HER ATTRACTION

TEN: SET TO KILL

BRONXVILLE, NEW YORK

Isabella woke up and felt pain pushing through her body. She opened her eyes and faced a ceiling with a ceiling fan oscillating slowly. She tried to sit up but realized that she couldn't move her hands or legs. She glance down at her legs and saw that they were tied to the bedpost. She whimpered and looked around. He came out of the bathroom with only a towel wrapped around his waist and he was drying his hair with another towel. Her eyes popped when she saw his hunk body and she quickly looked away from him.

"You are awake, bellissima," he said.

She slowly turned to look at him again. "Why did you tie me up here." The bullet wound by his side was bleeding and she wondered if he ever disinfected the wound.

"So that you won't try to escape again," he said smiling down at her.

She took the time to look at him. Since they met, she had not taken time to look at him, it was either too dark to see his face or she was too pissed to give a damn about what he looked like. He was handsome as the devil and sexy too. His forehead was high and broad, with prominent cheekbones, strong jaw, and stubble. His eyebrows were dark, thick, and almost bristling, yet well-formed and his eyes a deep-set gray, his mouth was full and sensuous. Broad shoulders, a deep chest well-padded and firm, a dragon tattoo lay across his chest, between his pronounced n*****s, and some scribbled tattoo were on his arm above his elbow, a belly hard-looking and flat. She didn't know how long she stared at him, but she jerked a little when he spoke.

"You like what you see, bellissima?"

She quickly looked away and blinked severally, her face burning with embarrassment. "Put on a shirt, will you?" she managed to say, grateful that her voice sounded firm enough.

"I have to treat my wound."

"Loosen me," she said still facing the other side away from him.

"Unless you promise not to create a scene again."

"Where will I be creating the scene? In this room? Where are we by the way?"

"We are in an inn, not sure if it's safe enough but we would rest a little here."

"What are you running from?"

"People," he replied without looking at her. He kept cleaning his wound.

"Let me help, I have some knowledge in medicine, my aunt is a doctor," she said. When he didn't turn nor look at her, she rolled her eyes. "I promise I won't try anything funny."

He went over to her and untied her legs and arms, she sat up in bed, rubbing her wrists, and he stared at her without saying anything. She glanced up at him, he was looking at her and her eyes remained on him for a short while, then she straightened up and stretched out her hand.

"Give me the towel." He handed her the short towel he was using to hold himself. "I'm sure you have lost a lot of blood." She took the towel and stood up from bed.

"I have taken some blood supplements and I have been trained to survive."

She touched his body and withdrew her hand immediately as if his body burned her. "Oh, my God, you are running temperature!"

"Am I?" he asked with indifference. "I will survive."

She looked worried. "You need to rest, I will take care of you now."

He chuckled. "I know the game you are playing. Women are always so sly. I won't sleep until you sleep off. I know what you are planning to do. Women can only be nice for something."

She placed the wet towel on his wound, pressed and squeezed. He let out a sharp yelp in pain. "Keep your mouth shut if you don't have anything to say," she whispered in his ears.

He smirked. "You just proved my point."

ITALY

Luigi sat on the bench, staring at Leonardo as he punched the punching bag with fury. He was the coach and trainer of both Leonardo and Riccardo. He had trained them even when they were best friends and he was their friend too, but then, they had become enemies all of a sudden, and he was left in the middle. They trained together when they used to be friends, but now each had his own day of coming by. At first, it had been so difficult even for him because he had to make sure they don't kill themselves when they were there until he figured out how they could visit the gym without running into each other.

Leonardo would come in for three days in a week and Riccardo would come the next three days. It sat well with them and it had worked since then. Leonardo was sweating and punching the bag with frustration.

"Looks like you want to punch some jerk in the face," Luigi said and stood up from the bench. He was sweating too and he had a cream towel hung around his neck.

Leonardo stopped punching the bag, glanced at him, and said nothing. He doubled over and kept panting, looking ahead. Luigi came and stood in front of him. The door of the gym opened and they both turned to see Rocco coming in with his sports bag. Rocco smiled at them.

"Rocco," Leonardo called with surprise. "I thought you went to Barcelona?"

"Well, I did but I'm back. I dropped by the villa but they said you have left already," Rocco said and shook Luigi's hand.

"Yeah, I came earlier today," Leonardo took his hand and hugged him.

Rocco was the friend he made at the gym. If Leonardo was sexy, Rocco was sexier and stronger than Leonardo. They had been friends since Leonardo and Riccardo became enemies and they have been training together. Rocco was from Barcelona and had moved back to Italy with his mom when his dad died. He said he was a gym instructor back in Barcelona, Leonardo admired him, because he was quiet and soft-spoken, but he never trusted him. In his business, he had learned not to give his trust to anyone, especially when it's not family. So he kept them close but watched every move of theirs.

"So, how are the girls in Spain?" Leonardo asked.

Rocco laid down on the bench to carry the weight lift machine. "As sexy as ever," Rocco replied.

"Izzy had been kidnapped," Leonardo blurted.

"What?" Luigi and Rocco chorused.

