Chapter 5 "Goddamn It!"

• I couldn't help but die of fear, my hands were shaking and I avoided at all costs ingesting any substance that came from this guy.
• I looked him up and down, and as much as I tried to decipher this place, I failed in the end.
• "Where am I?" I asked confusedly, holding my head tightly. I had a headache.
• "Calm yourself, Miss Leia. We are on the outskirts of town, in an abandoned shed. I hope you will forgive me under the circumstances. I am a very cautious man," he whispered as he stood up and straightened his suit. "Tell me, why did you agree to come here? Anyone would have said no."
• I denied. "On the contrary, Mr. Darren. Anyone would have wanted to come. You are the most wanted man in the whole city, an interview can be more than worthwhile. The real question is, why me?" I asked, holding my ground. "And I hope you don't answer with the same thing you told me on the phone. You don't offer an opportunity like this to a complete stranger," I warned.
• Immediately, and for the first time in that moment, Darren let out a sultry smile. "You're very smart and skilled, Leia. I like that about you. Then you'll understand that it wasn't a coincidence."
• "It is not, sir. I would like to know why?" I whispered.
• Then, quickly, the same man he called Pipe returned with my belongings in his hands. "All right, sir. We're behind the door. Everything's fine for now," he pointed.
• Likewise, Darren pointed to my things and asked me to grab my recorder and notebook and start taking notes.
• "I hope you have already thought of the questions you are going to ask me, Miss Leia. It's time to get started, my time is very short and being here is quite risky," he warned. "Keep in mind that there will be many things I will not be able to answer for my own safety," he pointed out. "And again, for God's sake, take the painkiller, it will do you good," he insisted, pointing to the small table.
• Already exhausted, I finally agreed. I took the pill and drank it with some water, finally turned on the recorder, looked for my notebook and made myself comfortable, even though I was dying of fear.
• "So, Mr. Darren, how does it feel to be here?" I asked first.
• He laughed out loud. "I've been looking forward to this meeting, and is that the first question you're going to ask, miss?" he laughed sarcastically again. "I feel good. Like you, I've been looking forward to this moment."
• "Why, why do you want to meet me?" I asked.
• "Because I met your mother, miss. The great reporter who never feared anything and who followed my movements. She came to make my life impossible many times," he confessed with a laugh. "But she was beautiful, a unique woman," he said at the memory. "A pity that ambition, the desire to know more and to achieve perfection, would end her life." He said ruefully.
• "It was your fault. The shooting was for you, they were looking for you. She was just doing her job." I said a little annoyed.
• He denied it. "There's a lot you don't know about your mother, Miss Leia. Your mother knew about the shooting and she was the one who warned me to get out of there. Thanks to her, I was not captured that day. But unfortunately, the eagerness to get everything on the front page would end her life," he whispered.
• "My mother would never do such a thing, sir. I can tell you that for sure. She would never interfere with justice, let alone catch a fish as big as you." I blurted out.
• He laughed. "Let's start with the easy stuff, Miss Leia. You can tweet at me, I'm not an old man. I may have years on me, but that doesn't change the fact that I haven't even hit thirty yet," he confessed.
• "What is your real age, Darren?" I asked.
• "I'm twenty-seven, and I've been in this business half my life," he pointed out. "I guess when you grow up in evil, you think there's no one more evil than you," he warned, reaching for another cigarette.
• I laughed. "I'm beginning to realize that you're adept at completely avoiding those topics of conversation that you don't want to talk about with me," I said.
• He nodded. "I repeat, you are very clever.
• "You can also call me by my first name." I whispered, tucking my hair behind my ear.
• "That sounds good to me, Miss Leia. But now we can move on. Do you want to know why I think this is the end of my story?" he asked.
• "Of course, that's why I'm here. The question is, why would you turn yourself in after running away so many times? What's going on?" I insisted.
• "I've been on the run for half my life, I have no family beyond my bodyguards. I don't know any life beyond selling and distributing, I have more enemies than I have life, and all the mobsters I've known didn't make it past thirty-five. The life of a Mafioso is short, very short, Leia. And I was hoping that if I ever went behind bars or died, maybe it would be by my own choice, not because some fool in a suit got the glory for it. Don't you think that's fair?" he asked.
• I nodded, even though it made no sense to me, and stared at him as he put another
• cigarette in his mouth. His gaze was cold, heavy and mysterious, he always spoke looking at me, he was quick with his hands, elegant, even if he was a delinquent and had a unique lexicon despite growing up on the streets.
• He knew a lot and that was very strange.
• "I have to admit that he is not what I expected. I was expecting a brutal, badly dressed, uneducated man. I confessed. "And you are anything but." I pointed out.
• He gave a quick sideways smile. "I suppose I should be grateful for that. But just because I grew up around delinquents and on the streets doesn't mean I should be the same. One thing that has put me over the top, and over the top, is my intelligence, missy. So, thank you again," he confessed.
• But before those words and a few stares, I heard a few guns go off. They were gunshots, over and over again.
• His face quickly changed, he stood up and pulled out a gun he had strapped to his back. He ran up to me, grabbed my body and pressed down on my throat, almost suffocating my breathing.
• "You got away from me! What did you do, Leia!!!?" he asked angrily.
• "No, I swear to God I didn't! I even knew when you were going to show up, I wouldn't! I couldn't!" I yelled, trying to get out of his grip.
• And that was when Pipe appeared. White-faced, cold, and lost.
• "Sir, we're down, sir! Run, we have to go! They gave us away!" he shouted, pointing. "The reporter set us up, sir!"
• "I swear I didn't do anything! I didn't do anything!"
• "Goddamn it!" shouted Darren for the last time.