Reaper of the Wicked | A Mafia Romance

III||Acting is a tough business

My fist meets his nose before I can fully process the gravity of what he's said. It makes a satisfying crunch. Not as satisfying as I had hoped so I hit him again this time fully aware and in control of my actions. He cups his nose and he finally has the sense to step out of my swinging zone. The bastard should know that it only takes 7-9 pounds of force to break a nose. I could do it while all my limbs were paralyzed. "Mangia merde e morte." I spit at his feet. He's lucky I know him well enough to know he was just trying to get a reaction out of me or else I would have force-fed him his shit then killed him. "Fuck you, Vittoria." He yells but I'm already making my way through the back entrance of Lucy's.

...

"Did someone send you to watch me?" I make no move to try to mask my foul mood. The man motions for me to sit. "I'll stand," I say. Partly out of pure stubbornness and partly because I can make a quick escape if needed. "My boss would like to work with you." He says. I'm stunned for a moment. "If he knows who I am he knows I work for the Bianchi's." He smiles. "He knows, he also knows that they would be nothing without you." He thinks flattery will work on me. Cute. I know how much I do for the Bianchi's. I don't need some mystery boss to tell me. "Who's your boss?" I ask him. "He prefers to remain anonymous." The boss is smart. If the family catches wind of poachers they tend to end up dead. "And I  prefer to know who I work for." The man smiles to himself as if I've said something funny. "You would be working with him, not for him."

I pull out the knife concealed under my skirt and press it against the femoral artery in his thigh leaning over him so that to the outside world it seems as if we're having a very intimate conversation. "Here's the thing, I've had a shitty encounter with an ex so I'm not in the mood for your games. We can play mine instead. It's called truth or die. You tell me the truth, you survive. Wanna guess what happens if you don't?"

The man freezes except for his rapidly blinking eyelids. His early 'swagger' is completely gone, replaced by cowardice. I've found that a lot is revealed about someone when they believe they are about to die. "So, who do you work for?" "I-" he starts. I move the knife a centimeter to the left and press it just hard enough to draw blood. It shocks him out of his stupor. "This is real?" He asks more to himself than me. I press the knife harder into his skin.

"I'm an actor." He splutters.

"I haven't heard that one before." I respond. He's shaking at this point. "No, seriously, I was hired through my agency. It's called Big Blue Entertainment anyways I was told to come to this bar everyday for a couple hours. They gave me your picture and said you'd come talk to me. There was a story background and they told me I could improvise, said you would 'deny' my offer and I should give you this." He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a piece of paper. The man as far as I can tell isn't lying so I remove my knife from his thigh and take a step back. The paper reads R.D.V. It's the fucking heroin supplier. On the back a phone number is printed. "What's your name?" I ask him. "Tyler." He says his voice, less shaky. "Tyler, the first rule of acting is never break character, I'm sorry but you didn't get the job." He sags in relief as a small laugh escapes his lips. "You're really good. I thought you were actually going to kill me for a second." I laugh as if that's the funniest thing in the world and not what I was preparing myself to do. "Oh god no, Tyler. Sorry about the blood, this was supposed to be a prop knife, it seems the props department had a mix up." Tyler must be in shock because he easily falls for my act. I say a few pleasantries then slip away leaving him to finish his whiskey.

I get in my car and immediately dial Bella's number. "Hello?" My sister's voice sounds raspy. I woke her up. "It's Tori." I say.

"Fucking hell Tori, it's 1 am. My kids are sleeping," she grumbles. I always forget that Bella has kids. She never wanted to be a mother so in my mind she isn't. It also hadn't registered that she would be sleeping at 2 am. I'll admit I'm a little spooked. "Listen, I need your help, it has to be discreet." Bella's mom gave birth to her a month before mine gave birth to me. We grew up together both primed for different purposes yet we love each other immensely. She's the only person on this earth I trust. She also happens to be extraordinary with technology. Everyone needs their hobbies. There's a pause on the other line then the sound of a door closing. "What is it?" She asks.

"Someone is watching me, I need to find out who."

"Tori, that's a lot. You should go to Leopoldo with this."

I know I should but I just can't bring myself to.

"No," I say

She curses in Italian. I only know a couple phrases and whatever she said was not one of them. "Always making everything harder than it needs to be." For someone who never wanted to be a mom she sure sounds like one now. I don't respond. I know she'll eventually agree I just have to wait it out.

"Alright, I'll help you. What do you need?"

"There's someone on Danny's Forum. I need you to find as much information about them as you can."

"What's their username?"

"R underscore D underscore V ''

She's silent for a while, the only sound is the clicking of her keyboard. "I found an RDV but there are currently no posts. His I.P. address says he's in Antarctica."

"He's obviously not in Antartica," I drawl.

"I'm not an idiot I'll dig deeper but he's got tight security. Give me two weeks whatever I find is all we're going to get."

"Thank you, Bella."

"Is that all?" She asks.

"Actually I need a phone call to be traced," I answer.

"We're going to need to do that in person."

"I'm an hour away from your place."

"Do not come to my house until the sun is up." She hangs up before I can protest.