Page 14 of Caruso (Vegas Mafia #3)
Chapter Fourteen
Matteo
F uck, this place is worse than I thought. Images of Taylor living here with this monster are playing on repeat in my mind. I can’t begin to imagine the horror of her childhood, and it’s no wonder she will agree to just about anything to deal with this scum once and for all.
Make it hurt.
I don’t need a written invitation for that to be on the agenda. Tommaso catches my eye, and the pure rage burning in his tells me he is on the same page as me.
“Anything you want to say to him, Taylor?”
She appears so small, fragile and defenseless, but this is her moment. Her revenge — and it must count for something.
She steps forward and stands before him, her expression blank, her eyes glittering with rage.
“You will die here today. ”
His eyes bulge from his sockets as she speaks in a soft voice, husky and deliberate.
“You ruined my mother’s life and fed her drugs, causing her to overdose.”
He gurgles as Giorgio offers him no way to speak. He doesn’t have that right.
He will never speak to her again.
“You beat me, threatened me and assaulted me when I was a child, and it began when I was five years old.”
As she stands there, she appears fragile but stands tall.
Defiant and powerful. The heels were chosen to give her a sense of power.
To tower over her victim, to show she is a confident woman now.
The catsuit was designed to express her femininity, her power as a woman, with no apologies for that.
She is a warrior with an army from hell, and right now, in this moment, she is our queen.
“I do not forgive you.”
She inches closer, standing beside Giorgio, who is holding her stepfather in an iron grip. Carl’s eyes are bulging and he is turning red through lack of oxygen and Giorgio relaxes his hold, just enough to allow Carl to drag in a deep breath, before replacing his grip so he can’t talk.
“I have a question to ask you.”
Fuck, why does she want him to speak?
“What happened to Jason?”
I hold my breath as I process who the fuck Jason is.
Giorgio releases his hold just enough to allow the monster to squeak. Instead, he glares at her with a triumphant leer and shakes his head. It appears that I’m not the only one who doesn’t want him to speak .
“You never killed Jason. You don’t have it in you.”
Her voice is hard, critical and dismissive, causing his rage to bubble under the surface.
“He–” His voice is rough, slurred and edgy, and I’m guessing his only friend is the bottle right now.
“Squealed like a pig when I slit his throat.”
“You’re lying.”
Taylor merely rolls her eyes and laughs softly.
“You don’t have it in you to kill any man, let alone a warrior like Jason. Tell me what really happened, and I’ll spare your life.”
It amuses me to see her cross her fingers behind her back as Carl’s eyes light up as he senses an opportunity for freedom.
He nods, certain he now has the upper hand as he senses he has something she needs.
I nod to Giorgio, who pulls him away from the wall, forcing him into what passes as a living room, before kicking out a chair and forcing him to sit. Tommaso moves fast and secures his arms around the back of the chair with a plastic tie, ensuring it’s so tight it cuts into his miserable flesh.
Giorgio secures his ankles, and the sight of this miserable shit, bound like a pig before us, does little to improve my mood at the thought of Taylor surviving in this hole.
Hell, the image of her replacing her mother in his bed is sending me feral, and I reach for my blade in my inside pocket, desperate to connect with his miserable dick that is hanging limply from a hole in his jockey shorts .
Taylor stands before him, unafraid, unapologetic and hisses, “Tell me.”
“What’s in it for me?”
His voice is cold, rough and fueled by alcohol, and she shrugs, maintaining her cool. “Your ending will be quick.”
“My ending.” He barks out a gruff laugh. “Who are you to order my death, little girl? Nobody, just like that mother of yours and just like that boyfriend who hung around you like a bad smell. Did you give him reason too, bitch? Did you suck his cock for him while he played with your tits?”
Taylor strikes him hard around the face and spits, “Is that all you’ve got?
Judging others by your low standards. Is it so hard to believe he was my only friend?
A brother, if you like. He looked out for me when it should have been you and Mom.
All you wanted was a slave. Someone to cook, clean and service your miserable dick.
