Witness: A Dark Mafia Romance (Romano Brothers Book 2) Read online

  The blood drains to my feet, making me lightheaded. “What’s about to happen?” I ask, stupidly.

  As soon as the words are out of my mouth, two huge men burst out of the closet. I flail my arms and legs when they grab me, but it’s no use. I’m no match for their strength. They take me to a chair, and handcuff my wrists and ankles to it. I scream so loud my throat hurts, then stop myself. I don’t want Leo and Vince coming to my rescue before Tyler and Jenna are freed.

  While the goons are locking me in, Paul fiddles with a phone. His glasses are low on his nose, and he squints through them at the screen. He mumbles to himself while swiping repeatedly.

  “Charlie,” Paul says. “Get over here.”

  One of the goons walks to his boss’ side, and takes the phone. Paul looks over his shoulder.

  “It says it’s not connecting,” Paul says.

  The young goon makes a few clicks, then hands it back to Paul.

  “There you go,” he says, then rushes back to his post by my side.

  Paul clears his throat, and straightens his tie while the phone rings. The video chat crystalizes. Paul squints at it closely.

  “Sal, that you? I can barely see these screens.”

  “It’s me, boss.”

  “You got him?” Paul says, gruffly.

  “Sure do.”

  I see the picture change on the phone. I slow my breathing, and hear Mateo’s voice, screaming in the background.

  “Tell me what I’m seeing, Sal,” Paul says. “The picture’s dark.”

  “It’s the youngest Romano cockroach, all tied up, boss.”

  “Okay, good. Let me talk to him.”

  Paul carries the phone over to where I’m tied up, and points it at me. I see Mateo in the same situation as I am, bound and helpless.

  “Lily,” Mateo screams. He lurches towards me against the ropes. He struggles in his restraints, screaming in frustration. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

  “I’m okay,” I say, desperately.

  Paul presses his cheek against mine, getting into frame. He kisses me wetly on the cheek. Mateo lowers his forehead, fuming.

  “Here we are, folks,” Paul says. “What it’s all been leading up to.” He wraps his arm around my shoulder, and his hand wonders down my chest. I tense up, hoping he doesn’t discover the knife in my bra. “I see what you like about her, Mateo. It’s a shame I have to cut up such a nice, feminine body. But you have to be taught a lesson. No one messes with my revenue stream.”

  “Don’t you fucking touch her,” Mateo growls.

  Paul smiles broadly. “That’s the kind of reaction I’m after.” He pulls out a knife and sticks it to my throat. I feel the blade slip beneath my skin, and warm liquid seep out. I look down at my shirt and see it’s covered with blood.

  “You kill her,” Mateo says, breathing heavily between each word. “And you’ll never find that flash drive.”

  Paul stops digging the knife into my flesh but holds the blade there.

  “Where is it?” Paul asks.

  I see a glimmer in Mateo’s eyes. He knows he has the upper hand now.

  “It’s with John’s body, which you'll never find,” Mateo says, smiling wickedly.

  Paul curls his lips together. “Sal, you there?”

  “Here, boss.”

  “Spit in this asshole’s face, would you?”

  I hear a rough spitting sound. Mateo’s squints his eyes as saliva hits them. He shakes his head, and faces the camera. He laughs, maniacally, which makes Paul tense in anger.

  “Tell me where it is,” Paul demands.

  “You’ll never find it. It’s out in the middle of nowhere. I’ll have to take you there.”

  Paul smiles at the camera while scraping the blade against my cheek. I close my eyes, trembling. The scared whimpers falling from my lips sound like they’re coming from someone else. Why did I think I was tough enough to get involved with the mob?

  “If you hurt her, if you fucking touch her,” Mateo says, calmly articulating each word. “I’ll go to my grave with the information you need. What do you want, Paul? Your revenge, or your revenue stream back? What kind of business man are you?”

  Paul clenches his teeth, glaring at the screen. The tip of the blade is dangerously close to my eye. Finally, he pulls the knife away from me. He walks across the room, clutching the phone in his hand.

  “Sal, you there? Get on the phone.”

