The first SUV speeds up, and now I’m certain whoever is driving is coming from me. Springing into action, I rush around the car while unlocking it with the key fob. As fast as I can, I slide into the driver’s seat and start the car. The engine roars to life, and I’m barely able to pull out of the parking spot before they’re catching up with me.
The street is filled with the sounds of tires squealing and cars speeding away. Driving like a Nascar driver, I punch the gas, zooming away from them. Every fiber in my body tenses when I look in the rearview mirror and see that they’re right on my tail.
They could be Matteo’s men, or Christian’s. The least scariest possibility is that they’re Xander’s, I couldn’t see them chasing after me though, not like these cars are. Turning down an alleyway, I drive through two trash cans and make a sharp left back out onto a street. Headlights flash behind me, and I know they’re still there.
Slamming on the gas, I weave through traffic, nearly hitting three cars in the process as I try to get away from them. If they catch me, I’m trapped. It doesn’t matter whose men they are. I’ll be a pawn on one of their chess boards when all I want is to be free. Taking another sharp left, I peer over my shoulder and see only one SUV.
Where did the other… The thought gets lodged in my head and scatters like puzzle pieces shoved off a table when out of nowhere, the second SUV comes barreling down a side street. Its headlights are blinding, and I squint, trying to figure out what they’re doing. It only takes a second to realize they’re heading straight for me. The nose of their car slams into the rear of mine. My teeth clatter together as the impact sends the car into a tailspin.
Tires squeal, and headlights flash in front of the car, making me dizzy. All I can think is to run. With sweaty palms, I reach for the door handle and shove it open. I don’t think about where I’m going, only that I have to get away.
My lungs burn and my heart thunders in my chest. It’s almost the only thing I hear as I dash from the car and out into the street. Crazed, I pause for one second and look over my shoulder just as the sound of car doors opening meets my ears.
“Get the girl, but don’t kill her. I want to be the one to do that.”
I know that voice. Christian. Shit. I didn’t escape one crazy-ass mob family to be tossed into another. Forcing my feet to move, I start running down the sidewalk. I make it all of ten feet before a muscled body plows me into the ground with the force of a wrecking ball. The air expels from my lungs, and my hands scrape against the concrete as I try and break my fall. Twisting in the assholes grasp, I drag my nails down and across his face. A hiss passes his lips, but he doesn’t release me.
“Feisty. I like it.” The bastard sinks his fingers into my skin with bruising force. “Keep fighting me. I love it when they do.” The weight of his body disappears, and just when I think I might have a chance of escaping, he yanks me up off the cold ground and starts dragging me back toward the cars.
“No, please…please, let me go,” I resort to begging because I know what happens if I get shoved into one of those cars.
“I got her boss,” the bastard dragging me behind him announces proudly. In a few steps, we’re at the SUV. The door opens, and no matter how much I struggle against the hulk of a man, I’m picked up and placed into the backseat of the vehicle, beside one of the most villainous men I’ve ever met, next to Matteo.
The door is slammed shut, and it feels like I’m being encased in my own coffin.
“We meet again,” Christian says, his voice drips with anger, rage that is suffocating. It’s like trying to breathe underwater.
“Let me go,” I order. Like a cat, I claw at the door of the SUV, tugging at the handle, but the door won’t open. The vehicle starts to move, and no matter how much I will myself not to cry, I can’t hold back the avalanche of tears.
“Why would I do that when I just got you back?”
“So, you gonna put me in a cell again?”
“No, Dove, you’re coming with me to my place this time. I’ll let you stay in my room if you behave.” He smirks, and I have to force the bile rising in my throat back down.
“What do you want from me? I have nothing of yours… Zane is… we aren’t together, and I don’t know where he is, and Matteo wants me dead if you think he cares about me, you’re wrong.” I look up at the man through thick lashes, tears clinging, no matter how hard I try to blink them away.