“Complacency,” I replied simply, continuing to tie him up. “The type that leads us to be very, very disappointed.”

Realization came over his face that we knew what a shit job he’d been doing when it came to the deliveries and organization of the trade. “It can’t be that bad. We’ve been doing great overseas with no issues!”

My hand itched, so I punched him in the face. “I’m going to ask you a series of questions about Nicky boy, and you will answer honestly and with as much detail as you can. Otherwise, my men will come in and rip you apart—piece by piece.”

His chubby little face squished under my fingers as I gripped his head and forced him—tied up—into a non broken chair. It was tempting to put my boot to his chest again, but I had other tools at my disposal for extracting information.

“I’ll tell you anything, boss,” his voice quivering while I flicked open a knife.

I started cleaning my fingernails with the knife, casually sitting in front of him. “Did you know Nicholas was stealing?” My eyes were trained on him, piercing into his soul. My knife casually pointed in his direction.

“I-I...”

“Ah, ah,” I warned. “I’ll know if you’re lying.”

“I thought he just took a little for himself to try.” He flinched after responding, bracing for impact.

“Wrong answer,” I growled, stabbing my knife into his left thigh. “The truth will set you free, my dear Mario. How many times did you look the other way?”

“Ah! I, uh-” He was breathing heavy, the pain of the knife distracting him from a formal train of thought. I pushed it a little, for fun. He cried out, “Ah! I haven’t-I mean, I’ve been looking away for...” he clenched his teeth, gritting through the pain “...somewhere like two years.”

“Why?” I ripped out the knife, relishing in the sweetly sick sound it made.

Another scream mixed in with an adrenaline-fueled giggle escaped him. “Nothin’ was going wrong. I figured...”

“You could go lax on us? Wrong answer.” I swiftly reached over to break a finger–or two. Not my fault he clenched his fingers together. “Where’s Nicky?”

“I don’t know! Ow!”

My patience was wearing thin. “Wrong answer,” I said with a wicked laugh, stabbing his other thigh.

“Boss?”

I turned to see Dave entering ahead of the other two, giving me a hint of curiosity. They all held their cleaning supplies and would most definitely be using them.

Motioning to the man in the chair with the knife sticking out of his leg, I gave a smile. “Oh hey, Davey. I was just asking our friend, Mario, where we could find Nicky. It’s important we find him tonight.”