Leo could tell that there were around eight men in the same room with him, a conclusion he arrived at, by the sound of their footsteps and their crass conversation.
It had been hours since these men roughly escorted him into a van and brought him to this unknown location. Hours, since he last stood up and went to the Johnny himself.
He was panicked at first, but as time passed on, Leo's nerves calmed down as he began to access his situation.
"You say he's a doctor?" A husky voice inquired from his left side, the speaker pushed his weight unto the elbow he rested on Leo's shoulder.
"A surgeon." The smell of cigarettes filled the air as the second speaker made his remark.
"And just how much are we getting paid to keep him here? Tsk! It's taking too goddamn long!" The agitated voice of the kidnapper wasn't what startled Leo, but the fact that this man said something about getting paid.
'That isn't right, the way he speaks makes it sound like they're hired kidnappers. Then are they not related to the Mafia and Vitto at all?' the doctor's head was busied with various ideas, as to why he was abducted so abruptly.
"Listen here." The voice of admonition was accompanied by the sound of a gun being loaded.
"We've already been paid more than half of the money, we're in no position to act rash." The cigarette breathed one spoke, applying logic to the situation.
"Don't be a bitch about it, let's give them another hour." He said.
Leo relaxed his shoulders in relief, relief that he would get another sure hour to live, until the perpetrator of his kidnapping appeared.
'That damned monster woman!' he cursed in his head, a hammering pain from getting hit in the head still hurt like a bitch, for the man with a low pain tolerance.
Almost immediately, the sound of someone bursting through the door sent everyone on high alert. Most especially Leo, who could tell that the person behind his kidnapping had just arrived.
"Took you long enough." The man at his left retorted under his breath, almost loud enough for the others to hear.
Leo couldn't stop his heart from pounding uncontrollably, as the sound of uncalculated footsteps approached him. To heighten things, the men who took him all filed out of the room, in a not so orderly fashion.
Leaving behind just the two of them.
"Who are you? And what do you want with me? Incase you're not aware, kidnapping is illegal in this country." He stated, flinging his head from side to side in a panic.
His nose picked up on a heavy scent, which he made out to be perfume, with a lingering scent of beer accompaning it.
A pair of hands tugged on the blindfold at the back of his head, and forcefully yanked it down, revealing their identity to Leo!
"What do I want with you? To make you suffer, you son of a bitch!"
Leo swiftly flickered his eyelids four times in a row, till his eyes adjusted to the light. He darted his vision all across the room, till his eyes locked on his kidnapper, who stood proud and tall.
It was then, after a clear look that the shock registered fully in his brain.
"Excuse me, but who the hell are you?" Leo asked sheepishly, utterly dumbfounded by the mystery behind who the brunette woman standing in front of him in a dark blue striped suit.
The woman took off the shades she had on, revealing her hazel eyes, the feature which stood out the most in regards to her appearance.
"Remember me now, huh? Leo?!" She cackled, roughly rocking his shoulders, a crazed look in her eyes. With a humph expression, she dived into her pocket and pulled out a cigarette and lighter.
Leo took a long hard look at the woman once more and realized something he found shocking.
"You... you're..." He took a dramatic pause as he hastily recollected his thoughts and memories, all while avoiding her death glare.
"You're a complete stranger." He announced, completely fazed by the fact that he had never once crossed paths with his kidnapper.
"You bastard!" She raised her right hand to him and awarded him a tight slap, making sure to imprint her fingers on his cheeks.
"Don't get cheeky with me, you shitty..." Her tone dropped as her eyes read his genuine clueless expression. It was slowly becoming clear that he had no active memory of her in that head of his.
"Fuck!" She angrily raised her voice to swear, she tossed the cigarette to the floor, then repeatedly crushed it with her red heels, her angry fingers clenched into a tight fist.
"To think I lit a cigarette to look badass!" She groaned under her breath, still assaulting the cigarette like there was no redemption for it.
After some seconds, her rage subsided as she straighted her suit and stared intently at Leo.
