𝐃𝐄𝐂𝐄𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 - 𝐐𝐔𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐀𝐋 𝐃𝐘𝐍𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐘 𝐎𝐍𝐄 - 𝟏𝟖+

CHAPTER ONE

L O R E N Z O

The day I took over the business, my father gave me a piece of advice; he told me to fuck anyone who so much as plans to fuck me over. The mere thought of crossing the Santini family should be punished, and that's what I had done since I first took over five years ago.

I hadn't missed the ugly stench of perturbation when I'd stepped inside the room, nor the deep frown on Mancini's face induced by the foreboding reality of his impending, fast-approaching death. He might've known this was the end, but he didn't know what that end would entail.

Would I skin him alive? Spend hours torturing this worthless excuse of a man, or would I take it easy, and kill him immediately? His dilated pupils, and shaking figure did nothing to appease the monster inside me, however, I smirked at him from my position in the room nonetheless. "Mancini," I leaned forward, no longer swinging the knife between my fingers, and finally met his timorous gaze. "I told you that I don't take kindly to traitors."

He blinked, terrified, his eyes turned glassy when he faced me again, guilt would be enough of a punishment for most men, but his regret wasn't betraying me. He only felt bad for getting caught. I was sure it wasn't the money he was after, no high-ranking man under me had that issue. I'd assumed it was rather the hankering of power that'd thrown him off the rails, after all, avarice was a man's worst enemy if not controlled.

"Mi... Spiace (I'm sorry)..." I'd already decided not to bother with his apologies, they meant nothing to me. People like him would even sell their souls given the right opportunity.

"Are you sorry that you fucking betrayed us, or are you sorry that you got caught?" Alessandro came forward with a ruthless smile on his face. He was followed by all the other boys, who wore the same expression and stared at Mancini with disgust. It took a different kind of man to betray the hands that fed him, and perhaps that's why rats were always the ones deserving the worst punishments for their sins.

Not wanting him to think I wouldn't get my hands dirty, I stood up, taking a few steps to reach him, the others falling behind me except Alessandro and Florence. Maybe it was time to remind him of the fucking oath he'd walked over. "You were told something when you took the Omerta, I want you to spit it out for me, Mancini. What the fuck was it?"

"He... who is deaf, blind, and silent would live... a hundred years in peace..." He stuttered but managed to finish the saying.

"You were told to live and die by it, were you fucking not?" Florence snarled, taking a step towards the already beaten, tied-up man. I stopped him with a hand on his shoulder, shaking my head.

"Lorenzo, Facciamolo nel modo tradizionale ."

Let's do this the traditional way.

I turned my attention from Mancini's terror-stricken face to Alessandro, "Vuoi che si dissangui?"

You want him to bleed out?

Alessandro cocked his brow, waiting for my response, knowing I had no problem if it got messy, I just did it for the kicks.

"A man who goes against his word isn't a man, he's a figa, he deserves to have his balls chopped off." Florence stared at Mancini dead in the eye as he elaborated, even his disgust for the man couldn't hide his twisted streak.

Mancini finally started struggling against his restraints, but there wasn't much a chained man could do. Everyone present in the room knew Mancini was a dead man walking, it was only fair he listened to us deciding how he would be dying. By the looks of it, it was an interesting idea, not to mention quite amusing to watch as his fears made him almost feral.