HER ATTRACTION

THREE: LEONARDO

SOMEWHERE IN ITALY

In a large dark and dank warehouse, filled with cranes and crates, a few men stood around a sitting man and one kneeling.

"Capo, please spare me. I didn't do it!" the kneeling man pleaded in Italian.

Leonardo stared at the man who was kneeling six feet away from him, held by his soldiers and had been beaten that he bleed from everywhere around his face. He sat cross-legged in a chair, tapping his fingers on the armrest. His staff was held in his left hand.

"I am going to give you just ten counts to spit who was trying to mess with my racket."

"I swear, I don't know anything about it. I don't."

Leonardo closed his eyes, rested his head on the backrest and tapped his fingers on the armrest. "This is one." He tapped again. "Two."

"Capo, I don't know honestly."

Another tap of the fingers. "Three...four…five...six…"

The man was whimpering like a lonely dog now, his whole body shaking. "I am speaking the truth."

"Seven...eight...nine..."

"Capo, please have mercy on your subject, please have mercy on me. I have a family that needs me. I am being honest."

"Ten," Leonardo said as if he was not listening to the man. After the last count, he raised his head and opened his eyes. Everywhere was dead silent except for the whimpering of the tortured man. "Pietro, sigaretta." (Pietro, cigarette)

Pietro quickly ran behind him and brought his cigarette to him and helped him to light it. Leonardo drew in and puffed. The smoke from his mouth came out in white rings. He took another draw and puffed out, then focused on the sobbing man. The man still pleaded and sobbed.

Leonardo signalled Pietro with his eyes and Pietro nodded towards the other men standing around. One of the men quickly ran towards a crane and lifted a bucket of liquid. The tortured man started sobbing audibly now. The man with the bucket poured it on the kneeling man who shrieked and fell back. The mafias beside him brought him up. The man was losing the strength even to talk.

"Capo, I promise, I don't know anything about your racket."

Leonardo put off the cigarette in the ashtray and stood in his fullness. He was a fine man with an obvious scar on his left cheek, courtesy of his numerous fights as a younger boy. His strength showed in his high, broad forehead, his eyebrows, thick, bushy and black, his eyes dark and devilish, his lips full and looked like it was always twitched up in a wicked scowl. His pompadour hair, jet black and well-trimmed. He had trained his eyes to always look fearful and cold as well as his heart. He was the youngest Mafia Don in the country and was feared even more than his late father was ever feared.

He threw the staff to his right hand. A staff that he never leaves behind anywhere he was going, it hit a big black ring he wore on his pinky finger. No one has ever seen him remove that ring. At 28, he had gained a lot of respect that was mostly fear incited and he never believed in friends only loyal subjects. His clothing was a cream tailored suit which he wore like a second skin, he was just a handsome devil and most people called him, The Devil.

He walked up to the tortured man and stretched out his hand to his left and a teaser was placed in his hand. The man in front of him could hardly talk but he was being held up by two men. Leonardo stretched out his staff towards the right and Pietro took it from him and placed a revolver in his hand and took a few steps back. Leonardo rotated the revolver around his fingers twice and stopped.

"Which way do you want to die?" he asked in Italian.

"Please spare me."

Leonardo pointed the gun toward the man. "Is that the answer to my question?"

The man shook his head frantically. Leonardo went closer and placed the metal on the man's forehead and corked the gun. He had almost pulled the trigger.

"Capo! Capo!" someone shouted from the entrance of the warehouse.

All their attentions were turned to the man who was panting as he ran towards them. He held a tablet in his hand. The other men restricted him before he could get to Leonardo. Pietro went over and took the tablet away from him and took it to Leonardo.

"What is that?" Leonardo asked without taking it from Pietro. His revolver was still placed on the man's head.

Pietro looked at the screen for a while and looked at Leonardo. "It seems your sister got into trouble."

Leonardo lowered his gun, went over and grabbed the tablet from Pietro. The man he almost killed fainted, his captors left him and he crashed to the ground with a thud. Leonardo saw his sister's picture. The news read that, she got involved with unknown gang members. A picture of an unidentified man running in the airport was captured.

"s**t!" Leonardo exclaimed and handed the tablet to Pietro. "Take me home now."

"Si, Capo," (Yes, Boss) Pietro answered and took the lead.

Leonardo tossed his gun to another man, the man caught it mid-air and he hurried off. His entourage followed him as he went towards the exit.

"Capo, what shall we do to the traitor?" one of the men came closer and asked Leonardo in his ear.

"It's his lucky day. Just let him go," Leonardo replied with indifference.

"Let him go!" the man yelled at the other men still inside the warehouse.

Pietro opened the car for Leonardo and he went in, while his men went into the other cars and they zoomed away.

The stripper danced around the pole, her eyes focused on Luca. Luca plaster notes on her body as he watched her and threw some on the stage. He has money to spend and he enjoys the sexy dance. An Italian song played in the background and other men laughed and discussed loudly over large tumblers of beer.

Luca wasn't there for beer or gist. He was there to see women, sexy women and maybe have a few drinks with one of them and take her to bed. It seems he had seen his lady. The lady came closer and knelt, grabbed his collar and drew him closer to her.

"Are you going to buy me a drink?" she asked in a sexy whisper.

"If you would please me," he answered.

"What do you want?"

"A lap dance."

The next thing Luca and the stripper were kissing each other hungrily, walking down the dimly lit hallway. He placed her on the wall, and kissed her neck, down to her breast. She grabbed his face and took his lips again. He kissed her fondling her breast and she fumbled with his buttons while moving back going moving towards her room. He lifted her and she wrapped her legs around his waist, and snaked her hands around his neck.

After a few hours of multiple rounds of s*x, they lay in bed wasted and asleep. These were the only things Luca cared about in the world. Women and drinks, he was happy that he could afford to get any of them if he wished to. He had the money or maybe he doesn't, but his family does. His brother was the Mafia Don and was feared by all. If he can't get a thing with his family's name or money, he would get it with his brother's name. The name was a terror to people.

His phone went off, he mumbled something in his sleep and went back to sleep. The phone rang for a while and stopped. The second time, it rang as if it was angry that it was not answered the first time. Luca jerked up from the bed pushing the stripper's head and hands that were wrapped around him away. She mumbled something and turned to face the other side of the bed. Luca picked up the phone and looked at the screen, it was Leonardo his elder brother. He sighed. Why was Leonardo calling him? He had clearly told him that he was too lazy to even think.

He slid to the green icon and placed the phone on his ear. "Yes, Leo..."

"Izzy is in danger. I need you home right now."

For a moment, Luca forgot that Izzy was their younger sister. His brows drew together in a confused frown and he was about to ask who Izzy was, but his brain registered that it was Isabella.

"What?! How? When?!"

"That's why you need to leave the w***e you are with right now and look for a way to save your sister."

Luca was already down from bed, stark naked. "I'm on my way!" He grabbed his clothes from the bed.

The stripper stirred and woke up, looking at him with sleep still in her eyes. "Where are you going to?"

"Home," Luca said pulling up his pants.

"You have not bought my drink."

"Save that for another day." Lucas shrugged on his shirt, grabbed his chains and wristwatch from the table and started hurrying off.

"Are you leaving just like that?!" the stripper asked.

Luca looked back, took a wand of money from his pocket and threw it on the bed and exited the room.