CHAPTER NINE

Four a.m. in Paris and Bella Caine was running for her life. The streets were practically empty, but for a few drunks still hanging around, and the car she thought she'd lost two blocks ago came swerving around that corner so fast it ended up on two wheels before slamming back down and heading straight for her.

" Mick !"

She was crying as she ran. She wanted Mick like a child would want her father in a time like this. Because she knew he could handle her monsters. She knew he would look out for her and protect her and take care of her.

But Mick wasn't even in the country. He was in the States, with Roz and his other baby mama and all those other women that needed him too. Why did she move to Paris so far away from him in the first place when she could have remained in New York? When she could have seen him anytime she wanted to see him. Why, why, why ? But she was beating herself up over milk so spilled that it wasn't even milk anymore. And that car was still coming full throttled!

Bella was on the sidewalk running as fast as she could. She had dished her heels when she ditched that car, but she knew she couldn't outrun an automobile even with a two-block lead. She had to get out of his path and the only out she had was a narrow alley about twenty meters in front of her, and she knew it was too narrow for a car to get through.

She had to get to that alley before that car got to her. Once in that alley, she believed she could outrun anybody. She knew she could not outrun a bullet, should they decide to hop out of that car and start firing on her, but she refused to dwell on that horrible thought. She just had to get to that alley!

But the car was upon her so fast that it caught even her by surprise. And when she looked back, the car flung across the sidewalk determined to take her out, but the driver was too determined and lost control of the vehicle as it ran straight into a storefront within inches of running right into Bella. It shattered the huge display window with a thunderous slam, triggering all kinds of alarms.

Bella turned down that alley and started humping even faster. She never looked back.