Page 12 of Mafia Heir’s Alpha (Mated in the Mafia #7)

ROSCO

I’d been in the dungeons before. At this house, and also Andro’s.

We had a few jail-like cells at our casinos as well.

Dungeon was a harsher name for what the cells really were.

They resembled more of a holding cell like you’d find at a police station than an actual dungeon, but the result was the same.

I was locked up, in chains. Thinking about what I’d done.

I’d brought a threat into my boss’s home. Into my home.

Generations of loyalty from my family to the Menettis was ruined .

Even though Ori’s confession had taken me just as much by surprise as it had Cord and Andro, the result was the same. I’d fucked up.

I only hoped that Ori was being treated slightly better than I was.

I couldn’t complain too much about that. I’d seen Cord beat men nearly to death before holding them for several days, letting their bodies recover just enough that they could be beaten again. Yet, here I was, mostly untouched. All I had received was a disappointed look when Cord sent me away.

I would have rather taken the beating.

Cord and Andro would interrogate Ori the same as they would me.

My fate was a mystery. Would they kill me? Probably. My history with them was solid, my loyalty never a question, but the mistake I made was a deadly one. I didn’t know what Ori’s end goal was, but we would both suffer the consequences of it.

I was currently strapped to a metal chair with my hands cuffed behind my back, a chain connecting them to my neck and feet so my movement was limited. My muscles ached, and I lost track of how long I’d been here. Hours probably, not days.

How long would they keep me like this? Did I want them to come see me or not? I didn’t know. I wasn’t ready to pay the full consequences for my actions.

The creak of the basement door and the shuffling of feet told me my fate was arriving now, whether I was ready or not.

The door to my cell opened, introducing light to the dim room. I blinked to adjust to the view but didn’t lift my head. I couldn’t look at Cord or Andro. Not after what I’d done.

A chair was dragged across the floor and placed in front of me, and then Cord sat down. I recognized his movements without looking at him.

A long sigh escaped his lips. “Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

I couldn’t look at him as silence filled the air. “I made a mistake.”

Cord snorted. “I’ll say. What should we do with you? If anyone else had done this, they would have been killed on sight or perhaps executed in front of the team as an example of what not to do. I’m giving you a chance to explain. Beg me for your life, Rosco.”

I wouldn’t. I couldn’t. “Kill me.” I shrugged and finally glanced at the man who had been a brother to me for so long.

“I’ve betrayed you in the worst way, Cord.

For that, I’ll never forgive myself. But please…

” The words stuck in my throat and my breath caught.

I’d never pleaded for anything before. It didn’t come easily, but the alternative was too much to bear.

“Don’t kill Ori. He didn’t know what his father had done.

He didn’t know why we killed him…just that we did.

He wrongly sought revenge for a man who didn’t deserve it. Let him live.”

Cord was quiet for a long moment. As much as I knew the man and could anticipate his every move any other time, I was completely clueless on what he was thinking.

Cord was always the type who held his cards close to his chest and didn’t reveal his move until he was ready.

But I was usually the man behind his shoulder who was privy to the information.

Not this time.

“His fate is already decided.”

My gut wrenched, and my whole body went tight with tension as I tugged at my restraints. A scream tore from my lips at the news as indescribable pain filled me. “You killed him?”

Ori may have betrayed me, seduced me with the intent of bringing harm to my family, but I knew him.

He wasn’t the hateful sort. Ori was kind, gentle.

He had a good life ahead of him, away from this cruel world of mob bosses and deceit.

He wasn’t a part of our world. He didn’t know the game, but he had gambled and lost.

I tipped forward, making my chains pull tight enough that I lost my balance and landed on the cold floor with a thud.

Pain radiated through my knees, and my muscles protested the movement.

Blood pounded in my ears and drowned out all other noise.

“No. No. He isn’t— He can’t be—” Another scream escaped me.

At least they hadn’t done it in front of me.

Whether or not I would be executed publicly for my crimes remained to be seen. I didn’t care. They could do what they wanted with me.

Without Ori, I was nothing.

My life meant nothing.