"I want him dead! Did you hear me? Dead!"
The room feels suffocating, every word I speak dripping with venomous rage.
"But, sir, he's still a prosecutor! They're going to put us in jail!"
"Is this a joke, Rocco? Which fucking prosecutor snorts more cocaine than everyone in this room put together? He's nothing more than a dead man!"
"Fabrizio Bernoulli is untouchable!" Luca intervenes.
As frustration mounted, I cast my eyes at him. He just so happens to be my cousin, the only one I'm forced to listen to when anger clouds my judgment.
"We can't find him!" Mario, my right hand, informs me. "He must have left the country! It's like he vanished into thin air."
My vision blurs with anger, a red mist descending as fury boils within me. I'm ready to explode. He had the nerve to raid my main warehouse, and those jackals destroyed everything. Does he really expect to get away so easily?
He doesn't know who he's playing with. You can't fucking betray me and expect to slip away with your life unscathed.
We had an agreement.
One I respected all these years. But the scoundrel decided he wanted more, and when he didn't get what he wanted, he turned to the side of the law.
"Fuck! I know that grin!" Luca Marquez, the only relative I have left alive, starts mumbling.
"Mario, I want his address!"
Luca gestures for him to ignore any order and stay put.
"I want that fucking address!" I yell, making everyone look at me like I'm insane. "I need to know everything about that rat! Everything!"
"Calm down, Vic! You won't find anything to help you anyway. That man is like a ghost. Nobody knows anything about his life. We don't even know if that's his real name."
My cousin's words only fuel my anger.
"I think he has a daughter," a strangled voice echoes from the corner of the room.
All eyes turned to the speaker of those magic words. Each of us bore a distinct expression. I am delighted, while Luca is furious.
"I'm listening!"
I place my gun on the desk as a silent warning. I must ensure that those in the room keep their mouths shut while I have this interesting conversation.
"There's a girl named Hellena Bernoulli," he declares in the same choked voice, "in the same class as my younger sister, Sofia. I don't think her last name is a coincidence."
A cruel grin twists my lips.
"I want more!" I shout at him.
"She is in her final year at Saint Louis High School."
"Do you have any idea where I can find her right now?"
"My sister has classes right now, so most likely there."
"Wonderful!"
I rise from my seat, discreetly concealing the gun behind my back.
"Mario, you'll come with me!" I say sharply.
Luca steps in my way like a barrier.
"You are not serious!" Luca shouts, standing in the doorway. "You can't touch her. She's innocent!"
"Innocent or not, she's named after that bastard. It's not my fault that he didn't think about the danger he was putting her in! And what a piece of shit. To run away abandoning his only child."
"What are you going to do?" Luca's words hang heavy in the air.
Mario stops next to us and looks at me with the same face that predicts another murder.
"I'll make sure she doesn't make it till tomorrow."