  “I’m here, boss.”

  “Make him take you to the body. Dig that cocksucker up and find the flash drive.”

  Sal doesn’t agree to this immediately, which sends Paul into a rage. He picks up a lamp and crashes it into the floor.

  “I just gave you an order,” Paul says.

  “But boss, I can’t trust this prick.”

  “So what if you can’t trust him? He tries anything, you waste him. And don’t come back without that flash drive.”

  Sal sighs heavily, then says, “You got it, boss.”

  Paul tries several times to turn off the call. When he can’t figure it out, he throws the phone across the room, and it slams against the wall. After straightening his tie and smoothing his hair, Paul turns back to me.

  “Looks like we have a little more time together.” He picks up my full glass of bourbon, brings it over, and raises it to my lips. “You want that drink now?”

  I look at him with pure hatred in my eyes, then part my lips, and drink deeply.

  Chapter Fifteen

  ————————

  Mateo

  Sal throws me into the back of my own car, then slides his fat ass into the driver’s seat. My hands are tied tightly behind my back, and all of my weapons are gone.

  “You try anything, you’re dead,” Sal warns, looking at me through the rearview mirror.

  “I want Lily back,” I say. “That’s all you need to know.”

  Sal points at the mirror. “I’m not taking my eyes off you. If I don’t come away with that flash drive tonight, I’ll kill Lily myself.”

  I press my lips together, keeping my insults to myself. I lead Sal fifteen miles south, under a bridge by the water. This bay is heavily polluted. The smell hits me right away. It’s sharp like ammonia, but also sickly sweet, making for a revolting combination that sticks to the nostrils. Sal goes to the trunk and takes out a shovel. Then, he opens the backdoor and pulls me out by the collar of my jacket.

  “Smells like your mother’s pussy out here,” Sal cracks.

  I glare at him. He slaps me heartily on the back.

  “I’m fucking kidding,” Sal says. “Lighten up, would you? We have a body to dig up.”

  Sal holds tight to my arm as I lead him close to the water’s edge. Fumes seem to emanate off of the bay’s surface, so thick you think you can see them. The ground is soft and damp, and sucks in with each step.

  “Here,” I say, picking a spot at random.

  Sal looks at his feet. His shoes are covered with mud. “Here?” He takes his hands off of me, then pulls up his shirt to show me his piece. “Don’t you fucking move.” He swings the shovel down from his shoulders, and plunges it into the ground. The wet earth forms a suction around the shovel. Sal struggles to pull it back out again. “How deep is it?” he asks, looking up at me.

  “Six feet,” I say. “We give everyone we bury that dignity.”

  Sal grumbles, and goes back to digging. I watch his powerful arms as he hoists loads of dirt to the side. He grunts each time, the veins bulging in his neck. I have to be careful not to underestimate him again, and I have to find the right time to act.

  “You sure you can do this all by yourself?” I ask. “I don’t need you having a heart attack on me.”

  “Shut up, asshole,” Sal says. He goes back to digging with renewed vigor, to show me how strong he is. He ends up overdoing it, and wearing himself out. He rests his hands on his knees, panting, then gets back to it. I offer to help him again, but Sal stubbornly refuses.

  “I’m just t
rying to get back to Lily as quickly as possible,” I say. “That’s all I care about. Sorry about the whole knocking you out thing. It’s nothing personal, okay?”

  Sal doesn’t pay me any attention. I stare up at the stairs, idly.

  “Since everything’s out in the open now,” I say. “You can tell me what happened to Mike.”

  Sal pauses, wiping the sweat from his forehead. “It’s all business. You understand?”

  “Of course I do,” I say. “Mike was just one of guys, not like an uncle or something. He didn’t mean much to me. I’m just curious.”

  “I’m only telling you this because I have respect for the guy. They don’t make them like that anymore, tough as fucking nails. It took a lot to get him to crack.”

  “How much?” I say, keeping my voice light.

  “A lot more than most,” Sal says. “I ended up cutting off most of his fingers. When that didn’t work, I flayed the skin from his pinkie.” Sal stops to chuckle. “The motherfucker still wouldn’t budge, even though he was about to pass out from the pain.”

