Chapter 4

Raphael walked into an unhabited two storey building, the chilly wind whipping his hair across his face. The guards immedately straightened their spine once they sighted him coming out of the car in the stark, dark night.

He had flew from Rome to Begarmo, a small Italian city, northeast of Milan.

This was his home town. It had been so long he stepped his feet on the cobblestone streets of Bergamo.

But he wasn't here for a vacation, he was here for one purpose--to kill.

"Capo" the guards greeted with their heads bowed down, none of them daring to look him in the eye.

Raphael entered inside with his entourage of guards and headed towards the underground cellar of the building.

There were three guards standing outside the huge iron door at the end of the staircase. They instantly went stiff, fear and dread coursing through them on spotting Raphael.

They bowed their heads as a sign of respect to Raphael and he nodded his head at them.

One of them pushed open the door and they all entered the room. The room was slightly dimmed and empty in furniture apart from a sunken sofa placed at the middle. There were about fifteen other guards cleaning some ammunitions and loading them with bullets.

Three blindfolded men were bound up in a corner, battered up with their clothes awfully stained with blood; torn and dirty, various bloody cuts and deep injuries covering their bodies.

Marco, Luca, Thomas and Lorenzo were all present. They acknowledge Raphael's presence but didn't say a word to him, focusing their attention on the bloody daggers they were cleaning.

"Fanculo. Portameli- Fuck. bring them to me" Raphael grunted before taking a seat on the sofa.

The men were roughly pulled by two guards and pushed towards Raphael, their bodies causing a loud thud as they hit the ground, wincing in pain.

"Rimuovere le bende- remove the blindfolds" Raphael commanded once more. Thomas went over and ripped the blindfold from each of the injured men making them let out quick gasps and squinting their eyelids to adjust their vision.

Once their eyes locked with Raphael's cold blue eyes, silence and fear spread like wild fire throughout the entire room.

"Boss"one of them blurted out, shaking.

"My traitors; Alberto, Matteo and Rocco, how are you three faring?"Raphael asked with his tongue-in-cheek before tucking out his gun from its hoister.

Their face turned pale on seeing Raphael's gun.

They knew it would only take a miracle for Raphael to spare them.

"We are sorry boss"Alberto muttered in pain revealing some broken teeth and a bleeding lip. Raphael browsed the three badly bruised up men. Rocco had a fractured nose, blood oozing down whilst Matteo got a swollen purple eye, blood seething from his nostrils too.

"Sorry? Did you just say you are sorry!"Raphael yelled before bolting up and kicking Alberto to the ground.

Alberto screamed in anguish as Raphael blazed with anger.

"You three fucking betrayed me. Collaborating with those motherfucking Russians to hijack the goods sent to Egypt, I fucking trusted you three in particular to oversee this job but you betrayed me! You thought I wouldn't find out!?"Raphael spat, his voice acrimonious.

"P-p-lease forgive us. Raph...boss" Rocco pleaded,his body becoming pale with shivers running down his spine.

Raphael pressed his lips to a thin line and then smiled, trying to suppress his urge to shoot them instantly. The three men broke down into sobs, wailing and pleading for their lives.

"Now tell me"Raphael began coldly.

"Who hatched this idea?"

There was an absolute deadly silence that enveloped the atmosphere after Raphael spoke. No one had the guts to speak. 

  Raphael felt his blood boil by their unwillingness to talk. He immedately went over to Lorenzo and roughly yanked the dagger he was holding. Coming to Rocco, he gripped his neck tightly with his one hand and placing the dagger above his bobbling Adam's apple.

 

"Should we do this the hard way or the easy way?"Raphael raspy asked.

Rocco's upper eyelid pulled up with his lower eyelid becoming tensed with apprehension and fear.

  Raphael slowly drew the sharp blade of the dagger across his throat, drawing out blood and giving him shallow painful cuts.

"It was Alberto boss. He did it"Rocco confessed immedately like a dying man not able to handle another injury on his already battered up skin.

Raphael chuckled falsely and his gaze narrowed to Alberto who looked like he could pee his pants.

"B-b-oss. It--it was..for the money. I'm sorry..boss. I was greedy. I just wanted to make more money"Alberto pleaded once Raphael's cold glaciers locked with his green terrified eyes.

Raphael stood straight and tucked a hand in his pocket, bringing out a cigarette and lighter.

Lighting it up, he placed the cigar between his lips, puffing out the smoke from his lungs.

"So tell me, you collaborated with the Russians to hijack those drugs and ammunitions right? Has it been sold to the pharaohs already?"Raphael asked as he observed the silver dagger in his hand.

Alberto shook his head. "No boss. The plan was for the exchange to take place in two days time"

"For how much?"

"It was stipulated at 40.6 million. The Russians were to transport the goods through the boarders and one of us had to to finalise the deal with the Egyptians, the profit shared amongst us" Alberto croaked.

Raphael crouched down to him and gave him a sly wry smile.

"You three literally betrayed me. My trust. Dashed away. Do you know why I so much despise betrayal? Let me tell you a short tale"Raphael gruffed before standing up and going to seat on the couch.

Their eyes widened in fear. They knew their capo. When he was about melting out death to any of his staff, he would start by telling them a story about his childhood. It was like a ritual for him.

