Chapter 23
Leo
A few days later, Gino and I landed in Naples and a man came to meet us at the airport. He handed us the bag of two million dollars, which Gino had arranged for. Without which, there was no hope for me to get back Isabella or Sofia.
We stood a while, smoking our cigarettes and talking. So much had happened in the past month. There was something to celebrate—we had managed to disarm the human trafficking trade that Marco was in the process of building up. However, we hadn’t been able to capture him and neither had we been able to keep Isabella or Sofia safe.
“You know he’s setting a trap for you, right?” Gino asked, he took another drag of smoke. I nodded my head. I knew that two million dollars, even though it was a lot of money, didn’t mean much to a man like Marco who probably had millions more stowed away in some off-shore account in the Canary Islands. He had demanded the two million from me because he needed some kind of leverage. Without demanding something from me, it would make me very suspicious.
But I knew that it was just an excuse for me to come closer to him.
“I mean, he might not even have Isabella or Sofia with him. He might try and kill you today,” Gino continued and I nodded my head again. That was exactly what I was expecting would happen. However, I had to try. I had no other options. I wasn’t willing to wait another four years trying to hunt them down, knowing that the whole time my girls would be living in misery and torture with him.
The time was now, I had to do something now.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to go with you? For backup?” Gino asked and I shook my head, dropping my cigarette to the ground.
“I need to do this alone. At least one of us has to come out of this alive, to go after Marco,” I said.
Gino patted my back and I nodded my head at him.
Marco had already sent me a text earlier about where to meet him. The place of meeting was set in an abandoned scrap yard with strict instructions that I was supposed to go there alone.
I got in the car that Gino had arranged for me and I threw in the bag containing the cash.
“Thanks for the money. If I get out of this alive, I promise I will pay back every cent,” I told him. Gino rapped the side of the car and gave me a half-salute.
“She’s my half-sister. Sofia is my niece. It’s the least I can do for my family,” Gino said and with that, I was off, driving to the scrapyard, with Isabella’s voice ringing in my ears. The last time I’d heard her voice was when Marco had called me from his private jet, when she’d been screaming in the background. It sent shivers down my spine.
***
When I arrived at the scrapyard, I saw that the scene had already been set. Marco wasn’t taking any chances this time, he was the one to arrive first to the scene. He had two men flanking him, not Matteo or Francis this time; because we had taken both of them out in America already.
I parked the car and got out, pulling the bag of money out with me. I couldn’t see Isabella or Sofia yet.
“Marco,” I said, walking towards him, while he stood a few feet away with a smile on his face, the breeze was making the lapels of his coat flap.
“Right on time, Leo, as always,” he said and I clenched my jaws.
“Where are they?” I growled, narrowing my eyes at him and Marco looked to the side. I followed his gaze and my eyes settled on a small yellow car, which looked rundown.
I saw their faces inside it immediately. Isabella and Sofia were in the back seat, huddled together, fearful and screaming but their voices were muffled by the windows. I made to run towards them but one of Marco’s bodyguards fired a shot in the air, making me stop in my tracks.
“Where do you think you’re going son? You’re going to do as you are told or there will be consequences,” Marco hissed. I looked at him, fire raging in my eyes. I could hear Isabella slapping the glass windows of the car from inside, desperate to get out.
“Let them go and we can talk,” I growled and Marco smirked.
“I have every intention of letting them go. Those are my daughter and granddaughter in there. I don’t want to have to kill them, but if you don’t do as you’re told, I will have no choice,” Marco replied and then he looked up.
I followed his gaze and saw the car crushing cane that was positioned right beside the car that Isabella was in. It could crush the car within seconds. My heart was racing in my chest. One wrong move and the machine would destroy the car, killing both of them instantly.
“You see, Leo, you are out of options. If you try any funny business right now, all my man in that crane has to do is press a button, and then your darlings will die and you will have to watch their little bodies burst into nothing,” Marco said, with that sizzling laugh in his voice still.
I clenched my fists on my sides.
“Let them go. You have me now. You are free to do what you want,” I growled and Marco looked pleased, he nodded his head with a smile.
“For starters, my dear boy, hand me the money,” he said.
I didn’t even think twice. I threw the bag to him and one of his bodyguards caught it and unzipped it. He grunted and Marco smiled.
“Good, you always knew how to follow orders, didn’t you, boy?” Marco hissed with a smile.
