Page 277 of Dante
"Little brother." His voice is hoarse. Cracked. "Come to finish what you started?"
I step closer. My boots echo against the floor.
My hand moves before I can think. The punch connects with his jaw. His head snaps to the side. Blood sprays from his split lip.
He laughs.
"There he is." He spits blood onto the floor. "There's the monster Giuseppe made."
"Giuseppe didn't make me." I grab his chin and force him to look at me. "You did. The night you murdered my family. The night you left a twelve-year-old boy hiding in a closet, listening to his mother die."
"You won't kill me." His voice wavers. Just slightly. "I'm your blood. Your brother."
"You stopped being my brother the moment you pulled that trigger."
I press a blade against his chest. Not deep enough to kill. Just deep enough to hurt.
He screams.
The sound echoes off the warehouse walls. Bounces back. Fills the space with his pain.
I drag the knife down. Slow. Controlled. A thin line of red follows the blade.
"This is for my mother."
Another cut. Parallel to the first.
"This is for my father."
A third cut. Deeper this time.
"This is for Lucio."
Alejandro's screams turn into sobs. His body jerks against the chains. Blood runs down his chest in rivulets, dripping onto the concrete below.
I step back and examine my work.
Three lines. Three lives. Three people who deserved better than what he gave them.
But I'm not done.
I set the knife down and pick up a pair of pliers.
"You're going to tell me everything," I say. "Every job Giuseppe gave you. Every family you destroyed. Every child you orphaned."
Alejandro's eyes widen. "I don't remember?—"
I grab his left hand and position the pliers around his index finger.
"Then I'll help you remember."
The snap of bone echoes through the warehouse.
Alejandro screams again. Louder this time. More desperate.
Behind me, Bruno shifts his weight. Nico remains perfectly still.
Neither of them tells me to stop.
