Page 295 of The Devil's Fire

“Sorry, piccola, it broke. The chain must have gotten loose when I held you.” I removed the necklace to show it to her.

“Oh, no… I just got it back.” Althaia held the necklace in her hands, looking upset about it.

“I’ll get it to a jeweler and have it fixed for you.” I promised and placed it in my pocket. “Luca and Gio, you’re up now.”

“Cool. Ready to run?” Luca grinned, and Althaia gave him a disgusted look.

“No thanks. I don’t run.”

“We’ll see about that.” He smirked and pulled out his knife.

ninety-three

Althaia

“Hold the fuck up!” I shouted as Luca and Giovanni brandished their knives. “Why do you have a knife when I am completely unarmed?”

“You stole fifty thousand from me. I’m here to teach you a lesson.” Luca declared, a crazy look in his eyes.

“I won that money fair and square.” I managed a nervous laugh.

“No.” He advanced, and I shifted my feet, uncertain if he was serious or mocking me.

“Come on, Luca! You can’t be serious. Put the knife away.” I tried to appear unbothered, but the reality was anything but that.

“No. You played dirty, and I don’t like when people play dirty.” He gave me a maniacal smile, closing the distance.

My eyes widened as I took several steps back. What the hell was I supposed to do? How could I fight them when they were armed?

I looked at Damiano, finding him observing us with his arms crossed and his expression completely blank. He wasn’t going to say anything to save my ass? Was he really going to let them skin me alive?

“Your man can’t help. You’re on your own.” Luca said as he got extremely close.

“Okay, listen -” My eyes went wide when he swung his knife at me. I screamed and ducked to avoid getting slashed in the face. “Are you fucking crazy!” I yelled at him, backing away to create as much space as possible, but he continued to step closer.

“Yes, I am. Now, run.” He sprinted towards me, barely giving me time to turn my body around and run.

I raced as fast as my legs would carry me, trying to create as much distance as possible between Luca and myself. I despised running, and I would do anything to avoid it, but you best believe I would definitely run for my life.

Like right now.

I could feel Luca close behind me, urging my legs to go faster. Desperation set in as I frantically scanned the field for anything that could help my escape, but we were in an open field with nowhere to hide!

My lungs were starting to ache, but I kept going, pushing myself to move my legs faster as I tried to think of a plan. I made a sharp turn to throw Luca off, gaining a few seconds of a lead. Just as an idea came to mind, Giovanni appeared in my view, blocking the way to the table with weapons.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

I completely forgot about Giovanni. At this point, I just wanted to lie down and give up, but I kept running, even though my lungs and legs begged me to stop. I had to think of something fast.

Running around Giovanni wasn’t an option; it would only slow me down, and I could almost feel Luca’s breath on my neck.

Do anything to survive.

Summoning the last reserves of energy, I sprinted toward Giovanni, who wore a smirk and prepared to grab me. Just as I neared, I threw myself to the ground, sliding between Giovanni’s legs.

“What the fuck?”

Swiftly getting back on my feet, and before he could fully turn around to face me, I kicked him.

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