Chapter 3 - The Snake in the Alley
|
The rain had turned into a freezing sleet by the time Marco tracked the target down.
I stood in the shadows of a damp, decaying alleyway behind a Russian nightclub in Brighton Beach. The neon lights reflected off the puddles, casting a sickly red glow over the wet brick.
Marco had the man pinned against a rusted dumpster. The street thug was breathing heavily, his face bruised from Marco’s initial greeting. Just as Emma had described, a dark, coiled snake tattoo wrapped around his right wrist.
I stepped out of the shadows, my expensive overcoat ruined by the sleet.
The thug looked up, his arrogant sneer faltering the moment he recognized my face. He had expected to deal with my soldiers. He never expected the head of the Castellano family to handle a street-level dispute personally.
"Dominic Castellano," the thug spat, trying to maintain his bravado. "Kolov said you wouldn't have the stomach to come down here yourself."
"Kolov is a man who hides behind cheap muscle to beat up women," I said softly, closing the distance until I was inches from his face. "I prefer to handle my garbage directly."
"We sent you a message," the man sneered, his eyes darting to Marco. "Hand over the southern ports, or next time, we don't stop hitting her."
I didn't yell. I didn't pull a weapon. I simply reached out and took hold of his right wrist—the one bearing the snake tattoo. I applied pressure, my grip locking like a vice.
"You made two mistakes tonight," I whispered, feeling the bones in his wrist begin to groan under my grip. "First, you assumed my legitimate business model meant I had forgotten how to be violent."
The man gasped, trying to pull away, but Marco held his shoulders firmly against the metal dumpster.
"Second," I continued, my voice dropping into a lethal, vibrating register. "You touched something that belongs to me."
May you like
With a sudden, brutal twist, I snapped his wrist. The sharp crack of bone echoed loudly in the alleyway, followed instantly by his agonizing scream.
"Marco," I said, stepping back and wiping my hands on a silk handkerchief. "Find out exactly which safehouse Kolov is operating from. Then, break his other arm."