He could tell by the look in her eye that she was about to get frank with him and give him a picture of what sort of situation he had wounded up in.
"Why didn't you show up?" The woman casually folded her hands across her chest and asked.
"What?" Leo raised a confused brow at her question.
"Don't make me repeat myself!" Leo's kidnapper lowered her body to meet his, her cleavage exposed to his direct line of sight.
"Enzo planned out our date, didn't he? I waited for you at the restaurant, but you never showed up." She raised her left leg and rested it on one of his thighs, firmly sinking her heel into it.
"Look here, do you know how embarrassed I was, waiting by myself in an expensive dress?!" She grabbed him by the collar and brought his face closer to hers.
It was at that moment, that the heavy realization as to who she was suddenly hit him, throwing him into a state of unrivaled perplexity.
"Vita was it?" Leo managed to ask, sure that her name had a V at the beginning.
"It's Zita! Asshole!" She roared, tightening her grip on his collar, "don't go confusing me for some other bitch!" She said and send a straight line punch to his jaw.
Leo rolled his tongue around his mouth, cursing the entire situation he had landed into. Just some hours ago, he had a woman held hostage in his house, now he found himself a kidnapping victim.
For a ridiculously absurd reason.
"Kidnapping is illegal! I'll make sure to report you to the police for this!" Leo retorted, failing to read the room.
"The cops? You don't seem to know how big a deal my family is. We have the protection of some of the most notorious biker gangs in the city." A sly grin planted itself firmly on her face.
"Not that you'll be able to make it out of here alive!" She swiftly reached into her suit and pulled out a loaded handgun, then pointed it at his head.
"Vita...I mean Zita! Just calm down and put the gun down..."
*Shoot*
The sound of a fired bullet rudely shut the doctor up, he clenched his eyes shut, mentally preparing himself to see his intestines splattered across the steel floors.
"Whose there?!" Zita cried out, redirecting her handgun at the door, where the sound of the bullet came from.
*Shoot*
She could hear more bullets being emptied just outside, her body unconsciously took some steps back as her fingers struggled to keep hold of the gun.
The sound of the firing seemed to be one sided, with the men she hired on the receiving end. And with each man dropping dead at every passing moment, Zita found herself backing away till she was cornered against a wall.
"What's going on? This place is under my family's name, no one should know where we are!" She said in disbelief, taking uneven breaths.
Her hostage shared the same sentiment of worry, he was of the mindset that whoever was out there making an entrance, could possibly be far more dangerous that the crazy bitch behind him.
*Bash*
A loud sound was made as something hard from the other side, was repeatedly bashed against the lock of the door, forcing it open.
Zita curled her shaky fingers around her handgun and narrowed her eyes, aiming to kill whoever would walk out the door in an instant.
Or so she thought!
The moment the lock was broken, Zita fired first without aiming at anyone, Leo was only able to escape the bullet narrowly.
Her gun fell from her grip, and her hands instinctively covered her lips, in realization that she might have killed a person.
Or worse, misfired.
The later was far more accurate, because, a leg kicked the door wide open and about five men waltzed into the room, taking a stance as their eyes sized up their surroundings.
'These men...' Leo thought to himself, staring at each of their faces, till his eyes landed on a familiar one.
Sebastiano.
"Who are you men? What are you doing..." Zita's frightful questioning was interrupted by the sound of a speeding bullet, eating out of her left shoulder.
"Aaaaaah!" The woman fell on her ass in pain, as blood gushed out from freely her left shoulder.
Leo felt her throat dry as Sebastiano retraced his gun and shoved it into his leather jacket.
"Don't shoot a defenseless woman you bastard!" Elio remarked while he leisurely adjusted his black hand gloves.
"I didn't aim to kill." Was his response, Elio sneered at him and walked towards the woman who was screeching in pain.
Cielo, who had on his same silver and grey retro sunglasses sauntered over to the tied up Leo and took his jaw in his hands.
"So this is the face the boss is so obsessed with?" He remarked, letting his thumb gently graze Leo's jaw.
"You're one lucky bastard." He said and cocked a grin on his all knowing face.