The King Killer | Mafia dark romance | ✔️

11. This is where it begins

Antonio

"It should be the other way. First, pay and then you'd get to say?"

Valentina's murmurings rippled through the dark and cold dungeon as she talked to the man hanging upside down. He monitored her every move through his bloodshot eyes - a predator playing with its prey.

Alejandro cleared his throat and walked up to my side. His bridged eyebrows and lowered tone emitted the state of concern he had towards our newest member. My eyes were trained on the hung man to bother pacifying my brother.

"Why is she here?" Al whispered but it was still loud enough to be registered by Valentina, whose head snapped backwards before turning around to focus on her victim.

"Because she asked for it," I said, without divulging any more details of our deal. "And I wanted her to be a part of this."

Our deal was beneficial for both of us. Valentina was happy with the way things were panning out. She was involved in the matters, only men held before and in turn, I would be able to help satisfy Maria of her grandmother's calling.

"But woman..." Al interfered. My hand waved across, cutting the air and his words. He nodded reluctantly, a deeper sigh followed moments later.

Although my loyal brother was not in agreement, he walked back with me to be a spectator of Valentina's resistance to blood and gore. Though Val made her deal, she still had to prove her ability to stomach the violence. Only then would she be made a part of the crew. I was yet to witness if she could bite back her bile when scarlet sprayed her face, mangled bodies fell in her sight.

I knew it was only a matter of seconds before her pretence would falter upon hearing the victim's painful laments to be set free of the burden called life.

"There once was a spider that climbed a tree." Valentina sang to the man, kneeling to his hung level. Al and I gazed at each other before turning to her. "It fell down, it tumbled and it went eee."

The black, sharp-edged blade she danced between her fingers pierced through the man's torso. Very little to bleed him out profusely, the wound did much worse. Drip him dry. His sobs, those gurgled pleadings diffused into the surroundings.

Alejandro swayed on his feet. This was entertaining for him. He has never met a woman who was quick with the knife and loved torturing people before actually cutting their lifelines short. The man begged for mercy, narrated stories about his younger son and youngest daughter. He called onto the maternal instincts he hoped to find in his torturer. It only made Val enjoy it further.

That smirk only grew deeper, taunting for more.

Mercy wasn't an option for the man we'd captured. After all, he was being punished for his disloyalty. Our crucial information was leaked to our enemies across the borders. The Spaniards were encircling the shallow waters, looking for anything to take us down.

This man, Federico - our once loyal manager, was quick to change sides when the minty green of money bedazzled him. Little did he know, Moralez had eyes everywhere.

The cooler surroundings of the dungeon, of the putrefied, pungent stench and the echoes which played as surround sounds from our traitors, put me in the mood for fun. Normally, I would have beaten up the man to confession by now, Alejandro to finish the rest. But with Valentina's involvement, things were deviating from their normal course.

It had become livelier. Interesting.

She continued her song while her blade slit and pierced through the man.