Well, breaking news, you’re no great catch, and the sight of you repulses me and always has. ”
“Fucking whore, what did you do? Go and get these three bozos to fight your battle for a piece of your ass?”
Giorgio’s face lights up as he senses free rein, but I’m surprised when it’s Taylor who turns to me and says calmly, “May I borrow your knife?”
The fact she even knew I had one is as surprising as her words and I hand it to her and watch in anticipation as she steps closer to Carl and with one slash cuts the miserable bastard’s cock clean off.
His scream of pain is muffled by Giorgio’s laughter, and I stare in amazement as she wipes the blood on Carl’s body and hands it back to me with an apologetic smile. “I’ll buy you a new one.”
I’m impressed by her cold, calm demeanor, and then she turns and says nonchalantly to the howling man, “Now, where were we? Oh yes, Jason. What happened that night and–” She cocks her head to one side. “I’d start spilling the tea if you want to keep your body parts.”
“He never showed up.” His words are delivered on an edge of pain as he gasps, “We were down to fight, but he never arrived. Word is he ran, left town. Frank said he heard some big shots were asking after him and–”
“Big shots. You’ll have to elaborate on that.”
Taylor sounds as if she’s in a board meeting; she is so composed, and even Tommaso is impressed with her balls of steel.
“Fight scouts, men from the city who organize fights for big bucks. Word on the street is Jason left to fight under their banner.”
Taylor turns to me, and I nod my reassurance. If Jason did leave town to fight, it should be easy to trace him.
She has a thoughtful gleam in her eye as she turns her attention back to Carl.
“What else did you hear?”
Carl is shaking as the shock sets in, and Giorgio groans, desperate for an invitation to this party.
“Nothing. He never showed up. That’s God’s honest truth. ”
“Truth and God in the same sentence should never fall from your wicked mouth.” Taylor kicks out with the sharp heel of her shoe and brings it down into the fresh wound where his cock once lived.
His howl of pain is sure to disturb the neighbors and with a sigh Giorgio stuffs a rolled-up piece of rag into his cruel mouth, muffling the sound, obstructing his ability to speak and turns to Taylor and says gently, “As much as I am enjoying every second of this, little butterfly, we have limited time before the cops come to see what’s going on.
Now, we can take the guy with us or end this now.
I’m guessing he doesn’t have much else to say, anyway. ”
He sighs heavily as he rips the rag from Carl’s mouth and hisses, “Apologize to Taylor.”
“I’m sorry.” Carl’s voice shakes as he battles to remain conscious, and Taylor stares at Giorgio with hate blazing from her eyes.
“I’m not finished.”
“Then we’ll write you a letter from our prison cell to yours.”
He rolls his eyes. “As I said, we can take him with us and prolong the enjoyment, or you do what you came here for.”
Taylor glances around her former home, and resignation lights her eyes as she nods.
“He’s not worth the blood on your upholstery. We’ll end this now.”
“We?” Giorgio’s voice is loaded with disappointment as she hisses, “Give me that rag, Giorgio.”
The fact that she commands my brother amuses me, and I’m even more impressed when he hands it over with no question.
She turns her attention to Tommaso. “Fetch me his bottle of alcohol.”
Tommaso says nothing and moves to the shelf by the window where a near-empty bottle of whiskey is clinging onto life.
Taylor sighs as she grasps it in her hand and spills what’s left of the alcohol onto the rag. Then she turns to me and says simply, “Do you have a light, please, Matteo?”
Giorgio’s smile almost splits his lips as I nod, reaching in my inside pocket and pulling out my lighter.
Taylor’s eyes shine as she stands before Carl and says softly, “Get used to the burn because it’s hotter in hell.”
His yell is soon cut short as she lights the rag and pushes it into his mouth and then steps back as his screams are muffled by the burning flame that ignites his body in a slow burn that is fascinating to watch.
“Fuck! I’m in love.”
Giorgio almost comes in his pants as we watch Carl Bridge cremate before our eyes and as his screams die down and his burning skin becomes an unbearable stench, Taylor turns on her heels and heads straight out of the door, closely followed by three men who now won’t ever let her go.