“There’s a problem with that assessment,” Mick said.
Carmelo hesitated. He knew Roz was no longer his girlfriend. Was that the problem? Because he spoke as if she still was? All kinds of possibilities raced through his head. What if this guy was her new man? What if there could be some blackmail money in this for him? His anxiety lessened, and he immediately sought more information. “A problem?” he asked. “What kind of problem?”
“Those are no longer nude photographs, or pics if you like, of your girlfriend. Those are nude photographs of mine.” Mick looked Carmelo in his eyes. “I do not like the idea of those nude photographs of my lady over the internet any more than you like the idea of dying.”
Carmelo swallowed hard when Mick said that last word. And suddenly he knew blackmailing a man like this was crazy talk. This man was no joke. This man was serious as a heart attack.
“Both of those matters are not going to be possible,” Mick added.
Carmelo looked confused because he was. “Both of what matters are not going to be possible?”
“There is no way that those photographs can stay online, and you live. Those two matters cannot possibly coexist in this space and time.”
Carmelo’s heart was now racing. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying, dickhead,” Mick answered, “that you take down every single one of those photographs, or you die trying. The choice is yours.”
“You kept them in a controlled account,” Danny said, “which is good. But you had better sweep it clean. If we find one anywhere, that’s lights out for you.”
“But it’s not possible to get every single one---”
“Yes, it is,” Danny said, “and you know it. You just have to be savvy, and you are. I’ve seen your internet footprint.”
Mick stood up. Danny stood Carmelo up.
Mick began to walk toward Carmelo’s side of the table. “What do you say, Mr. Rivera?” he asked. “What is it going to be? Life, yours that is, or those photographs?”
Carmelo nodded. “I’ll take them down,” he said, watching Mick’s approach as if he was fending off an attacker. “I’ll take down every one. I swear.”
“But in case your word is as useless as the way you treated Rosalind,” Mick said, “I need you to understand the seriousness.”
Mick was now within an inch of him. “What do you mean?” he asked.
Mick grabbed Carmelo by his fat neck and smashed his head through the window next to the table, shattering the glass. Cuts immediately opened up on Carmelo’s handsome face and the blood began to gush.
“This is what I mean,” Mick said angrily. “Do you understand my meaning now?”
“Yes, sir,” Carmelo was crying. “I understand, sir. Yes, sir!”
“Hopefully that makes it clearer,” Mick said.
“It does,” Carmelo insisted. It was all appeasement, but he felt as if he was fighting for his life. “I’ve never seen anything clearer!”
Mick looked at the pitiful loser, and then let him go.
Carmelo leaned his bloody face back into the house, holding onto his neck.
But as Mick began to move away, to walk away, he thought about Rosalind. And those photographs. And how badly that prick had hurt her. Face cuts didn’t seem to capture how Mick felt about what that man did to Rosalind’s heart. Rosalind’s heart deserved better than this. “On second thought,” Mick said, turning around.
As soon as he turned, Carmelo tried to push back through the broken window, but it was too late. Mick pulled out his gun and shot Carmelo within an inch of his penis. Carmelo doubled over, terrified that he had actually struck his golden cock, and then dropped to his knees.
“That’ll make it clearer,” Mick said. He handed Danny the pistol, and then left the house.
Danny emptied the gun’s chamber, and then threw the gun at Carmelo’s side. “Accidents happen, right?” he asked Carmelo.
Carmelo was nodding his head. He was in agony, but he knew he had to agree with whatever Danny said. “Yes. Accidents happen.”
“You did this to yourself. Didn’t you?”
Again Carmelo nodded his head. “I did it to me. I did it to myself, yes, sir.”
“Talk. Tell anyone, even your mama, and you’re dead, lover boy. You’re dead and your dick will be in the fucking river. Understand? Is that clear, too?”
“It’s clear,” Carmelo said again, praying that these people would just leave. He needed medical attention. He needed help! “Nothing has ever been more clearer in my entire life,” he added.
Danny smiled. “Good,” he said. “Because accidents do happen.”
Then Danny stared at Carmelo a moment longer, and then left too.
Carmelo immediately crawled on his knees to the nearest phone. He quickly called 911. “I need an ambulance!” he cried into the phone.