Alone in the prison

She thought about waking the man lying in front of her, but she stepped back when a thought came to her mind. "If they wanted to kill us, they would have fired by now," she said, maybe it was an opportunity for her to ask and help escape from there.

 Livia left the room where Enrico was lying and went down the hall to the entrance of the clinic. She opened the door, men entered the room. Before even thinking how to escape, Livia had already been brutally dominated by one of the men who had nailed her to the ground. 

"I did nothing." She fought back slowly, thinking that these men were detectives and that they were there to arrest the gangster. "I work here in a medical clinic". His face was glued to the cold wood floor.

"Be quiet, bitch!" The man covered the doctor's mouth.

Livia noticed the clothes of the four men, they weren't what the doctor imagined.

"Look, the boss is hurt!" One of them showed the man lying on the bed.

"Mr. Bianchi, get up! The man checked his pulse."

Suddenly, Enrico grabbed the man's arm, wringing it. He got up and in one move passed his arm around the neck of the gang's member, pressing hard.

 "It's me! " The man stammered in despair.

 "Why are you so late?" Enrico said rudely. The pressure he was putting on the man's neck: "I almost died, and you didn't come to help me!" 

Enrico kept twisting the man's arm against his back for a few seconds before alleviating the pain, so he could react. 

"It wasn't easy to find him, Mr. Bianchi".

"What a bunch of incompetents!" Enrico was screaming with hatred. 

"Forgive me, Mr. Bianchi! 

"I should kill you now! " He took the pistol from the man’s waist and pointed to his forehead.

"My daughter was born yesterday, boss!" he said, in a crying voice. "I didn’t even see my baby because I was looking for you".

Enrico’s breathing was impaired, and his pupils were dilated. He pistol-whipped his subordinate’s face and head. The blood slid down the henchman’s face. Enrico pushed the skinny man against the wall, punched him till he fell to the ground.

"We came as fast as we could, boss!"  The subordinate turned his head slightly and spat on the ground, forming a small pool of blood.

For a moment, Enrico looked at the boy who kept Livia on the floor, her eyes were full of tears. That scene gave her the answers she needed to understand who Enrico was.

"Take her to the car!" Enrico said. "Don’t do anything to her until I order." He squeezed the man’s neck. " If you’re late again, I’ll skin you with my knife!" 

One of the gangsters lifted Livia off the ground, taking her out of the clinic, needed to get out of there as soon as possible before the police showed up.

Suddenly, everything around Enrico spinning like a carousel. He did not know whether it was the effect of the medication Livia gave him a few hours earlier, or whether it was the symptoms of the concussion. Enrico had such a turbulent night that he barely had time to rest and recover from his injuries. The mobster’s eyes darkened, he held the back of the bed, trying to stand. His legs trembled. He tried to resist, but fainted.

Blindfolded, Livia was sitting in the back seat of her own car as she listened to Enrico’s henchmen rummage through his purse, cell phone, tablet and wallet. 

"You're so cute!" The guy smiled and kissed the woman’s face blindfolded in the back seat.

"Stupid!" The driver turned around and punched the nose of the boy who kissed Livia. "The boss is furious, and you still want to get into more trouble!" It caught the attention of the inexperienced young man. "Did you see the amount of bodies piled up in the other room?  If the boss killed those men, he’ll grind you up."

In silence, sitting between those two men, Livia heard the altered voices speculating about the punishment that Enrico’s uncle would impose on each of them. 

Fear dominated her mind as she listened to the bandits calling the boss crazy and talking about the atrocities that Enrico’s uncle committed against the gang members who failed in their missions. 

After waiting for five minutes, the driver started the car. Livia remained silent, feeling the eyelashes rub in the blindfold in his eyes, was apprehensive, for some time had not heard the voice of Enrico. 

 "Hurry!" One of them said. 

"Where is Mr. Bianchi?" The driver asked.  

"The boss is in the other car!"

…

Livia was taken out of the car abruptly. She just followed in the footsteps of the man who pulled her in a hurry and tripped on something hard.

"Beware of the steps!"

Putting one foot behind the other, she continued taking unsafe steps down the ladder. When they stopped walking, the man removed the blindfold of Livia and threw her in a cell, as if she were the criminal.

"Why are you arresting me?" She looked at the two men without understanding what was happening there." I am a good citizen".

"We also are good citizens, Doctor Ricci!" The manly voice was filled with sarcasm

The two men laughed for a few seconds.  

"I am a doctor and attend to my patients in that medical clinic".

"Shut up!" The bearded man pushed her back behind bars and then locked her door with a lock.

"Where is Enrico?" She asked, nervous. "I saved his life".  

"Well, we have something in common!" The words are full of sarcasm. 

Livia faced the man with purple marks on his face. That was the man Enrico almost killed.

"We always save the boss" said one of the boys, "Mr Bianchi isn't usually grateful, he thinks we do no more than our obligation".

"Please!" She asked. "I have a dog that hasn’t eaten since yesterday". 

"I have a wife, and I wasn't even next to her when my daughter was born. Look at the size of Mr Enrico Bianchi’s gratitude!" The man showed his swollen face. "You should have been glad he didn’t hurt the lady".  

With sadness in her eyes, Livia held the bars. She just wanted to have the chance to talk to Enrico. She was willing to swear that she wouldn’t contact the police if he let her go.

The hours passed, and gradually the cell became clearer. Livia was sitting on the cold, straight bench when she lifted her face and looked at the square window. The sunlight invaded the inhospitable prison. She remembered the years she lived in France and the opportunity she received to work in Spain. 

Looking across the bars, she saw a sturdy woman carrying a tray with breakfast. The middle-aged lady had lines on her creased forehead, she opened the cell and left the meal next to Livia. She did not say a word. 

"Hey!" Livia stood up and held the bars. " Can I talk to Enrico?"

"Eat!" The gray-haired woman went away.

Alone in the prison, she remembered the wardrobe where she was grounded at the Catholic orphanage. Livia ate a piece of toast and drank the juice. I had no news of Enrico, and did not even know what he intended to do with it.

"Go to hell!" She cursed Enrico while eating.

The heart was filled with hatred. She wished that his wounds would worsen to the point of leading him to death. At that time, not even Hippocrates' oath would be able to encourage her to save the bloodthirsty mobster again.