A/N: I preface my stories with an upfront warning that they are dark, and have adult themes with violence, coarse language, etc, but I want to warn again that this chapter does contain graphic violence. If this is is triggering or something you are not comfortable with, please do not continue.

Song above for the chapter: "Start A War" Klergy with Valerie Broussard

FEDERICO

"You ready?"

I nod and finish the rest of my drink before I put on my jacket. My wound is still sore but the pain reminds me that I'm doing this for her. I glance up at Domani, he's near the elevator of the penthouse with Mostro, waiting for me.

"Have they said anything?"

"They both claim they don't know anything, but the woman cooperated and told us Elenora was with them three days ago," Domani tells me. "But instead of trading the girls to the Irish-Italians they went to the Albanians. She thinks Diego is trying to throw you off."

Three days ago.

And now the Albanians have her. Fuck.

"What else did she say?"

"Diego spared Elenora from their usual preparatory procedures, but they did inject her with a relaxant because she...talked too much," He tells me. I clench my jaw taking in a deep breath, imagining the condition she's currently in.

"The woman said she liked her, she made her laugh and..."

"And what?" We walk into the elevator and descend down to the parking garage.

"She was impressed with Nora's bravery to stand up to Diego in a room full of his men. Nora didn't care what he did to her, and told him that if she died, she would die knowing you would destroy them." My heart clenches causing more pain than my wound.

"Hold on to the woman until I'm finished with Diego and Joaquin."

The drive to the warehouse is quiet as I keep picturing how she looked on our wedding day before everything went to shit. The love and happiness in her eyes was shining throughout her face.

"Did you get any sleep?" Domani's question brings me back to the harsh reality of how different things are now.

"No."

I haven't slept much since I woke up in the hospital. While I was comforted by the fact that her soft scent lingered on the sheets and pillows at the penthouse, the silence of not hearing her heartbeat under me like I had grown used to, or her nightly self conversations, was deafening.

"Did the woman say if Diego touched Elenora?"

"No, but she did say he wanted to see her, for himself." He shifts as he continues. "He had her disrobe in his office with Joaquin and his men, but he didn't touch her."

Domani, side glances me. "Nora told him you'd take his eyes out and the others for looking at his wife."

Mostro's knuckles go white, gripping the steering wheel. "Boss, if you don't tear out his beady snake eyes, I'll do it myself."

"You'll get your chance with his crew. Diego and Joaquin are mine."

We pull up to the warehouse and climb out of the car. The men keeping watch outside nod as I approach. We head down to the lower level and I'm met with the stench of the wet, damp mildew of the building.

A few yells and screams sound off from the various rooms; my men are already working on Diego's crew. I wanted to have him hear his men's screams of torture and pain before I arrived.

Ciccio comes into view as we round a corner and he unlocks the door for me into a pitch black room. Domani flips on the light and Diego and Joaquin both squirm and recoil at the harsh light that shines over their heads.

Mostro sets a chair in front of them and I sit, observing the two of them.

"What happened to civil meetings? Negotiations?" Joaquin squints his eyes, still trying to adjust them. They're both hanging from the ceiling, with their arms tied above their heads, stripped of their clothes; their feet skim the floor.

Joaquin continues. "If this is about your girl, we don't know nothin'. The news has been running a story about your flopped wedding, and how your girls' been missing since that night. Her face has been plastered all over New York. If she was still here, someone would have found her by now."

I stand and shrug out of my jacket, handing it to Mostro.

"Rico, I swear man, we didn't do nothing to Nora," Joaquin doesn't bother hiding the fear in his voice anymore. I grab the chair and swing it, breaking it against the side of his body. He grunts out in pain.

"There's a quote from a movie I like, it's quite fitting for this moment. Do you know what it is, Diego?"

He spits at me in response. I raise my gaze after watching his saliva drip down the front of my shirt. "I'll be covered in your blood when I'm finished, your spit is nothing. The quote is: 'The loudest one in the room is the weakest one.'"

"We have nothing to do with Elenora!" Joaquin whimpers in pain. I pull his head up by his hair and punch him. The rings on my fingers create a gash on his face.

"Say her name one more fucking time." I challenge him. "Your people already told us you had her before you fucking sold her with the others."

Diego shakes his head chuckling. "I should have let him finish you off on your wedding night. My aim was off and Joaquin wanted to finish it."

Elenora didn't shoot me.

"Your issue is with me." Diego pulls me out of my thoughts. "Leave Joaquin out of this."

I rub my chin in an absentminded way. "You should have used that same logic before you took my wife." I motion for Mostro to open the door and Ciccio comes in with a rolling table.

"Bring in the others."

