Chapter 10 - The Reckoning
|
The basement of the Moretti estate was a place where problems disappeared permanently.
Brody sat strapped to a heavy metal chair in the center of the windowless room, shivering violently under the harsh fluorescent lights. The arrogant bravado he had displayed on the driveway had completely vanished, replaced by sheer, unadulterated terror.
The heavy steel door groaned open.
Lorenzo walked in, wearing his immaculate suit, looking entirely unbothered by the damp, chilling atmosphere of the basement. He pulled up a wooden chair and sat directly in front of Brody.
"Please, man, I didn't mean any disrespect," Brody babbled hysterically, thrashing against the heavy zip-ties securing his wrists. "I just wanted to see Nora! I made a mistake leaving her, I swear!"
"You didn't make a mistake, Brody," Lorenzo said smoothly, resting his elbows on his knees. "You made a calculated decision to save yourself from the loan sharks you owed fifty thousand dollars to. You left a young, pregnant woman to face men who break legs for a living."
Brody’s face drained of color. "How... how do you know about that?"
"I know everything that happens in my city," Lorenzo stated quietly. "I know the men you owed money to. In fact, I bought your debt this morning the moment my security cameras identified your license plate at my gate."
Brody’s eyes widened in horror. He didn't just owe loan sharks anymore. He owed the head of the Moretti syndicate.
"I'll pay you back! I promise!" Brody sobbed.
"You don't have fifty thousand dollars, Brody," Lorenzo noted dismissively. "But that isn't why you came here today, is it? You found out Nora was living in my estate. You assumed she had access to my wealth. You came here to extort her."
Brody clamped his mouth shut, his silence a damning confession.
"You thought you could threaten her with custody battles, hoping she would pay you off to go away," Lorenzo continued, his voice dropping into a lethal, terrifying register. "You thought you could use the child you abandoned as leverage against a woman under my protection."
Lorenzo stood up slowly, picking up a heavy pair of silver pliers from a nearby metal table.
"Please! No!" Brody screamed, thrashing wildly.
"I am not going to kill you, Brody," Lorenzo said coldly, tossing the pliers back onto the table with a loud clatter that made the man flinch. "Killing you would be too merciful for the pain you caused her."
Lorenzo leaned down, his face inches from the terrified coward.
"You are going to sign a legally binding document relinquishing all parental rights to the child immediately," Lorenzo commanded. "Then, my men are going to put you on a freighter bound for the most miserable, desolate labor camp in Eastern Europe. You will spend the rest of your pathetic life working off your debt in a freezing mine, and if you ever attempt to contact Nora again, the people running the camp will ensure you die very slowly."
May you like
Brody sobbed, nodding frantically. "I'll sign! I'll sign whatever you want! Just don't kill me!"
Lorenzo turned and walked out of the room, leaving the coward to his fate. He had eliminated the last ghost haunting Nora’s past.
