2. Matteo

Chapter 2

Matteo

I watched her leave… run away from me like a scared rabbit being chased by a fox.

Although I'd known Liliana Johnson had been seeking me out, had known from the very first time she uttered my name, I'd waited and watched to see how things would play out.

Bringing her to Butcher and Sons , an abandoned slaughterhouse that was now only used for illicit affairs and unsavory ventures, had done what I'd intended it to—scare the hell out of her.

But despite her being surrounded by this death, she had been so fucking pretty.

She was gorgeous, a shining light next to all the dust and gore, decay, and age of this fucking warehouse.

It was a death hole. A cemetery.

It was my butcher block.

"Luca," I barked out, and the man who worked for me opened the door a second later.

Luca, the big fucker that he was, had to turn to the side to enter the doorway. He was a behemoth of a bastard, topping in at seven feet tall and weighing over three-hundred pounds of pure muscle.

I'd found him on the streets of Rome two decades ago, both of us homeless orphans who'd been committing petty crimes just to survive.

Back then, he'd been tall and lanky… starving and beat up because he constantly got into fights.

We'd both realized how alike we were, that the world had created us into these deviants and monsters who would do anything and everything to stay above water.

And as we grew older and I built my empire, Luca had been the logical choice to be my second-in-command.

Irritation consumed every cell in my body at the fact Liliana came to me, wanting to sell her pussy to help those pieces of shit men she called family.

I was even more upset over the fact they had hurt her, that she had a mark on that pretty, porcelain skin. I felt murderous.

"I want you to find and bring in Derek and Logan Johnson," I said to Luca, my voice low, deadly, as I thought about all the ways I'd kill them. Nice and slow. Painfully. Because I knew for a fucking fact that bruise on her eye weren't the only time one of those bastards had hurt her.

Luca gave a deep grunt in acknowledgment. Although he knew English fluently, he rarely spoke it, and when he did, it was as derogatory terms and swearwords.

He didn't wait for me to say anything else, just turned and left to follow my orders.

It was time to put this shit to rest, to clear those motherfuckers' slates where I was concerned. I curled my hands tightly into fists, hearing my knuckles crack, feeling my skin stretch over the new scabs that had formed over them from beating the shit out of a guy two days ago.

One of those fuckers had hit her, left a bruise on her. She tried to hide it and had done a decent job of it, too. But I knew when someone was trying to mask abuse and violence. I lived with it before I killed my father for doing the same to me.

And knowing that someone had laid their hands on her stoked a fire inside of me I'd never experienced before. I didn't know if I liked feeling this way over a woman. She was becoming a weakness, and I didn't fucking allow myself to have any of those.

What was it about her that made me… want her so fucking badly?

The innocence that clearly surrounded her? The fact she was a survivor like I was?

She was beautiful, but beautiful things constantly surrounded me, so her outside appearance wasn't the beacon that drew me in.

It was just… her .

I curled my hands into fists again and relaxed them. I did this repeatedly until I felt that rage in me level out so I could think more clearly.

There was this demon within me, one who wanted blood and violence and revenge.

And I was going to give the fucker a bloodbath.

A n hour later, I leaned against the wall in a back room of Butcher and Sons, staring at Derek and Logan strung up from a metal beam that ran across the ceiling.

It had been easy enough finding where the two scumbags had been. Even if I didn't run half this fucking town, Derek and Logan always frequented the same hole-in-the wall and cum-stained floor establishments in Desolation.

Luca and another one of my soldiers had already given the two fuckers a beating. Their blood dripped onto the stained concrete floor. Bruises littered their faces, arms, and chests.

Derek, her father, looked worse for wear out of the two. When I first came into the room, I thought the bastard was dead.

Both had their arms above their heads, a piece of rope secured around their wrists. Logan was passed out, but Derek was mumbling, pleading in between taking gurgling, wet-sounding breaths.

Luca and my other soldier were off to the side, waiting for instructions from me.

I unbuttoned my cuffs and rolled the dark material of my dress shirt up my forearms. I'd taken off my suit jacket and tie when they'd first arrived, the clothing slung over the worktable that held an assortment of torture implements.