Domani leaves the room as I put gloves on and Mostro lowers Joaquin from his hanging position; he slumps on the chair, groaning in pain. Domani and a few other men walk in corralling Diego's men into the room. The men look around and the fear in their eyes grows as they see me standing over Joaquin while Mostro ties his hands and feet to the chair.

Smiley walks in with the woman. "Dios mio, ella tenía razón." She exclaims as her eyes move around the room and then settle on me. (My god, she was right)

"What is your name?" I ask.

"Does it matter?" She responds. I smile remembering when Elenora gave me a similar response the first time we met.

"No."

She squares her shoulders even though her hands are tied behind her back. "Valeria."

"How long have you worked for Diego?"

"I worked for his Uncle before Diego took over; twenty years. I was thirteen when his Uncle took me," She tells me.

"Do you know who I am?"

"Yes."

"So you know why you are here and why Diego and his men are here?"

"They took something that belonged to you."

"Belongs, not belonged." I correct her.

"She said you would hold Diego accountable," Valeria informs me.

"What else did she say?"

"That you're not normal."

I laugh out loud; Elenora would say that.

"She told us all that you would destroy Diego and Joaquin. You would make it so they never existed."

"Do you believe that?"

She holds my gaze steadily. "Yes."

"You have a chance to make things different for yourself, if you tell me what I need. But first, I want to show Diego what's waiting for him." I turn to Joaquin. "Before we begin, can you tell me if everyone in this room was in Diego's office?"

Valeria looks around the room and shakes her head. "No, only three of the men. The others weren't there."

"Point out the three."

She hesitates, staring at me and then looks at Diego.

"Your life—if you care, depends on how well you cooperate." I remind her.

"But I've already told your associate what I know."

"It seems you do not understand what I am asking." I grab Joaquins pinky and ring fingers and pull them at an angle until they snap. Joaquin screams and squirms in the chair. He grunts and breathes heavily as I walk towards the woman again.

"The two on the left and the one in the middle," She tells me immediately.

Domani shoves the two and the one in the middle forward, they fall unable to catch themselves with their hands tied.

"These three?"

Her voice is quiet as she lowers her head. "Yes."

"Mostro."

Mostro steps away from the wall and grabs the one closest to him and drags him to the center of the room. He pulls his head up by the hair and gouges out the man's eyes with his bare hands, the squelching sound is drowned out by the man's screams and wails.

He moves on to the next, as the man pleads with him. "Espera, por favor, espera!" (Wait, please wait) But his begging falls on deaf ears as Mostro rips his eyes out their sockets.

The last man is shaking and pisses himself. "Por favor, Don Di Maggio. I swear I didn't look." (Please)

I motion for Mostro to wait. "Why should I believe you?"

"You have no reason to believe me, but the Senorita, she...she stood and looked everyone in the eyes and I did not look. She will tell you."

The other men begin muttering around him; the insults and cursing they send his way are full of resentment and hatred.

"If...If you allow it, Don Di Maggio, I pledge my life and service to you." The man offers.

I can't help the laugh that comes out of me and Domani and the others join in. "You know, someone once told me there's a way to tell if someone is lying to you. Do you know how?" I ask after I settle down from laughing.

No one in the room answers.

"Bring in the rest of them."

This time Smiley walks out and Diego's men begin murmuring among themselves. The door opens after a few minutes and Smiley walks in again.

Another set of five men are brought in and they are all in the same condition as the others. They eye each other as they also take in their leader strung up and naked before them.

"Which one of you transported the women to the buyer?"

No one says anything at first but then one steps forward. He keeps his eyes down as I approach him. "Did you take them to the Irish-Italians?" He doesn't answer right away but then his eyes look up and focus on Diego.

"Don't look at him; he's not going to save you. Look at your fallen compadres. He did nothing for them. In fact, it's because of him that they are dead." (companions)

"I was instructed to take them to the Albanians safe house just outside of Queens," The man mumbles.

"Was Elenora with them?" Again, he looks at Diego before he looks back at me. "No."

"Open your mouth."

He stares at me before I step closer and repeat myself. "Open. Your. Mouth."

He blinks and slowly opens his mouth. "It is said, the shape of someone's tongue can tell you if you're being lied to." He flinches when I pull at his tongue and for all intents and purposes inspect it. Thoroughly.

"Frankly, I don't know what they're talking about; for me, it's in the eyes that tell me if you're lying." I yank harder at his tongue and slice through it, cutting it clean off. His eyes widen as he screams, falling to the ground, howling in pain.

I face the rest of the men. "Domani."

Domani was given the order to signal the others as soon as I said his name. They execute the rest of the men, leaving only the woman, the man who wet himself, Diego and Joaquin.

