Page 56 of The Beast Who Broke Me
I wish I could figure that out.
“It’s good,” I say in surprise around my mouthful.
He grins. “Of course it’s good.”
But I put the spoon down and give an up-nod. “Our mark is moving.”
We give Stuccio a thirty-second start, and then we head after him. When we get into the bathroom, Stuccio’s at a urinal but doesn’t glance over.
I come up behind him and shove his head into the tiled wall.
Caligula stays at the door, which opens a few seconds after us, and he shoves it closed, saying “Cleaning,” briefly to the man who tried to enter. Then he wedges his heel up against the door and stands against it so that no one else can come in. Meanwhile, Stuccio is already stammering out threats and bluster, his dick dribbling all over his pants.
“Hello, Uncle Tony,” Caligula says. “Fancy meeting you here.”
“What do you want?” he gasps out.
“Information. That’s all. And as long as you give it to me, you won’t get hurt.”
“I don’t owe you or your Family any more favors,” Stuccio insists, as though it’ll make any difference.
“I’m not here for a favor. I’m collecting a debt. My father was your friend. He trusted you with everything, but when I needed you the most, you turned your back on me.” He says it all cold as ice, and then pauses to let it sink in. “You’re not stupid enough to think that it wouldn’t come back to bite you, surely?”
It doesn’t seem to matter that Caligula is halfway across the bathroom. Stuccio is still terrified of him. Even more terrified than he is of me, and I’m the one pressing his face harder and harder into the tile. “What do you want to know?” he asks.
“Where is my cousin Tiberius Vicario living these days?”
“I have no idea!”
“But you told my friend here that Tiberius was next in line after me. Surely you did your due diligence and found an address for him after someone started killing off my kin?”
“Why would I?You’restill alive,” he protests.
“Then I guess you’d better get looking,” Caligula says with a smile that should freeze the blood in Tony Stuccio’s veins. “Because I need that information—and you’re the man who’s going to get it for me.”
Oh, he’s Nonno Lou’s grandson, alright. This kid might be a twenty-one-year-old virgin who never got involved, never got his hands dirty, but if I don’t watch it…
He’s going to rise again.
“I’ll find him,” Stuccio promises, voice quivering. “I’ll find him for you.”
“See that you do,” Caligula says, as I pull Stuccio’s phone from his pocket and make him open it. I call one of my burners so we have his number. “Because if you don’t, Uncle Tony, or if you try to go to the Feds about this, we’ll have to pay you a visit again. And as delightful as our conversations have been so far, I don’t think you want to see me a third time.”
I pull Tony off the wall and shove him away. “Get out of here,” I growl at him.
“But wash your hands first, Uncle Tony,” Caligula adds. “Hygiene is so important.”
He watches Stuccio wash his shaking hands and dry them, and then warily approach the door.
“One week, Uncle Tony,” the Clemenza says politely, opening the door for him. “If I haven’t heard from you by then—” He breaks off and shakes his head sadly.
Stuccio practically sprints out the door.
“I hope he remembered to put his dick away before he went back out there,” Caligula says after he’s gone, a gleam in his eye.
He enjoys this. He might like having me do his dirty work for him, but he enjoys having power. Wielding it over others.
“Well, we have a crème caramel waiting for us out there,” he goes on cheerfully.
