Tobias could not hide the grin on his face as his fingers skimmed through the tens of blades he had set out.

He couldn't find the right one for the job. They were all too straight, too thick or too sharp.

A sharp knife was no fun. There was no anguish, only smoldering pain from the receiver. It was boring.

Surprisingly, the previous day had ended well. He had realized he had a high tolerance for beer and that Alvaro was not entirely selfish and conceited.

Alvaro's effort to make sure his child had a good life encouraged him to clear up the entire mess up and he was getting to the end of it. He could feel it.

He sighed dramatically as he was again met with silence... Well if you didn't count the small sniffling and heavy breathing in the background. The house was almost empty save for Luca that was resting in bed, Miguel keeping an eye on him, Olegario doing whatever Olegario would do, Franco and one or two other members.

He had sent the most of his men with Eniola so her trip to the bank would be safe. Although it would have been smarter to protect himself as well but she was more important.

If they were attacked in the house, he could easily use Giovanni as a shield or a bulletproof.

"Are ten fingers really necessary though?" He asked thoughtfully. His brows were furrowed as he tried to pick the right knife.

He reached for a small one, barely the length of his middle finger and retracted. So many choices!

He exhaled deeply and picked up another. The effort he had put into cleaning and polishing them was absurd.

Looking at his pristine collection, he was proud.

"I think this would do!" He exclaimed with a smile, turning to face Giovanni.

The little thing had changed so much since they first got him and he was beginning to like his obedience. It was too bad he would have to let go of him.

"Gio!" He sang musically.

He was still unable to stop smiling as he sat across from the judge and placed his clean hands over Giovanni's cuffed ones, the loop around the knife serving as a temporary ring for his index finger.

"It's Gio right? That's what your siblings call you?" His grin became a million times bigger when he saw that Giovanni's eyes had widened.

Well he thought they had. It was a bit difficult to see anything under the dull lightning of the room.

"Oh, did you think I wouldn't find out?" Tobias asked and Giovanni kept quiet. He didn't bother about the reply. He knew he would get answers if he really wanted them.

At least his father had thought him that much.

"Giannini, Catalina and oh, Gustavo!" He laughed lightly, patting the back of Giovanni's palms.

He had almost forgotten the most recent addition.

"Did poor Gio Judgio think I wouldn't find out?" He asked and sighed when the man didn't answer again. Oh well, straight to business then.

He removed the knife from its casing, smirking because he felt Giovanni's eyes on him as he did so.

He studied the knife carefully, tilting his head to the side to try to see it from another angle and caught the judge staring straight at him. He winked and continued what he was doing.

He thought he had used every one of his 53 blades but he appeared to be wrong. He hadn't touched this one even once.

There were no scratches from wear or blunt blurs from the bleach he had always soaked them in. He knew he did a good job filing them and sharpening them but the newness of this on bothered him.

Hmm... Oh well.

Just when he saw Giovanni was most unaware, he smoothly grabbed him by his fingers, successfully startling him as well.

"I asked a question earlier, Giovanni!" He said, raising his voice at the end. It pleased him to see his wild eyes matching Gio's fearful ones. Perfect.

"Please." The man begged quietly, wincing for no good reason.

Maybe it was because Tobias was crushing his fingers together but who knew?

"That's not the answer, Gio." He suddenly became calmer, remembering he was much better with his blades when he was calm. "I asked if ten fingers are necessary."

Unsurprisingly, the man nodded.

"I don't know. Maybe it's just me, but I think the middle and ring finger are both useless." The pad of his thumb circled the back of Gio's palm as he said this.

Those fingers were not useful to him. It was not like he planned to tell someone 'fuck you' or get married soon so why the extra fingers?

"I'll ask two questions but only because I'm feeling generous and I'll ask just once." He spoke softly, like Giovanni was an old friend. "If your answers please me, you may keep your fingers. Do you agree to that?" He asked and the man quickly nodded, his face now covered in sweat. Disgusting.

He reluctantly let go of the man and stretched his own fingers. A deal's a deal.

"Two days ago, you told Alvaro you were not affiliated with your brother. Why did you lie?" He asked, leaning into his own seat. The metal chair dug into his back.

"I-I didn't lie." The man's voice bit into his eardrums. "I was up for building another empire with my siblings but I thought we would make our own money and not have to take from others." Tobias frowned.

The man was lying.

He hated liars.

Masking his disappointment with another psychotic smile, he asked the last question.

"Why Eniola Gillian? Why not someone else? Did you think she was an easy catch?"

He didn't bother to hide the second frown when Giovanni failed to answer and with a swipe of his hands, the smallest finger on the judge's hand's laid in his palm.

It was like nothing happened. The momentary silence and scream from the man was just enough evidence that something happened.

He held the finger to the light, giggling as it spasmed to death in his grip. Giovanni's cries were only background noise now.

"Fuck! Oh fuck!" The man fruitlessly tried jerk his hands away from the table but Tobias had taken precaution to strap them firmly.

Gio's teary eyes flew to the severed finger in Tobias's hand and to the empty slot in his palm that was now pooling the table with blood.

Tobias was glad he was only in a pair of pants that he could easily dispose. He would have freaked out if anything touched his good clothes.

He got bored of the finger, threw it behind him and turned to face Giovanni.

"You're a fucking psychopath!" The man spat out in his fit of fury and Tobias nodded in agreement. Now you're being honest.

"Well, don't fucking lie!" He spat back in amusement and grinned when the man kept shut. "Good boy."

