Page 69 of A Seed Of Peril
“You wanna reach Dante, don't you?”
“But why would I talk to Luigi…” Dominic said. His thoughts trailed off, coming to a grim realization.
“Those strange men,” I said, turning and facing Dominic, beating him to it. “That attack… It wasn’t a coincidence. They knew where I would be. When. Someone had to tell these guys. Someone who knew our schedules.” Thinking back to the days of the incidents, Luigi worked every single one. That still didn’t exactly explain the other missing puzzle piece. “But how wouldheknow? He’s a housekeeper—well, our chef, too, but… I mean, it’s cliche that a maid knows all, but?—”
“There’s someone else,” Dino interrupted, talking his thought out loud.
“Don’t ask me,” Nico interjected, cutting us all off at the pass. “I only know what they want me to know.”
Dominic swiftly fished out his gun from inside his jacket, aimed it at Nico, and then shot him execution style. The silencer lessened the noise, and the padding on the back wall absorbed the bullet.
Blood streamed from the hole burned through Nico Nasuti’s head.
“There’s another mole,” Dominic said as he lowered his arm, holding his gun at his side. As he talked, he looked back and forth between me and Dino. The rage in his eyes as they turned red spoke volumes to his hurt and betrayal and how badly he likely wanted to tear Luigi apart. “Someone else who has ties to Vladislav and wants to bring us down.”
Emotional over our new, greater threat, I swallowed away tears that wanted to spill out, hurriedly wiping away the little bit that did escape.
“How do we find him?”
Our eyes locked. “We start with Filippo.” He turned toward Dino. “And call Angelo.” Dominic walked away. “Tell him he’s in charge of disposing the bodies.”
We stormedout of the basement and headed upstairs, furiously stalking through the foyer and into the kitchen, where Luigi was.
Thankfully, Bianca and Katrina were ushered outside per Dominic’s order before we got upstairs. They didn’t need to witness what we were about to do to the traitor.
The staff on shift, including our new man of the hour, turned to look at us and stood in suspense. It was easy to tell something was wrong by the anger bleeding through our pores and the tension riding our shoulders.
“Get out,” Dominic gritted, low and dangerous. The staff scattered like bugs exposed to bright light, including Luigi. Pointing at Luigi, Dominic bellowed, “Not you!”
Maneuvering through everyone, I hurried to keep up with Dino and Dominic. One second, they were next to me, and in a flash, there was Dino grabbing Luigi from behind by the collar of his jacket.
I couldn’t help but cringe when Dino slammed Luigi’s face onto the counter. Blood poured from his shattered nose as Dino glared straight into his eyes.
“Piece of shit!” He slammed Luigi’s face onto the counter once again before jerking him back to his feet. Wobbly and disoriented, Luigi failed to get a grip on Dino’s wrist, let alone fight him off. “You think we wouldn’t find out, huh!?”
The anxiety of it all made my stomach start to ache. Honestly, while I wasn’t as surprised as I expected since learning that Luigi was working for the enemy, I was taken aback that it had gone undetected for as long as it had.
What drove him to betray us? Was it a dislike for Dominic? Me?No, that wouldn’t make sense. I didn’t trust him from the start. Aside from a mysterious general dislike for me, I didn’t sense any deep-seated hatred.Was it due to Hector trusting me so quickly and, in turn, incorporating me into his inner circle? Did he want a say? Or was Luigi mad that Dominic took over as don?That in itself would’ve come as a complete surprise because it was so damn obvious who was next in line. If he felt any type of way, he should’ve aired his grievances to Hector before he died, not turn on his family, the ones who gave him some kind of sense of belonging. Importance.Was it because he was demoted to one of the chefs?Was it before Hector was killed? Was that the moment Luigi betrayed us? Betrayed his oath to this family?
Just as Dino geared to drive Luigi’s face into the counter for a third time, I blurted out, “Wait!” Dino and Dominic looked at me. Luigi was too fucked up to differentiate his right from his left. “If you kill him now, we’ll be back to square one.”
“Fuck this asshole,” Dino gritted, his eyes burning red.
I walked towards the men, my hand out as I was about to ask Luigi if he even knew his name at this point, but movement to the right caught my eye. Dominic drove a serrated knife into one of Luigi’s kidneys, prompting him to gasp, horror in his features.
“What are you doing!?” I cried out, frustrated with how messy Luigi’s interrogation was. Literally. I went ignored.
“You have sixty seconds, Filippo,” Dominic alerted, his tone dangerous. “I want to know about your involvement with Nico Nasuti and Dante Vitis. Why? When? And if you know a man by the name of Vladislav Aleski.”
Gurgling and choking sounds were all Luigi could make as blood pooled up into his throat and spilled from his mouth. Dominic twisted the knife by a quarter inch, making Luigi groan in agony, his expression pained.
“Talk, Filippo!”
After spitting out blood, Luigi finally made words.
“They needed... Someone on the inside...”
As he began to sag, Dino jerked him back up straight. Another agonizing cry ripped through the kitchen.