As Wade walked toward his father, he noticed they were not alone on this floor. On one side of the floor was a set of fitness equipment. He, and his father when he was still occupying this office, enjoyed doing their exercises while waiting for reports or meetings. Hence, the fitness equipment is on this floor.
Wade saw two people hanging up a new punching bag. Two other people in neat suits holding rifles were watching the two.
His father rose from the office chair and walked toward these people. He did so as well.
"Pop," Wade greeted his father when they got close to one another.
"Junior," Solomon replied.
"Why do you get me a new punching bag? I just bought that one a month ago," Wade asked his father while pointing at the punching bag on the floor.
"This is not for you," Solomon replied.
Wade was confused by his father's reply. He then noticed the bag didn't look like a good-quality punching bag. It had many wrinkles, as if the inside was not fully stuffed. He also noticed another detail. The two people who had hung the punching bag looked ragged. They also had bruises on their faces, and they looked frightened.
"Proceed," Solomon said.
Wade was about to ask his father what he meant when he realized his father was not talking to him.
He turned to the two ragged men. They slowly got into a punching position. One of them started punching the bag. The impact was hardly audible.
"Perhaps you need an incentive to punch harder?" Solomon asked.
Hearing that, the man punched again. This time, the impact was loud. His partner hesitated but joined in soon.
They continued to watch the two punch the bag. Wade turned to his father a few times. Every time he thought about asking his father what the hell they were doing, wasting time watching two pathetic men pummeling a punching bag. Every time he abandoned that thought.
The amateur boxing spectacle lasted almost ten minutes until Solomon called for them to stop. The two men were gasping for breath and were full of sweat.
"Bring it down," Solomon ordered.
The two complied. When the two brought the punching bag down, they also opened it up, revealing a man inside the bag. The man was tied up and gagged, so he couldn't make any sound. The man was full of bruises and blood.
Considering he didn't move at all during all those punchings, Wade thought the man in the bag was either already dead, unconscious, or drugged, before he was stuffed inside the bag, but then he saw the man's eyes were open. They looked rather livid.
"Who is the chump?" Wade finally asked.
"Someone who thought they could rise and compete with us," Solomon answered. "This is another lesson I want to impart to you, my son. You need to nip a problem in the bud, before it turns into one."
Wade wanted to say his father had taught that lesson before, but he remained silent.
Solomon continued, "This man led a gang in his neighborhood. We used to use them as our runners for our local drug distribution, but I guess they turned greedy or ambitious. Anyway, they started selling products from outside sources, without asking permission or paying us a share. Well, that is disrespectful, don't you think?"
"Absolutely," Wade nodded.
"The words on the streets also said they were gathering men. They probably thought that with the Tuton family declining power, they could rise to take some of the territories."
Wade chuckled. He said, "Such a fool. This entire town is the Savino family's territory. It is just a matter of time. Everything that belongs to the Tuton family will become ours."
Solomon clapped his son's shoulder. "Anyway, these two are his closest lieutenants. They even claimed that this fool treated them like his own sons, and they treated him like their own father."
"Some treatment," Wade laughed.
The two didn't make any rebuttal. Any resistance within them had been purged through torture before Solomon brought them here.
Solomon threw a gun onto the floor. He said to the two, "Inside that gun is one bullet. Use it to kill that supposed father of yours."
The two stared at the gun on the floor.
"I will count to ten. If nobody picks up the gun, all three of you will die," Solomon declared. Following his declaration, the men in suits pointed their rifles at the two.
"One…!" Solomon started counting.
When the count reached three, one of the men finally bent down and picked the gun up. The men in suits got ready to shoot. If their target made a sudden move, like pointing the gun at Solomon or Wade, they would fire.
The man with the gun aimed at the bloody man on the floor. His hand was shaking. The man on the floor glared at the man with the gun. Accusation and frustration filled his eyes. Tears were seen rolling down.
The man with the gun also started to cry. He closed his eyes. He said, "I'm sorry." He then opened fire.
The bullet struck the head of the man on the floor. He died instantly.
As that happened, Solomon raised his hand. There was another gun in his hand. He fired that gun.
The man with the gun turned in surprise because of the gunshot. He saw his partner, who punched the bag with him, fall to the ground. He had a bullet wound in his head.
"What is your name, son?" Solomon asked the man with the gun.
"Lu… Luis… Sir," The man answered.
"Congratulations, Luis. You have been accepted into the Savino family," Solomon said. "Go and clean up. These men will bring you to a capo named Steve. You will help him hit that gang you used to run with. Teach them a lesson so they know they must obey the Savino family."
The men in the suit grabbed Luis and shoved him toward the exit. As they left, some people came in. They took the corpses and cleaned up the place. While that happened, Solomon and Wade walked to the large office desk.
Solomon sat in the main chair. Wade sat in one of the guest chairs.
"So, what did you learn from all this?" Solomon asked.
"Uh… Nip the problem in the bud?" Wade replied.
"Attack the enemies before they have the chance to attack us!" Solomon exclaimed while banging on the table.