HER ATTRACTION

SEVEN: THE KIDNAP 2

Isabella kept screaming and trying to open the doors of the car. Riccardo locked the doors and Isabella only hit the doors and yelled.

"Who are you?! Where are you taking me to?! What do you want from me?!"

Riccardo slammed the brakes and the car came to an abrupt stop and threw Isabella forward, her screams stopped too and she turned to face Riccardo, who was glaring at her. She was all sweaty and she was panting.

"Can you stop throwing a tantrum, Bellissima? (beautiful) You are distracting me."

Isabella had known he was Italian. "Really? Tantrum?" She looked away from him and chuckled sarcastically, then looked back at him. "Who are you and why are you kidnapping me?"

"I am not kidnapping you."

"Of course, you are! What do you call this?!"

"You might not believe me, but this is just a coincidence. I never planned to kidnap you. Nothing was planned. Meeting you at the airport, driving away with you now, none of it was my plan."

She nodded. "Yeah, now that it came from you, I have more reasons to doubt it. I promise you, you will be in bigger trouble if I eventually go free."

"I am not capping."

"If you are not, then let me out of this f*cking car!"

"I'm afraid I can't." His voice was deep and husky.

She couldn't see him well, because it was dark. She sighed. "Why can't you let me go my way since you didn't plan all of this?"

"Because it's risky and dangerous..."

"The only dangerous one is you. How on earth did I get involved in all this?" she muttered.

Riccardo ignited the car again and started driving away. Isabella looked at him surprised.

"Where are you going to?"

"I don't even know."

"Are you being real right now? When you are caught, my boyfriend would do anything to see that you go to jail. He is a good lawyer and his dad is a senior lawyer and they will make sure they will put you behind bars for doing this."

"Bellissima, you need to know that I am a very lucky man and I don't fight legally, I fight bloody."

She stared at him wide-eyed. "Where did you hear that from?"

"Hear what?" He glanced at her and looked back at the road.

"What you just said about fighting bloody?"

"Well, that's common slang in Sicily."

She didn't want to tell him that she was Italian. A lot of people don't know she was because of her American accent. She had grown to speak American perfectly although she speaks Italian pretty well too. She turned away from him and looked out of the window. She didn't want the conversation to take a friendly tone.

"Why did you ask where I heard that slang?"

"Sounds like something I have heard before."

"Are you Italian?"

"Don't talk to me," she said still looking out of the windows.

"You don't give me orders," he said in a low voice.

"You don't kidnap me away from my life and expect me to remain quiet."

He didn't say anything and she didn't say anything else. They allowed the silence to sit between them. Each thinking about what was going to happen next. In a matter of minutes, Isabella was carried away by sleep.

The siren lights blinked red and blue from police cars around the fuel station and different policemen walked around the station. Adrian sat in front of the convince store talking to a policeman. Some policemen searched the area and one also talked to the salesperson in the store.

When the police were done talking to Adrian, he went into the store and asked the boy to help him with his phone so he could make some calls. The only thing he took from the car was his wallet. He called his parents first and his mom was shocked by the news. They promised to come over to the station and pick him up.

He thought of how to get to Isabella's aunt. He didn't have her number off-heart and he didn't want to startle her, but she was Isabella's only family he knew. He paced about the porch of the store thinking of what next to do before his parents comes to take him. He suddenly remembered that Aunty Bianca had given him her card the first day they met. He took out his wallet and searched for the card, hoping and praying that the card was still there. Luckily, it was.

He breathed with relief and dialed her number, hoping it was her home line. Fortunately, it was her home line. Aunty Bianca answered after two dials. Her voice was drowsy with sleep.

"Who are you? Why are you calling me so late at night?" Aunty Bianca's voice asked from the other end.

"Aunty Bianca," Adrian called, his voice cracking with tears.

When Aunty Bianca spoke again, her voice was alert and curious. "Adrian? Adrian is that you? What of Izzy?"

"I was going home with her, we stopped for a moment and I went into a grocery store for only a few minutes and some crazy man kidnapped her."

"What?!" Aunty Bianca's voice yelled with panic from the other end. "How?! No...honey," Aunty Bianca said to someone on her end. "it's Izzy, she's been kidnapped..."

Adrian went down until he was sitting on the floor. He never planned for such a thing to happen. He heard the shuffling of things at the other end of the line.

Aunty Bianca's voice came on the line again. " Hello, Adrian, where are you right now?"

Adrian sniffed and his eyes widened. He prayed for his parents to get there before Aunty Bianca.

The strippers danced sexually for the men who were throwing money at them. The light was dim and the disco light blinked red and blue in the club, sensual Italian music played in the background. Leonardo, his father, and Uncle Marco went to the VIP lounge of the club. They had a business deal to seal that night with their partners from Spain. Leonardo knew his father didn't want to take the deal, but he just went because of the respect he had for his partners.

His father was a stout, old man in his late sixties. White hairs on his head, beards, and brows. Despite his wrinkles, he was still a handsome man, not very tall, but tall enough for a man. He always had his e-cigar pipe in his mouth and a golden staff which he always carried about.

He moved into the VIP lounge where other VIP mafiosos were and where he was to meet his Spanish partners. He was the most feared and popular mafia lord among others, so when he came in with his son, he was hailed.

"Benvenuto, Don Domenico!" (Welcome Don Domenico) the people hailed.

Don Domenico took his seat at the round table where his partners were. Leonardo sat by his right, while Uncle Marco sat by his left. The man that seem to be the leader of the group darted his eyes from Marco to Leonardo and back to Don Domenico.

"Esto es confidencial." (This is confidential) the man said in Spanish.

"This is my son," Don Domenico replied in English. "He would succeed the family when I'm gone and I want him to take charge after tonight."

The man stared hard at Leonardo for a while, Leonardo stared back at him. The man took down his pipe. "Cual es tu nombre?" (What is your name?)

"Carlos, English please," Don Domenico said and drew from his pipe.

"My name is Leonardo da Costa, I am the first son and heir of Don Domenico da Costa."

The man seems to relax. "Let's settle down to business."

"The ball is in your court, Carlos."

The man leaned closer. "We need your help to bring in the package."

"I am not rendering any help at this period," Don Domenico answered.

"Don, don't make me sweat over this. These girls are virgins and would fetch us a lot of money. I'm sure with your connection, you can help us..."

Don Domenico raised his hand cutting him short. "I'm not interested in the deal."

"Don Domenico, please think about this. We are offering you 15% of the deal."

Don Domenico looked at his son and whispered in his ears. "I hope you are learning how to negotiate. It was 10% they brought to the table."

Leonardo smiled and looked downstairs and saw Riccardo walking through the crowd of dancers. He looked suspicious but Leonardo didn't put his mind to it. He was just excited about succeeding Don Domenico and he couldn't wait to tell Riccardo about it. The next thing he saw was Riccardo's soldiers coming in one after the other and before he could know what was happening, his father was shot in the head.

Leonardo watched his father fall sideways towards him, wide-eyed, in utter disbelief. Therethatchaos which sounded muffled and indistinct to Leonardo. He didn't understand what was going on. His father's soldiers were running helter-skelter and gunshots sounded everywhere. Leonardo didn't care to defend himself or hide until a bullet hit his chest and he was suddenly aware that it was a gang clash. As he fell to the ground, before his eyes finally closed in unconsciousness, he thought he saw Riccardo, standing over him, pointing a gun at his head.

He woke up and jerked up from bed. He was panting like he had run a marathon and he was covered in sweat. Caterina stirred beside him.

"Are you having another nightmare?" she asked drowsily.

Leonardo just sat there panting and looking horrified.