"... but let's start with a piece of rope. Nice and simple, goes around the neck like this. Feel it getting tighter?" The man looped a rope around Vinnie's neck and slowed pulled on it. Vinnie felt the pressure build on his throat, his head starting to swim, his breath becoming laboured, his heart racing.

The man continued to talk, whispering into Vinnie's ear "Remind you of anyone you know? That shopkeeper the mob wanted dead last year maybe? He got strangled by a piece of rope just like this. Ring any bells? Was it you who ended his life for him? How much did they pay you? Not enough, was it? You came back for more, much more, how much more?"

Vinnie started to choke, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't think. What was the guy saying? He couldn't hear it all, the ringing in his ears, the pounding in his chest.

Suddenly the man released the tension on the rope, Vinnie gasped for breath. But the man just ignored his gasping - "No, not yet, too easy. Strangling you now would be act of mercy. And you don't believe in mercy, do you? You just believe in money."