33. Mae

33

MAE

" J ust like those Summer Time blues, oh, baby… "

I sang to myself as I moved around the kitchen, keeping one eye on the chicken cutlets frying in the pan and another on the sweet sauce bubbling away in the pot. Four plates were laid out on the counter, but I wasn't sure whether I should serve dinner to Dino or not. The last we'd spoken, he was more interested in making sure we stayed safe than joining us for dinner.

In the end, I placed the fourth plate away and pulled out a small Tupperware box instead. If he insisted on staying out there, then he could at least still eat from this.

"Smells amazing," Mom said as she poked her head into the kitchen. "Zack is just out of the bath, so I'll send him down once he's all dried and sorted."

"Alright." I turned my back on her briefly to check on the sauce. "Did he say if he wanted hoops or loops?" I asked, eyeing the two cans of pasta I'd left on the second counter. We'd be having some potatoes, but Zack had insisted on pasta .

"Hoops." Mom chuckled. "Just like you were when you were little."

"I guess we're a hoopy family, huh?"

As we laughed, the sharp screech of the doorbell rattled through the air and I jumped slightly. "I hate it when they use the doorbell," I muttered. "Can you get that? It's probably Dino not wanting to piss in the flower bed again."

"For which I am grateful!" Mom threw up one hand, then grasped at her cardigan and pulled it closed over her chest. "No problem."

She scurried away, and I gently turned over the chicken cutlets. The batter was beautifully golden, and the smell had my stomach twisting into hungry knots.

As the oil hissed and spat at me for turning the cutlets over, I lowered the heat under the sauce.

Suddenly, a shriek rose up from the hallway and a lance of freezing cold shot down my spine. I sprinted from the kitchen and shoved past the door, skidding into the hall.

Mom was on the floor, blood pouring from her mouth and cowering under a tall man clad in black and grey. He stood over her, fist raised, and she tried to hide her face. Just beyond him, Dino's car was ablaze in orange flames, and for one chilling second, I feared he was inside it.

Until he was thrown across the driveway and followed by several other men who spilled across the garden.

"Mae!" Dino yelled, scrambling up from the grass. He reached one hand out to me, but whatever else he was going to say was silenced by a solid punch to the face. The man standing over my mother spun to face me the moment Dino yelled, and our eyes locked.

I was his new target.

What the fuck was happening ?

Zack was upstairs, which meant I had to do everything in my power to keep these attackers downstairs until I could get to him. The bulky man charged forward, crashing into the side table and knocking the vase of flowers to the floor.

I threw myself back into the kitchen. My head was pounding so violently that the back of my neck throbbed. Stumbling into the counter, I snatched up one of the plates and launched it at the stranger as soon as he came through the door.

It shattered over his raised arm, barely making a dent.

"Where is Zack?" he demanded in an accent so thick that it sounded like he was holding a mouthful of water against his cheek.

Zack.

No fucking way were they getting my son.

"He's not here," I spat back, trying to keep my voice steady. "So whatever the fuck you want, whatever the fuck you're after, you can fuck off because it's not here!"

He moved incredibly fast for a man of his size, and while I managed to throw the second plate at him, he still reached me with impressive speed. His large hands gripped my neck and shoulder, and he threw me back against the kitchen counter so hard that sickening pain flared across my waist.

"No games!" he yelled, his voice cracking from the pitch. Where is the boy?"

I couldn't breathe. His weight was crushing me against the counter, and my head spun from the pain flaring hot across my back. I struck out one hand, scrambling for anything I could use to aid me. The cold countertop gave way to the warm handle of the frying pan.

I didn't think. I just grabbed it and slammed it into the side of his head. The burn of hot oil spraying onto my own skin was barely felt as the majority of the oil—and chicken—poured over my assailant .

His scream was high-pitched and he released me immediately, stumbling backward while he tried to wipe off the scalding oil.

I pushed off the counter with a gasp and rushed past him just as the sharp pops of gunfire filled the air.

Fuck. I hoped Dino was okay.

I barely made it to the door before the burning stranger was back on me. His fist landed in my hair and he dragged me backward, tearing a scream from my throat. I twisted in his grip and started to fight with all my strength.

I punched him, kicked him, and scratched every bare inch of skin I could reach. Adrenaline fueled my wildcat fighting, and the stranger stumbled back for a second. Then he grabbed me by the throat and hauled me off the ground.

My world tipped and a sudden intense pressure exploded through my skull. His fist sealed my throat. I couldn't breathe. Scratching at his wrist, I twisted left and right to try and escape him until he slammed me down onto the counter, and the third plate shattered against my spine.

I couldn't breathe as he shoved all his weight behind strangling me. His arm, as thick as a tree trunk, was unwavering despite my digging my nails as hard into his wrist as I could manage.

Half of his face was melting and still dripping with oil. His white-blonde hair plastered to his head and white-hot fury burned in his eyes.

"Where," he snarled, bringing his face so close that the heat from his burned flesh warmed my own skin. "Is. The. Boy?"

Suddenly, a distant scream from upstairs became the answer. The stranger smirked and my blood ran cold.

My vision blurred , and dark spots danced over the stranger ' s face. I needed air. I needed help ? —

He released me, only to drag me off the counter by my hair and throw me to the ground. I landed with a thump and a croaking cry. Then his fist collided with my face, and darkness consumed me.

Darkness that smothered me in heat. I was suffocating, burning alive in my own pain.

"Mom!"

I couldn't let it end like this. Not like this.

"Mom!"

Not my son.

Zack's terrified screams finally dragged me out of my brief slumber. Weak, I pushed up onto my arms and glanced blearily around the destroyed kitchen, then out into the hall where Zack was fighting for his life while held under the arm of another stranger.

"Zack—" Blood poured out of my mouth. My hands slipped against the floor, and when I glanced down, there was blood all over the floor. My legs weren't obeying even as I fought to get onto my hands and knees.

"Zack!"

My attacker finally heard me, and he turned to face me, then he crouched down to my level and roughly grabbed my chin.

"I'll kill you," I spat, drooling blood down my chin.

He merely laughed.

"Rocc–Rocco will kill you. He—he will hunt–t you d–down and kill you…"

"Oh, my lady," the stranger sighed and clicked his tongue against his teeth as Zack's screams grew distant. "I am counting on it."

The last thing I saw was the sole of his boot coming down onto my face.