He would never let her out of his sight again.
The car pulled up to the club and the man next to him got out, scanning the area before he would let Vittorio do the same. The sun blinded him even with his sunglasses on as he stepped out of the car, looking at the very place that he had first laid eyes on Sharon.
"Let's go."
In the middle of the day, the shithole club looked dismal, dirty. Vittorio walked in flanked by two of his men, hearing the squeak of the bartender as they filled the room.
"Get the fuck out," he growled at the woman, pushing past the bar to the back, where he knew Rocco's men would be.
He had no beef with her. His targets were in the back.
The man in front of him kicked down the door and Vittorio strode in, pointing his gun at the first mother fucker he found. The man was still holding the spread of cards that he had been playing.
"Where is she?"
The man's eyes were wide with surprise and fear. The cards fell out of his hands and onto the table before him. The rest of the table backed away, their eyes wary as they watched their partner being grilled by Vittorio.
"W-who?" the goon asked, biting his lip nervously as he eyed the mob boss.
Vittorio pulled the trigger. The bullet grazed the man's ear before slamming into the wall behind him.
"I will only ask one more time. Where the fuck is she?"
"I-I don't know about any chick!" the man cried, his hand cupping his bleeding ear. "W-we haven't gone out and got any girls yet, but I can get you whatever you want, man."
The five other assholes in the room nodded their heads, all looking at their intruders wearily. With three guns trained on them and a trigger happy mafia boss, they weren't reaching for their own weapons.
Nor were they giving up any of the information that he needed. Leveling his gun at the sweating man before him, he narrowed his gaze.
"Ten seconds."
"I-I swear it!" he shouted, holding up his hands. "I don't know about any chick! I had nothing to do with it!"
Vittorio let out a slow breath as he pulled the trigger, the bullet catching the man right between the eyes and spraying his brains on the wall behind him. He didn't feel anything as the man's body slumped against the chair, no joy in the kill, no thrill in his veins. All he wanted was Sharon, in his arms.
"Who else isn't going to answer my damn questions?"
All at once the room started to talk, full of frightened blubbering voices that were attempting to save their lives. They didn't know anything about any chick belonging to the Contarini family nor had they snatched any girls recently. It seemed that Rocco was more tied up with the destruction of Vittorio's businesses than he was having his sex trade business flourish.
Vittorio half listened to the mess before turning his back.
"Burn the damn thing down."
The cries that followed fell on deaf ears as Vittorio exited the club and climbed back into the car, placing the gun once again in his lap. He didn't like this, but it was what had to be done. Rocco had made this personal, very personal, and Vittorio's reaction was what he should have done all those years ago when they'd killed Lara. He hadn't reacted this viciously then.
Well, no more. He wasn't going to stand by idly and watch as Rocco took someone else. He was going to end this fight between them even if it killed him. This feud between them was going to stop now. Sharon wasn't the only reason he was doing this, he was cementing himself on top of this fucking city and crushing everyone under him.
"What next sir?" one of his men asked, as they joined him in the car, shutting the door behind him.
The smell of gasoline had followed him in, but Vittorio didn't so much as bat an eye, as if he had shut himself against what he had just done.
That was the way Vittorio wanted to run his business, his life.
Vittorio straightened his shoulders, his gaze hard behind his sunglasses.
"We go to the next mother fucking club and burn it down, and the next, and the next, until we find her."
"Yes sir," his associate said, tapping on the window them and the driver.
The car pulled away from the curb and Vittorio didn't even bother to look back as the building went up in flames.
If this didn't send a message to that old bastard, he didn't know what would.
Chapter 4
Vittorio
Vittorio grabbed the man by the hair and dragged him across the room, leaving a trail of blood in his wake.
Teddy was his name and he was one of the men in Anafesto's upper ranks, a man with power.
Teddy barely made a sound as Vittorio dropped him near the door, crouching down in front of his bloodied face. They had found him walking down the street, grabbing him and stuffing him into the vehicle before he had time to react. Vittorio and two of his men had taken him to the warehouse near the water, and systematically beat the shit out of him for a solid hour for information.
There was none to give, as Teddy had expressed over and over again when he could speak. Now the man gazed at Vittorio through a slitted eye.
"If Rocco took your girl, it would serve you right, you bastard."
"I'm no more of a bastard than he is," Vittorio replied. "I will only ask you one more time, Teddy, before I let my men take over. You know what that means."
The big man didn't even flinch.
"I knew I was dead the moment you stuffed me in that car, Contarini. I'm not scared to die."
One of Vittorio's men kicked him in the leg.
"That's ‘sir', coming from trash like you."
Vittorio held up his hand, stilling the beating.
"It takes a man to admit he's gonna die. Let him talk. He knows it will be all he ever says once I step out of this place."
Teddy spat next to him, blood dribbling from his mouth. By the looks of it, Teddy wouldn't have long to live anyways. The beating had turned his insides to mush. It would be a blessing when they put a bullet in his brain.
"You want the truth?" he continued, every word more difficult to pronounce.
Vittorio nodded, keeping his expression neutral. It had been two days since Sharon had gone missing, two days of him tearing this fucking city apart to find her. There had been no trace and Vittorio was tired of killing people, tired of burning down Rocco's establishments just to come up empty. He couldn't sleep, couldn't eat, couldn't concentrate on anything except seeing her again.
Teddy's bloody grin caught Vittorio off guard.
"I was there that day you know. The day that your sweetheart died."
Vittorio's heart stuttered in his chest.
"Lara?"
Teddy nodded.
"She was a sweet thing. Boss hated the way you looked at her you know, like she was gonna be your savior. He wanted you to hurt and she was the answer."
"Shut the fuck up," Vittorio snarled.
"She wasn't supposed to die," Teddy continued anyway, a gleam in his eyes that he had rattled the cage. "She was supposed to just get wounded, same as you, but she jumped in front of you, to protect you. I bet you didn't see that."
Vittorio nearly lost his balance as Teddy's words roared into him. His mind went back to that day, how fucking perfect everything had been up until that moment. The weather had been gorgeous, so nice that Lara had insisted they walk instead of drive. He could never say no to her. She had been on the outside of him, nearest to the traffic, so that he could speak to her father about some business venture he wanted to tap into. The attack had happened so fast.
"You're lying."
Teddy shrugged, wincing in pain.
"I was there. I handed out the hit. I should know what my orders were."
Vittorio pushed to his feet, staring down at the man that had taken his happiness away with Lara and potentially was standing in the way of his happiness with Sharon.
"Death will be too kind to you."
Teddy laughed, more blood dribbling down his chin.
"Fucking hell, just get it over with already, will ya? I don't know shit about this new chick since you ran to upstate. She ain't with Rocco, alright?"
Vittorio didn't know whether to believe him or not. He waved his hand at the man to his right.
"Make sure he don't float."
"Yes sir," he said as Vittorio walked out of the warehouse
Vittorio took in lungfuls of sea air. He had found Lara's killer. She had died saving his life. The pain had never truly gone away, but he had buried it long ago. Now maybe she could rest in peace.
Running a hand through his thick hair, Vittorio looked over the water. Where the hell was Sharon? Though he trusted Teddy as much as he trusted Rocco, he would imagine that the man would have gloated over having Sharon. After everything Vittorio had done to the clan over the last two days, someone would have been taunting him, someone would be wanting to show him that they held the power over him.