Roses & Ruin

Chapter 58 (Anthony)

Domani De Luca's 'holding cell' is really just a creepy dungeon where men who wrong him are sent to die slowly. There are no windows, only concrete floors and brick walls. Chains hang from the ceiling with wrist cuffs to keep his prisoners in place.

This is the exact room Dom had used to kill Conry O Riley. I swear the concrete is still stained with the man's blood. Bleached over and scrubbed out, but still the ground takes on a distorted color that tells me how much blood has truly been spilt here before.

Andrei asked to use this place to keep his pet. The man he'd captured from the safehouse disaster we're still scrambling to correct. Anything that could've gone wrong while the Russian's are here has. We look foolish, weak, and incompetent. I refuse to let that be the lasting impression we give them.

    Dom knew what he had to do on his part of things after the safehouse failure. The guards who worked that safehouse and the one before it were vetted and wiped out. Can't trust men who fuck up twice.

A few survived the ordeal. Those who were in only one place or the other and had someone else to blame. Then the place was burned down. Too many bodies to hide and the area was compromised.  It was better to get rid of the evidence.

I know what I need to do on my part of things too. Starting with this interrogation of the traitor guardsmen with Andrei, and ending with my complete and total execution of tomorrow's plan to blow up the Irish bowling alley. Several prominent figures are expected to be there.

I know old man O Riley nor his son Liam will be there, but we don't need them dead. We need them aware of our threat that they lost and Philly will be ours. I have to be sure this is a success. All eyes are watching, and this is my operation with the Russian deal we've got going. We have no room for error here.

The chains that hang from the high ceiling can be controlled by where they're hooked at the back walls. That way Dom can change the height of where the cuffs drop. He likes a man's arms stretched out just an inch or two higher than what his height can manage. That way the man stays on his toes to elevate the pulling on his wrists and outstretched arms.

It's meant to be uncomfortable. It's meant to make a man weak when he can't sleep or move without the threat of painful pulling. His feet give out and he stumbles, but can never just rest on two flat feet.

Domani De Luca is well versed in torture. Elio is more subtle about it, but so is he. They learned things in the military they rarely ever talk about with us, but have showcased over the years since being back.

And I don't know much about Andrei Petrov, but by everything I do know about him or have seen since meeting him I can put money on it that he's pretty well versed in torture too. He's almost giddy with glee about it.

That makes me shiver more than seeing a scowling Dom. It takes a certain type of man to revel in something like this. Some could argue they aren't men at all, but rather monsters.

I don't revel in this stuff. I do what needs to be done, and I do it well, but I don't enjoy it. I like money and I like power. I like the smarts in business. I can even admit to being addicted to the danger. I guess that's what defines a mobster from a monster.

"Alright gentlemen, step aside. I hooked this fish that means I get first dibs at gutting him" Andrei said to the room. It was Domani, Alessandro, Elio, my uncle John, Enzo, and me. And of course Petrov. We waved for him to go ahead.

Our guardsman, who we've identified as Marlo Spinelli, heard the word 'gutted' and fought against the chains. Marlo is about 40 years old give or take. He's balding at his crown. He's no one impressive to look at, no muscle, that's why he was our monitor room guy.