with my baby, and I couldn’t have blamed her.

I don’t know what it is about Marnie, but she does something to me that no woman ever has. When I told her that she was free to leave, that I wouldn’t chase her, but that I would always look out for her, no matter what, I really thought she’d go. I thanked Marnie for her loyalty and apologized again for what my men had done to her. I told her how they’d paid for it all, and I could only hope she would see that I was sincere.

When Marnie told me she didn’t want to leave, I knew I had to do everything I could to keep her safe. That included letting each one of my men know what would happen to them if they so much as looked at Marnie wrong.

No one has any clue of the lengths I will go to if anyone should ever hurt my woman again. I am a monster, but I will become the fuckin.g devil himself to protect that girl and our child!

I slick back my dark hair after showering the blood and crap of the day away. I splash on a little aftershave before clutching the sink and staring at myself in the mirror.

When did I become the monster I see before me?

I enjoy what I do, and I like the power I have over others, but is this really all there is?

If I have a son, is this what I want for him?

Do I really want to put this burden on my child?

Even if I have a daughter, the hell will be the same.

There is no motherfucke.r in the world smart enough to actually get to my family, but it doesn’t stop me worrying that one day somebody might. I worry even more after what Carlos and Louis did. I know there’s always some way to get to someone, some leak in the cracks of the foundations of the world I’ve built around me. Always one person ready to turn on me.

That’s why I’m always on my game, always ending anyone I think might turn on me for any reason before they get the chance to do so. This fuckin.g position I’m in can make a man paranoid. It tips a man’s mind right close to the damn edge of true insanity sometimes. That’s why I have to fight every day of my fuckin.g life not to lose my mind or my life.

I have to pull my shi.t together. I cannot show one man that I’m having these thoughts. Just one idio.t picks up on it, and they’ll use it against me. I am the Boss, dammit, and it’s my duty to show everyone that they can’t shake me. Nothing can rattle me. Usually, it can't.

Why is it now?

Have those dead fucker.s really tipped the point of paranoia this close?

I stand tall, grab my gun, and slot it into the holster at my side, then I slip my jacket on and make sure I look presentable. The fuck.s waiting for me in my office at the restaurant need to see that I’m calm and collected. They need to know that I won’t back down on the rules I set in place. I killed Carlos and Louis, two of the eldest members of Famiglia, for what they did, and that has every member on high alert.

More than one of my own men will want me dead. They’ll want to overthrow me, that’s just the way it goes. Those men will be found out, and I’ll end them. I rule by fear. I keep my word, and I never make idol threats. I learned from the best, my uncle Vinny.

It doesn’t take long for Tony to drive us to the restaurant. The warehouse where I do my “other business” is only ten minutes away.

“Boss,” Roberto bows his head in respect as I walk through the door to my office.

My most trusted guys are here, along with the Elders. The Elders seem to think I’ll put up with them keeping watch on my every move. I’m growing pretty tired of the lot of them, and I can feel myself, even now, wanting to blow their brains out. I don’t give a damn about the council; I am the boss, not them! Oh, they may think it’s them who really runs the Famiglia, but they are very much mistaken. They couldn’t pull my uncle’s strings, and they will never pull mine.

I scan the room and notice half the men and a couple of the women – I do have females working for me – have unlit cigarettes or cigars in their hands. I don’t give a shi.t if they smoke or not, but they’re not doing it in my office. I put a stop to it after Marnie told me she couldn’t bear the smell of smoke on me when I got home at night.

We may not have slept together – yet – but I want her to feel comfortable with me. I don’t smoke myself, never have done, apart from the odd cigar when there’s something to celebrate, so I won’t be a damn passive smoker. I’ll be damned if I turn my unborn child and its mother into one.

“Anything yet?” I direct my question to Tony while taking my seat behind my vast oak desk.

“Marco has been keeping an eye on his family in case he contacts them. So far, he hasn’t.”

I nod my head in thought. Paul Simpson is a slippery motherfucke.r.

How did he manage to escape my men?

I don’t know, but I ended those fools for allowing it to happen!

How is it he managed to escape my men and hide from me ever since?

Fuc.k knows.

The men who were supposed to be guarding Simpson are dead. I won’t have men or women working for me, being my soldiers, if they can’t even keep hold of a rat cunt like Simpson. No one I will live should they do something so stupid as to let a pissant like Simpson get away from them!

I have eyes and ears everywhere, that piece of crap can’t avoid me forever. The longer it takes us, the worse his death will be.

“I want two men outside Simpson’s parent’s house, two outside his place, and whoever you can spare around all the main places he’s known to be. I want the bastard found now!”

“Don’t you think our time is better used on more important things?”

I lean back in my chair, my fingers steepled together. “Are you questioning me, Roderick?”

