Cesare had been a bit overwhelmed by his new position. It was funny, the way life could just shake opportunities into existence. From an alleyway taxi racket to Left Hand of a Chicago crew, the sharp upward movement had given him vertigo. He'd grown to love the city and the crew in the short time he'd had with them so far sitting around the headquarters table as Fat_Sal stuffed them with pasta. He walked through the rooms of the headquarters and wedged himself between the arms of an armchair. Upper management could be...

...boring.

"Mr. Torretta!"

or not.

A couple of bodyguards had entered the room and were now wringing their hands in nervous anticipation of his acknowledgement. He took his time to take stock of just how much respect his new position had afforded him. It was surreal. He'd never been "Mr. Torretta" to anyone. He lit a cigarette and placed it between his lips before leaning his head in their direction.

"Yes...?"

"we..uh..we found him, sir." Stuttered the braver of the two.

"Who's that?"

"Him, sir." he reaffirmed with more emphasis.

Cesare was about to berate their vagueness when he suddenly realized who they were speaking about. He spun around in the armchair and rose to his feet, stomping across the room to grab his jacket from the hanger.

"Are you sure?"

now emboldened, "No question, sir, stopped in town last night on his way to see the kid."

That son of a bitch. He threw his arms into his sleeves and jerked the jacket onto his shoulders.

"Come on!" he turned and said to the guards as he passed them for the door.

David fucking Gentry. The slimiest filth you'd see on God's green earth had been spotted by Cesare's guys watching the highways into Chicago. Gentry had been a bodyguard for Cesare's brother in Vegas. He had plans for him if he ever showed up around Chicago, and now it looks like he was on his way to visit his nephew in Detroit.

Cesare had been keeping an eye on his brother's son ever since he moved out to Chicago. His father had been betrayed by a few of his most trusted bodyguards who sold his whereabouts to enemy hitmen for a quick buck. He knew it would only be a matter of time until those same men would go looking for the kid to make sure a family vendetta didn't spring up. David had conveniently been a no-show at the headquarters the day the hit squad arrived for Dub. He probably thought he had gotten away with allowing his employer to be killed, but there had been one thing he didn't count on... Cesare Torretta.

Cesare drove. He'd never gotten used to letting someone drive him around. The bodyguards led him to a sleazy motel on the south side of Chicago.

"This it?" He asked the two men,

"Yeah Boss, he's up in that room there," The man pointed to a corner door up on the second floor of the building.

"Alright gentlemen," Cesare replied, "you can go now, your service is greatly appreciated."

The two men looked at each other confusedly, no doubt expecting to accompany Cesare and provide protection. They were torn by the contradicting orders.

"Out. Of the damn. Car." Cesare spoke calmly yet sternly. The two scurried out of the doors and headed back down the street.

Cesare opened the car door and up the stairs of the motel, his heart already beating in a rage to see his brother's betrayer. He approached the door and knocked on it with his gloved hand.

...nothing

He knocked again.

"Whaat?!" The annoyed voice finally answered. Without answering in turn, Cesare knocked again, repeating until he heard the door unlock.

The man at the door was overweight and had obviously woken up from sleeping to answer the door. Surprised to see this stranger at his door naturally he began with the common greeting, "Who the fuck are you?!" his manners elicited a straight kick to his gut from Cesare. The wind knocked out of him, the man stumbled back into the room and landed plush on his back gasping for air. Cesare walked calmly to him and stomped his gut again.

He walked over to a nearby lamp and began solemnly unscrewing the light bulb. "Sorry to interrupt your beauty sleep there Davey." he said, the bulb now in his hand. He stood over the man who struggled for breath. Taking a knee he continued, "See you owe me something."

"I've got money! I'll pay you whatever you wa-gaagh!" Cesare was shoving the bulb into the man's mouth. "Open wide Davey, open wide!" Cesare instructed, "You won't want this popping in your mouth I'm sure." David's eyes flashed back and forth with the fragile gag keeping him from speaking.

"David, you let someone I loved die. Did you know that?" David frantically shook his head 'no'. "Well it's true." Cesare continued, "And now you're gonna pay me back for it."

David's eyes widened as Cesare stood and reeled his heel up into the air and brought it crashing into his mouth shattering the light bulb and sending fractures of glass and wiring slicing through his tender flesh. Instinctively David let out a cry which allowed the slivers of glass to fall further down his throat inducing a gagging bloody cough.

Cesare quickly knelt down and shoved David's jaw shut and pinched his nose, "That's right, Davey, eat up...swallow, Davey..." The man's face turned bright red as Cesare released him back into his coughing fit. Then a right fist landed on the side of his cheek. A shard of glass emerged from the side of David's face. Cesare continued to beat him mercilessly, each punch tearing flesh from the inside of the man's skull, and each reflexive cough sending shards further into his lungs.

"Come on Davey!"

BAM!

"SWALLOW IT DAVEY!"

BAM!

Splatters of blood as the man coughed in an adrenaline fueled panic

BAM!

The unnatural melding of bone and glass continued under the pressure of Cesare's blows. Over and over he struck the man as his eyes slowly began to close. Soon the only sound was Cesare's fists and crunching glass.

"Oh no no no no Davey boy, you don't get to die yet!" Cesare grabbed David's nose and exhaled into the man's mouth in a bizarre attempt at resuscitation.  "David! Wake uuuup!" he exhaled into the man's lungs again.

The man's legs jumped as he miraculously coughed again spraying blood into Cesare's face, "There we are, Davey, all better!"

Cesare hauled off and laid a right hook on him that he could feel crack the man's jaw. Tears had begun to flow from the man's eyes as he suffocated on his own blood for a second time.

"No David! We had a deal!" Cesare continued between punches as the man's eyes rolled back. "You owe me!" he yelled.

It was soon apparent that David was no more...

Cesare stood up in the doorway and pulled out his pistol, aiming it at the man's leg.

BANG!

The bullet entered the body...

"Yep, you're dead." Cesare said.

He walked back out onto the motel balcony leaving the room door open as a couple curious residents poked their heads out of the door. Walking calmly by them, Cesare replaced his pistol in its holster and descended the stairs to his car in the lot.

He started the vehicle and pulled out of the lot as a crowd began to form in the doorway of the room above.

He thought of how nice it was to finally get away from the headquarters for a change...