The Mafia’s Good Wife
Chapter 73

~ Damon -

"Alright, what do you got?"

Damon spoke eagerly as soon as he entered the white van. Liam had turned the van into a stakeout operation, hooked up to cameras, TVs, and speakers. The van was parked a few blocks away from the warehouse in Tallahassee. He saw an opportunity when he found a pizza delivery guy about to deliver some pizzas into the warehouse. They paid the delivery guy a few hundred bucks if they could put bugs and cameras on the pizza boxes. The sixteen year old delivery guy cooperated immediately. So Liam hooked up everything and sent the boxes in. Within minutes, they've got a live feed of everything that was happening inside. They saw how many men Benzino got with him, what they were doing, and what they were talking about.

"I counted maybe forty men in total," Liam said, giving a pair of headphones to Damon so he could hear the conversation that transpired on the camera. They could see Mark Benzino and a few of his guys talking while eating pizza. "With the twenty I have and another thirty that you're bringing in, we've outnumbered them, so it's just a matter of when,"

Damon watched the video feed carefully. He could also hear the men talking in Italian. From what he could understand, they were obviously talking about him.

"We can't stay out here forever, boss. He's gonna find us eventually," one of Benzino's men said.

"I know, but we're not leaving here without her. That's for damn sure," Mark Benzino replied.

"So how long are we supposed to wait?"

"And are you sure she's gonna come back?"

Mark Benzino looked clearly frustrated. He let out a groan and raked his hair with his hand. Then, in anger, he overturned the table in front of him, causing the pizzas and cameras that were attached to fall to the ground. Damon took off his headphones and narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the screen. At first glance, he thought they were talking about Violet. But now, he suspected something else.

"Where's Celina?" he asked Liam.

"That's the thing," Liam confirmed his suspicion. "I've been watching them for an hour now and I haven't seen her or heard her voice,"

"Is she not there with them?"

"I don't know," Liam shook his head. "But that's impossible. She should be there. Why would they be separated?"

Damon clenched his jaw and thought hard. Maybe Celina went out somewhere and she'll be back soon. Or maybe...

"We're not wasting any more time," Damon said as he got up abruptly. Something didn't feel right and he felt the urge to go inside. Taking his gun from his pocket, he loaded it up and said, "We're going in,"

Liam nodded his head knowingly and did the same.

"You got it, boss,"

The tension was high in the air.

Damon, Liam, and fifty of their men moved quickly and stealthily. They surrounded the warehouse and closed down roads. Their weapons were loaded and ready. There was a main door and a back exit. Liam's men went to the back exit first and took down the guards guarding them quickly and easily. Once that was done, the men penetrated from the back while Damon and Liam approached the front door.

There were three guys guarding the front door, and they were busy playing a card game. They didn't notice Damon and his men were coming. And once they did, it was too late. *PSSST! PSSST! PSSST! *

Liam used his silenced gun to drop three bullets that took out the guards right away. His precision was insane. Damon would hate for anyone who had to be on the receiving end. "Alright, on my count," Damon said as the men crowded around the door. "3... 2.. 1.. Now!"

*BANG! *

Damon's men kicked the door open and they flooded into the warehouse like a hurricane. Mark Benzino and his men were caught off guard. They couldn't do anything but freeze in their spot.

"Drop your weapons! Drop your weapons!" Damon's men yelled. Some also yelled in Italian.

Mark Benzino and his men didn't have a chance to fight back. Some who managed to draw their weapons out ended up dropping them to the floor.

"Put your hands up!"

"Weapons on the floor!"

"Hands up!"

Damon's men forced Benzino and his guys to walk into a circle so that they were all contained in one spot. All their weapons were dropped and they had their hands above their heads. Once the situation was under control, Damon stepped inside. Mark Benzino glared at Damon with fire in his eyes. Damon did the same to him.

"Damon Van Zandt," Benzino sneered. "What a pleasant surprise,"

Damon came closer and closer until he was an arm's length away from Benzino. He looked Benzino up and down. It had been years since he saw Mark last. He used to be a skinny, scrappy, eighteen year old boy. But now, he was transformed into a mafia man, just like his father. He wore a dark colored suit and tie, his hair was slicked neatly to the back, and there was a scar on the side of his eye. A battle scar he probably acquired in recent years.

"I think I'm the one who should be surprised here. Finding you in my own territory," Damon retorted back. "Does your father know you're here?" "He's well aware," Benzino replied.

Damon narrowed his eyes at the young man. He was still so green. He almost felt sorry for having to take him out. But Benzino chose this. He chose to fight against Damon. And when one chose to fight against Damon Van Zandt, this was the repercussion. "Your father's family is the second strongest family in Sicily. You should be happy I took out Hugo DeSantis for you. You could've been number one. And yet, you gotta get involved with Celina. Which means now you're my enemy too," Damon said as he drew his gun

out.

"I don't know what to tell you, Damon," he shrugged. "She came to me asking for help. What would you have done if you were me, finding a damsel in distress like that?"

