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A few seconds later, everything went dark. I woke up soon after, finding myself in the back of a van, tied to a chair. There were no windows, save for the small space that allowed the driver in the front to see into the back. There was a single light coming from a line of LEDs on the wall, just enough to illuminate Leonardo’s face in the dark. He sat across from me, eating a slice of pizza.
“You’re awake, good,” Leonardo began. “We have so much to discuss.”
I tried to move my arms and realized that I could not. I looked down at the chair again and saw that my hands had been tied down to it, and the chair itself had been bolted to the vehicle. I was stuck in place. I tried to speak and realized that there was a gag in my mouth, stopping me from moving my tongue, and muting all of the sounds that I made. Leonardo ate the last of his pizza and opened a can of Coke before he turned to me.
“Coke?”
I screamed as loudly as I could, but the sound barely reached past the gag. He smiled at me and shut the door to the space after he whispered something to who I could only imagine was Johnny driving on the other side. I did not know if Johnny had a van or if he had taken it for the job. I knew Johnny had some powerful and dirty friends, as a man who sold drugs; I knew it was part of his life, but now, seeing what he was doing to me, his friend… I was utterly heartbroken.
The vehicle rushed to life and began driving away, making me wonder where it was that they were taking me. I tried to scream again and again, but nothing would be heard. Leonardo reopened the gap to the driver’s area and turned back to me. With a smile, he walked over and pulled open the gag. Once it was off, I screamed again, screaming at the top of my lungs, hoping that someone would hear, and that this nightmare would end quickly. Leonardo yelled and quickly shoved the gag back into my mouth. I tried to bite at his fingers, but he pulled away quickly.
“Fucking hell, Maria!” Leonardo said. “This van is soundproof. Even the sound of a gunshot inside here won’t travel outside this vehicle, so cut it out for now. Just relax a bit. I want to talk to you, but if you keep screaming like that, I’m afraid we won’t be able to have a civilized conversation. For this to happen, you are supposed to know something. I think it would only be fair, because you would be dying because of your connections with Angelo Preston.” He took a sip of his Coke and looked back at me as though it was the most natural thing in the world. “So, shall we?”
I shook the chair side to side, trying to get myself loose. I had no idea what I would do when I got free. I knew I could not win a fight against Leonardo. He was a man who I was certain had done a lot of training, and a lot of it included dealing with people who were much physically stronger than I was.
“So, as you should have begun to understand by this point, I don’t exactly have Angelo’s best interests at heart,” Leonardo began. “Yeah, I took a bullet for him, and for the last six months, I have been by his side every single day, doing my best to play the sheep… But it was all just a con.” He took a sip of his Coke and bent low in front of me. I wished I could move my feet; a kick between his legs would be all too easy, but they were also tied down to the chair. Leonardo leaned in and moved my hair to the side, stroking my cheek. “I’m going to take off the gag now, if you scream, I’m not going to put it back. Instead, I’ll hit you as hard as I can.”
I looked into his eyes, and I could see that he wasn’t just threatening me; he was telling the truth. He would punch me in the face to get me to shut up. His eyes looked dead inside, and he clearly did not care at all. I nodded slowly and he moved his hands to the gag in my mouth and pulled it out. He rubbed his thumb against my lips slowly, and then stuck his thumb in his mouth before he went back to his chair.
“Leonardo, what are youdoing? Angelo is more than just your friend. He is yourfamily. Why would you lie to him like this?” I asked, not knowing if this would help, but it was the only thing I could think to do. If I could talk to him, appeal to whatever humanity was left in him, then maybe he would change his mind and not do whatever terrible things he had planned for me, for Angelo. “He has been worried sick. He said no one had heard from you since you left.”
“Yeah. No one has, because I stayed silent. I wanted them to think I was dead. Did it work?” Leonardo asked, a smile spreading across his face.
“I don’t know… But ever since you went to see Vasquez, I guess that’s what everyone thought.” I replied.
“Ha! And here I thought you were just his side piece. So, he told you all this?” Leonardo asked, getting more comfortable.
“Some of it was from Dorothy, but it was mostly Angelo.” I sighed and tried to slow my breathing. “Why would you hide? What happened when you went to see Vasquez?” I asked, realizing that the car was picking up speed. We had gone to a highway.
“Vasquez? Nothing really. We shared some drinks, talked about a lot of things. But mainly, we discussed the best way to bring down Angelo and his fucking family.”
I froze, “What... What did you say?”
“You heard me,” Leonardo snapped.
“You’re switching sides?” I asked, shocked. “How could you? After everything you two have been through? You almost died for him! Why would you-”
“Switching sides?” Leonardo laughed, looking up at the front area where John was as though the man could hear and laugh with him. “Darling, I was never on his side to begin with.”
“You’ve been with him this entire time, you got shot...”
“What are the chances that I just happened to save him? There was an attempt on his life before that. He had just escaped and was crawling away. Vasquez knew that if we got to Michael, his little boy Angelo would jump in and take over things, so he wanted to make sure that we had someone on the inside who could give him all the information he needed. That’s when I got the job. But getting in with Angelo was hard. We had to plan everything down to the last detail. I took the bullet like a champ, and it actually did more damage than I had thought it would. Got some nerve damage from the impact, but it was worth it. Angelo bought it, and six months later, there I was: driving him around the fucking city, hearing and discussing all of his best plans. Crazy, how near-death experiences can bring two random people so close…”
“You’re insane,” I replied, drifting further and further away from my original plan. If he had been working with Vasquez the entire time, then that was why Angelo and his men were always one step behind. “You had him right there this entire time. Why didn’t you just kill him? That is what your boss wants, right? Vasquez has been trying to kill him, to take the keys to the kingdom and all that shit. You’ve had time together with him alone, so why didn’t you do it?”
“Because it’s not just about killing Angelo. I mean, why do you think I wentthroughall of this? Why would I get shot just to get all buddied up with him?”
“I don’t know,” I replied, trying to calm myself. My hands were shaking, and I could feel sweat building on my forehead.
“Well… Angelo and his father took something from me. They took our family business, and not because they needed it. He took it just because he could, because he had the money. The store was the only thing we had that gave us money, and because of that, my father became the abusive cunt that he is, and all that abuse fell to me, his only kid. Angelo and his father took everything from me. Honestly, I’m sad his father is dead… Because I wish I had been the one behind the trigger. But with Angelo, things will be different. I don’t just want to kill him. I want to bring down his empire and burn it to the ground, I want to make him watch as he loses everything, and all that he has is ripped away from him. Then I can kill him. First, he has to suffer.”
I shook my head, thinking about what he had just said. It did not make sense; the timelines did not match up. “Wait, even if Angelo’s father had done this, had stolen your family’s business… Angelo would have had no say in the matter! It was his father that did that, and I’m guessing it was a long time ago.”
“So?”
“How can you be so hung up on something from so long ago? The man responsible is dead, and Angelo has treated you like family. Better than family! He had no idea about what happened between your fathers. Even if he did, has the love he’s shown you not been enough to prove that he’s sorry for all that happened?”
“You will shut up, bitch! Angelo is responsible, and on my word, he is going to pay. It’s why we’re here today. I want to show you something.”