Roderick is in his thirties, intelligent and strong, but he seems to think it’s okay to question me, which means he’s disrespecting the man I am.

No one disrespects me!

“I just think you’re putting a lot into this, Boss. I don’t think we need to be on this twenty-four-seven. You took his girl...” Is all he gets out of his mouth before I tear my gun my its holster and put a bullet through his thick fuckin.g skull!

The room is deathly silent except for the buzzing in my ears from the pop of the silencer. I am not playing with these motherfuckers!

“Anyone else wanna question me on this?”

There’s a collective mumbling of no, and you’re the boss. Damn, fuckin’ right I am!

“No one is getting off this job until that cunt is dead! Marnie is the woman I am marrying, she’s carrying my child and future heir, that means she’s a damn queen! Your Queen! And you better believe you’ll all show her the same damn respect you give me. After what, those old fucker.s put her through when I’d warned you all what would happen, she was still loyal to me and the family. This means she was loyal to everyone in this room, and you owe her the same grace!

“One more person disrespects her, and I will slaughter your whole family in front of you before I rip your spine from your body! Now find that fucke.r Marnie was married to, she deserves to be free. I want his head on a damn plate! Don’t think for one fuckin’ second that you won’t end up like Roderick should any of you cross me on this!”

“Don’t worry, Boss, we’ll find him. He can’t hide forever.”

“Good.” I nod at Lorenzo. One of my most loyal men. The man who almost lost his life trying to protect my sister the night my father kidnapped her. “Good. Now, it’s late, and I need to get home to my woman. Tony, get this shi.t cleaned up.” He nods. He’ll force somebody else to do the cleanup, but I don’t care as long as my office is cleaned by the time I get back here tomorrow.

“Something you wanna say, Paulo?”

“Boss?” Old fuc.k looks at me, confused. Fucke.r hadn’t taken his eyes off Roderick’s body since I shot the cunt. You’d think he’d be used to seeing death how long he’s been a member of the family. “Sorry. I have nothing to say.”

“Let’s keep it that way.”

He nods erratically.

Silly old fool. Always so damn scared of me and the things I do. For a wiseguy, he’s pretty fuckin.g stupid, but he comes in handy when it comes to money and how we make it. That’s the only reason I keep him around.

However, no one is irreplaceable to me. No one.

It’s late, I need to get home to Marnie. It’s been a long day of cleaning away filth. All I want is to go home and hold Marnie in my arms, but I doubt she’ll go for that. So, I’ll settle for stroking her belly and having a chat with my unborn child.

Yeah, yeah, big bad boss acting like a soft piece of shi.t where his kid is concerned. I’m a Mafia Don, but that doesn’t mean I’m completely heartless when it comes to what and who I love, and I love my child. I’m only human, after all.

“I want a word with you!”

I roll my eyes and stop before I get to my car. I turn around and look at the little woman giving me the evil eye. “Brooke. What can I do for you?”

She slams her hands on her jean-clad hips. “You can start by telling me why you’re keeping my sister from me!”

I roll my neck and sigh. “I’m not keeping Marnie from you, Brooke. You spent over an hour on the phone to her last night.”

“That’s not the same as seeing her!”

“Stop screaming in the damn parking lot.” I hiss between my teeth. I like Brooke, but I won’t have her yelling at me out in the open like this for anyone to see! “Don’t be stupid, Brooke.”

She grits her teeth, blows out a breath, and nods.

I chuckle inwardly because she has the same fire in her belly as Marnie does.

“I just want to see Marnie. It’s been two weeks, and each time I call her, she fobs me off as to why she can’t meet up.”

I take Brooke’s shoulders in my hands as Lorenzo watches us. There are always men around me, watching to make sure no one tries to attack. Although Brooke might be a small, pregnant woman, that means nothing in my world. She could be the world’s best assassin, even with a baby in her belly.

“Marnie hasn’t been feeling well lately. The doctor said she had a slight cold and a fever, which meant she’d been sleeping a lot. She was laughing on the phone with you last night because she’s feeling a lot better, especially with some iron in her blood.”

“Why didn’t she just tell me? What are you keeping from me, Draven?”

I shake my head. “Nothing. Trust me, I’m not keeping anything from you. Look, why don’t you come to dinner tomorrow night and see for yourself that Marnie is just fine?”

Not that I want Brooke and her biker husband in my home. Fuc.k, I can’t think of anything worse than having one of those fucker.s in my house! But I won’t have Brooke thinking I’m keeping Marnie a prisoner, either.

“Fine. I’ll see you tomorrow, and I hope for your sake my sister is happy.”

I chuckle to myself as Brooke walks away. The girl is terrified of me, yet she’s not scared to tell me like it is when it comes to her sister.

I note Lorenzo’s smirk, and I laugh louder.

Women, they’re all crazy!