Page 47 of Heirs of Havoc

Damn.

I call her but she doesn’t answer. I don’t blame her. If I’m being this catty to her, of all people, I’m definitely tense.

These guys are ruining my life.

Chewing on my lip, my head pounds.

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

They’re what’s wrong with me and I need to get it together.

Turning around, I head for the exit, my feet itching for a run. I don’t have my jogging gear, but that won’t stop me. It’s the only thing that’ll clear my mind.

Once the sun hits my face, I’m off, my sneakers to the pavement. One lap around the school will make me feel better.

It takes about ten minutes to find the equestrian trail and I’m feeling freer by the second. My thoughts spiral, calculating my next move. My next town. Hell, my next country. Somewhere my dad and his men won’t ever be able to find me. I’ll land myself on my mother’s island. I’ll see penguins in Antarctica. Sweat pools under my blouse, my thighs sticky and sweaty. The faster I run, the slower my thoughts come, but there’s one thing that shakes me. No matter where I imagine escaping, Dom and his men stay in that image. When I try to brush them away, it feels empty.

My jogging slows as I round back to the front of campus, more tired than usual. Guess that’s what happens when you don’t sleep or eat. Approaching the chapel, my chest heaves, my legs slowing. Looking up at the steeple, God can’t even help me out of this one.

“Gotcha!”

A yelp escapes me when something comes around my waist and I’m lifted off the ground.

“Hey!” I’m out of breath, flailing in this person’s hold. Who is it? Vlad? Lev? Dom or Feliks? Twisting and kicking doesn’t help me figure it out, but I’m sick and tired of people tossing me around. “Let me go!”

My back slams against the chapel’s stone wall before a familiar face comes into view. “Mia.”

“Nicholas?”

Something cold pushes against my blouse. I’ve had metal to my body enough times to know what that is. “You scream, I shoot.” Something sinister peppers his voice. “Your father wants you home.”

No. “This whole time?” Pushing on his chest, he hardly budges, stronger than he looks.

“It’s far from jealousy, M&M.”

“Don’t make this hard, Mia,” Nicholas looks around, his forearm against my chest.

There aren’t any students to witness this, but I’m not letting him get away with it. “You’ll kill me, and then what? Bring Martin’s dead daughter to him?” I snort. “He’ll have your head.”

Slap!

A sting rings through my face, my dry coils whipping in front of my eyes.

He fucking hit me.

So I hit back, my hand flying at his face. He’s not going to kill me. He can’t. And if Daddy wants me home, I’m not going down without a fight.

My knees come to his balls. He keels over, but before I can swing, he grabs my wrist, slamming it against the stone. It scratches against the hard exterior of the building and when I look into his scowl, a fist comes at my face.

Shit.

My eyes closed, I’m expecting his heavy hand to come barreling into me, but there’s… nothing. Nothing except a gust of wind and a growl.

“If you want to keep those legs, you'll get the fuck out of here.”

A deep voice comes from a foot away. When I open an eye, Vlad straddles Nicholas, his fist to his face.

The gun lays next to them on the small concrete path. Nicholas reaches for it with outstretched fingers.

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