Marie comes back into the house, thumbing through the mail she is carrying when the phone rings.  She began to move towards it  as her eyes fell on a white envelope addressed to her.  She absent-mindedly she answered the phone, "Hello, Lucania Residents. This is Marie speaking."  Laying the rest of the mail on the desk, she starts to open the one that had only "Rick" in the return address.  The only Rick she knew was the gentleman from Philly she had meet at the pier... but how did he know her address?

"Hey Marie I need you to meet me somewhere. This is something you need to see," Sal said to her.

"Hello darling. Where do I need to meet you?" She put the envelope down as she picked up on the tone of his voice.  Grabbing a pen she prepared to write down an address.  

"Hey meet me at the warehouse down the street from your track," he told her.  

"I will leave now and see you in a few minutes. Is everything okay?"  Marie put the pen down.  There was no need to write anything down.  She knew exactly which warehouse he was referring too.  

"Everything is fine. Just something you need to learn," he said.

Marie furrowed her eyebrows wondering what it was that she needed to learn.  Maybe something about the track?  "I will be right there," she hung up the phone and hurriedly picked up her keys and her purse before rushing out the door. 

Sal was standing in front of a man bound and gagged to a chair. He was a low member of the Durden crew and had been causing trouble in LA. Sal had run-ins with these guys in Miami, most of them where pathetic excuses for criminals, but he had been tasked with finding out info on the Durdens and what they were up to in LA. 

He had decided that, for better or worse, it was time Marie learned of this side of the life. It was not something Sal enjoyed, but it was something he knew how to do and over his time in the import-export, he had gotten pretty good at it.  This wasn't going to be too big of an ordeal and would be a good time for her to learn of it. Sal doubted she would ever do it herself, but knew she needed to understand how this works. 

Sal lit a cigarette and finished setting up his "tools", he had hammers, pliers, ice picks, knives and an assortment of other things he could use. Most of the stuff was simply for show and was not really needed, but who wouldn't get a little squirmish at that thought of a rusty hacksaw being used to remove a limb.

After everything was set he headed to the main entrance to wait for Marie. 

Marie had Rand pulled up in front of the warehouse near where she saw Sal standing.  She grabbed her purse and got out of the car with Rand accompanying her.  He was rather new to her personally, but he had been referred to her by someone else in her crew.  Supposedly he was a very capable man.  Marie supposed she needed that now that she was getting more involved with the criminal world.

Marie was wearing a simple rose colored dress with with matching shoes and she greeted her husband with a kiss.  "What is going on?"

Sal kissed and hugged his wife. Then lit a cigarette and took a couple of drags before speaking. 

"Sweetheart there is parts of this life you have never had to experience. I had to learn to learn it in my last line of work," he said taking another drag 

"I don't think you will ever need to do it. But you have to know of it just in case," he told her looking at her

Sal really wanted her not to see this side of him or the business, keep her innocence so to speak. 

"Inside here is a man that works for Tyler Durden. We captured him and I have to find out what he knows."

"Follow me and learn how we find that out."

Marie stood frozen.  In the old country, women's role with in the mob was different than it was here in the new world.  She had grown up around mobsters her whole life and she knew that some times mobsters had to do dark and terrible things.  However, these things were not spoken of in the polite company of women, and they were never shown this side of the business.

Sal noticed the hesitation and he took her hand.  She let him lead her the first few steps and once they were moving he dropped the hand hold.  

Once inside Marie's eyes took a moment to adjust to the dim lighting in the warehouse.  However, after blinking a few times she saw the man sitting in a chair facing away from the door they just entered.  She had no love loss for these Durdens.  They were vile creatures with no manners at all.  Definitely not worthy of any sympathy... at least that is what she told herself.  

Sal's expression and body language changed as they entered the warehouse. He was serious and all business. They walked in and he walked her over to the table where she could sit and watch. 

"sit here," he says to her quietly

"whatever happens don't make a sound or react in any way. I don't want him to catch that this is your first time." he says in a whisper. 

Sal put on a set of leather gloves and walked over to the gentleman that was still blindfolded and gagged in the chair. He walked over and removed the gag. 

"Understand this you are a dead man. You wont leave here and Tyler cant do anything to you. The only decision you have to make is how you want to die." he tells him

"You can die quick and painless or very very slow and painful. Either way is good for me."

