The Untouchables(40)

Taking a deep breath, I tried to control myself, but I was done with control. Grabbing him by the neck, I all but lifted the old man out of his seat.

“I was trying to be civil. We were enemies once upon a time, but because of my wife, you became part of the package. It’s for that reason that I’m not going to break your arm. You will tell me what you know about Aviela DeRosa. If your loyalty lies with the Giovanni family, then it lies with me, and this is an order.”

When his face turned blue, I dropped him in his chair, and took a step back, trying to regain my composure.

Gino coughed and sucked in a breath of air while holding onto his throat like he was trying to expand his airway with his own hands.

“Aviela DeRosa is dead,” he said, and I pinched the bridge of my nose.

I was going to kill this man.

“You’re lying to me, Gino,” I whispered taking out my brass knuckles. “Gino, I don’t have the time nor the patience for wasted words. Aviela DeRosa is alive. I know this because she shot my wife three times. Your son, who I am about to kill right in front of you, is in this room because of her. So tell the truth or else your son will die, and you will spend your life as vegetable.”

“I…I can’t.” He shook his head as he stared at Fedel.

Fedel begged him with his eyes. “Pop, we’re on the same team. Melody is Orlando’s daughter. She’s a Giovanni, and we’re loyal to Giovannis.”

Gino leaned forward, his body now ridged. “That’s why I can’t. I swore to Orlando I would—”

“I killed Orlando. He’s dead, so swear to me and then deal with his shit in heaven or hell, Gino. I doubt he wanted this, so be smart for the first time in your life.”

I really wanted this and he was my only lead. Everything else, Aviela was slowly destroying.

“Pop. If not for me, if not for Liam, then for Orlando’s baby girl,” Fedel said, and I had to hold back an eye roll. Mel was not a baby girl. He knew that. But hey, whatever got the job done.

“Orlando always had a thing for the feisty ones.” He sighed, staring at his hands. “We were in southern Italy, and there she was, Aviela Costa, she called herself. She had everyone eating out of the palm of her hands, and Orlando wanted her. She looked like she wanted him too. The whole night, they were in the back of the club, just dancing and talking. The talking became more, and the next thing I know, I’m driving her to and from Orlando’s home when we got back to the US. He was so smitten that he just couldn’t leave her. I didn’t trust her; her eyes held no real emotions. I ran a background check, but everything came out fine. She was Aviela Costa, but I still had this feeling…

“I asked around and no one knew much about her. But her family was dead. So I had the boys double-check for paper trails. They found out almost all of our files—both digital and physical —had been tampered with.”

“You told Orlando?” I asked, walking in front of him.

Gino just snickered. “Iron hands was more like an iron head—and not his cock either. The fool was in too deep. He had no idea she was playing him. We were bleeding money, losing connections, and we were about to lose everything else, and she had only been in our lives for three months. He thought it was us. That we were stealing from him. I think he was losing it. Part of him knew, and the other part of him was in love. He set a trap. To this day, I still don’t know how he figured out it was her. But I saw him the moment after. He held her neck, ready to snap it and the bitch just said, ‘Go ahead, kill your kid too and save me the trouble.’”

Part of me wished he had killed the bitch, but she was still Mel’s mother.

“What did he do?” Mel was here, so he didn’t kill her.

“What any madman would do. He chained her to the bed and hired a nurse. His room became her prison. Aviela fought and cursed, she even tried her charm, but Orlando wouldn’t let her go. She slit her wrist. He brought a doctor and had the whole room stripped so she couldn’t hurt herself. She tried starving herself, so we gave her soft drugs and fed her through tubes. It was like that for months until finally she caved. Suddenly she began to behave like a wife, and Orlando loved it. But it was only after she gave birth that he unchained her.”

“Fuck.” I sighed.

Why were our lives so fucking complicated? All I wanted to do was sell drugs, make love to my wife, and rule in peace.

“She ran, didn’t she?” I asked.

Gino shook his head. “No, she stayed. I thought it was the kidnap, bound, Stockholm thing you hear about. Or maybe she loved her daughter. But I soon discovered that wasn’t the case. Orlando had found Aviela’s lover, Leonardo Severino. If there was anyone she cared about, it was him. No one else, just him. Out of spite Orlando had him locked up in the basement, and every time she did something he didn’t like, he cut off a limb and gave it to her as a gift.