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“Don’t worry, I got you.” He said, starting the ignition. “You’re safe now,amore.”
He punched the gas and the car started speeding away.
“Leonardo, what… what the hell are you doing? Let me go.”
“Shut up, Pina. I’ve put a lot on the line to help you and you know it.”
“Help me?” Maybe I was hallucinating. “What are you talking about!”
Leonardo Bugllioni was a mystery to me. I didn’t know if he was violent or not—people seemed to fear him, but he was always gentle around me—I didn’t know anything about his life or where he came from other than the fact that he was working for Tony Balbano. When Tony sent me to the Flora House to work off my debt, Leonardo promised me he’d keep me safe. He presented himself as a friend, but I wasn’t stupid enough to believe it was purely platonic. He was sweet on me, even if I’d never done anything to reciprocate his affection, not even once, not even when I could have used his help. Every time one of the patrons got too handsy with me, Leonardo was there to put them in their place. It was almost like he was making sure I remained untouched for when his turn came, but it served me good and I never worried about it, not until now. Now, I was worried he was out of his mind, and beyond my safety, I was worried for the baby.
“Leo, why are you here? Please, let me go.”
“You don’t sound grateful enough for my brave gesture, Pina. Maybe you want to work on that attitude.” He grunted. “Caputo took you away, and now I’m taking you back.”
A bitter taste gathered in my mouth.
“No one took me away. This is my home.” I fought against the harness holding me down, but it didn’t budge. “Just let me go and we can forget about all this.”
“Shut up, Pina. Your father told me Garon trapped you with this baby. I’ll take care of everything and when that’s over, I can finally collect my debt.”
The mention of my father sent me into a spiral because if he had something to do with this, there was only one reason for it—revenge.
“Garon paid Tony everything back.” I tried to plead my case.
Leonardo laughed, but it didn’t put me at ease one bit.
“No one paidme, Pina. I took care of you, I protected you, I watched your back. Do you know how many whores in our clubs have bodyguards? None,amore, just you.” All I could see was his profile, but I could tell he was angry. “I am a fucking important man, I have many things to do and lots of places to be, but where was I every night? By your side. To make sure no one dragged you into a corner and put you on your back. Nah, I’m not letting some mafia prince enjoy you after I worked so hard to keep you pure.”
Pure. The word gave me the creeps. I’ve heard men talk about women’s purity one too many times to feel comfortable.
“Leonardo, this is not right. You have to let me go. Garon didn’tstealme, I left because I wanted to. You have no idea what you’re doing. This is wrong, it’s insane, it’s—”
“Shut up!” He roared this time. From the compartment on his door, he pulled a gun with a silencer on it. “Don’t make me shut you up.”
“Please.” I cried; my entire body shaken with fear. “Please don’t hurt me. I’m pregnant.”
And only then did he say something that terrified me more than any gun pointed at me ever could.
“For now.”
§
We didn’t drive for long, just enough to get outside of town and then Leonardo pulled the car off the road, pulling in front of a house hidden by thick trees. It was some kind of old cabin with only one big, but broken window. The place was abandoned and there were no other buildings in sight, which meant no people to save me.
“Out of the car.”
“Why, Leonardo? What do you want to do?” The words he said before were haunting me andI knewthat once I got out of that car, something horrible would happen. “You have no play, Leonardo. The guards at the house are checking on me every fifteen minutes, they know I’m missing by now. This city—this entire island—is Garon’s turf. There’s nowhere to hide. They will find me. Let me go now and you can still save yourself.”
“I said get the fuck out!” He pushed the gun barrel into my temple. “You will do as I say or you won’t like the consequences.”
“Leo…”
“Out of the car!”
I didn’t move, pushing my luck, but he came rushing to my side, ripped the door open and dragged me out by my hair. I bit my lips as hard as I could to keep my cries at bay when he dragged me inside the house. The only furniture around was a couch covered in plastic, a table with only one chair, and a mattress with a couple bags on top of it. There was food and empty bottles on the table, quite a few of them, which meant Leonardo had been here for a while, lurking.
“Sit down.” He pushed me into the chair. “Touch anything and I’m shooting you in the hand. Try to run and I’m shooting you in the leg. Try anything stupid and…”
