“Okay, you girls are bitches. Enough about me. Tell me what’s going on in your lives,” Sophie asks. We all launch into recaps. I tell them about my ‘break’ from Leo, which led to discovering I don’t want that break at all, and I give them an update on the sadly bleak shooter situation.
Alessandra shares with us that she’s walking her first runway show in Milan for the launch of a new fashion line that is supposed to be ridiculously amazing. I knew my friend was a rock star! Sophie and I tell her that we will be there and we couldn’t be prouder! She also lets us know that she’s dating—get this—a few men. She’s definitely a fierce Italian woman who is a forced to be reckoned with.
After our juices are empty and we can’t stand the smell of our own stink—we didn’t hit the showers after the gym because they were packed—we call it a night. I shoot Mateo a text letting him know we are done and he can pull the car closer. Mateo likes to give me space to feel like I’m not being watched, but it makes me happy to know he’s right around the corner just in case I need him.
Alessandra, Sophie, and I double kiss our goodbyes and part ways. I notice Mateo still hasn’t responded or pulled the car closer. What the heck? I send one more text just in case my first one didn’t go through—but nothing. I see the car down the block and walk towards it. Maybe he’s in the bathroom? I’ve never heard of Mateo taking a bathroom break, but I mean he’s only human so he’s got to! Right?
The back door is unlocked so I open it and start to climb in until I notice there’s a body in the backseat. Holy shit! A body is lying across the seat and upon closer look … it’s Mateo! Oh my god! My flight or fight response kicks in and I climb on top of him to check for his pulse—he’s breathing! It looks like he has a huge red bump across his temple and blood flows from a cut on his forehead. Someone knocked him out and then put him here.
I stand back on the sidewalk and press the emergency number button on my iPhone. Hurry up, hurry up!
The operator starts to speak and before I can get a word out I feel a hard hit to my head and my body slams to the ground. Then the world goes black.
14
“Okay bitch, it’s time to open your eyes,” I hear a man standing close to me shout. My head is killing me and I don’t want to open my eyes—everything hurts. I slowly pull my eyes open to see I’m in a dark room, a basement with small windows.
The muscles in my arms burn, but when I try to move I realize my arms are tied behind my back! I’m sitting on a wooden chair and I look down to see my legs tied together at the ankles. I’m trapped! #Panic
The familiar man’s voice comes back into my focus, but I still can’t see his face as his back is turned to me. He looks about average height and medium build wearing a black hoodie—nothing too threatening.
“Of course you’d break your phone, you dumb slut.”
I broke my phone?
A flash of memory returns quickly. I feel the pain again as I see in my mind’s eye Mateo lying in the back of the car bleeding while I’m waiting to speak to the emergency operator before I was hit over the head. I fell to the ground and my face landed against my phone before hitting the sidewalk. Shit, how am I going to call for help now? That is if I weren’t tied up—I can’t call anyone; I can’t even move.
“Why are you doing this?” I can barely even hear my own words as I whisper. My throat hurts so badly, and I could really use a drink of water.
“Because you have what should have been mine! Both of you!” And just then the man turns around … Giorgio!
My heart drops down into my stomach and I feel like I’m going to throw up. I knew my instincts were right—this guy was bad news. He must also be the shooter; he knew he was a guy all along because he is the shooter himself!
“Did you shoot me?” My voice is getting a little louder now, but it still hurts to talk.
“Did you shoot me? Boo hoo,” he says in a mimicking voice.
“This doesn’t make any sense. Were you aiming for me in the crowd? I thought the shooter was aiming for Leo?” My thoughts are spinning now, round and round, trying to remember anything from the shooting but still coming up blank. Damn it memories, now would be a great time to return!
Giorgio walks closer to me and I see the evil lurking behind his blue eyes. They don’t look like the bright sky anymore, but pools of a deep dark ocean.
“I was aiming for Leo but you stepped in the way, causing a complication, like always, you dumb bitch.”