“You have the money now, let them go,” I said and Marco nodded his head.
“Yes, I do have the money and I will let them go, but see Leo, I didn’t plan on getting this over so easily,” Marco replied. The two men on his sides clicked their guns, pointing them at my head.
“I will allow Isabella and Sofia to get out of the car but you have to take their place instead,” Marco said.
I glared at him with crossed brows and Marco smiled.
“You could have done so well if you’d stuck with me, Leo. I had big dreams for you. You were like the son I never had,” Marco continued. I shook my head in anger.
“I was never your son. I was just a street kid you picked up and brainwashed for years to fight your battles!” I spat and Marco nodded.
“And not just any street kid, but one I carefully picked. I was lucky that your head injury made you forget everything that happened, otherwise you wouldn’t have been so loyal to me,” Marco said and clapped his hands together with joy.
“What do you mean? What happened?” I growled, glaring at him from under my eyelids. Marco sighed and then shrugged his shoulders.
“Yeah, you might as well know now. I killed your parents. Your father owed me money, which I knew he wouldn’t ever be able to repay, so I used them as examples. I did to them what I’m going to do to you now,” Marco replied and I gritted my teeth with anger.
“You crushed them in a car!” I spat and Marco grinned and nodded his head.
“Yes, I did and now you’re going to feel what they felt, pure trapped fear. Funny how we’ve come full circle,” Marco commented and I lunged at him. I couldn’t control my rage any longer. One of the men beside him shot at me, and the bullet pierced my arm but I grabbed Marco by the neck, pulling him to me and using him as a shield.
“Let me go you filthy sonofabitch, or I’ll give my man the order to crush that car!” Marco growled, while I kept him tightly held in front of me so that his men couldn’t shoot at me.
“You don’t have let him go, Leo!” I heard Gino’s voice and we looked over to see him shooting the man in the crane. He fell out, landing on the ground with a bone crushing thump. Isabella and Sofia were out of danger.
Gino charged towards us, shooting at the bodyguards, getting both of them in the chest. They dropped like flies around us and now only Marco was left, he was all alone.
Gino grinned at me.
“I wasn’t going to let you have all the fun by yourself, was I?” he said and he pulled Marco out of my hands, grabbing him by his collar. Marco was growling, struggling to wriggle free from Gino’s grasp.
I ran to the car and pulled Isabella and Sofia out of there. Sofia was crying and Isabella clung tightly to me. I lifted out daughter up in my arms, stroking her hair and telling her that it was all going to be fine.
“None of you are going to get away with this. My men are going to find you and kill you if you touch a hair on my head,” Marco hissed. I had an arm around Isabella and was holding Sofia up with another arm.
Gino was smiling as he kept a steady grip on Marco.
“Which men? You’ve lost everyone!” Gino shouted at him. Marco turned to Isabella now, who was shaking beside me in fear and exhaustion.
“Bella, make them let me go. I’m your papa. You won’t let them kill me will you?” he cried. I looked at Isabella, she was crying too now and her nostrils were flared as she tried to keep herself standing up.
“I don’t care what happens to you. You destroyed all our lives, you were willing to kill me and Sofia for the sake of revenge!” she shrieked, her face turning red with emotion.
“I wouldn’t have done it, Bella. You know it was just a game. This was just about the money. I got the two million and I would have let you go…you know that, don’t you?” he begged, while Isabella cried in my arms.
“Don’t worry, Marco. You’re not going to die. Death will be too easy of a punishment for you. You deserve much worse,” I growled. Gino smiled at me and then started tugging Marco in the direction of his car.
“Let’s go, old man. There are lots of people in this city who would love to pay their respects to you before I hand you over to the authorities,” I heard Gino say as he dragged Marco away.
“Mama, please, I want to go home. I want to go away!” Sofia was crying in my arms, with her little arms wound around my neck. I stroked her hair as I met Isabella’s eyes. A soft smile was finally spreading on her lips.
“You came for us, just like I knew you would,” she said in a whisper and fell forward on my chest, pressing her cheek to my heart.
“There was no other choice, Isabella, you are my only family,” I said. Sofia whimpered and I looked into my daughter’s eyes.
“Do you know who I am, baby?” I asked her and she nodded her head.
“You are Leo,” she replied, in a weak voice.
“No, baby, that is your daddy,” Isabella said and Sofia’s eyes grew wide. She hugged me tightly and I kissed the top of her head.
