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Hatching a Dangerous Plan

"Are you damn sure about what you're telling me?" said Leonardo to one of his men, a huge African American. His real name was Philip but he went by the name of Bull, a fitting moniker given to him by his gang due to how aggressive and dangerous he was.

"I swear to you, boss," said Bull, "there's an old lady who's in the pay of me. She told me the lovebirds are planning to run the fuck away from Silverton."

Leonardo chuckled and took a long puff at his cigarette. He sat in a throne-like seat in is private suite in Leonardo Marco Casino, the casino he had in Silverton and one of the three he had in the City of Denver. He was flanked by two men who had a pistol in their right hands. Deaths often occurred in the casino spontaneously, and sometimes at the slightest of provocations. The casino was a dangerous place that attracted the most dangerous people in Denver— drug dealers, assassins, criminal gangs, corrupt politicians who often met there for their dark businesses, and magnates whose pastimes were gambling and seeking ways to form alliances with the underworld because it was good for business. And then there were prostitutes of every shape and size and colour, many of whom were victims of human trafficking. Leonardo had over a dozen of such prostitutes to himself alone, carefully handpicked to match his rare and peculiar taste. Apart from these ones, he had a few mistresses who were not prostitutes but rich and connected women who got rich and connected through him.

So Leornado had an abundance of women and sex. He was a man who always had sex on the brain, and whenever he felt the tiniest bulge in his crotch, there was always a hot girl to sate his hankering.

Leonardo had an American wife named Emily and they had two sons, Matt and Pat who were 9 and 11 respectively. Emily tried as much as possible to not get herself involved in her husband's business, and she always shielded her sons from him. Leonardo had no problems with that because it was what he wanted.

"I don't know why," said Leonardo, "but I think I've fallen in love with that bitch." His eyes were fixed on Bull. "Every day for the past one week I've been seeing her in my dreams, clad in that bewitching pink dress!"

He paused for a moment as if waiting for Bull to speak, and then he leaned back on the chair and increased the tone of his voice while gesticulating wildly.

"That goddamn Jenna girl is witch, I know that!"

"Leonardo..." said Bull, trying to find the right words to tell his boss to calm down.

"What?" said Leonardo, "You know, I have a feeling that Jenna wants me too. I mean, why did she wear that pink attire that day? That early goddamn morning! Was it not a calculated move to inveigle herself into my affections? I tell you what, that's exactly why I've been patient with her. I know she wants me but definitely has some useless ties with her wretched boyfriend. I guess it's time to kill the bastard— I've been patient enough!"

"Leonardo..."

"And I'll kill her too if she tries to be a smart-ass!"

"Leonardo..."

"She must love me or she dies!"

"You ain't listening to me, Leonardo!"

Bull was the only one of the hundreds of Leonardo's men who could raise his voice at him and get away with it. He had cemented his position as Leonardo's second in command by being such a deadly executioner, using brute force to murder targets in what Leonardo described as "awesome heroics." It was he who killed Leonardo's arch-enemy McAlister Collins two days ago, severing the man's head with a dagger, further elevating his status in Leonardo's empire.

"You raised your voice at me, Bull? Haha! Well, well, you have a hall pass. Now what the fuck do you want to tell me?"

"Your bitch is leaving Silverton tonight," said Bull, "In fact, she's leaving the city of Denver, she's leaving the state of Colorado. Tonight."

Leonardo sprang to his feet, his cigar dropping to the ground. "Are you sure about this?" he said, his eyes widening horribly. Even he was surprised at the way he had become so obsessed with her in the last one week.

"Cocksure," said Bull.

"Then fuck out at once! Go after them right away. Now, now! Bring 'em to me. I want to look at the lad's face before putting a bullet in his head for thinking he can outsmart me. That's a motherfucker who spat on my rare kindness and declined my offer. Now he has to die! Go at once!"

"Me?" said Bull, placing his left hand on his chest. "But you know I've got business around here. It's almost 8 p.m. and Senator Gladwell is gonna be here any minute and you know how this casino goes up in blue flames when he's here. "

Leonardo lunges at Bull and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

"I don't give two fucks about the senator! Jenna is more important to me and I want you and no one else to bring her here and you're fucking going to do what I've ordered you to do!"

"Really, Leonardo? That bitch is more important than the senator? Really? Don't you think your obsession with that girl is affecting business? Hell, we haven't moved weight in the last five days because all you do is talk about Jenna!"

Leonardo let go of Bull's collar and took a few, slow steps backwards, and then he dipped his hand in his trouser pocket and brought out a gold-plaited CZ-75 pistol. He aimed it at Bull's head.

"Say another word at variance with my order and by Jove you'll be dead in a second," he said calmly but the veins in his neck were bulging.

Bull had been with Leonardo for over a decade to know that his boss never bluffed when he made threats like this.

"Okay, boss," said Bull. "I'll bring them to you tonight." And then he turned around, opened the door and disappeared into the night.

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