>>>-M-A-T-T-E-O->
Rather than be slapped to get knocked out, I was getting palmed left and right to wake up. The current beating was adding more damage to my sickly state. I couldn't remember the last time where I was this badly harmed. Even at rest, my limbs were aching with a burning sensation. The slightest touch and movement became unbearable. Breathing became a struggle. What's was once a conscious thing to do was now something to be done manually. The constant pain at my lungs reminded me that I need to exhale and inhale. As I breathed through my mouth, the metallic, almost irony, taste told me that more blood was threatening to come up. Even though my mouth was left a gap with the intentions of groaning in pain, nothing was voiced. I didn't know if my body was able to take anymore trauma.
I opened my eyes after I felt the series of strikes stop. It was dark and my vision was temporarily impaired, due to the hard hits to the head, but I could make a few things upon my surroundings. The multiple tiny pricks I felt poking through my clothes told me I was laying on the grass. Grass indicated I was outside, so did the colder temperature and the wind.
"Wake up, you bitch," the man said, knowing well that I had already woken up from my blackout.
I heard footsteps approaching me and I turned my head to the sound of it. I couldn't make out the figure but based on the smell of familiar old-man cologne, I knew it was Stollo. His presence made me remember the hatred I had for him. Of course, Stollo and his mafia played dirty. They took their toll on me even after I lost conscious.
"We're catching a helicopter ride to Venice," Stollo said. As if on cue, the spinning of helicopter blades could be heard. Stollo spoke a little louder, "The only problem for you is that there's no room."
I tried to make sense of what Stollo was getting at. I felt two pairs of hands gripping my elbow. They began to drag me towards the helicopter. The sounds of the blades against the air got louder as I got closer. The men stopped moving me, leaving me on the ground, right at the legs of the chopper. Their hands roamed my body as they strapped me in a harness. Once seeing that was secured, they moved onto my hands. They were untied only to be taped to the horizontal bar that connected each parallel legs of the aircraft. In my mind, things began to click and Stollo confirmed it.
Yelling to strain his voice over the sound of the helicopter blades, Stollo said, "At least you'll get a good view, eh?"
Stollo hoisted himself into the helicopter, making sure to step on my left hand in the process. I threw my head back as an immediate response to pain and groaned. I couldn't make out the talk that was happening from within. Seconds after, the helicopter rose. I hung there by my arms. The harness did nothing to carry me for it was longer, teasing me by being so useless. The temptation of freeing my hands was quickly put out, doubting if the harness was strong enough to support me. Gravity weighted me down causing every pained muscle that made me stretch. The pain my full body was experiencing was set aside as I started to feel the elevation in my stomach.
My feet were far from the ground. Rather than looking down, I titled my head up and shifted my gaze upwards. The view was just as unpleasant. Sticking his head out, Stollo smiled a sinister smile. Waving teasingly at me, I was looking at the devil himself. This was hell.
<-I-L-A-<<<
We gathered into Marcella's room. Aiden joined us after using the bathroom. Sullen, we occupied our own spaces. Marcella took the bed. Giovanni laid down on the couch. Aiden sat in the chair that belonged to the desk in the room. Halfway deep into the bean bag chair, I was sunken in. I watched as they went onto their phones. Marcella, Gio, and Aiden decided to contact all to be on the lookout for Stollo and his mafia. By eight in the morning, with no sleep, all three were answering calls and taking down whereabouts.
Without a phone, I was unable to help. In an exhausted state, my attention was unfocused and I fought with myself to stay awake. The heaviness of my eyelids became too much to hold open, resulting in me getting a few shut-eye.
Seeing the back of my eyelids as I slept, my vision was dark. Rather than a dream, a memory played in my mind. I was back at my apartment, where I was a few hours prior. At the brink of passing out, I was struggling to stay awake. My view through my opened eyes was blurry but I could make out someone taking my phone from my hand. With no strength to fight for my phone, I let go.
Stollo's voice was muffled to my ears, "You can remove the tape. After we are done with Matteo, we can have fun with Ila next."
I didn't have to move my head to see that the man had slipped my phone into his pocket in order to free his hands. He, then, proceeded to unbound me. With this occurring information, I woke up with a realization. My sudden jolt surprised everyone in the room.
"What's wrong?" Marcella asked, alert.
"I just remembered something," I explained. "It came to me when I was sleeping."
"What is it?" Gio asked, interested.
"I don't have my phone with me. One of Stollo's men mindlessly slipped my phone into his pocket because he needed to free his hands to untape me. I was about to pass out but I happened to see that! You know what this means?" I asked.
"We can call it and ask him if he knows where Matteo and Stollo are," Aiden said, confident with his answer.
I frowned and shook my head, "No, that's not what I'm getting at."
"We can track it," Marcella said. "It can possibly lead us to them. You said that Aurelio came with you, right?"
"Right."
Marcella dialed Aurelio's number.
"Hey, what room are you staying in?" Marcella asked, holding her phone up to her ear. "Really? Okay. I need you to track Ila's phone. How long is that going to take you? Great. Thanks."
"What's up?" Giovanni asked, wanting to know Aurelio's side of the conversation.
"Aurelio's already back at his house. He's going to give me a call back after he tracks Ila's phone. He said to give him a minute or two."
We waited. It wasn't long before Aurelio called Marcella back. This time we made Marcella put the call on speaker.
"Give it to me, baby," Giovanni told Aurelio. "Where are we traveling?"
"Ila's phone is sending me signals from Italy."
My mouth dropped. They were all the way in Europe.