Out of nowhere he slaps my face with full force. I spit out blood on impact. I also see drops of blood fall from my face to my yoga pants; I think my face must be cut from the glass of my phone and the rough ground.
“Why would you want to shoot Leo?” None of this is making any sense to me.
“I’m done answering your questions. Don’t you see who the one in control is here?” For the first time I notice he’s got a gun that he’s now waving in front of my face. “Yeah … it’s me. So I ask the questions.”
He walks out of my line of vision and I hear a door slam shut. I’m alone now. Good, I can collect my thoughts. How am I going to get out of here? Is Leo safe? Will Mateo be okay? So many questions, but I silence them all. I need to focus and not lose my cool. I remember a meditation practice I learned in college and try to focus on only my breathing. My breath sounds loud in this quiet room. Besides this chair I’m tied to, I don’t see anything else.
Giorgio leaves me here for what feels like hours, but I’m not really sure. I know that I keep going in and out of consciousness. My head pounds and pounds, my muscles feel cramped in my entire body, and the ropes around my hands cut into my skin. I don’t even know how much blood I’ve lost from my head. I’m dizzy and weak.
This is it; this is how you will die.
My heart clenches at the thought of not seeing Leo’s face ever again and a single tear escapes my eyes.
I hear the door open from behind me.
“Crying like the big baby that you are? I knew it was a matter of time before you broke. Before I shoot you in the head, I do need some information from you,” Giorgio says before squatting down in front of me. “I planned to use your phone to take the information from you and Leo that I need, but you ruined that. Of course, this makes the situation more problematic for me. So now I’m going to need you to play nice and answer a few questions.”
I lift my head and lock eyes with his. Then I do something I’ve never done before … I spit on him. My bloody spit lands right on his face, and he looks shocked.
“I’m not telling you anything, you prick!”
“You cunt!”
He stands up and then kicks me right in the chest with such strength that my chair is knocked back to the ground. I land right on top of my tied hands and scream out in pain when I hear a loud crunch. I feel like my wrist just snapped.
“I’m going to leave you down there—on the ground just like a dog. You’re going to think about what you just did bitch. And when I come back you will give me the answers I’m looking for.”
And with that he delivers another swift kick right to my stomach before leaving the room.
This time he doesn’t leave me alone for as long as before. I think he’s growing anxious—he’s pacing the room and mumbling under his breath now. I can’t make out what he’s saying because the pain in my head has grown—now including my ears. They ring and ring and ring.
Giorgio walks over to where I’m sprawled out on the floor and picks up the chair. He grabs my face between his sweaty hands and forces me to look at him. With him this close I can smell alcohol on his breath. Great, he’s armed and drunk. He flashes his white teeth at me in an eerie smile and then he drops my face, which falls forward. I’m struggling to even hold my own head up. I hope this is over soon.
He gets my attention quickly though—when he shows me a new weapon, this time a knife.
“For every question you don’t answer, I’m going to cut off one of your fingers,” he says before placing the cold steel of the knife a
gainst my throat. “Capisci?”
I don’t make a sound; no words come out.
“Do not make me repeat myself!! I said do you understand?” He shouts at me moving away towards a laptop propped on a small table.
I nod my head ‘yes’—that’s the best I can do right now. I’m fond of all of my fingers.
“I need to know the bank account information for not only your personal account but your business ones. I see your friend Sophie knows how to keep hackers at bay from your account information. That dumb cunt is lucky I didn’t grab her tonight too.”
Sophie! I never realized that my friends could be in danger too!
He must see the panic in my eyes; he knows he’s got me right where he wants me.
“That’s right, I have been following you for a long time. I waited patiently for you and those other two hens to stop gossiping before I made my move. Mateo proved to be a good opponent—until tonight. I realized that I’d have to sneak up on him to get him out of my way. He’s always on alert, that bastardo.”