  "You know of my grandfather. My mother's father. The godfather. Armani Constanzo. He was the capo. Damn it. My dad got married to my mum and Armani made sure the mantle got passed to his son inlaw for his own selfish reasons after he stepped down. They had me, they fought, had arguments and the bitch betrayed him and left us. My own mother gave me my first betrayal. Bloody hoe. And ever since then believe me, I've always hated betrayal more than anything. But you three betrayed me. Just like my mother"

"Just one more chance boss. We will fix everything. We will finalize the deal with the Egyptians and swindle the profit back to you as it should be"Alberto beseeched in tears.

"I don't give second chances"Raphael abruptly stated as he went over to Alberto, crouching by his side once more and dragging his chestnut brown hair whilst the man grimaced and sweated luminous beads. "When you get to hell, say hi to the devil on my behalf"

  "Cunt!"He suddenly flared up before stabbing him in the thigh.

Alberto screamed as Raphael precisely dug the dagger more deeper into his flesh.

"Boss please"he cried out.

The other two men were horror struck and squeezed their eyes trying to avoid the gory sight.

Raphael dragged the bloody dagger out of his thighs and stabbed him repeatedly in the juggler, blood splattering on his face and shirt. He stabbed him repeatedly till Alberto's voice died down and his body became lifeless as he fell back to the ground, his eyes stark opened with blood oozing from every corner of his mutilated face.

  Raphael wiped the blood from his face and walked over to Rocco and Matteo. They quivered in fear and stared open-mouthed.

"Congratulations. You two I'll spare. Now I'll send you two back to Africa, walk according to the deal you made with the pharaohs. Since one of you will be needed to finalise the agreement then fine. Matteo you finalise it. Rocco keep an eye on the Egyptians and their Russian counterparts. They must not suspect a thing. Necessary arrangements will be made pertaining your arrival back to Europe. You won't travel to Egypt alone. Some men will accompany you and keep an eye on you two, monitor your movements and the transportation of the goods along the boarders. Swindle the profit back to me. I want to see Ivan mad with anger" Raphael ordered before turning to face Thomas who stood at a corner, watching the scene,unfazed.

  "Call Dario in Iran. Tell him some ammunitions will be transported to the warehouse  and I don't want any mistakes to be made. He should take about twenty men and meet with the Saudis. I need a smoothe trade. Tell him to travel to Lebanon with some troops when he has met with the saudis. Work needs to be done there"Raphael ordered before attempting to walk out of the cellar when Lorenzo called him back.

"We've gotten some young girls from some parts of eastern Africa and the middle east. They will be transported via.."

Raphael immedately upheaved his hand at him, cutting him short.

"Cancel that. This is a mafia not a brothel"

  Everyone was stuperfied. They had always indulged in this so why the sudden change in Raphael?

"But the godfather..."Marco attempted to speak but his voice trailed off when Raphael interrupted him.

"The godfather my foot! I am the capo here! I call the shots. My grandfather retired. He shouldn't be poking his nose in my business. If he wants girls he should go to a brothel. Not in my mafia"Raphael ordered, his eyes dancing with rage by the mention of his grandfather.

  Armani Constanzo was a man that wielded intense power and influence in the underworld. As cold and heartless as he was when he took the mantle of leadership, his vicious attitude never wavered over the years. He was the devil's incarnate.

  Raphael felt his fist clenched as he thought of his grandfather.

"Cancel that order Marco. I'll be leaving now. I need to speak to dante"

Marco sighed and nodded as Raphael walked out of the cellar, his entourage following him.

* * * * * * * *

NICOLE

  I heard the sound of the door creak open slightly and the sound of shoes walking inside the room. The silver rays of the moonlight shined through the curtains, revealing the silhoutte form of Raphael.

    Immedately, I turned on the sunset bedstand lamp which I laid close to.

Raphael was caught unaware and his features morphed into one of surprise and shock.

"Baby why are you awake?"He queried.

I sat up straight, the corners of my mouth drawn downwards as I took in his appearance.

  His sleeves were folded up and his hair looked so dishevelled. His shirt was thoroughly tainted with multiple red stains and I need not to be told that they were blood. Blood of humans.

"Raphael don't tell me you killed somebody"I said as I came down from the bed, my arms crossed.

"He was a traitor hunny"he told me, his voice soft.

My eyes rolled at him and I pointed my index finger at the digital clock on the wall.

"Raphael this is four in the morning. What the fuck!? Are you insane! You told me you will be working late but I didn't expect it to be this sort of late. Then you come back home by four in the morning with your shirt crimson red and your knucles bruised up, your hair dishevelled. You wreak of blood and death"I spat trying not to raise my voice so high.

Raphael's eyes squinted slightly and his lips twitched upwards to a smirk.

"Sei sexy quando sei arrabbiato"

  "What the fuck does that mean?"I snapped back.

Raphael exhaled and licked his bottom lip, his eyes scanning me like he was hungry.

"You are sexy when you are angry"

He gave me that his sinful dark look and I could feel my legs being wobbly as he took a step towards me.

I controlled myself and glared at him. "Go bathe Raphael. You smell like death"

He let out a laugh and nodded his head. "I'm truly sorry we couldn't get to spend time together ok. I'll make it up to you baby"he reassured me before kissing my forehead and heading towards the bathroom.

  A small grin adopted itself on my face as I watched my husband open the door leading to the bathroom.

  My very dangerous but loving husband.