  “So what finally did it?” I say. “You know, since we’re just talking shop here.”

  “We had to get creative,” Sal says. “We had a guy go to his house and wait outside. Mike knew he was going to die at that point, so he had nothing to lose. We told him if he didn’t give up the info, we’d waste his wife and kids. That finally got him talking.”

  I swallow down my anger. What a bunch of fucking lowlifes, threatening a man’s family.

  “Smart technique,” I say. “I’ll have to try that sometime.”

  Sal is breathing so hard, he’s wheezing. He’s not even two feet into the ground.

  “Sometimes I wonder,” he says, stopping to catch his breath. “Why the family’s waste so much time fighting each other. You know, we’d welcome you and your brothers in on the action, but you always insist on being so fucking honorable. Honor doesn’t pay the bills, you know.”

  “Oh, I know,” I say, congenially. “I’ve said the very same things to my brothers. We need more cash flowing in. Look, I know some talented chemists. After I help you find the flash drive, I can hook you up with them.”

  “How would your brothers feel about that?”

  “Don’t worry about that. I’ll take care of them.”

  “Finally you’re saying something that makes sense,” Sal says.

  He throws a shovelful of dirt over his shoulder, then wobbles on his feet.

  “Sal, no offense, but you look like shit. Here, let me take a shift. No funny business. Promise.”

  I can tell he really wants to take me up on my offer. He knows we’ll be here all night if he has to dig that hole by himself. He drops the shovel to the ground, then pulls out his gun, pointing it at me.

  “Just a precaution,” he says. “No offense.”

  “None taken,” I assure him.

  Sal unties my hands, the gun aimed at my temple. I show him my palms, then walk over and pick up the shovel. I dig for a long time to lull him into a false sense of confidence. The hole gets a lot deeper, and water rushes in to fill it. I’m knee deep in this toxic sludge, digging and digging, searching for something I know isn’t there. I plunge the shovel into the ground, and I hit something hard.

  “What was that?” Sal asks.

  I bend down, fishing my arms in the water, and feel the rock I hit.

  “I think it’s his boot,” I say. “If that’s the one with the flash drive, we can just pull it off. We won’t have to dig up the rest of him.”

  Sal swings the gun towards me. “Well, go ahead.”

  I sink both arms under the water, then scrunch up my face like I’m struggling with something.

  “Fuck,” I say, gasping for breath. I pick up the shovel and pretend to dig around the rock. “Come in here and help me. I can pry it out of the dirt with the shovel, and you pull before it gets sucked in again.”

  Sal hesitates for a second.

  “There’s no other way,” I say. “The weight of the water is squeezing him tighter than a virgin pussy.”

  Sal keeps the gun pointed at me, and carefully climbs into the hole. With his other hand, he searches under the water.

  “Where is it?” he asks.

  I plunge my arm into the water, and find his hand. “Over here,” I say, pulling him.

  Sal looks up while groping the bottom of the hole. After a few moments, he starts to realize what’s going on.

  “Fucking cocksucker,” he growls.

  He tries to pull his arm up, but I yank it down, pushing him, and the gun underwater. I grasp the shovel. When he jumps up from the surface, I swing the shovel, cracking it against his forehead. He falls backwards his arms flailing. I know from experience that’s not enough to keep him down. I grapple for the gun, hoping it’s not too wet to fire. I pull the trigger three times, and nothing happens. Finally, on the forth try, I feel a satisfying click. The gun explodes, sending a bullet between his eyes.

  Sal’s arms flail out to his sides. He falls backwards, and slowly sinks under the water. I toss the gun in with him, and start filling up the hole with dirt.

  ————————

  I find Sal’s phone back at the car. The location tracker is turned on, and I easily find where Paul had called him from. These old geysers think they’re tough shit, made from stronger stock than the rest of us, but they sure as hell don’t have a handle on technology.

  I race to the old downtown, what the city calls ‘historic.’ The image of Lily tied to a chair at the hands of that monster sends hot blood pumping through my veins. I stare straight ahead, focused on getting there, and nothing else.