Sal put a set of brass knuckles on over his gloves before preceding to punch the man repeatedly in the midsection and the ribs, feeling the man's ribs crack and break. 

Marie had hoped she could watch from behind the man.  It would have allowed herself to step out of this situation and watch everything from an detached and emotionless state.  Here, however, she was front and center to see and experience every minute raw detail of this event.  At least the man was blindfold.  Verbal outbursts, she would be able to contain, but she did not know if she would be able to keep her true reactions from entering her eyes.  Eyes were windows into the soul, and this was not Marie.

She licked her lips and nodded to her husband, her eyes never leaving the Durden.

As Sal began to punch the guy, she could hear the sickening cracking sound of bones breaking.  She flinched, but to her credit, not a sound came from her.

"Now that I have your attention why the fuck are members of the Durdens gang in LA?" Sal asked the man

"Fuck you!" the man said

"Fuck me," he says with a chuckle. 

Sal starts beating the man again. Then he walks over to the table and grabs a pair of pliers and returns to the man. He removes the mans blindfold and watches as the man adjusts to the light. 

"I wanted you to see this," he says before using the pliers to remove the man's fingernails one by one. 

As Sal removes the blindfold she steels herself on the inside.  "No reaction.  No reaction.  No reaction," she mentally chanted to herself over and over again.  She stared at the man's forehead giving the illusion she was looking at him should he happen to take note of her despite his torture he was enduring.  She keyed in on every detail about his forehead -- the sweat that was beading up on the skin and the wrinkles that were now exaggerated by the pain his body was in.  She even noted the exact color of his skin and focused in on how the color changed from one minute to the next.  

It was working she was almost able block out the man's cries as each fingernail was pulled off by the pliers.

"Now I will ask you again... What the fuck are you guys doing here?" he says as he removes the last fingernail. 

"You son of a Bitch!!!" he cries out in pain

"Tyler will kill you"

Sal pulled out his gun and held it to the man's right knee. 

"You see you are thinking about the wrong thing... I think I need to focus your attention" he says as he pulls the trigger. 

The man screams out in pain as the bullet rips through his knee. 

"Ok OK OK..." he screams out in agony

"We were sent here to get info on the LA rackets and businesses and to see if we can take over some of them." he strains to say. 

"We were also sent here to find a way to get to Godfather RomanReigns," he says

"See that wasn't so hard," he says

"Now know this you will be a message to all those Durden fucks that want to try and move on LA," he says raising his gun to the man's head and pulling the trigger

Marie was unable to stop herself from jumping each time the gun fired.  Finally when the matter was done, she got up and with out a word walked out of the warehouse.  Just before exiting she barks at Rand and ordered him to stay in the warehouse.  There must have been something to her tone that drove off any protest he might have lodged to the idea of her going outside alone and he did as she had ordered. 

Once outside she covered her mouth and half ran around the side of the building where she promptly wretched up what remained in her stomach from lunch. Reaching out she steadied herself against the wall of the warehouse and wretched again.

Once it was over he saw Marie leave the building alone. He pointed to a couple of guys to take care of the body. He knew she needed a minute so he gave some orders and then headed out the door. He lit a cigarette and took a couple of long drags. He hated doing that in front of her, he hated it so bad he had to pretend she was not even there in order to do his job. 

He headed outside and saw her braced against the wall and he approached her. 

"How are you doing?" he stupidly asked. 

Sal reached out and caught her to keep her on her feet. 

"I am sorry, that is not something I ever wish you to see or be apart of again. But you had to know how this was done. What it took to get the information" he said to her with real remorse in his voice. 

"The whole time we were in there I had to block you out. I could not do what I had to if I thought about you being in there."

"I never wanted you to see me do that," he said with sadness. 

Sal followed her to the car and opened the door for her then he went around and drove them home in silence. He was pretty sure she did not want him to drive her home, but he was making sure she got home safe. He didn't say a word to her he knew her well enough to know when to keep his mouth shut. 

As they drove he wondered if she would ever look at him the same. If she would ever have the same love and affection towards him. It was a hard lesson she learned he just wished he knew how it would affect them. 

"I promise never to do that again," he said to her softly

"Let's go in and try and get some sleep.," he tells her. 

Sal got out and opened the door for her then let her in the house. They went upstairs and got ready for bed. Sal noticed she was shaken and when they laid down she cuddled up next to him and he held her tight. He did not know what this would do to them but he loved her and would help her through this.