The man's intense breathing threatened to upset him but he tried his best to ignore it.

"Okay, let's try this again." He leaned towards the man, poking at the new wound with the sharp blade.

He could almost see the bone inside.

"Why Eniola?" Tobias asked carefully as he drew the bloody knife close to the man's thumb. The most useful finger.

"Vincenzo knew her father personally. H-he said he had saved the man from a kidnapping once and that he owed him. Giannini was going to ask him for some money in order to repay the favour my father had done for him but he was already d-dead."

Vincenzo and Dean knew each other? Who would have known?

"So your bastard of a brother believes that messing with my family would be the best way to cash in on his father's IOU?" Tobias asked, chuckling.

It was unfortunate that the both men were dead. He would have loved to have a conversation with them.

How did Dean even know such a person?

Tobias swiftly glided the blade through Giovanni's thumb, severing it as well. For some reason, it bled out quicker and died in his hands as Giovanni's cries became more intense.

~~~

"He didn't just take me there. We went to this place where we could skate and stargaze but there were no stars!!"

He pretended he was uninterested in what Rebecca and Clara were talking about as he stretched over to collect a slice of pizza. It was one of the few times he ate fast food.

Varo's cooking the past few days had made him extremely lazy and unable to cook for himself.

"That's so romantic. My exes had horrible tastes." Rebecca cooed making him roll his eyes.

He knew Alvaro was making an effort to impress Clara but there was nothing romantic about skating in the cold. He was sure he could do much better.

What would Eniola say about a date? Wait— What?

He shook his head.

Their recent closeness had gone to his head. Just because she had stopped seeing Vittore did not mean there wasn't someone else that he did not know. Like that Kent guy.

"It was... until I fell on my butt and he laughed in my face then sat down with me." He rolled his eyes again.

He would have preferred to stay alone but the two women barged in right in the middle of him setting down the pizza.

"Mr Tobias?" Clara called to him suddenly with a nervous smile.

"Yes?" He decided not to think much of his shirtless state and a face stained with pizza sauce as he answered her.

A long soak in the bathtub would help.

"I was thinking of calling a cleaning service. There's a bit of dust everywhere." She asked and he nodded.

"You can do that but you'll need to supervise. I don't want anyone complaining of missing items."

They resumed their conversation while he tried to figure out what was happening on the television.

It seemed to be locked on a wrestling match between a guy in a mask and tights and another in a tiny pair of underwear.

What is happening?

He sighed tiredly after a while, giving up on the show and wiping his mouth clean. Wrestling had never been his thing.

He preferred good fights with live arms and real weapons and not fixed ones with predetermined moves. Hell, even the UFC was more interesting.

"I'm telling you, that woman was hot!" He had Luis yell before he came into view with Mateo following closely behind.

"She isn't. She's straight like a pole." Diego replied pushing past the both of them.

"Because you're in the position to shame someone?" Eniola commented standing on her tippy toes as she walked past the short man.

Her actions got laughter out of the quickly dispersing group. Diego looked very offended as he narrowed his eyes at her.

"Hey." He greeted, standing out of courtesy. It pleased him that she was smiling and happy.

He grinned when he realized she had even made her hair.

"You look pretty."

"You like it?" She twirled in front of him, making Rebecca and Varo who was helping himself with the food snort.

He liked the dark braided extensions that had transparent beads at the end. He did worry that it was a bit too long as it dropped to her behind but said nothing about it. It was still extremely beautiful.

"I do." He answered honestly.

"Yeah, you're gorgeous, En'." Rebecca supported. "Come eat pizza. Izan bought."

"I did it!" Luis yelled from wherever he was.

"He did. He's really good!" She said, patting Tobias's cheek and reaching for the last slice of pizza. There goes the food. "But I'm still going to say, the roots are loose. It's going to get old quick."

Luis poked his head through the turn in the hallway. "Your ass said it was too tight."

"Yeah but still—"

He narrowed his eyes. "Wire my me my 650."

As he left, Alvaro said, "You know you're being scammed right?"

"That's if I even send him anything." She said and he laughed.

"He's going to throw a fit."

"What's the news?" Tobias asked as he saw a file on the table.

"We didn't find the documents in the bank." Alvaro answered making him frown.

"Anthony had already taken it, made photocopies and compiled it in his office." Eniola completed, quickly wiping a tear from her eye.

He hated when she cried.

"The idiot was still a dork until he died." She finished, smiling sadly. He pulled her into a small hug, making sure not to touch her braids. He was sure they were still a bit painful.

"He made things easier for us." Mateo added while Tobias glanced through the documents in the file with one hand.

Anthony had clearly stated the year's income, expenses, assets and liabilities. The shares and stocks bought and dividend to be paid to the shareholders were neatly mentioned.

He knew it was almost the end of the year. He had carried the business like it was his own.

"I'm going to lie down a bit." Eniola pulled away with a sniffle and left the room.

Anthony's death affected her more than she was letting off.

"What about Giovanni?" Alvaro asked, watching the retreating woman and also eyeing the spot Clara was in.

She and Rebecca had disappeared. They tended to do so the past few days.

"Alive and missing a few body parts." Tobias answered flatly as he picked up the empty pizza box while Varo sprawled out on the sofa, not caring if he wrinkled his dark mink coat.

"Give me details!" The man whined.

It was going to be a long story.

~~~

Ah, I forgot to count. One dead (Anthony), three more to go.🤩