  Once I get into downtown, I slow down and cut the headlights. Paul Salvatore is an experienced mob boss, which means he’ll have his goons crawling all over the place. I ditch the car a few blocks from the old hardware store, and continue on foot. It’s dark out, and I’m wearing all black, making me hard to see from a distance. I stick to the shadows of buildings, my eyes darting around, constantly aware of my surroundings.

  This fucking wind is brutal. Big gusts blow down the street, killing my concentration. I round a corner and stop dead in my tracks. At the end of the street, I make out two guys, huge sons of bitches. I grab my gun, put my finger on the trigger, and advance towards them. My feet barely make a sound. I study them as I get closer. There’s a body on the ground at their feet. The arms and legs are splayed in an unnatural position, and I know that person is dead.

  My instinct tells me not to shoot. I stop walking, and notice the guys’ body language. It doesn’t take me long to recognize who they are.

  I stow the gun back in my holster, and whistle sharply. When Leo and Vince turn around, I hold my hands up, showing my palms.

  “You two are having a busy night,” I say, gesturing towards the body.

  Both of my brothers smile with relief, but Leo kills his quickly. He kicks the dead dude in the side of the torso.

  “That’s the forth one so far,” Leo says. “I’m glad you finally made it. I’m sick of doing all your work for you.”

  Vince comes up and pats me hard on the back. “Good to see you breathing, bro.” He crinkles his nose, studying me up and down. “You smell like shit.”

  I shrug. “Just got back from taking out the trash. I did you guys the favor of taking out Sal Cordero.”

  Leo shakes his head. “You’re fucking crazy, man. All that for a broad?”

  “You’re one to talk,” I tell him. It wasn’t long ago Leo put all of us at risk for his wife, Mia.

  “Lily’s as insane as you are,” Vince says. “Maybe even more so.” He gestures towards the hardware store. “She went in there alone to save her friends.”

  Pride blossoms in my stomach. I taught her well, though I may need to give her a spanking for putting herself in danger.

  “Have you been inside yet?” I ask.

  Vince shakes his head. “We’ve been out here taking care of Paul’s goons. I think that’s t
he last one.”

  “Thank you. Both of you,” I say. “I knew I could count on you two.”

  “That’s what we’re fucking here for,” Leo says. He points his gun towards the hardware store. “Now let’s go get your girl.”

  The storefront is dark and quiet when we enter, but there’s a commotion coming from the back. We find a door there, and slip inside. Once in the hallway, the three of us pull our hoodies over our head, and pass by inconspicuously.

  We hear muffled groans coming from behind a closed door. A charge rushes up my spine. I stand in front of it, signaling for my brothers to back me up. They rush to my side. I study the door. It looks flimsy enough, so I thrust my leg out, kicking it in. Before anyone inside knows what’s going on, my brothers and I stand flush to the wall, Vince and me on one side, Leo on the other.

  A stupid fucking goon walks out to see what’s going on. His eyes land on Vince and me, and he points his gun at us. Leo lurches from behind him, and twists his neck violently. I hear those familiar three cracks, and the goon falls dead at our feet.

  We storm inside. There are four more guys in there, and we have no choice but to shoot. Between the three of us, we take them down quickly.

  Once my ears stop ringing from the gunfire, I hear the loud screaming from Jenna and Tyler, who are tied to chairs in the middle of the room. I walk up to Tyler and yank the gag from his mouth.

  “Where’s Lily?” I ask.

  Tyler shakes his head. “I don’t know. She’s not in here.”

  Vince gets to work untying Jenna and Tyler. It’s not long before I hear boots clomping down the hall.

  “You two,” I tell my brothers, and gesture to Jenna and Tyler. “Get them out of here.”

  Leo tosses me his gun. I burst out into the hallway, guns in both hands, blasting anything that moves. I add at least three to my kill count. One guy drops his piece, and turns to make a run for it. I charge after him, and catch him with my forearm around his neck.

  “Where is she?” I hiss into his ear.