He’s been waiting to make his move! Mateo was probably right when he spotted someone near my apartment, and I don’t think I was crazy when I felt someone watching me in the piazza.
“I still don’t understand why you are doing any of this. It can’t just be about money. You have a good job, you are respected, you make money. Why are you doing this?” I plead for an answer. If I’m going to die tonight, then I want to know what the hell for!
“You want to know why I’m doing this?”
He charges towards me, waving the knife in the air. He’s so close to my face that I lean back in the chair to separate us as much as I can.
“I’m sick of having to compete with people who are entitled to everything they could possibly imagine. You know what it’s like to work for someone who is younger than you but has the entire world at his fingertips? No you don’t, because you show up in his life, he has no idea who you are but he’s landed himself a millionaire—a little American girl who has riches without having to face a single struggle. Both of you! People like you make me sick. Do you know what it’s like to fight for your life? For your future? For fucking anything?! I’ve had to work my way up and for what? Niente!”
No struggles? I can’t speak for Leo, but I’ve had my fair share; however, I’m not about to argue with a man who has weapons.
“So if I give you all of my money will you let me go?”
And just like that, he starts to laugh so hard that he has to hold his stomach as he folds over. He reminds me of the sneaky hyenas in The Lion King with their evil chuckles.
“Let you go? Are you crazy? So you can run to the cops to identify me as the shooter and now your kidnapper? Hell no! I will steal your money and Leo’s money and then I will kill you and leave the country. Never to return to Italy again. I can go off somewhere else and build myself an empire and demand the respect that I deserve.”
“You aren’t going to get away with this,” I say, not sure who I’m trying to convince—him or me.
“I might have the job title of ‘research marketing’ but I am one of the best hackers in the world. And I can disappear without a trace.”
“So one of the best hackers in the world can’t figure out how to break into a little American rich bitch’s company account?”
Oh great, now my sassy mouth decides to join the party! Let’s blame it on the intense stress.
He slaps me with his free hand and then grabs my throat and starts to choke me. He’s holding onto my neck so tightly when he starts to lift me and the chair off the ground! I feel like all the oxygen is leaving my body when a loud bang startles both of us. Giorgio drops me down, and luckily the chair remains upright, and he pulls out the gun he tucked in this waistband. He points it towards the door, and we hear another loud bang against it, and the next thing we know the door flies off.
Leo storms into the room and my heart is in instant panic. This man wants us both dead and now here we are in the same room together, making Giorgio’s job that much easier. Giorgio looks just as shocked as I am to see Leo. Leo only takes a second to look at me, and when he does his face transforms into a look of pure rage. I’ve never seen him appear this angry in all the time I’ve known him. And I must look like pure shit on the edge of life. I can see my pain reflected in Leo’s eyes.
Just then he charges at Giorgio like he was a linebacker, throwing them both to the cement floor. Leo uses his own gun to knock Giorgio’s out of his hands. Without a second thought, Leo pounds into Giorgio’s face. Punch after punch, he does not let up.
“Leo, stop! You are going to kill him!” I hear myself screaming out. Why not let Leo kill him? He sure as hell tried to kill us! No, no I don’t want to watch a man die and sure as hell don’t want Leo to be a murderer.
Leo doesn’t hear me or he’s ignoring my shouts, as he continues to punch Giorgio in the face. Soaked in blood, Giorgio’s face is completely unrecognizable and his breathing is very slow … but he’s still alive, just unconscious. I see his chest rise and fall. Leo rushes over to me. He cups his hands around my face very carefully, but I still flinch at his touch.
“Cara, are you okay? I am so sorry this happened to you. The police are on their way,” Leo reassures me.
“Leo, please untie me,” I say while tears stream down my face. I think I’m officially in shock now. Leo grabs the knife on the floor and starts to cut through the rope around my ankles and then runs behind my chair to cut the ropes around my wrists.
