Chapter 34: The Interrogation
"Why’s this one still conscious?"
The man holding the baseball bat brought it up to his shoulder and chuckled!
"We’re just getting warmed up, boss. We’ll get to him soon."
The tied-up man looked between Dante and the man holding the baseball bat with wide, terrified eyes, and the man began to moan loudly as he tried to say something to them. Dante put his hands in his pockets and just watched the man for a few seconds before he finally nodded for the man holding the knife to take the cloth out. Once the cloth came off, the man immediately began to wail!
"Please spare me! I don’t know anything about all this! I’m just a henchman! A fucking henchman! What sorta information can you even get outta—mmmph! Mmph! Mohh!"
The cloth was suddenly shoved back into the man’s mouth before he could continue on his rant, and Dante shook his head and sighed tiredly before he walked up to the man and put his hand on his shoulder to talk to him like a friend.
"I don’t think you understand your position here. You see your friend over there, we didn’t even ask him any questions. He was the warm-up for the boys cause they were so fucking angry. So right now, the boys are calm, and they can do a lot more damage when they are calm. If you don’t start telling me something that’ll help me find out who’s behind this, they can make you suffer for a very long time. Is that what you want?"
The man quickly shook his head ’no’! Of course, that wasn’t what he wanted! Dante nodded along, and he turned to the man wielding the knife and asked him if he wanted to spare this one from torture. The knife-man shrugged before he smiled.
"I don’t know, boss. I’m feeling a little pissed off. Maybe we’ll start by taking off his fingers or something. Can’t be shooting guns if you ain’t got no fingers.."
The gagged man suddenly shook as he tightened his hands into fists, and Dante shook his head in disapproval at his man’s words! Was he trying to scare him!? They weren’t bad guys! They were only here to get information!
"Hey, I’m trying to help the guy, and you’re scaring him. At this rate, he’s going to soil his pants. Look at him, he’s shaking like a leaf. I’m sure he’s going to tell us exactly what we want since he doesn’t want to lose his fingers. Isn’t that right?"
Dante turned back to the gagged man when he said this, and the man nodded so quickly that Dante was sure that he would get a headache from it. Dante nodded to the knife-wielding man to take the gag off, and once the gag came off the second time, the man quickly began to speak!
"I-I don’t know who sent us! But wait! Wait! I know a name! I heard a name from the other men! We’re all just random thugs that they gathered off the street to help them with the raid, but the person who recruited me called himself Silas! That’s all I know, I swear!"
Dante’s eyes suddenly narrowed into a heavy glare once he heard the name Silas! Dante recognized that name, and he was now certain about who was responsible for the attack! Silas was a cleaner, just like Dante, but he was a mercenary who could be hired by any family to perform a job without needing to involve the family! But Dante had seen Silas working for the Bellagrini family on multiple occasions already, and Dante was sure that this case was the same! The pressure in the room seemed to triple in an instant as a skill came to life!
[Menace] has been activated!
Doon!
Everyone in the room shook from the sudden pressure, but Dante didn’t pay them any mind as he leaned down to look the man right in the eye. The man was shaking like a leaf, and Dante’s pressure was making things even worse for him! His heart was beating so fast that he felt like he was going to die!
"Are you sure that this is all you know?"
Dante watched the man’s face very closely when he asked this question, and he waited to see what sort of reaction the man would have. There were some obvious signs that someone who was lying to you would have, and Dante had interrogated enough people to be able to tell when someone was lying to him or not. But the only thing that Dante could see on this man’s face was fear!
[Due to repeated action, the user has acquired the specific skill [Discernment - B] under the general skill [Espionage]]
[Discernment: The ability to unveil the truth! This skill allows the user to read the body language and facial expressions of any person the user studies in order to figure out whether that person is speaking the truth or not!]
This tab suddenly opened in front of Dante, but Dante ignored it with ease as he watched the man closely! Dante suddenly gained an even deeper understanding of the man’s expression once this skill was activated. Every twitch on the man’s face and every movement of his eyes was glaring to Dante’s eyes, and Dante realized that the man was definitely saying the truth! A rank smell suddenly filled the barn, and Dante looked down and sighed tiredly when he saw that the man had soiled himself! This bastard had a fucking weak bladder! Dante stepped back to avoid touching the man, and the man let out a low cry as he nodded.
"T-That’s all I know. Please."
Dante clicked his tongue, and he turned around and began walking out of the room while giving orders to his men.
"Take care of them and get rid of the bodies. When you’re done, tell the others to start getting ready to mobilize. They dared to come into our city first, so now we’re at war."
The men all saluted Dante, and Dante left the barn with Risa and Florence. The moment they stepped out, Florence put her hands on her knees and let out a deep breath as she heaved! She had been close to losing her dinner when she saw the injured man, but thankfully Dante didn’t cut anyone up, so she didn’t puke! But Florence wondered what the hell that pressure had been! The pressure Dante released during the interrogation wasn’t something normal! It was almost physical, and Florence knew that this wasn’t normal! Who the hell did George just leave in charge of his family, and what in the world did she get herself into? Florence watched Dante as he said a few words to Risa, and Risa nodded and left before Dante turned to her. Florence rose back up to face him once he looked at her, and she waited for him to speak.
"I’m not like the previous boss, so things are going to be different when I take over. You might only be my secretary, but I need you to know more about what this family is really about. If you don’t understand how we make our money, then your numbers will never be complete. Risa is fetching the family books from the previous years. I want you to take the rest of the day and look over them alone. I’ll expect a more comprehensive analysis of our company finances tomorrow, so don’t disappoint me."
Florence swallowed and nodded seriously, but she quickly spoke before Dante could turn to walk away.
"But sir, what about the dinner tomorrow? The stakeholders are going to be there, and they’ll expect to see the new boss. They’ll be expecting you."
Dante frowned at that.