I walk up to the man who claims he didn't look at Elenora. "You better pray that she's alive to save your ass."

"You've grown a heart it seems if you're sparing people now," Diego states.

"I wouldn't say that." I walk next to Valeria and I don't miss the trembling state her body is currently in. "It's extremely rare, but...sometimes, it's good to leave a witness." I face her profile as she keeps her eyes focused on Diego.

"After knowing what they know, seeing what they see—if they do anything that creates a problem for me, they know I'll come for them. It doesn't matter where they are or how far they go. I won't stop until I find what I'm looking for."

"I don't understand." Valeria's voice shakes.

"What is it that you don't understand, Val?"

The corner of her mouth lifts slightly, before she moves her eyes to meet mine. "She called me Val, too." Her eyes shine as they fill with tears. "How can a woman like her, love someone like you?"

I stand there for a moment, caught off guard. "I've asked myself that every day."

"Yet you let your family hurt her, humiliate her on the day she pledged her life and heart to you. You betrayed her with another." She accuses me. I narrow my eyes at her with how she seems to know so much, but she answers my internal question next. "She talks to herself a lot. And it doesn't stop when she sleeps, either."

I fight through the overwhelming pain in my heart, remembering the little quirks about her that I miss and have grown to love.

"It's true my own blood betrayed me. But I never betrayed her. Elenora brought balance I didn't know I needed."

Valeria nods. "Un ángel para tu diablo." (An angel to your devil).

"Si."

"Diego won't be the last one who tries to take her from you, you know this."

"Possibly, but no one will get as far as he has." I vow.

I turn to face Diego. "We've wasted a lot of time. You sold Elenora to the Albanians. They're known for their lucrative, highly organized and secretive auctions. They've beat out the Irish-Italians in that respect. You're going to get me inside the auction I know is coming up."

"Impossible." Diego responds.

"No. It isn't," I state as I grab a knife from the tray.

"You're going to kill us regardless." Diego eyes the knife as I walk over to Joaquin.

"True, but the more you fuck around instead of being straight with me, the more fun I have taking your little brother apart— piece by piece." I tilt Joaquin's head and pull at his ear, he pleads with me to stop.

Joaquin pants. "There's a guy who can get you in, please!"

"Not enough," I tell him before I slice his ear off. He screams in agony.

Diego growls and shakes against the ties binding his hands. "You won't get away with this, Rico! My Uncle will find you and finish what I couldn't with Elenora and with you."

I stand in front of Diego now. "Your Uncle's dead. I let him know you brought this on your entire family, with your fatal mistake to come after what's mine." The door opens and one of my men walks in holding a severed head by the hair and Valeria gasps.

"He didn't put up much of a fight." I grab the head of Diego's Uncle and bring it up to his face. "Consider that a long overdue payment for what you put Serafina through."

"You're as fucking crazy as your girl." Diego spits at me again.

"Thank you."

I head to the far end of the room and knock on the wall. "Speaking of which, do you wonder why it's so warm here? We're in a warehouse at the end of November; temperatures outside are near freezing. I mean, considering you have no clothes on, you seem pretty comfortable, yes?"

The wall slides open and reveals what's on the other side.

"This warehouse was once a bakery. You can still smell the yeast that's saturated in the walls and floor. But the best part is the fact that this wood burning oven still works."

The older man I pay to keep the place maintained for these purposes, nods as he pulls the door open revealing the flames inside.

I toss the head of Diego's uncle inside and the fire begins to consume it, the crackling and sizzling sounds are loud in the room.

"So, how do you want to do this? Seeing as you're not going to give me what I want." I focus on Diego again. "One piece at time or all at once?" I move toward him, enjoying the fact that his resolve is breaking as a shudder rolls through him.

"All at once," Diego answers with his jaw clenched.

"Makes no difference to me." I shrug. "Mostro, Ciccio...Joaquin."

"Wait! Take me instead." Diego tries to barter.

"You'll get your turn, don't worry," I assure him.

Mostro and Ciccio lift Joaquin in the chair and make their way to the oven.

"No! Stop! Please, Diego help me! No!" Joaquin screams.

"Stop!" Diego yells. I motion for Mostro and Ciccio to wait and they set Joaquin outside the oven as he cries uncontrollably.

"I have a contact that can get you in." Diego confesses. "His name is Albie, in Jersey. He runs his business out of a butcher shop but he's the one you want to reach. The price to get in is steep."

"Do you think I fucking care what the price is?"

"Seventy-fiveGs, to get in. The biddings do not start lower than one-fifty, but seeing as Elenora is American, young and what is considered pure she'll go for more and fast." He tells me and I don't stop myself from punching him over and over again.