"Since when has it been in Italy?" Marcella questioned.
He answered, "An hour ago."
"What time did Stollo take Matteo?" She asked me.
"Around midnight," I recalled.
"And it's currently 11:00 A.M. It's possible that he made it to Venice from New York. The flight is around 9 hours long," Aurelio confirmed Marcella's suspicions.
"Do you think that's where they are actually at? What if Stollo is using that to throw us off his track?" I asked.
"If it helps, I can send you pictures," Aurelio suggested.
"Please do," Marcella said before hanging up.
As Aurelio said, he sent Marcella the pictures. The screenshot of his computer screen showed that my phone had traveled from my apartment since midnight and almost straight to a private airport. After that, the line, signifying the route where my phone went, shot out into the sea and to Venice, Italy.
"What are we thinking guys?" I asked.
"It's possible that it might be a booby trap," Giovanni said. Aiden snickered at the word 'booby' and Giovanni smiled to acknowledge that it was funny. He was obviously proud of his little joke. "I like me some boobies."
I rolled my eyes and looked at Marcella, who, as always, was the only one who takes things seriously.
"I think we should wait until someone can confirm that Stollo is in Italy."
Marcella left the room to make some calls while Giovanni texted the mafia group chat about gathering in the meeting room at 1 after lunch. To the left of me, I heard someone making a phone call on speaker. I asked Aiden, "What are you doing?"
"I'm calling Matteo's grandma," Aiden said. He lifted his phone to show that he was currently dialing up 'Granny-In-Law'. "I remembered that Matteo said she was in Italy."
The call went to voicemail and we were greeted by her heavy Italian accent, "This is the only alive Nonna di Casciani left. Don't leave a voicemail, I don't know how to check. Don't call again, I don't know how to answer."
Aiden frowned. Despite her telling us not to call again, Aiden proceeded to call her once more. This time, she answered.
"Cosa vuoi?" Nonna answered, asking Aiden what he wanted.
Giovanni took Aiden's phone and said, "Nonna, Stollo has Matteo. Apparently, they are in Venice, Italy."
Matteo's grandmother questioned with panic, "How about Serena? Is she okay? Did he get her too?"
"No, he only got Matteo," Aiden answered. He loomed over the phone as Giovanni held it for him.
"Oh, okay," Nonna said, nonchalantly, as she went back to not caring. "That's bad for him. Call me when something bad is bad for me."
She hung up the call.
<...>
I didn't realize I was hungry until I smelt food. Aiden and Giovanni went on a lunch run to grab the four us and came back with Asian cuisine. The sushi made me think of my first date with Matteo and what it led up to and I blushed.
Dipping my sushi into the sauce, I thought to myself of how I felt towards Matteo. I thought that what we had was in terms of lust. The bond between Matteo and I was attraction and addiction. The time I spent without him, away with from the mafia, I convinced myself I didn't need him. I was sold on the thought that I could push him out of my mind and my feelings would also go. Only for when I was busy, I didn't think of him. The moment Matteo was on the ground in front of my apartment, it was like something snapped. I was truly worried about him. I genuinely regret not being by his side. I had passed the border of realization.
"Are you done?" Aiden asked. His question took me out of my thoughts.
"Oh, yeah. Here," I handed him my empty to go box and Aiden threw it away. "Thanks."
Giovanni was first to head for the door, "It's 12:55, we should head to the meeting room."
I walked behind Marcella, Aiden, and Gio since I didn't know where the meeting room was at. I ran into familiar faces who were heading to the same place. Adriano and Kianzo joined us, walking with me.
"Have you been here before?" Kianzo asked me. I shook my head no. "I think it feels a little homier."
"It does," I said, agreeing. Unlike the mafia house where I stayed at, this place wasn't as flashy. The furniture and accent pieces weren't as modern as the ones in the other mafia house. The building also seemed quite smaller in size. Rather than just blinds, the windows had addition curtains. The light wasn't a bright white shine but a warm, mellow yellow. It really gave off a homey feel.
We reached the meeting room on the ground floor. My unhealthy self was happy that I didn't have to climb up a set of stairs. We gathered around and Marcella began talking.
"Stollo has Matteo in Venice, Italy."
Eyebrows were raised.
"Who confirmed?" A woman named Jenny asked.
"Raul," Marcella answered, "He heard people spreading the news that Stollo was in Italy."
Everyone frowned. Beside me, Adriano shook his head.
"We can't trust him," Leo said. People nodded in agreement.
I leaned over to Adriano and asked under my breath, "Why can't we trust him?"
Adriano turned his head to face me and said, "He's a rat."
"Why isn't he dead?" I questioned, knowing very well what this mafia does to traitors.
Apparently thinking that he had said too much for the day, he answered with a shrug. Kianzo, who was on the other side of him, leaned forward so I could see him.
"He does out dirty work now but we keep him on a very tight leash," Kianzo said, answering the question that Adriano failed to answer.
"I know Raul isn't a reliable source. Ila's phone is also tracked there, one of his men took her phone," Marcella explained.
"It could be Stollo toying with us," someone doubted.
"Look, I have a gut feeling about this. If I say we are going to Italy then we are fucking going to Italy. If you guys decide to stay, I'll have Matteo deal with you when I get him back." With Marcella's threat, everyone was hushed up. Seeing that everyone was now willing to cooperate, Marcella explained the next move, "I want everyone to pack whatever they need and meet me at the airport."
Aiden smiled and clapped, jumping out of he seat, "We taking this war international, baby!"
<~>
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