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Chapter Thirty-Four

Lux

The smell of smoke jolts me awake. I blink rapidly, trying to make my vision come back.

Everything is dark and I’m lying on my side on a hard surface. Slowly, I pull myself up, noting that my wrists and ankles are still bound.

For a moment, I wonder if I’ve gone blind but as my eyes acclimate to the darkness, I realize the lights are out.

My head throbs, and sitting up makes me dizzy, but I force myself to figure out where the hell I am. I trace the outline of a door in front of me. Something that feels like cardboard surrounds me.

Boxes. I’m locked in a closet.

I panic, pulling and twisting my wrists against the rope as the smell of smoke grows stronger around me. I need to get out. They threw me in a closet and set fire to the house. I’m going to die in here.

Thinking on my feet, I lean back against the wall and pull my knees into my chest. Using all the force I can gather, I kick at the door. It doesn’t open, but I hear a crack of wood. Taking that as a good sign, I do it again. This time, something small and metallic hits the floor with a ping.

I repeat my movements, listening as screws loosen and fall to the floor, and the wood splits. I’m exhausted and weak. My back cramps up, and sweat drips down my face, burning my eyes.

I give up on the kicking for a minute to work on my wrists. The memory of Rob tying me up flashes in my mind, and I gasp, realizing he deliberately tied the ropes loosely.

Forcing myself to stay calm and move slowly, I quit twisting and pulling and instead attempt to slip my hand out of the bindings.

The rough ropes burn my skin, but I finally manage to free my hands and throw the rope away. I run my hands along the ropes at my feet but they’re bound tightly.

It doesn’t matter. I’ll fucking crawl out of here.

I lean back against the wall and with one deep breath, smash my feet against the door. It flies open, banging against the wall and startling me. I manage to pull myself up and hop out of the closet. All of a sudden, the sound of gunfire, glass smashing, and people screaming floods my brain.

Rafael. It must be him.

I hop through the dim room on both feet, feeling my way using furniture until I hit a wall. I drop down to the floor and pull myself against it until my fingers hit the brackets of a door. Sitting up, I jiggle the handle, but it’s locked.

This door feels sturdy, unlike the flimsy wooden one I kicked down a few minutes ago.

There’s nothing to brace myself against here, so I divert my attention back to my ankles as I plan how to break out of here. I work on the ropes with shaking fingers, trying to stay calm.

Smoke billows into the room from underneath the door, choking me and making me cough.

“Lux? Luxy!”

I freeze, wondering if this is carbon monoxide poisoning. Doesn’t that cause hallucinations? I swear that’s Rafael’s voice.

I call back for him, and he responds directly from the other side of the door. The handle jiggles and stops. Frustrated, I scream his name and kick the door hard. I hear something about shooting the lock and scamper out of the way, pulling myself up to lean on a desk.

The door flies open, and Rafael is standing in front of me, looking like a wild animal. The ferocity in his eyes scares me for a second, but my body moves toward him of its own accord. Suddenly, a dark figure appears behind him. I try to scream his name, but it’s too late.

Carlo smashes him across the head with the butt of his gun and Rafael drops to the ground. I scream bloody murder, gripping the desk behind me so hard that my nails dig into the wood.

“Carlo, why are you doing this?” I cry, clinging to the table for dear life. He aims the gun at my face and I resist the urge to duck. If he wants to kill me, he can easily do it. My feet are bound, I’m not getting away easily.

Think, think, think.

“This has nothing to do with you, Lux,” he pants as the smoke curls around him, making him cough. “You got caught in the crossfire, which is a shame. I always liked you…till you got yourself involved with this riffraff.”

He takes a step toward me and I shrink back against the table. My hand bumps something smooth and solid. I curl my fingers around it, slowly dragging it closer. It feels like a marble paperweight of some kind, and an idea hits me.

Rafael twitches on the ground, moving his head slightly. I pray for him to stay silent, for Carlo not to notice that he’s regaining consciousness.

“Carlo, you don’t have to do this,” I plead, stalling for time. The paperweight is heavy and large, and my fingers slip as I try to grip it. “Can’t you call a truce or something?”

“It’s too late for that,” he snarls, taking another step toward me. “He killed too many of my family tonight. That doesn’t go unpunished. Now, I want him to watch me kill the one person he loves.”

“He’s dead, Carlo,” I cry, finally palming the marble brick. “He can’t see anything anymore. You got what you wanted.”

Rafael lifts his head off the ground, trying to pull himself up. He groans in pain, and Carlo is momentarily distracted, swinging around to face him. I take my chances and hurl the paperweight at his head as hard as I can.

The corner catches his eye, sending him off-kilter. He tries to shoot, but the gun goes flying, sending the bullet into the hallway. I rush him, hopping on both feet and tackle him to the ground as he screams in agony. But I don’t give a single flying fuck about his pain.

“Rafael!” I call, reaching for him. He’s moving slowly, like he’s in a daze. He crawls to me as Carlo lashes out, trying to wrap his hands around my throat. I fight back, clawing at his face, feeling his blood pooling under my fingernails.

The room recedes and everything fades away. All I see is Carlo’s evil face in front of me, his fingers around my neck. I’m screaming and snarling, scratching and hitting him, trying to pull myself away.

Suddenly, a pair of strong arms lift me off his body. I hear ribs crack as a hard boot lands against his side.

Carlo screams. A shot rings out and I panic.

Who’s holding me? Who shot who?

I kick and scream, trying to twist out of the arms.

“Lux, Lux, calm down, calm down, it’s okay,” a voice soothes me. But it’s not Rafael’s voice so I keep fighting.

“Rafael, help me out here?” the voice booms behind me, and Rafael appears in front of me, clutching his head.

“Shh, Luxy, it’s okay, Rocco’s got you.”

The fight goes out of me and my body turns limp in Rocco’s arms. All I care about is that Rafael is standing in front of me, alive. He’s covered in blood, but so am I. I wrap my arms around him, pulling him close, creating a Lux sandwich with Rocco behind us.

“It’s okay, sunshine, it’s okay, I’m here,” he whispers in my ear, stroking my hair. Tears flow down my face and I can’t stop them.

“Better we get out of here sooner than later,” Rocco advises behind me. “Can you make it, Rafael?”

“Lux, Rocco’s going to carry you to the car,” Rafael says, his voice serious and strained. “The fire is out of control. We don’t have much time.”

I nod, wiping the snot and tears off my face. Rocco hoists me over his shoulder gently, and we stumble down the stairs.

Thick, black smoke fills the house. I try to cover my nose and mouth as best as I can, feeling sorry for Rocco. His arms are wrapped around my thighs, holding me tightly.

I gaze at the carnage as we head out the back door. Bodies lay strewn about, blood seeping into the plush white carpet. Sparks fly as the fire blazes through the main floor of the house, the perfect cleaning service for a bloodbath.

Once the fire dies out, there will be no evidence of any of this.

I squeeze my eyes shut when I spot Rob propped up against the doorframe on the back porch, a bullet wound in his forehead. He tried to help me. He may have been the enemy, but he tried to help me.

A fresh round of tears spills down my face as Rocco gently slides me into the backseat of Rafael’s SUV. Rafael slips in beside me, resting his head on my shoulder.

“I love you,” he whispers, squeezing my hand three times.