ARELLA (A Mafia Story)

Six

Andrea

Dad's in a pissy mood today. He's been that way since we had to leave Arella this morning for unexpected business. The little girl cried as we walked out the door. If she was able to talk, I know she would've been begging for us to come back.

"Keep up, Andrea." Dad states through gritted teeth, his gun poised at the ready for any unexpected incidents.

We travel through the dingy hallways in this rundown apartment. The smell of mold tickles my nose, making me wrinkle it. Stopping in front of door three-seventeen, Dad has me step to the side of the doorframe.

I pull out my gun, aiming it at the door as Dad reaches around and knocks. The disgusting piece of trash behind the locked door looks through the peephole, not seeing anything as we're standing beside the door instead of in front of it.

A grumble sounds behind the door, then the sounds of heavy footsteps walking away. Dad smirks in my direction, reaching over to knock again. A second later, the door opens and there stands our target.

"Hello, Paul." Dad waves his gun in Paul's face.

I see the moment of realization in Paul's face. He steps back, trying to slam the door in our face. How disrespectful. Do parents not teach their children common courtesy these days?

Before the door can be slammed closed, I stick my steel boot in the door, preventing it from closing. Paul scrambles through the bare bones apartment towards the only bedroom. He locks himself in, making me roll my eyes. If he thinks a rickety door is going to keep me out, he thought wrong.

"Come on, Paul. We just want to talk to you." I call through the door. In reality, there's nothing to talk about.

He murdered one of our soldiers during a routine visit to get the money he owes from our underground casinos. That solider had a girlfriend with a baby on the way. They were having a baby boy. His first child.

Paul dumped his body in a garbage can. Another solider found his body after he was missing for over a day. We easily traced him back to Paul. This lowlife thought it was okay to murder somebody over a couple thousand dollars. Pitiful.

"I know what you're here for! I'm not going to the cages." Paul screams. I swear I can smell the pungent smell of piss.

Did the man just piss himself? Disgusting.

No, we have a fate more horrid than the cages for him. He's already been to the cages once as a warning, barely making it out alive. He deserves much worse for what he did to our soldier, Bill.

"You have my word that we wont hurt you. We seriously just want to talk, Paul." I'm lying. Dad knows I'm lying. I think we all know I'm lying.

"You swear?" The man begs.

"Promise." I say as I cross my fingers behind my back. Childish habits are hard to break.

"Fine, I'm coming out." Paul announces.

Dad looks towards me and wiggles his eyebrows. We both know what comes next. My favorite part. He knows I enjoy killing as much as he does. I became a made man at just fourteen, killing my first man when he tried to hurt my Mama.