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I rushed up the stairs and through the corridors to Johnny’s apartment. The smell of alcohol and loud music was absent for once, and my heart did a flip as I began to wonder whether Johnny had moved out as well. If he turned out not to be home—or worse, no longer lived there—I would have another problem on my hands. I had no place to sleep for the night, and I was hoping that I would be able to pass the night at Johnny’s place after I heard from my mother.
The door opened a bit after I knocked, and I saw Johnny peering through the gap. I pushed the door inward and walked into the house as Johnny began muttering something under his breath. The lights were off, and the smell of vodka filled the air. He must have been drinking and then fell asleep. I dropped into the same chair I sat in when I usually came here, and I grabbed his phone from the table. I tapped away at the screen and saw that it was locked.
“Open it, I need to call my mom.”
“Woah, slow down Maria,” said Johnny, looking at me closely. “You’ve been gone for ages. What happened? What are you doinghere?”
“You’re asking what happened? You’re the one who I told about the psycho who ran me over… And after I disappeared, after I told you I was going looking for him, you didn’t think to come find me?” I asked, realizing that Johnny had not really done anything for me. How could he not have searched for me? I was gone for such a long time and the least he could have done was alert my mother, or the cops, even if it meant risking his own neck. But he did none of that. Instead, he stayed in his home, not caring that I had vanished. “Look, I haven’t heard from my mom, they said she moved out.”
“Yeah, she did,” Johnny replied, looking at me nervously.
“To where?” I asked, shaking the phone in his face. He took it from me and lowered his gaze.
“I don’t know, but I know it was Preston’s people who did the moving.”
“Well, I need to find my mother right now. So, please... I lost my phone. I need yours to call her, to make sure she’s alright.”
“Yeah, she’s alright. Angelo sent her to a specialist hospital or something, and everything was explained to her firsthand by him and she seemed to take it pretty well,” said a voice from behind me. It was a voice I had heard before, but it shocked me, as I had no idea that Johnny had a visitor.
I turned around and realized that Leonardo was standing right behind me. The man who had been sent to talk to Vasquez and had vanished without a trace. Somehow, he was in Johnny’s home. “Leonardo?”
“In the flesh,” Leonardo replied.
“Johnny, how do you know him?” I asked him, and saw that the man refused to look at me.
“We’re work friends,” Leonardo replied. “I came by here to talk about work. And look at you. Right where we need you…”
“Wait, you were supposed to be missing,” I replied, turning to Leonardo. “How did you escape from Vasquez?”
Leonardo smiled at me. “Oh? Who said I was ever captured? Sadly, I cannot say the same for you.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR
Maria
Something was wrong. I knew something was wrong, but I was not exactly certain what. Johnny had a strange look on his face, and his house looked somewhat presentable. He had cleaned up just before Leonardo had arrived for some reason, but that wasn’t the only thing that was off. Johnny wouldn’t even look me in the face. Leonardo said it was going to be a different story for me. I had no idea what he meant, but his tone was sinister, and I knew it meant trouble.
“Okay,” I replied, unsure of what to say to him. “Johnny, can I use your phone please?”
“No,” Johnny replied at last. He walked right past me and went to the front door, locking it shut. My heart skipped a beat as I realized that there was something very wrong. I knew I had to keep a stern face; if I was going to get out on top of this, I had to show them I wasn’t scared. I had no idea why Johnny was behaving the way he was. But something bad was happening, and I had to get out of it.
“Alright, if you won’t let me use the phone, please open the door. I’ve just spent the past two weeks locked up by your boss, and I’m not in the fucking mood to go through that again. So please, just open it, and let me go.”
“He can't do that, darling. I’m afraid it’s not in the cards for you,” said Leonardo from behind me. “Come here. Seems to me we have a lot to talk about.”
“I’m done with everything that has anything to do with Angelo. So, if you think we have business, you’re wrong. You go back to that fucking penthouse and talk to him yourself.” I turned back to Johnny and watched as he walked away from the door, holding the key tightly. “Johnny, I don’t like this. Now, please! The fucking door!”
Leonardo opened his palm and Johnny put the key in his hands. With a steady gait, Leonardo walked over to me, getting right up in my face. “I think I see it now.”
“See what?” I asked, not backing away, hoping my feigned attempt at confidence would make him pull away. “Look, I don’t have time for whatever game this is. I have to find my mother, and if-”
“What Angelo sees in you. I see it now. You are incredibly... beautiful. Yes, that’s the word.” Leonardo brushed the hair out of my face and stared into my eyes. Having had enough, I pulled away.
“Leonardo. Johnny. I want to leave. Don’t make me ask again.”
“But don’t you want to know how I escaped Vasquez? And after all, if you left here, you’d probably run all the way back to Angelo and tell him that you saw me here… And that would be a problem for me. I have to keep that my secrets for now, so I can’t exactly let you leave.”
My eyes went wide for a second and then I felt something over my nostrils. Before I could react, I took a deep breath and inhaled the chloroform.