Before he gets the chance to finish with my wrists, Giorgio shouts at us, “You will pay for this!” We let our guard down and Giorgio has gotten up off the floor. He’s wobbly and his eyes look almost swollen shut, but he’s definitely in control of his gun, which is pointed directly at us.
And then the rest of this scene unfolds around me in what feels like slow motion.
Giorgio fires his glock right in my direction at the same time Leo throws my chair to the ground while he reaches for his own semi-automatic. Leo fires a shot at Giorgio and it’s a direct hit. Giorgio grabs his chest and collapses to the ground. In an instant, he’s in a pool of blood.
The last thing I see before blacking out is Giorgio take his last breath while lying on the floor, eye-to-eye with me.
15
Leonardo
I can’t believe we are doing this again. I’m in a fucking hospital after yet another shooting waiting for Elena to gain consciousness. Déjà vu. I still hate hospitals and I hate the fact that since she’s been in my life Elena has had to come here not once, but twice, all because of me.
Giorgio that fucking cocksucker.
I have known him for years. He was my intern when he was still in college and he worked so hard during his internship that I immediately hired him after he graduated. He worked his way up in this company and not once did he act towards me in hatred. He never acted like having a younger boss bothered him. I was thrown by the fact that Elena heard him talking shit about me, so I hired a private investigator to follow him around for a few days, but nothing came of it. Super boring—work, take out from restaurants, his home, repeat. So I pulled the investigator off the case. I thought it was a waste of money. Clearly, I fucked up. But right now I’m so fucking grateful that I didn’t pull the tracker off Giorgio’s car. I knew when both Elena and Mateo were off the grind something was incredibly wrong, and I ran the tracking device.
Good thing I have a few friends on the police force who owe me a favor. They took my word that Elena was in danger and arrived at the abandoned farmhouse he was keeping her in shortly after I did.
When Elena was being taken to the hospital in an ambulance, I stuck around to speak with the police. I wanted to be by her side, but I wanted to search this farmhouse to get some answers. Together with the police, we searched through the whole place. If you saw it from the outside, then you’d think it was just another abandoned property on the outskirts of Rome, the windows boarded up and the grass overgrown. Nothing to cat
ch your eye.
The inside is pretty bare except for one bedroom that sets my nerves on edge. The police took pictures in that room, and it drew my attention, I had to see it for myself. When I walked in I was in shock. I’m so glad Elena was not there to see this. She’d lose her shit.
The bedroom walls are lined, floor to ceiling, with photos of Elena and me. Giorgio has been stalking me for what looks like the past year—with random women before Elena, and he’s got photos of some very private moments between us as well. He has a laptop on a desk and the police are searching through the files after calling in one of their cyber security experts to get through all the passwords. I stand over the detective’s shoulder trying to get a glimpse of anything I can.
Folders upon folders with my private information—he has everything you can imagine about me on this laptop. I bet he even knew my blood type. There’s a folder on Elena as well. Pictures of our families, our employees, our degrees, our past lovers, private information on our companies, everything you can imagine. Why does he want all of this?
An investigator walks over to me.
“Signor Forte, we are going to take this laptop into the station and we will let you know if we find anything that gives us a clue into why this man did this. Right now he looks like a classic stalker, with a real vengeance against you and your wife.”
I don’t correct him. I want that to be the case more than anything, but if Elena doesn’t want anything to do with me when this is all over, I wouldn’t blame her.
16
Elena
Beep, beep, beep.
I open my eyes and find myself yet again in a hospital, hooked up to more machines. Why does this keep happening to me? Déjà freaking vu.
My entire body feels like I’ve been through hell and back. Even my eyelashes hurt, if that’s even possible.
Am I losing my mind?
A nurse walks into the room and rushes to my bedside. “Elena, how are you feeling?” She hands me a glass of water—I chug the whole glass, realizing how thirsty I really was. The nurse reads the stats from the machine I’m hooked up to and updates my medical chart.
Fighting For Mr. Beautiful: Eternal City Love, Book 2 Page 12
