Page 52 of Obsessive Love (The King #1)

Chapter Fifty-One

Sophia

I enter back into the room, seeing that quite a few people have cleared out already, whilst some are sitting at tables, talking and drinking, and a fair few are still on the dancefloor, swaying along to the slow music.

I close the door behind me, smooth my hands across my dress and hair, take a deep breath, and start walking through the room again.

As my eyes scan the people in the room, searching for Jericho or Jaylen, they clash with a pair of menacing green ones that stop me in my tracks and send a wave of dread through my body.

Alessandro narrows his eyes and cunningly smirks at me when I stop walking. After a tense moment of staring at each other, he stands from his chair, lifts his phone to his ear, and walks out of the room as he begins talking to someone.

"Hey, you okay?" Jaylen asks, coming up behind me and wrapping his arm around my shoulders.

"Yeah, but I think I'm ready to leave now," I tell him, unease stirring in my stomach as I stare at the door Alessandro exited out of. "Where's Jericho?"

"He's gone to get the car. He clearly had the same thought as you because he told me to get you and Kaleb and meet him out front."

"Let's go then," Kaleb says, making me jump as he appears beside us.

We walk through the room, bidding goodbyes to people as we pass them. When we reach the front of the building, Jericho and Charlie are standing there waiting for us.

"You ready to go?" Jericho asks.

I nod my head and gladly accept his hand as he helps me down the steps, leading me towards the car.

He opens my door for me and rests his hand on my arm as I'm getting in.

"I'm going to sit in the front with Jaylen. I think Kaleb needs to be close to you for now."

I blush as I sit in the leather seat and wait for Jericho to close the door, thinking about how close Kaleb's already been to me tonight.

"You think Myra's got some food ready for us at the house for when we get home?" Jaylen asks as he drops into the driver's seat, and Jericho and Kaleb round the car.

"Jay, you've literally only just eaten a whole plate of food, along with my leftovers."

"Is he really talking about food again?" Kaleb grumbles, sliding into the back of the car beside me and Jericho hops into the front.

"You say that as if I'm always talking about food," Jaylen retorts.

"That's because you are!" we all say simultaneously.

"Well, what can I say, I'm a growing man and I need a lot of food."

I laugh at him as he starts the engine and turns the heat on before driving away from the large building.

Kaleb wraps his arm around my shoulders, tugging me into his side and kissing my temple.

I snuggle into him, enjoying his comfort as I watch the dark fields outside the window, making sure I'm comfy for the hour's drive we have ahead of us.

"Why don't you sleep for a little while, dolcezza ," he suggests, rubbing his hand along my arm.

"That sounds like a good idea," I mumble, resting my head against his chest and closing my eyes.

Suddenly, the back window shatters, glass raining down on me as Kaleb roars in pain as his body is jolted forward. The car swerves and Jericho curses as gunshots ring out around us.

"Sophia! Get down!" Kaleb shouts, reaching across the back seats and pushing my body flat against the leather as bullets ping against the metal and the car lurches as Jaylen tries to keep control of it.

I push against Kaleb's hulking chest, trying to raise my head and see what's going on.

I catch a glimpse of Jericho as he leans between the two front seats with his gun in hand, shooting out the back window as Jaylen drives erratically through the country roads on the outskirts of London.

"Who the fuck is it?" Jaylen shouts, swerving around the corner and forcing us all to grip onto the seats so that we don't fall.

"It's our fucking father!" Jericho replies, righting himself in his seat and reloading his gun.

Kaleb's body tenses on top of mine and when I try to twist around so that I can see him, he applies more pressure to my back, keeping me pinned down.

"Let me up!"

"No!" he shouts, holding me tightly as more gunshots sound around us and the window on his side of the car smashes. "Please, Sophia. Stay the fuck down!"

"I'm fine," I retort. I manage to loosen his hold and I twist around, gasping when I see the sleeve of his shirt turning crimson red. "Kaleb, you're bleeding!"

I frantically try to grab his arm, hoping to check the damage, but he pulls it away from me.

"Don't worry about me. It's just a scratch. I'll be okay. I just need you to stay down. Get in the fucking footwell if you must, just until this fucker is dead!"

When I don't listen to him and continue trying to pull the collar of his shirt down so that I can assess the wound, he shakes his head, reaches across my body, and scoops his injured arm beneath my legs, lifting them off of the floor before he slides my body off the seat and down into the footwell.

"Listen to me, dolcezza . My life's not worth living unless you're in it. The thought of losing you and having to go through life without you is one of my worst fucking nightmares. I'm trying to keep you safe and make sure you don't get hurt. So when I tell you to get down and stay down whilst I figure out a way to get us all out of this safely and unharmed, please for the love of God, do as I tell you."

I stare up at him, stunned into silence by his words and I slowly nod.

He rears back, slouching his large body on the backseat as he pulls a gun from his waistband and another from the pocket at the back of Jericho's chair.

"He's aiming for the tyres!" Jaylen shouts, swerving the car from side to side.

Jerichos and Kaleb both aim their guns out the window, popping off multiple shots in the hopes of hitting their father.

I watch as bullets whizz over my head, and glass shatters around us. Kaleb and Jericho both hunker down, reloading their guns and as Kaleb's about to lift himself back up, Jaylen curses, and a loud screeching sound fills the air before the car flips over, throwing all of us around.

My head bangs against the door. Then I'm being thrown against Kaleb's body as the car flips again.

I can hear Jericho shouting, and I can hear metal crunching. I try to grasp onto something, but it's no use. The car continues flipping, bashing us all around until finally, after what feels like forever, the car screeches to a halt.