He groans when I finish and when he spits, a couple of his teeth fly out. "Give me his information."

"Phone," Diego mumbles. I nod over at Smiley and he rummages through the bag that has his and Joaquin's things in it. He pulls out the phones and Diego tells him which one is his, giving Smiley the code to his phone and he finds the number and gives it to Domani.

"Set it up," I tell Domani and he walks out of the room.

"Boss," Smiley tosses me Diego's phone and I look at it, finding what Smiley found. I skim through the messages and my body begins to shake with rage.

I signal Mostro and Ciccio and they throw Joaquin in; his screams and wails are loud.

"I gave you what you wanted, you motherfucker!" Diego shakes in anger as he watches and listens to his brother being consumed in the fire, his screams are slowing down.

I grab what I need from the tray. "I intend to fulfill everything Elenora told you would happen. But for now...I'll only take one of your eyes, Diego."

I hold his chin, and he breathes heavily as I ready the tool and take out his right eye. He clenches his jaw but he can't hold in his yells for too long.

I order Smiley to grab another tool and heat it in the fire to have him cauterize Diego's eye socket which causes him to thrash wildly but Smiley holds his head firm, smiling as he sears the wound.

Spit mixed with blood drip from his mouth. "You get to live until I find her. And if I don't, I will take you apart piece by piece, Diego."

I remove the gloves and throw them in the fire, giving out instructions to get more men to throw the bodies in the oven.

"Take them to get cleaned up." I gesture to the man and the woman who are both despondent with their eyes cast down.

Domani walks back in. "We're in, the auction is taking place tomorrow night."

"Let's head out tonight then."

"Sure, but Tiziano wants to meet with you." He informs me as we walk up the stairs. "He's in bad shape, Rico."

"Good." I state, but I don't have the feelings of contentment I know I would have if I never met Elenora.

The drive back to the hotel doesn't feel as long as it did leaving earlier. Mostro updates me that everything has been taken care of back at the warehouse via a text I read as I step out of the elevator.

Tiziano stands when he sees me, setting down a framed photograph of Elenora on the end table.

"Pinocchio!"

Maya runs toward me, letting go of Teresa's hand.

I bend down and smile as she jumps into my arms. "I've missed you so much!" She squeezes my neck hard and kisses my face. "Mmauh!"

"Hi, Dommy!" She lets go and hugs Domani around the legs.

She looks at Ciccio and smiles, walking up to him. "Hello, my name is Maya Elenora Borelli. I've seen you around, but don't know your name." She holds her little hand out for Ciccio to kiss.

Ciccio, comes to a knee and takes her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Signorina Maya. My name is Ciccio."

"Charmed," Maya responds, then leans in whispering. "You do know what Ciccio means, right?" Ciccio bellows out a chuckle and she jumps at the sound but then joins in giggling with him.

"Ciccio, can you take Maya to the gift shop and have her pick something out for herself and her sister."

"I knew you would find her!" Maya runs over to me again and this time she cries on my shoulder.

"I haven't found her yet, but I think I know where she is."

"And you're going to bring her home?"

"I plan to, Maya. Now, go on ahead with Ciccio and stay close to him, okay?"

"I promise!" She kisses me again before she runs to Ciccio, holding his hand as they head to the elevator. She begins talking to him, asking the never ending questions that I'm sure will continue until he brings her back.

I stand and face Tiziano. Domani's right, Tiziano looks like he's aged ten years since the wedding.

"You shouldn't get her hopes up like that, Federico," Teresa tells me, her voice quiet and her face worn with sadness.

"I meant what I said."

Tiziano scoffs.

I fight the urge to use my hands and stuff them into my pockets. "Can I get you something to drink? Eat?" I ask Teresa. She shakes her head at me and then notices the same picture Tiziano held when I came in. Her eyes fill with tears.

"What do you know, Rico?" Tiziano doesn't beat around the bush. "And don't spare us, I've worked long enough with the mafia, to know it's not good. I already warned Teresa since she insisted on coming that it will be hard to hear what has come of our daughter."

I look at them both, for a moment before I glance at Domani. He gives nothing away in his expression save the small tic in his jaw.

"She's been sold for auctioning."

Teresa lets out a heart wrenching sob before her legs give out. Tiziano and I move in to catch her before she hits the floor. "My baby!" She wails, holding onto Tiziano.

"I have someone on the inside with the police, but it would be helpful to get the necessary warrants expedited for him to raid once I find Elenora."

"How soon?"

"Tomorrow night."

"In New York?"

"New Jersey."

"I have connections there that will help. You're sure that's where she is?"

I nod.

"Rico, please. Please bring her back to me, I beg you!" Teresa grips on to my jacket.

I bring my arms around her. "I will."