Page 189 of The Devil's Fire

“That is not helpful at all, mom!” I looked at her in shock. Something worse than period cramps? My period cramps were already bad enough.

“But don’t worry! You will get the epidural and you won’t feel a thing. As soon as I got it, I slept through most of it, feeling no pain at all.” She quickly reassured me.

“Thank God!” I put my hand up to my chest as I breathed out in relief.

We chatted for a while about everything as we drank our tea. It felt good to be able to talk to her about my relationship with Damiano, not having to keep it a secret anymore.

“Goodnight, I love you.” I placed a kiss on her cheek, and she gave me a soft smile.

“I love you, too. Goodnight, honey.”

Once reaching my room, I grabbed my phone, only to feel disappointed when I didn’t see any text messages or calls from Damiano. They landed hours ago as Cara had texted me that they had arrived safely. Did he get busy with work the minute he got back?

I got comfortable under the blanket, placing my phone next to me in case he called, though tiredness quickly washed over me as soon as my head hit the pillow.

I jolted up in bed, a sudden loud sound startling me awake. My heart was pounding, and I could hear the thumping in my ears as I anxiously scanned my room.

The sound of hurried footsteps echoed towards my room, sending my heart pounding with fear, leaving me paralyzed and unable to move. The door swung open, and there stood my mother, her breath coming out in rapid gasps as she rushed towards me.

“We need to leave. Now!” She grabbed my hand, dragging me out of bed in a hurry. I gasped when I saw blood on her face and a gun in her hand.

“Mom, what’s happening?” I said in a panic, my trembling voice barely able to form the words. My mother hushed me with a hand over my mouth and moved us away from the door as we heard another set of footsteps getting closer.

I clung tightly to my mother, feeling her tense muscles as she focused on the door, her finger on the trigger.

She quietly pulled me behind her when someone stopped in front of my door. The door was nudged, opening it wider than before. The sound of my pounding heart drowned out all other noise when I saw a pair of black gloves holding a gun.

My knees almost gave out on me when he stepped inside.

He was dressed in all black with his head covered, not allowing us to see what he looked like. Without hesitation, my mother pulled the trigger, and I watched him drop dead in front of us.

I couldn’t even scream as my mother grabbed my hand again. We ran out of my room while she scanned our surroundings before running downstairs. My eyes went wide, and a gasp escaped my lips as I saw two more dead bodies on the floor; one with a knife deep in his chest. If it wasn’t for my mother dragging me behind her, I would have collapsed right on the floor.

We burst through the door, making a beeline for the car, only to realize that the entire street was pitch black. None of the streetlights were working, which filled me with even more fear.

The moment we climbed into the car, my mother slammed her foot on the gas, causing the tires to screech. A scream escaped me when someone jumped on the hood of the car, aiming a gun at us.

“Hold on!” My mother yelled to me, and I quickly reached for the grab handle to steady myself as she made a sharp turn, causing the man to fly off. “Seatbelt on, Althaia!”

It took me a few tries to fasten my seatbelt with how hard I was pulling it. At this point, I had trouble breathing, and my entire body was shaking in fear and panic.

“That damned bastard took me by surprise! I should have known he would do this sooner rather than later.” She said angrily to herself while driving so fast everything was a blur.

“W-what’s going on? What’s happening?!” I screamed as I looked at her. Then my eyes widened even more when I remembered Luca. “Where’s Luca? Did you kill Luca?”

“No! I haven’t seen him. I don’t know where he is.”

“Oh my God, what if he’s dead?!” I went to reach for my phone, only realizing I didn’t have it with me. “I need a phone!”

“There’s a phone in the glove compartment.”

I quickly opened it and grabbed the phone, my fingers trembling as I tried to remember his number, but my mind went blank.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” My mother hissed when something caught her eye in the rearview mirror. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw two cars racing towards us.

“Althaia, get down!”

She forcefully pushed me down into the seat just before the sound of gunshots was heard. My mother tried to swerve to avoid them, but it was difficult since we were on a long empty road with only trees surrounding us.

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