Chapter 2~ Cheap Kill

Chapter 2

Eustacia

“~~~”~~~”

Once a feared and revered mafia princess, but now nothing more than a caged animal.

This guy, the one they called Aurelio, didn't like me from the minute I was handed to him on that plane coming here, and that was a month ago.

Who was I kidding? Nobody likes me.

His rough grip on my arm was firm, leaving bruises that would join the collection already marring my skin. Each step as he dragged me through the block made me wince in pain, but I didn't let out a single sound.

Aurelio’s face was impassive, but I could see the disgust in his eyes. He probably thought I deserved every bit of this. They all did.

“Watch your step,” Aurelio barked as we descended the stairs.

I bit my tongue, suppressing the urge to lash out with a smart remark, but it wouldn’t help my situation.

I stumbled but caught myself, Vincenzo Mancini was following closely behind at a leisurely pace and I refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing me fall.

We reached the bottom, and he shoved me into a cold, damp cell. I hit the ground hard, the impact jarring my bones. I quickly scrambled to my feet, glaring at him.

“You think this will break me?” I spat, my voice dripping with defiance.

Aurelio sneered. “You’re already broken, skank! Just a matter of time before you realize it.”

He slammed the heavy iron door shut and locked it with a heavy clank. I was alone again, in the darkness, with nothing but my thoughts for company.

Vincenzo didn't stop to give any other sly remark, he simply walked past the cell. In the distance, I heard him bark instructions to his men, then I heard people hurrying about, their footsteps echoing in the darkness.

The beatings, the cold, the rejection, the constant humiliation, all of it crashed on me in a single wave and my feminine wish to scream and cry pressed even harder, but crying would only strip me of my will to fight.

And I refused to give in.

“You're Eustacia Debra Salvatore, and you can't be a prisoner here– not for long!” I repeated the words in my head.

The cell was small and dark, with only a tiny window high up on the wall, but it was past midnight and there was no light. I sat on the cold floor, wrapping my arms around my knees. My body ached from the constant abuse.

That was my last chance! I should have handled it better!

“Fucking Mancinis!” I hissed angry, kicking and punching the cold air.

I'd loved him for so long, my father did so much for him and his family, taught him to survive this cold, cruel world. But he turned around and killed my father, ditched and humiliated me at the altar and rejected me only to end up with that lowlife bitch.

And now I'm their captive.

I thought of Vincenzo, with his cold eyes and cruel smile. He believed he could tame me. Oh, how wrong he was! I’d only seen his face thrice in my life, at the wedding, when his brother handed me to him like a sack of shit, and today.

But that was enough for me to deduce that he's even more annoying than his brother.

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footsteps approaching. I tensed and stood up abruptly. The door creaked open, and Aurelio stepped in, a blinding flashlight in hand, his expression grim.

“Come on, it's time!” he ordered. “Boss wants to see you!”

I stood there, my body protesting at every movement, but I didn't move. If Vincenzo wanted to see me, they would have to drag me to him, I'll never do anything he asks willingly.

Aurelio grabbed my arm again, dragging me out of the cell and back up the stairs. Vincenzo was waiting, and so were three SUVs. He stood there, his hand in his pocket and a smug grin on his face.

“Hello, Maleficent, ready?”

My eyes narrowed, “Maleficent?”

“Don't tell me you haven seen the movie. That's weird because your face is right next to it if you look it up.”

I'd never felt so insulted, but I had no time to respond because he gave Aurelio a single nod and he dragged me to one of the cars, opened the passenger side and shoved me inside then slammed the door shut.

It's not like I was going to escape with my hands cuffed anyway.

I sat for a while watching as Vincenzo discussed in low tones with Aurelio, then the dread pooling in the pit of my stomach intensified when he rounded the car and slipped into the driver's seat next to me.

Without a word, he turned on the ignition and steered the car out of the compound, and into the dark night, the other two cars followed but they surprisingly took an opposite route from the one Vincenzo took.

“Where are we going?”

A muscle twitched in his jaw, it's obvious that he's pondering whether or not to respond, but after a minute’s silence, he shrugged. “We're going for a show and you happen to be the main character.”

“What show?”

He cocked his eyebrows then shook his head, “You've done this a couple of times yourself, do you normally tell your captives what to expect?”