I walked over to the rusted table pushed against the far wall and bent down to grab the bucket on the ground beside it that held murky water that was probably a mix of bodily fluids, if I were being honest.

Once I had it in hand, I went over to Logan and didn't wait another second to toss that shit on his face to wake his ass up.

Derek tried to lean away from the spray of fermented water just as Logan sputtered awake.

I cursed at the foul-smelling liquid and took a step back.

"Fuck, Luca," I snapped. "Did you piss in this bucket?"

Luca grunted and tipped his head toward Milo, showing it was the other man who'd done that.

"Drink more water, fucker," I gritted out to Milo. The crazy bastard just grinned and pulled a cigarette out of his jacket pocket.

"Got some discards from the butcher shop in town. Threw it in there for good measure." Milo said.

If I had a weak stomach, that might have made me lose my lunch, but I chuckled and said, "Well played."

I went back over to the table and ran my fingers over the various instruments of torture I'd be using on these assholes.

I picked up a pair of brass knuckles, slipped them on, and moved back to the two fuckheads.

"You know why I brought you here?" I asked Derek as I stared at the brass covering my knuckles. He said nothing coherently. I glanced up and cocked an eyebrow.

Derek opened his mouth, sputtering a few times before he found his voice. "I know we owe you money, and I swear we'll get it to you. We've just been trying to win it back?—"

I held up my hand, stopping him from running his mouth.

"That's not why I brought you here today." And it wasn't, really. I didn't miss how Luca's brows pulled down slightly in confusion or how Milo cocked his head to the side in curiosity.

I ran my finger over the metal, the brass rough from the various times I used it to beat the shit out of men who crossed me.

"I had someone come visit me. Someone you two pieces of shit know very well." If the two douchebags could have looked at each other in confusion, I'm sure they would have done so at that moment. But as it was, they could barely keep their fucking heads up.

"Liliana came by trying to save your worthless asses." I stared at both of them, thinking back to her in my office and feeling my anger rise. "Wanted to sell her ass to me to save you fuckers."

"She'll do it. She's a good girl?—"

I backhanded Logan before he could say anything else that would further piss me off.

"I declined her offer." Both men groaned and strained against their bonds. "I may be the worst of the worst, but I won't let her take the fall for you two fuckers." I ran the brass knuckles along Logan's shirt, wiping off his blood. "One of you two hit her."

I felt the room still, knowing Luca watched me closely. I wasn't known to give two shits about what anyone said or did. Although I didn't hurt women or children, I also wasn't tolerant when it came to taking out someone who looked at me the wrong way.

"And I have to tell you…" I paused and ground my teeth, curled my hands into fists, and gritted out, "seeing that bruise on her face pissed me the fuck off." I exhaled but kept my fists curled tightly into balls. "That's why you two are here. I'm gonna find out which one of you hit her this time, and then I'm gonna fucking kill you before I kill the other one."

Derek opened his mouth, presumably to plead for his life, but I swung out and connected the brass with his face.

Derek's head cracked back, and he groaned. His cheek split open, and blood slid down his face to soak into his torn and tattered shirt.

"That was the light one. I'm just getting warmed up, assholes."

"Did Liliana ask you to stop? Beg you to?" I said through clenched teeth.

Derek sputtered and tipped his head toward Logan. "H-He was the one," he wheezed out.

My vision went wavy, red saturating everything in front of me. Before I knew what I was doing, my fists were working in tandem to clock both motherfuckers repeatedly.

"He'll die from blood loss or shock if you don't slow down."

I heard Luca's voice, and his words penetrated the hazy rage filling me. I forced myself to take a step back. I was breathing hard when I came back to my senses.

"You're right," I breathed out, not realizing until that moment how out of breath I was or how much blood covered me. "I better end this now before these fuckers pass out and can't feel how I make the last seconds of their lives even more painful."

I tossed my brass knuckles away and walked over to the rusted and dented table and grabbed a ten-inch serrated knife. I eyed it, turned to face Derek and Logan, and grinned as I walked over to the fuckers.

Derek was worse for wear out of the two, and Logan was struggling to breathe now as he eyed me. I could hear the liquid in every breath he took, likely blood filling his lungs.

