The disembodied voice spoke once more, "It doesn't have to be like this, you know. Gianni can get a little overexcited at times, lets his emotions get the better of him. You shouldn't anger him."
Still he maintained a stony silence, as he did so he heard something being opened and then the intoxicating smell of food permeated his senses. "Are you hungry, Detective Kelly?" the voice asked softly, "You must be, you've been here a while."
He could hear the sound of food being chewed and felt his stomach rumble involuntarily, time had lost any meaning since his abduction and he suddenly realised it could have been days since he'd last eaten. "I've brought enough for two, would you like some?"
His head told him that it was most likely a trap and that the food had been tainted somehow but still he could not control the involuntary nodding movement of his head. The smell of food became stronger as it was brought closer to him. "Tell me, Detective Kelly, tell me what I want to know," the voice was soft and low, almost hypnotic to his deprived senses.
His mouth felt dry; licking his lips he tasted blood. Finally he croaked, "What…what do you want with me?"
"Answers," was the succinct response, "It will be a lot easier and less painful for you to give us what we want."
"Who are you?" The dry sensation permeated his mouth again and he swallowed thickly.
"I believe that you knew my father quite well, he never was quite as ready to accept you as Uncle Benny was. He knew from the beginning that there was something that wasn't right about you but his brother refused to listen. Uncle Benny trusted you, you know." Danny Malucci recounted, keeping his voice level.
"I remember when the feds came knocking that day, I was just a little boy. They broke down our front door, pushed my mother to the floor and dragged my father away in handcuffs. Do you have any idea how upsetting that was for my sisters and I?"
"We had no idea why the FBI had come barging through our door, our mother cried for days after our father was taken. The only times I ever saw him after that was when I visited him in prison. Do you have any idea what it is like to not be able to touch your father, to only be able speak to him through a glass partition, to never have him by your side on your birthday, at Christmas or graduation?"
"I don't expect you to know what that feels like, to be denied a father for so much of your life but it changes a person, you know. My mother depended on him to provide for us, we'd become accustomed to the finer things in life, our house and my parents assets were seized not long after our father was arrested. My mother suddenly found the burden of responsibility thrust upon her, something that she was woefully inadequate at providing. Gianni's mother, my Aunt Junie, took us in and treated my sisters and me like we were her own whilst my mother drank herself into an early grave. My siblings and I found ourselves orphans before we were even teenagers."
"There were times when I would hear Aunt Junie talking on the phone, shouting and screaming that her husband and his brother had been persecuted by the FBI but the one thing I remember her saying the most was who was to blame for everything. She would work herself into a rage, cursing the day that her husband had introduced you into the family business."
"It became clear over time who had betrayed us; our fathers spent years planning their revenge on you. They knew that they would most likely never see the outside of prison cell again and so as Gianni and I got older they began to teach us the ropes of the family business."
"It wasn't easy, you know, rebuilding what our fathers had worked so hard to create all those years ago. New families had come in and muscled in on our turf, running the streets that we used to own. It's taken us years to get to where we are now, we've learnt that you have to do whatever it takes to survive, although I'm sure you understand that better than anyone."
He heard Danny pause for breath, the sound of a bottle being opened before he continued. "It's a shame that Uncle Benny didn't live to see how far we've come, he would have been proud of Gianni and I, the plans we have for our city. You should know that everything you did back then, all those lies you told, the people you betrayed, it was all for nothing. We're coming back faster, stronger, wiser. You can't stop us this time."
Whether through sleep deprivation, hunger or thirst his addled brain struggled to retain the amount of information his captor had thrown at him. "What do you want from me then?" he managed to croak out.
"My uncle and father swore revenge on you, Detective Kelly. For years they believed that you were dead, that justice had been served by your death, even though it wasn't by their hands. Imagine their shock when it was discovered that you were alive and well and in Miami of all places?"
"Before Benny died he asked one thing of Gianni and me, to make you pay for your betrayal of our family. We gave him our word that we would."
He felt beyond tired, he was exhausted and his body ached all over, whatever the Malucci's had planned he just hoped they would do it. Quickly. "Why don't you get it over with then?"
"Because that would be too easy, Detective Kelly. Our family suffered a great deal, we feel it is only right that we should return the favour."
"I don't have a family," he responded quietly as he hung his head, believing himself that the words he spoke were true.
"But you do. We've been watching you for quite a while; you have a lot of people that care a great deal about you and you them. Gianni would rather kill you quickly and get it over with."
"And you?" he asked, not wanting to know the answer.
"There are certain things that I want from you, Detective Kelly. We can make this as amicable a relationship as you want, that's up to you. I'm going to leave you to think about that for a while. There's a bottle of water and some food on the floor, when you decide you want to give me what I want you can have them. That sounds like a fair trade, doesn't it?"
He heard the footsteps recede as Danny left the room, leaving him cold and alone in the dark with only his thoughts for company. The man had certainly given him plenty to think about, the thinly veiled threats against those he cared for, he was in no position to be able to protect them now. Pulling against his bindings he once more vainly attempted to free himself from the chair but found himself unable to, he growled as his anger overrode his sense of self-preservation as he pulled harder at the ropes around his wrists, feeling and welcoming the burning sensation that his movements brought.
It was hard to know which man was the lesser of two evils, Gianni and his sadistic and painful torture methods or Danny whose motives were not so clear, was the latter man just playing mind games with him? He knew which he'd rather if he had a choice, at least if Gianni centred his attention on him it would spare those he cared about. Danny was too much of an unknown quantity, he had no idea how far the man would go in the name of revenge. Just give him what he wants, the voice in the back of his head told him. No! Another voice shouted, you don't even know what it is he wants.
He sat helplessly as the warring voices in his head debated back and forth as to what he should do, with each minute that ticked by he could feel his hunger and thirst getting worse. The pitch black darkness of the room and the hood on his head was beginning to make him feel claustrophobic as he battled to keep his breathing under control. Hard as he tried to control his actions he couldn't help but be overwhelmed by the sense of panic he felt.
He heard water beginning to flow from a pipe at the opposite side of the room, the sound of running water increasing the painful thirst he was experiencing as his mind screamed at him to give his captors whatever it was that they wanted. The sound of a fan whirring filled the room and soon he felt the sensation of the cool air touching the bare skin on his chest and arms causing the flesh on them to prickle painfully. He began to shiver from the cold; the voices in his head screaming louder and louder at him until his conscious mind mercifully took pity on him and dragged him back to the warm and inviting sensation of nothingness.