Chapter 32

"They're all gone, brother. We only have Nikita and Valery left to deal with!"

"You mean blackmail them?"

"If you had a better idea, you should have spoken up."

"Let's do it your way."

Giovanni had gone into town with his sister because a problem had arisen in his organization. A significant shipment had been stolen from him.

Meanwhile, Kira and Aaron had to handle the dismissal of their bodyguards in Rome (which was already done) and put pressure on Nikita and Valery, having discovered their secret. They needed to ensure they kept silent about their actions in Italy: what they had done or were planning to do.

"Understood, Nikita?" Kira had already begun her blackmail plan.

"Miss, I would have done whatever you wanted if you had asked politely, but resorting to blackmail was a bad idea," stated Nikita, sitting on a chair backwards.

"I told you it was a bad idea," murmured Aaron.

"You have to try to succeed, brother," Kira whispered back.

"We can hear you, you know," said Valery. "Don't worry, we won't say anything."

"Really? For real? And you, Nikita?" Kira asked, both happy and puzzled.

"He won't say anything. He never intended to say anything from the beginning, he was just teasing you," explained Valery, a serious man who didn't joke around.

"And it's not because of your blackmail. Your father already knows about us, and it has never been a problem for him."

"Really? Father knows you're together?" Aaron exclaimed.

"Yes. You see, Valery and I are married. Everyone knows it, but it's not an issue for anyone."

"And even if it is, we don't care," added Valery.

"So it's settled," said Kira, clapping her hands twice as she stood up. "We're allies." She took the hands of the two men, and Aaron did the same. They then headed to Aaron's room, the one he shared with Giovanni, to discuss further.

As for Giovanni and Olivia, they had already arrived. Olivia had been taken to her house, while Giovanni had been brought to an abandoned warehouse where the man who had stolen their shipment was held. The man was covered in injuries on his face and body, clear signs of torture endured before Giovanni's arrival. He was tied to a post, ready to face an even crueler fate for tearing Giovanni away from his Aaron.

"I heard you confessed your crime, but seems like you omitted some details," declared Giovanni, seated in a black leather chair, one leg crossed and a cigar in hand.

"To whom did you sell my weapons?" he asked, but the man remained silent, staring at the floor.

Giovanni then gestured to two men standing behind him. One of them brought a torture kit suitcase, while the other set up a small plastic table in front of the man where the kit was placed.

"Open the suitcase and get to work!" Giovanni ordered.

The thirty torture instruments they found inside would help make the man talk. They released his restraints and grabbed his hand, starting with removing the nail from his middle finger. Despite his screams of pain, the man remained silent. They then moved on to the ring finger, but the prisoner's tears and pleas finally revealed the truth: "They have my daughter!" he repeated, trembling with fear. Giovanni signaled to stop.

"And who has your daughter?" he interrogated.

"A Russian, a certain Yuri Stepanov," he finally managed to articulate.

"Yuri Stepanov?" Giovanni wondered. He didn't know anyone by that name. He called one of his men and instructed him to gather all possible information on this "Yuri Stepanov" as quickly as possible, as he needed to return promptly.

"Release him!" he ordered. The torture sessions finally seemed to be over, at least the man hoped so.

After a couple of hours, the man Giovanni had sent to gather information from Flavio, Giovanni's henchman, returned with documents and informed that Flavio would contact him. Moments later, Giovanni's phone rang, it was Flavio.

Giovanni listened carefully to Flavio's information while reviewing the documents he had received.

"I've been following him for a while. Yuri Stepanov is the son of a powerful politician in Russia. He frequently travels between Italy and Russia. He is in business with Carlos Diaz."

"Carlos Diaz? The Carlos Diaz?" A low-level Italian mafia member.

"It seems that Carlos Diaz is collaborating with Yuri in arms and human trafficking, with Diaz providing weapons and people to Yuri in exchange for women from Russia for his brothel in Venice," explained Flavio to Giovanni.

"The man tortured by our men is Alberto Alvarez, a police officer whose daughter disappeared two months ago. It appears that Diaz kidnapped his daughter and is now blackmailing him." Giovanni furrowed his brow.

"A police officer involved in all this?" Giovanni thought. "So, he was telling the truth," Giovanni stated as he observed the man they had just violently questioned.

"Flavio, gather our men. We will pay a visit to Carlos Diaz, and then we will deal with this Yuri Stepanov."

Giovanni stood up, and one of his men handed him his jacket over his shoulders. Still smoking his cigar, he muttered, "Ah, I miss him already."." His men looked at him silently. Giovanni instructed them to keep an eye on the man, the police officer, and to release him once everything was settled.

"Thank you, sir. Thank you," the grateful man pleaded. His daughter was his only family.

Once all was done, Giovanni paid a "little visit" to their friend Carlos Diaz.