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My seat belt was barely on before I watched him hotwire the car and get it moving with ridiculous speed.
I felt like he was driving on two wheels as he backed the car out. A neighbor appeared looking out the window, eyes growing wide as we reversed.
“My car!” I heard him yell, and then he hit the ground. Bullets were flying. I ducked low just as my window exploded.
Screaming, I lowered myself as far as possible into the seat. I felt like I was going to throw up as the car began to spin and then abruptly stopped. I felt the door open and something hit the seat hard.
“Go, go, go!”
It was Dario, gun in hand, bleeding, looking like he’d survived a war. And he probably had.
I dared to glance behind us as Joseph sped off, and saw men outside the doctor’s house, their guns drawn…and then I heard it…the loud boom.
I couldn’t see the explosion, but I could see the smoke.
“You blew up their car?” Joseph asked, looking pleased.
Dario wiped a hand down his face. “I figured that would buy us some time. The doctor kept a good liquor selection in the house.”
He reached forward and placed a hand covered in blood on my shoulder. “You okay?”
I stared at him, unable to speak. He looked bad. The worst I’d ever seen him.
He looked like he’d been thrown into a wall. One side of his face was starting to swell, and there was a cut over his left eye. The blood on his hands…I wondered if it was his own.
He still had a gun in one hand, as if he wasn’t quite yet sure if he should put it down. I didn’t know what to say. I felt faint. My head started to spin.
“Mya!”
I felt his hands on my face, and I came to. He was staring at me, worry and fear in his eyes. Had I ever seen him look afraid before?
How many times had he risked his life to save my own? Could I trust him? I really didn’t know.
But I wanted to. I was so tired.
Even while I was at the safe house, I knew it was only a matter of time before someone found me. I knew that my time was limited, and yet I had still tried to believe that I would be okay. Now I knew I had been delusional.
They wouldn’t stop until they killed Dario, and probably me, as well. I didn’t think I was the main point of whatever game Matteo was playing.
He helped me get out of the house to get Dario to let his guard down. He knew Dario would look for me and Dario had taken the bait.
He’d almost gotten himself killed because of me. And how would I have felt if they had succeeded? Did I still blame Dario for what was happening? Yes.
But did I want him to die because of it? Did I want the father of my child dead? The answer was a resounding no.
But this lifestyle, this man, he only knew violence and death.
Could I really believe what he’d said that he had given up everything…that he was dismantling his empire…for me…for us?
Could a man addicted to control and violence ever really change? It was doubtful. But it was clear, he wasn’t my enemy. Then what was he to me?
I didn’t trust myself to answer that question.
Slowly, I pulled away from him and his eyes became guarded again as he settled back against the back seat.
We drove in silence, no one speaking a word, each of us lost in our own thoughts. The only sound was the wind as it camein the broken windows of the car. It was so strong that the car seemed to struggle to stay in its lane.
I heard Dario wince behind me as he attempted to stretch out in the backseat.