“I've only done this once before–”

“To my brother.” He cut in.

“Half brother, you bastard!” It was a deliberate attempt to piss him off.

Every family in Region Mafia Men across the world had heard of him. Vincenzo Mancini, the son Don Cosimo Mancini didn't know he had until he came to Chicago ten years ago.

But surprisingly, this cute little devil had made a name for himself in the slums of the Chicago underworld before Mancini could finally give him a name– and a title.

I give it to him, his charms as a Mancini were undeniable, Vincenzo did inherit those devilish eyes, that dark aura and the coldness, but also the hatred I have for his family now.

His phone bleeped before he could respond to my insult and he whipped it out of his pocket, eyes glaring at me from the side mirror.

“I’m listening!” He barked into the phone. He listened for just a minute, hung up the phone and tossed it aside, “Fuck!” he hissed.

I glanced at him, confused. His grip on the steering wheel tightened and so did his jaw, he stepped on the break and the car made a jarring sound as he doubled speed, I jerked forward and crashed my head into the headrest.

Not again, I'll die of headache before he kills me.

A single shot rang suddenly, hitting the car squarely on the side. Again, he steered the car off the road and again, I slammed my head against the glass.

“I don't know if you've noticed it, but I don't have a fucking seatbelt on!” I snapped angrily. “If the headache doesn't kill me, the speed will.”

“There's a fucking seatbelt right there!” he snapped back without glancing at me, whoever was chasing us was really closing in.

“Are you blind?” I retorted, “I’m handcuffed and barely able to move my fucking wrists, you're driving at a break neck speed and gunshots are barely missing my head!”

“Works as well!”

“For a Mancini, that'll be a cheap kill, you know?”

He glared at me through the mirror and I returned his gaze with the same intensity, I'll go blind before I blink first. When another shot struck my side of the glass, Vincenzo exhaled sharply.

He reached into his pocket, produced a small key and unlocked my cuffs in a heartbeat, one hand still on the steering. I flexed my wrists and quickly snapped the seatbelt in place, then I glanced at the door, and a single thought crossed my mind.

“Don't even think about it!” Vincenzo warned.

“And I'm supposed to obey you?”

He leaned forward, his gaze smoldering, “In case you haven't noticed, we're currently being tailed by Barruciano soldiers, you slip out of that car, if the impact doesn't kill you, their guns would.

“And if I manage to escape both of that?”

“Then they'll take you–”

“Fine by me!” I interrupted immediately, trying the door handle. His brows lift, I could tell he was pissed that I was distracting him in the middle of a hot chase.

“Trust me, you don't want to find out.”

“How am I to know I'll not enjoy being their slave than yours if I don't try.”

He snatched his gun out of its holster in an instant and pointed it at my head, his finger just a heartbeat away from the trigger. “Because you're with me, Maleficent, which automatically makes you an enemy of the Barrucianos.”

“They’ll know my father–”

“Your father didn't exactly have the correct track record now, did he?”

He had a point. The Barrucianos was a territory Region Mafia Men had never managed to conquer, they were barbaric, uncouth men who you could liken to rogues.

I wouldn't want to land in their hands.

I sat up and looked peaked behind, “We're fucking outnumbered!”

Vincenzo relaxed a bit at my use of ‘we’ because that explained I had put my plans to jump out on hold– for now. “I see that!”

“Hand me a gun!” I yelled.

He glared at me, his blue eyes gleaming in the near dark night. “What? You think I'm stupid?”

I glared at him, “So what? You dragged me into Barruciano territory to get me killed?”

“They were not supposed to be here!”

“So much for a fucking Capo! Now hand me a fucking gun!”

He glared at me for a moment, “And how am I to know you won't use it on me?” His eyes flickered with suspicion.

“I might.” I answered sincerely.

“Exactly. Now sit your ass down!”

Another shot neatly got the tire, almost steering us off the road. This time, I didn’t wait for him, I reached into his side drawer and snatched an AR-15 rifle, the cold metal of the gun giving me a sense of power I hadn’t felt in a long time.

I locked eyes with Vincenzo and his eyes flashed with a dangerous glint as his fingers rounded the trigger of his gun.

A single, well calculated shot without missing and I’ll be free— at least from him.