“Let’s go, we deserve a break,” I said, and grabbing Isabella’s hand, we walked slowly to the car.
***
I drove all the way to the Amalfi Coast without stopping, with Sofia falling asleep in her mother’s arms in the backseat. None of us spoke, we were all shaken up from the events of the day. I stopped the car in front of a quaint B&B with a beautiful view, hoping that they would have rooms available since it was off-season.
I helped Isabella and Sofia out of the car and we checked into a large room with a view. It was late evening already, and Sofia was exhausted. That shining cheerfulness was gone from our daughter’s eyes and Isabella laid down with her in the adjoining room.
I could hear Isabella humming a song, trying to get Sofia to relax. I remained in the main room, pacing up and down, trying to calm myself down. I couldn’t stop looking out of the window and checking to make sure that Marco wasn’t there or any of his men. I still couldn’t believe that we were finally safe, that he was finally out of our lives.
I didn’t hear Isabella coming in. I was still standing at the window when she touched my arm lightly. She startled me and I whipped around to find her standing behind me, with a soft smile on her face.
“It’s only me,” she whispered and I pulled her into my arms. We kissed softly at first before we were both desperate…desperately relieved and happy. My fingers were running through her hair, her hands slipped in under my shirt to grip my back. We were kissing like we had never kissed before, my tongue sliding in and out of her mouth like I could devour her.
When she pulled away from me, I saw that there was still some lingering sadness in her eyes.
“Leo…I know this will not make any difference coming from me, but I want to apologize for everything papa has done to you and to your family,” she said to me softly.
My hands were still on her hips, I couldn’t let her go…never again!
I weaved my fingers into her thick dark hair and stroked her head.
“You don’t have to apologize to me, beautiful. None of this is your fault. You were as much a victim of his, as I was and so many other people in Naples and America,” I told her.
Isabella sighed and she drew away from me, walking over to the window. I wound my arms around her waist, leaning my chin on her slender shoulder.
“I don’t know what I would have done if I never met you, Leo. Nobody would have come for me, I would have been my father’s prisoner forever,” she said and I kissed her shoulder. I couldn’t believe it was over, that she was finally in my arms and we could be alone together.
“I hope Sofia isn’t deeply affected by this,” I said. Isabella was thinking about it and then she sighed.
“It might take her some time to forget. She saw a facet of human character that she had never been exposed to before, but…” Isabella turned to me, placing her hands on my shoulders as she looked into my eyes.
“She has us now. She has her mama and her daddy to show her what kindness and happiness look like. In time, she will hopefully forget all about her cruel grandfather and learn the best from us,” Isabella said and I kissed her forehead softly.
“You are a good woman, and a good mother,” I said and Isabella blushed.
“Will you marry me?” I asked and slowly, I knelt down on the floor in front of her. Isabella’s eyes grew wide and a smile stretched on her face. Her hands rose up to her mouth in surprise as she looked down at me, tongue-tied.
“I don’t have a ring right now, I’m sorry. But I had decided that if I came out of this alive, I don’t want to waste another minute, I don’t want to think about the future…I just want to do. What I want to do is build a family with you and Sofia, I want us to be together forever,” I continued and Isabella fell over me, wrapping her arms around my neck.
“I don’t care about the ring, Leo…this is what I want too. I want you. I thought you would never ask. I didn’t think you were the kind of man who would want to be tied down by a marriage,” Isabella was laughing and crying at the same time, and there were tears of joy rolling down her cheeks.
I lifted her hand up to my lips and I kissed her long delicate fingers.
“I didn’t think I was and then I met you. You made my dreams come true, you made me happy and now you’re the mother of my child. I would be a mad man to not ask you to marry me,” I continued and we smiled at each other.
“Yes, of course, Leo! I’ll marry you. Right now if you want!” she shrieked and I straightened up, lifting her up by her waist and we were kissing again.
“I want us to have a proper wedding, surrounded by people who actually care about us. For now, there is something else we can do,” I said and carried her to the double bed.
Isabella giggled in my arms, covering my face and neck in kisses. When I dropped her on the bed, her body bounced on the mattress and she moved back, her long legs stretching across the bed.
I jumped in after her, I didn’t want to miss a moment. Isabella was already taking her clothes off, and once again, I knew I was going to be blown away by her beauty…by this woman who had agreed to marry me.