Chapter 39

I want to scream, but no one will hear me over the brawl. My heart races wildly as panic takes over. More shots go off outside, and I know I’m running out of time to escape this hell. “Who the fuck are you?” I spit back at him, but the sinking feeling in my chest and the jagged scar over his left eye tell me exactly who he is. Carlo D’Amico.

“A friend of your father’s,” he sneers, rubbing a meaty hand over his stubbly jaw. The moonlight catches the silver of a blade clutched in his hand, causing it to glisten, and my blood runs cold.

“W… what do you want?” I stutter out.

His thin lips twitch into a malice-filled smile. “What I was promised.” He reaches out and clasps his hand around my throat, shoving me back into the door with a force that knocks the air from my lungs. His other hand brings the knife up to my face. “You scream, I will slit your throat and take what I want anyway.”

My eyes widen, but I don’t say a word. He’s not messing around.

He backs off, seeing he has me terrified and rendered unable to make a sound. “Here’s how it’s going to go. You’re going to put this on.” He throws me a dark hoodie. “We’re going to walk out of here together, get in my car, and take off while they are all distracted.”

With shaky hands, I take the hoodie and throw it over my head.

“Hood up.”

I pull the hood up and tuck my hair inside of it.

He throws a pair of boots my way, and I slip my heels off and throw them on. Then he wraps a shirt around his arm and smashes the back window of the place, clearing a space for us to leave through. He stands back, waiting for me to go first. “Hurry the fuck up, girl.”

I follow his instructions obediently and slip through the jagged hole. I feel his presence right behind me, his blade pressing into my back. “Walk.”

A pained whimper leaves my lips before I can stop it. Leaving here with him is a death sentence. Despite my efforts to recall my training, fear has clouded my mind, preventing me from thinking clearly enough to save myself.

We make it to a matte-black car in the main parking lot, and he unlocks the door. “Get in the driver’s seat.”

I hop in the driver’s seat and put on my belt. With shaky hands I take the key from him, turning the ignition. Part of me thought, even through the chaos, one of them would have followed after me to make sure I was okay. Or at least to make sure their meal ticket was still around. But we’re on our own.

“Drive,” he snaps when I hesitate, glancing back over my shoulder. The knife comes to my throat again. “Fucking drive,” he spits, pressing the blade into my skin just enough to draw blood.

My trembling legs kick into action, and I take off up the dirt road, the wheels spinning up the dust in my haste. “W-where am I going?” I stutter out, looking for directions.

“Left at the end. Then just keep driving. ”

As I stare out at the blackened road in front of me, my mind races with my options. I can’t get to wherever the fuck he’s taking me. The boys told me how evil he is, I won’t survive. I know exactly what I have to do.

As he relaxes into his seat, the knife lowers a little as well. I might not make it out of this alive, but at least this filthy pig won’t have gotten his hands on me. Dying is one thing, staying and living through whatever fresh hell he has planned for me… No fucking way. I slam my foot on the brake, and the wheels lock up, skidding wildly across the asphalt as I spin the wheel.

“What the fuck are you doing?” he screams, but there’s no time for him to react before he’s flung forward, crashing into the dashboard.

The back tires lose traction, and the car fishtails violently. The next sound I hear is the horrific crunch of metal as we veer sideways, slamming into a massive willow tree on his side of the car. Our bodies are thrust forward, and I’m relieved that I remembered to fasten my seat belt as my captor’s head collides with the car’s ceiling. Airbags deploy from all sides.

My head spins as I try to get my bearings, desperately shoving the air bags away while scrambling for the door handle. By some miracle, it creaks open.

“Get back here, you little bitch.” He reaches for me, slicing through the hoodie, his knife catching on my arm with piercing pain. But I don’t have time to see how badly I’m injured. I sprint away from the wreckage as fast as my legs will take me.

I glance back over my shoulder and see him exiting through the open door. He’s not badly hurt like I had hoped. A rush of panic floods through me as I realize I’m running out of time. Quickly I run off the road, my feet slapping the uneven terrain, and plunge into the swamplands.

The scent of wet soil and decomposing leaves fills the air, blending with a subtle, salty aroma from the nearby swamp. I slog through the shallow pools of muddy water, sensing the uneven and slick terrain beneath my boots. But I keep moving further away from my captor, hugging the edge of the road so I’m not sucked into the depths of the swamp.

The canopy above adds an eerie touch to the surroundings, with its dappled shadows and creepy animal calls. I push forward, my heart going nuts in my chest. I need to find somewhere safe to hide.

Headlights blind me out of nowhere, and I duck down to the squelchy ground. Fuck, that’s got to be a second car. Car doors slam. “Search the whole area, she can’t have gotten far on foot,” comes my brother’s panicked voice. Now he fucking cares.

My chest pounds so hard I hear it in my ears, a deafening beat telling me if they catch me now, I’m never going to escape them. I can’t even trust Marco now. He’s one of them. I crouch down and keep moving forward until I find myself surrounded by a swamp. Panic races through me as I madly search my surroundings for a way out, but it’s hopeless, I have to turn back. When I spin round, I’m met with a shadowy black figure approaching me, and I know it’s not one of the boys or my brother. He’s too large.

A blood-curdling scream rips out of me. How the hell did he catch up with me before them? But then I see him: it’s not Carlo D’Amico. With a cruel smile, a thick hand reaches out, covering my mouth and nose with a cloth. I try to struggle against him, kicking him in the shins before bringing my elbow into his ribs, but as I struggle against his stronghold, a wooziness takes over me. My body loses all fight, and I crumble into him .

Looking down at me, his eyes gleam with a cruelty that is indescribable. “Your nightmare’s not over yet, girl.” They’re the last words I hear from Enzo’s lips before I black out.