Secession: A Mafia Boss Series, Installment #2

Chapter 6 ~ Quick Death

~Victor POV~

Within fifteen minutes, Lorenzo and my close advisors walked into my office. Nicolai then enters, flagged by three of my soldiers, Cas, Joe and Mike. His hands were bound with zip-ties.

Nicolai’s eyes widened in amusement when he saw me and his mother sitting in the living room area on the left side of the room.

I silently signaled to Lorenzo, and he pulled out his pocketknife and removed Nicolai’s restraints.

“Oh, thank you little bro!” Nicolai teases. Lorenzo remained stoic and unceremoniously signaled for him to sit down on the sofa across from us.

Nicolai glared at Lorenzo. “Wow, does he ask permission to fart too,” Nicolai said, directed at me although staring Lorenzo down with disdain, probably not liking the fact that his baby brother was no longer running after him as his number one fan. I saw Lorenzo give him a menacing smirk but remained silent.

I chuckled over the exchange, gaining Nicolai’s attention. “Nicolai, a lot has change since you were last here. One of which is that Lorenzo is not a little bro to anyone. He’s my number two and we both know that doesn’t happen by accident, blood, or blind loyalty,” I said directly, not leaving anything to ambiguity.

Nicolai laughs, “In this family, being a number two means s**t, brother. If you think you are next in line for anything but a bullet to your back, you would be mistaken.”

I responded, “A number two must be trusted.”

Nicolai spats out, “Trust must be earned!”

I stared Nicolai down and said, “Exactly!”

I then nodded at my men, and they all backed away, standing along the wall behind the sofa with their hands on their holsters. I saw Nicolai take a backward glance, giving off a sly little smile before taking a seat on the sofa across from me and Aunt Lita.

I resumed, “What are your intentions here, cousin? Especially since at every turn, these past few months, as always, you are the loser.”

I could see Nicolai's eyes flare in anger for a mere second before it was gone. He gave off a smile that did not reach his eyes, but before he retorted, “Cousin---”

I cut him off, “It’s Don Bernardi.”

Nicolai chuckled and with a mocking facial expression and a wave of his hand he said, “Don Bernardi, this family is the loser under you. You have made us soft. Now I can concede you have made the family more money and legitimized the Bernardi name among inconsequential people since you took over, but in that our men have become too comfortable. They are now businessmen and not killers. They don’t know how to fight and there will be a day that an adversary will swoop in with more money, more muscle, more guts, and we will be too weak to fight because we have forgotten how.”

I smiled, “Nicolai, I guarantee you; you will be sorely disappointed if you or anyone else think that the Bernardi Mafia family is too soft to exact justice. Killing is in our blood, more specifically it is in my blood, so that is not a skill that will ever be lost,” I said, eyeing him down. I continued. “I’m willing to give you a demonstration, but Aunt Lita has made an ask of me to spare your life in hopes to bring you back into the fold, allowing you to come back from the wilderness.”

Nicolai remained emotionless.

“Now, you are wondering why I would even entertain this given that you have proven to be a traitor, but nevertheless, Aunt Lita is one of the last remaining Matriarchs of our family and, out of respect for her, I have heard her out. She is putting her life on the line for yours. Your sins are now her sins and if you are unable to be brought back into the fold as a f*****g loyal lapdog, I will put both of you down without hesitation,” I gritted out without mixing any words.

I could see Lorenzo’s eyes widen in silent protest from behind Nicolai. Nicolai remained void of emotion, proving to me that everyone in this house, including his f*****g mother, was a chess piece he was willing to play. I knew my aunt was savvy enough to pick up the nuances and I would hope she now saw her son as the true monster he was, although, I doubted she was not stubborn enough to still try to save him.

My Aunt Lita spoke for the first time, “I appreciate your mercy, Victor, and I trust that Nicolai will have a clearer mind of what it is to be a Bernardi and family loyalty by the time I’m done with him.”

“With all due respect, Aunt Lita, mercy is not what I have given today,” I said ominously, knowing my Aunt Lita, but more importantly Nicolai could read between the lines. “Now, Nicolai, you will be under continuous surveillance in one of my safe houses. If at any time you stray away from that safe house and I am unaware of where you are, or who you are with, or what you are f*****g doing, I will give out an all-point bulletin order to shoot and kill on site. Do you f*****g understand me?” I said firmly.

Nicolai laughed. “Oh, Victor. I’m scared now,” he said mockingly as he stood up, and I saw my men tighten their hands on their guns. He continued. “I never had to hide behind any skirt and that includes my mother’s.” Nicolai’s eyes then widened as if remembering something. “Speaking of skirts, that wife of yours is f*****g hot. I mean with Don Rossi and that big nose and jaw. My God, I bet your heart must have skipped thinking about the dog face she would be. But Cousin, she’s gorgeous! The eyes alone could make you c*m in your pants, and that soft round ass of hers. Uuuumummm, I only felt them once, but I am still thinking about it,” he said with an audible moan followed by a suggestive lick of his lips.

Within seconds, I was up out of my seat with the muzzle of my gun pressed firmly up against Nicolai’s forehead, between his eyes. I gritted out menacingly, “The fastest way to a quick death is coming after my wife.”

Nicolai laughed as Aunt Lita interjected, “Victor, my son never learned how to read a room or when to keep his mouth shut---”

I cut her off. “Well, I can solve that problem right here and now,” I spat without mixing any words.

Aunt Lita said almost pleadingly, a tone I had never heard from her before, “I’ll take care of it. Please, Victor.” My aunt placed a hand on my forearm, and I looked at her for a second before I backed my gun away from Nicolai’s face.

Nicolai’s smirks before turning to look at my men. “Weakness! That is what I’m saying guys. A weak leader who cares about the feelings of women, children and probably f*****g puppies cannot be the f*****g leader of the Bernardi family,” he spat out.

I called out to Nicolai and as he turned his head back to look at me, I delivered a hard jab against his cheek and temple, knocking him out cold. I pulled my hand back, not caring about the searing pain to my knuckles as I heard Aunt Lita gasp in horror. She hurriedly went to Nicolai, who was now sprawled out on the floor of my office. I gritted out to my men, “Take this piece of s**t out of my house. Now!”