Acts of Mercy

EIGHTEEN

He sat on the hard metal seat, his feet on the row in front of him, his arms resting on his knees, a smile on his face.

He was so damned smart. He couldn’t get over just how smart he was. All those years, everyone thought DelVecchio was the smart one. Man, if they only knew how he’d been outsmarted-his mind had been played with all these years.

If they could only know how much he’d taken from Sam… how many sleepless nights he’d caused him… how much pain.

Plenty more where that came from.

It had all been so very simple, so easy. Even now, he marveled at how easy it had all been, how clever he’d been, right from the start.

Of course, his very cleverness was both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because no one-no one-could ever guess the lengths he’d gone to over the years to break Sam DelVecchio. A curse, because, well, because the very nature of the game ensured that no one could ever know, would ever know, how he’d bested the best over and over. But it was okay, he assured himself, because in the end, in the very end, Sam would know all, and he’d understand that the price that was exacted was merely what was due.

Sam had ruined his life. It was only fair.

He watched Sam move through the crowd, his arm around the pretty woman with the long black hair. She might do, but he really didn’t like dealing with women. It just didn’t seem quite right. But then, there was the boy. Sam was obviously very fond of him. Of course, there’s the brother…

So many targets to chose from, only one act left. Well, two, actually, but the last was going to be very special, and that was reserved for Sam.

Oh, yes. Payback was a bitch.