Sold: Dark Mafia Romance

She smiles ever so gently as she approaches me and bends over to have a closer look at me. “Not everyone has the same eye color. My dad also has brown eyes.”

“But what about my hair? That’s a different color too,” I say.

She snorts. “Oh honey …” Her hand rises to meet my face, and she gently caresses my cheek. “We don’t all look alike, and that’s okay.”

I frown, confused. “But Bobby in my class has brown eyes and black hair, and his parents also have black hair and brown eyes. He says that every kid always looks like their mom and dad.”

Her brows furrow, too now. “Don’t listen to Bobby. He’s just trying to mess with you.”

“But—”

She places a finger on my lips. “That’s enough for tonight. Time to sleep.” She leans over and kisses me on the forehead. “Good night, sweetie.”

“Night, Mommy,” I reply as I lift the covers over my chin like I always do when she turns off the light and makes the brightness go away.

“Sweet dreams,” she whispers before closing the door behind her, leaving darkness in her wake.

I wait and wait, but no matter how hard I stare at the ceiling, my eyes won’t close by themselves. My heart is still pounding, my stomach coiling with a feeling I can’t describe and don’t understand.

I don’t know how much time passes, but I stay here in bed, determined not to let my mommy down. If she said that Bobby was lying then he must be. Mommy always knows best.

Something crackles outside my window, and I gasp.

More rustling.

I sit up straight in bed. “Mommy?”

My voice quakes with fear, and I don’t know if she heard me or not, but I’m too afraid to yell louder. What if that thing outside can hear me? What if it’s coming … for me?

The window creaks, and I jolt up from my bed as a hand appears and shoves it open. My eyes widen. A man steps in through the gap. His gaze is set on me.

“Mommy!” I scream.

Right then, the man grabs me and throws me over his shoulder. I kick and scream, hoping my mommy and daddy will come to save me.

“Stay quiet!” the guy growls.

“Let me go!” I squeal.

Another one enters my room via the window. In his hands, there’s a gun. My pupils dilate, and my breathing stops.

“Take her out, quickly,” the man with the gun says, beckoning the guy who’s carrying me.

Suddenly, the door to my room slams open.

“Shut your eyes, Harper!” I hear my father’s voice before I see him, but I still do what he says.

BANG!

BANG!

I don’t know what the loud noises are. Everything’s so loud, and it’s all going so fast.

The man drops me on the floor, and my body makes an oomph sound. My ears are ringing and my vision is blurry. And the man in front of me, lying on the floor beside me, is bleeding from his stomach.

“Help … me …” he groans.

I shudder and suck in the air.

More explosions follow, and I cover my ears and eyes. As my body aches I still manage to crawl away from the man who tried to grab me. I don’t know where I’m going, but I need to escape.

Someone picks me up again while my eyes still face the floor. I can’t see anything but smoke and fire.

“Hurry up!”

The voice is not my father’s. Nor my mother’s.

And as he runs down the stairs with me locked firmly in his embrace, I lift my head to watch my house go up in flames.

Suddenly, the stranger drops me, and we both tumble to the floor. I cry out in pain and fear, hoping someone will come to save me. The man crawls across the floor, leaving a trail of blood in his wake.

But I stay put and curl up into a ball while the tears flow freely down my cheeks. There is no one here, not my mommy, not my daddy. And the men who tried to take me from my room are all gone, with only one of them lying here in front of me on the wooden floor.

Dead.

This can’t be happening. I can’t let myself be consumed by the flames like this.

I gather my last bit of courage, get up from the floor, and start searching around. There is smoke and fire everywhere. I don’t recognize an inch of my own house anymore, and my parents are nowhere to be seen.

I panic and scream. “Mom! Dad! The house! It’s on fire!”

But they don’t respond even though they’re here, somewhere.

I search for a phone, anything I can use to call for help, but the whole place is turning black with smoke. My lungs crackle as heat fills them up, and the more oxygen I try to take in, the more it’s replaced by soot.