"She was last seen with Riccardo in America."

Luigi and Rocco looked at themselves, they knew what it meant. War was coming soon between the two mafia families and Leonardo was not a patient man. Just then, Pietro walked into the gym and walked straight to Leonardo.

"Anything about Izzy?" Leonardo asked as he came closer.

"We have found a traitor, trying to sabotage the cartel, he had been captured and taken to the warehouse and the package from Patmos."

"I will be with you in a jiffy," Leonardo said.

BRONXVILLE, NEW YORK.

Before evening, Riccardo was completely down. Isabella had treated his wound, but he was still feverish. His temperature was skyrocketing by the hour and he finally fell asleep. She sat by his side, looking at him as he slept so peacefully. This was her time to escape from him. She could just leave and call someone from the pay phone. She could call Adrian, she could call Joanne, She could call Aunt Bianca and tell them where she was. She quickly stood up from her chair and went to the bag he had bought at the store where he had put the clothes he had bought for them. She searched the bag to see if he kept her phone somewhere but she couldn't find anything. She took out the clothes one after the other but nothing was there. She found his wallet, there was a lot of money inside it, but nothing else. No identity card or whatever that tells who he was or what he does. She took the wallet, she might need it on the road.

She could still escape without her phone, this was her only opportunity and she had to grab it. She left the bag and went towards the door and glanced back at him as she was about to open the door, he was looking so pale and looked like he wasn't going to make it through the night. She couldn't just leave him like that, she wasn't that heartless, he was sick and needed proper medical attention.

"s**t," she muttered to herself and turned back from the door and went to stand beside the bed. She felt his body again, he was still hot and she thought of what to do. She had foreknowledge of medicine, Aunt Bianca was a doctor and had even wanted her to become a doctor too, but she said she wanted to become a businesswoman. She sat down beside him and glared at him as if he was seeing her and groaned. "I could kill you with my bare hands."

After a while, she decided to go outside and look for a pharmacy or somewhere to get him some medicines that would calm his temperature and give him a little strength. She looked around for something to write him a note in case he woke up and didn't find her. When she didn't see any, she decided to leave and be back quickly.

She stepped out into the hallway, it was brightly lit, but there was no one around, she started to walk down the hallway slowly and as quietly as she could. The thought of escaping kept tugging at her but she kept brushing it away. She would stay and help him out because he had put his life on the line for her. Yes, if he hadn't stepped in and taken the bullet for her, maybe she would have been wounded up in some hospital, fighting for her dear life and he would have escaped and still live his life, so she was going to repay him for that kindness and he would only find it nice to let her go. But in her innermost heart, that part that was almost hidden even from her, she didn't want to leave. She wanted to stay with him and find out what was going on. It wasn't curiosity, she wasn't curious, or else she won't be thinking about his hunky body and she won't be having lingering thoughts of what his lips would taste like, his lopsided smile would not be coming to her mind's eyes and she won't have that tug in her heart when he touched her.

Isabella, focus, she cautioned herself as she came to the hall of the inn. The inn was filled with men and women having dinner and most of the men turned to look at her as she appeared. She know she had that ability to turn heads even when she was sweaty, or when her hair was all disheveled, or even when she looked like she had woken from hundred years of sleep. She ignored the eyes on her and moved to the man by the counter.

"Excuse me."

"Yes, ma'am, how may I help you?"

"I was wondering where I could get some medicine, like a drugstore?"

"Oh, a drugstore is just around the corner, just two blocks away," the man by the counter said.

Isabella thanked him and went out of the inn. The sun was going to sleep in the west and she needed to make it back to the inn before nightfall. The inn was a bit quiet and off the road. She saw some men, three men staring at her from the parking lot. She was suddenly gripped by fear. Then she recalled the man that had kidnapped her telling her that she wasn't safe alone. She started walking faster but the men followed her. She increased her steps and they still trailed her heels, then she broke into a run and they pursued her. They caught up with her just as she was about to run into a*****e by the road.

"Hey, relax pretty, why are you running? I just wanted to say hello," the one that seemed to be leading them said. The others were grinning behind him.

Isabella breathed with relief at first and tried to remove her hand from him, but the man's grip was tight. He reeked of alcohol and tobacco and she had to hold her breath to avoid the stench.

"Relax," said the man. "I just want to know your name and maybe hang out later tonight."

"I can't hang out, I'm here...I'm here with my boyfriend and he is sick, so let me go, so I can go tend to him."

The man ran a finger over her hair. "Is your boyfriend sick?"

In the parking lot at the inn, in a truck, a man sat there listening to Isabella's conversation with the other men. He dialed a number on his phone, and it rang thrice. "We found him," the man said in a low, coarse voice.

"Are you sure?" the voice at the other end asked.

"Yes. We have seen the woman he absconded with. She said he is her boyfriend."

"I knew it. Kill him tonight, by mid-night, bring the woman alive...and... do not disappoint me, he is a very sensitive man."

"He is sick, his girlfriend went to get him some medicine."

"Better, better. Kill him tonight. I want to hear the news tomorrow morning."

"Consider it done."