"I wouldn't be the fool that wages a war with the king,"

"Well, unfortunately, love makes a fool of us all,"

Mark Benzino was unfazed. Maybe it was the young blood running in his veins or maybe he just didn't care about dying. He acted like a man who had nothing to lose, and this annoyed the hell out of Damon. "Alright, cut the bullshit, Mark. Where is Celina?" Damon demanded.

"I don't know," he replied.

Damon aimed the mouth of his gun at Benzino's head.

"You don't wanna play games with me right now," he threatened. "We've got you outnumbered and surrounded. You're gonna die in a foreign land and your family's not even gonna know about it," Benzino let out a bitter laugh.

"My family doesn't care about me," he scoffed. "My dad disowned me when he heard I'm gonna marry Celina DeSantis,"

Ah. That makes sense.

It clicked for Damon now how Celina could get away with this. She locked Mark Benzino in because he was weak and he was in love with her. She pulled him out of his family which gave him no other purpose than to fight her wars with him. No wonder he acted like he had nothing to lose. He probably knew this was a suicide mission and he was ready for that.

"This doesn't have to end like this, Mark. Tell me where she is and I might cut you a deal with your dad. I'll let you go," Damon said firmly.

Benzino locked his gaze with Damon. Silence filled the air for a moment, until suddenly, Benzino broke out in laughter.

"You let me go and my dad will probably kill me next for betraying him. So why would I do that?" he scoffed.

Damon's patience was wearing thin. He aimed the gun at the ceiling and fired a warning bullet.

*BANG! *

"I'm not joking around, Mark! You can speak or you can die, I don't care either way!" Damon said in that killer, threatening tone. Then he aimed the gun at Mark's head again and said, "Now tell me, where the hell is she?! Damon came closer and pressed the gun to Mark's head. When the mouth of the gun touched his skin, Mark felt the life slipping out of him.

"I said I don't know! Alright?!" he trembled. "I really don't know!"

Damon narrowed his eyes in suspicion. How could he not know where Celina was? Did something happen? Did she go rogue?

"But you know what, instead of worrying about my girl, why don't you worry about yours?" Mark said again. Though he was scared, his eyes were challenging Damon. *RING!* RING!* RING! *

And suddenly, there was a loud ringing sound that pierced the air. Liam pulled out his phone and quickly shot Damon a look.

"Damon, it's Beau," he said.

Damon knew this must be serious. Beau was supposed to be out with the girls today. He wouldn't be calling unless something was wrong. Damon quickly went over to Liam and grabbed the phone. "What is it?!"

"Damon, she's gone," Beau said over the phone.

"What?"

"Violet... we can't find her anywhere!"

And suddenly, everything clicked in Damon's mind. No wonder they couldn't find Celina here. She must be somewhere else plotting her own thing. Damon whipped his head around and shot a look at Mark Benzino. Mark caught his eyes and let out a menacing smirk. Fúck!

- Violet -

"You took everything that was important for me. You took Damon away and you killed my dad. Now you're gonna have to pay for what you did,"

Celina glared at Violet like a scorned widower. It almost seemed like losing Damon was equally as bad as losing her dad.

"Celina, I didn't kill your dad. Adrian Luciano did," Violet replied firmly. "And I never took Damon away from you. He was never yours to begin with-" *SMACK! *

Celina slapped Violet's cheek again. This time, she used her hand. The pain stung her cheek and Violet tasted blood on her lips. "Watch your mouth!" Celina snapped.

"That's the truth, though," Violet refused to be bullied, holding her gaze on Celina. "Damon never loved anyone else but me,"

Celina was fuming. Violet knew she struck a chord. It almost felt like Celina wasn't doing this as revenge for her dad. She was doing this because she was upset over Damon. "Oh, yeah?" Celina raised an eyebrow. "That's not what Damon said when he made love to me,"

"What?"

"Oh, did he not tell you?" Celina's lips curved up a smirk. "When he proposed to me, he also made love to me. He made love to me every night up until a few days before the wedding,"

Violet couldn't believe what she was hearing. Damon never told her any of this. And she felt sick to her stomach to think about Damon and Celina like that. "That's... not true..." she croaked.

"You don't believe me?" Celina scoffed. "I can prove it to you,"

Violet froze like a statue while Celina took out her phone. She pulled up a video that looked like a CCTV recording of a bedroom.

"My dad was known to be very cautious. He had cameras installed in every room of the house, including mine," she explained.

In that video, Violet could see a man that resembled Damon. He was kissing a girl, Celina. Then he bent her over the bed and lifted her dress up. He also undid his pants and let his m*****d sprang free. Violet didn't have the stomach to keep watching. She turned her head away instinctively. Now Celina knew she hit a nerve. She aggressively reached for Violet's face and forced her to keep watching. "This part's my personal favorite," she taunted. "What do you think?"

Tears were brimming in Violet's eyes. She didn't want to look, but she couldn't move away. She watched it all unfold before her eyes.

Damon and Celina... together.