"I need to be quick," I said conversationally. "Sounds like you're about to suffocate on your own fluids."

Because Derek was half conscious, I stepped up to Logan and gripped his chin, turning his swollen and beaten face up, so I forced him to look at me.

I inhaled, feeling my nostrils flare as I bared my teeth.

"If you had only owed me money and hadn't put your hands on Liliana, I would have made your death far quicker." I smelled the sweat and piss pouring off of him.

I took the blade and ran it along each side of the asshole's face. The skin opened up instantly, and Logan screamed in pain.

"I want to make you and your dad's death slow and painful, but I know you're too close to death as it is." I leaned in and snarled, "And I want you with it enough to know you're dying."

I stabbed Logan in the gut and heard the wet gurgle of his cry.

"Your death won't make her forget how you two ruined her fucking life, but it'll make me feel better and ensure she's safe. Luca," I whispered. "use the smelling salts on Derek. I want him lucid when this all goes down."

"Matteo," Luca said, and I looked over at the man I'd known—the man I'd been closer to than anyone else—and narrowed my eyes. I could see the confusion on his face.

"Don't fucking say it, Luca," I snarled. I wasn't in the fucking mood for anyone to question my motives, least of all the only person I'd ever given two shits about.

Until now.

Luca's nostrils flared as if he wanted to say something, but he clenched his jaw and looked away.

I slammed the blade right under Derek's ribs, knowing I only had seconds before he died. He gurgled, struggled fruitlessly, and as I leaned in and stared into Derek's eyes, I smiled slowly as I watched the life leave him.

Derek made one last desperate plea for life, a sharp inhale of breath, and then he was gone. Logan made an inaudible sound, one a wounded animal would make when it knew it was about to die.

I turned my attention to him and said in a low voice, "You're next, motherfucker."

The silence that filled the room was deafening, but there was also this release that seemed to flow from me like I'd never felt before.

I took a step back and looked down at the knife, the blade dripping red, viscous fluid onto the cracked and stained concrete floor.

When I lifted my head and looked at Derek's lifeless form, I inhaled sharply, smelling the coppery tang of blood that filled my nose.

A nudge to my side had me looking toward Luca, who held out a bottle of vodka to me. I drank the alcohol until nothing was left, until my throat was numb and my belly full, my head feeling light. I moved the blade up, opening up the prick's stomach like a hot knife going through butter, and pulled it out. Blood dripped from it, landing on my loafers.

"Finish him. Slowly," Luca said and grinned, and I felt my pulse race as I faced off with the other man. All I saw was Liliana. All I saw was the way she wanted to save these fuckers, to sell herself to me and save them.

Fuck them.

I saw red for a long time, until someone pulled me back, and I was staring at the mutilated and sliced up body of Logan, barely hanging from the rafter, a huge puddle of blood below both men and spreading.

"Shit," Milo said as he came closer and eyed the corpses before whistling low. "What the fuck am I supposed to do with the bodies?" Milo pushed at Logan's chest with one finger, causing his body to swing from the ropes.

"Take them to the outskirts of town to the abandoned industrial district. There's twenty acres. I'm sure you can find some place for them," I said in a deep voice.

"You sure no one will come looking for them?" Milo pushed at Logan again, chuckling low when a squirt of blood came out of the gash in the side of his neck.

"Who the fuck cares if anyone comes looking?" I snapped, baring my teeth. "You do as you're fucking told. Understand?"

Milo snapped his head up and looked at me, his throat working as he swallowed. He gave a sharp nod and stepped back, looking at the floor in a subservient gesture.

Motherfucker.

The sound of a lighter swishing open filled my ears, and I watched Luca light the end of a cigarette.

"What?" Luca said from around his cigarette, shrugging.

"Those things will kill you," Milo chimed in, and we both looked at him, a moment of silence filling the room before Milo cleared his throat and focused on the floor again.

I walked over to the sink and washed my hands, watching the blood run down the brown-colored drain. "Get these fuckers in the ground. I have shit to do tonight."

And with that, I dried off my hands, grabbed the duffle Luca brought that had a change of clothes for me, and left Butcher and Sons .

What I'd done tonight solidified Liliana's fate.

It meant she was mine.