"Hmmm, I see. Where will they keep my stolen stash?" Cordello asked the almost unrecognizable figure of a young man tied to a chair. His face were bruised from several blows. Blood drips from his forehead and broken lips. Three of them had broken into one of Cordello's warehouse and stolen his stash. They were from one of the gangs in the neighborhood . The others escaped and he was the only one caught
"Do you have idea the worth of cocaine you and your maggot friends stole?" He asked him but continued his speech. " Of course you don't."
Cordello folds the hems of his sleeves. His boys has been beating him non stop but he won't say a word. He's going to take over from them now to see if the boy would still hold up his ends of keeping quiet. He walked to the the tools on the table. Fixing the red skull knuckle duster in both fingers he walked towards the boy who was now shifting uncomfortably on the seat as if that would shield him from the man towering him. Cordello was indeed a very tall and huge latino man with black shoulder length hair. The stubble On his face added to his handsome look. Other days he'd prefer to leave his hair falling on his back but today he means business so he packed his hair at the mane and held it in place with a hair band and whenever he does that, that shit don't always go well. No matter how well trained you are to resist the urge to talk when tortured, you will definitely talk once he tortures you. You just will definitely spill. He move closer to the boy and drag his chair so that it was facing him. "Now boy how much did they pay you to keep this up?" The guy looked at Cordello briefly before lowering his face. He punched him in his lower abdomen and the guy groaned, he followed it with two punches in the same place but this time on both sides and he screamed. He hasn't even started yet but he can already see him breaking.
A tall man came in, he knew better than to interrupt because Cordello sees this moment as a ritual. One he called ' cleansing the enemy's demon'. He believes no matter how toughly trained you are, he Cordello can break you . He cleared his throat loud enough for only his ears before he spoke. His voice raised so it becomes louder than the voice of the screaming man.
" Boss, someone's here to ...."
"I'm fucking busy. " Cordello jumped down his throat and as the man took some steps back, Cordello's eyes followed his movement until he caught sight of someone behind him. " Marissa?" His face lite up a little but was immediately changed into a scowl. " You know better than to be here." He told her before removing the knuckles and giving them to the guy who came in with the message to continue from where he stopped. He walked past her heading towards the exit and she followed him.
At the balcony he stood looking over the beautiful view ahead. green grasses forming a carpet on the ground, a stream flowing right through at the middle and few evergreen trees added to the beauty of the landscape. The stream was an extension of a fountain in the hills of Vada which was a forty-five minutes journey on foot from where he was. He never regretted buying the land. He turned when he heard her footsteps. He stared at her admiring her body. That waist- the way she sways it left and right has never ceased to turn him on. She hasn't age a bit. She was meant for him. He had had a taste of her and never want to let go until that man, the man...
It was not until she cleared her throat that he knew how close she was to him. His damn mind.
"Why are you here?" He ask in a tone devoid of any emotions.
"That was not the welcome I was expecting but thanks for letting me see you. Your men were at our street over the weekend and they said they want my son to join the gang or we'll loose our house and my daughter will be raped."
"So?" He asked nonchalantly.
"I want you to please tell them to leave us alone?"
"And why would I do that?"
"You owe my late husband that much, he saved your business when no one else did and.."
"At what cost ? He took you away from me."
"No you made a choice. You chose your business over me" she fired back." You never knew my worth. Kent did and while you were running after money he was doing all he could to win my heart. And I don't ever regret marrying him because last I checked you've been married and divorced three times. Now imagine that I married you. Would we have been divorced already? He didn't want to be angry but her word hits him like a tornado. Before he knew it he had his hand encircled on her neck and kissed her deeply. She force herself from his hold and gave him a resounding slap. The impact of the slap was so strong that it forced him to look the other way. He turned to look at her. His left cheek already red having the mark of her five fingers.
" I think I'm done being nice, if my boys feels your son would be a good addition to my gang then so be it."
"Not while I'm alive, Cordello." She hissed. " You took everything away from us. Kent extended a hand of friendship to you but you betrayed him. I knew about everything but I still let you have your way. The least you can do is tell your boys to let us be."
"At least you still have a roof over your head, meaning I haven't taken everything. Perhaps" he said adjusting himself. "if you let us go back to how we were before 'a Kent' came and separated us, then I will ask them to leave you and your kids alone."
"Never. Whatever we had was in the past and it will stay that way."
" Well then since I can't have you, it's going to be just like you said, I will always choose my business over you." He walked away from her and when he was four feet away turned around and told her " don't ever come here to see me again."
I was such a fool to think he would help me. He has only cared about himself and no one else. Sometimes I wonder how I met someone like him and to even think we shared beds many times. My biggest mistake was knowing this man. I can't believe a monster like him was once my lover. I finally forced myself out of his compound as the air there was suddenly too tight for me.
I was almost home when I got a call . I picked once I saw who it was.
" Mom, they are here." she said followed by a scream. I spoke hello twice but heard no voice
Her tensed voice and the fact she was not responding had me hastening my steps home. When I got home I met everywhere turned upside down. The tv was smashed along with a few porcelain vases.
"What happened?" I asked even though I knew who it might be.
"Cordello's goons. " Jamie answered
"They said something about a tip of the iceberg." Ben added. Rose had her arms encompassing the very scared Jenner.
"Are you all ok?" I asked and they all noded.
*******
It's been a month since I went to Cordello's place. Perhaps I shouldn't have gone because my visit only made things worse for I and my kids. Cordello's boys were either coming to our house to harass us or they go through our stuffs and pick any valuable items. At these point we had almost nothing valuable in the house except our clothes and the roof over our heads. I knew what he was trying to do. To make Life miserable and unbearable for I and my kids to the point I'll come running to him. I'm not young for that life anymore. I live now for my kids. Even if I had a little feeling for him, this very action stirred up every anger in me.
" Mom, I think we should move out of this neighborhood." Ben said drawing my attention .
I pat the space besides me and motioned him to sit down. " Even if I want to, we don't have enough money. Moving to the city is a good idea but honestly I can't afford house rent and other stuffs. Cost of living is way up high there."
"What about dad's family? We can go to them for help." I gave him a weak smile. Kent family had never liked me. The moment he died they cut him off his father's inheritance, why? Because of me. They saw a gold digger not just in me but also in my kids, their own late brother's kids and Cordello was their useful tools in taking the mansion and everything Kent willed to us.
"You speak like you don't know dad's family never liked us. " Jenner answered as she came out from her room. It was just the three of us at home. Rose had gone to school and from there she'll go to work her afternoon shift and she won't be back until evening. Recently Jamie has been becoming distant. Whenever I try to talk to him he either complains he wants to sleep or he's about going out. We heard our neighbors screamed outside and we ran out to see what it was. To our horror Jamie was being beaten by Cordello's boys. The moment they saw me they left him for their car and drove off while we rushed to the badly injured Jamie.