Page 28 of The Debt

Chapter 16

Crazy. That was what Vasco was. After the incident at the ticketing area of the subway, he sent the driver away with the other men and took the wheel of the car. Vasco rarely drove himself and Mira was surprised that he actually was holding the steering wheel. When she would have gone around to the back passenger seat, he insisted that she sit beside him up front.

It was not a request she wanted to defy with him having his weapon sitting between his thighs on the car seat for easy access. His jaw was set and his nostrils flared, telling her he was not in a good mood. As he drove away from the subway, he turned the radio on, drowning out the silence. It was obvious he didn’t wish to speak with her and she welcomed that.

As if to torture her, one of the songs from her playlist started playing on the radio. The sweet sounds of Celine’s If Walls Could Talk brought memories of her time with Archer. Something wrenched in her gut as the thought of never seeing him again entered her mind. Even if she managed to get away from Vasco for a while, seeing Archer was not an option as Vasco would never leave him alone.

Reaching over, she turned the radio off trying to shut the song from her mind. However, as soon as she switched it off, Vasco switched it back on. She then changed the station, but he turned it back to where the song was playing.

There was no escaping the emotions stirring through her at that moment and it was clear that Vasco knew what was happening in her head, by the way he was looking at her. Trying to ignore both him and the sound of Celine, she turned her eyes out the window.

“I gave you everything,” his voice grated above the music. “I gave you every fucking thing you could ever want.”

“You never knew what I wanted Vasco. You taking me to your mansion, feeding me and buying me clothes was never what I wanted.”

“What more could a girl with nothing have ask for. I took care of you!”

“You held me against my will … that is not taking care of me!” Mira screamed.

Vasco hit the brakes and switched off the radio just as the last melody played. “What does he have that I don’t?”

She turned to face him, the seatbelt squishing her breasts. “Heart, Vasco. He has a heart.”

He grabbed her hand and placed it on his chest. “Isn’t that a heart right there?”

“That’s just an organ to you Vasco. Having a heart means more than having it sustain your life. It means having compassion. Caring about others. And if you care about me, you would let me go.”

“No, when you care about someone you don’t abandon them!”

“You don’t force them to stay either!” a sob broke free as a tear meandered down her cheek. “You can’t force love Vasco.”

“Love?” he scoffed. “Who’s talking about love?”

“Then why don’t you set me free?” she asked. “I can’t stay with you. Does that mean you’re going to kill me?”

He apparently was not listening to her as he continued to mumble. “Love. She never loved me either. What love? No one ever loved me.”

“What are you talking about?”

“She just dumped me at that orphanage like I meant nothing. He also never gave a damn about me. Now you want to leave after I took you in?”

“This is different Vasco. Look at you now. Look at all you have achieved. Let me do the same. I want to achieve something of my own as well. Both our childhoods were difficult…”

“Shut up!” he grated. “You know nothing about my childhood and the hell I went through.”

“We all have had difficulty growing up…”

His hand came up and the back of it landed on her mouth. “I said, shut up!”

“No, Vasco I will not shut up and let you abuse me anymore. I have had enough!”

Unlatching her seatbelt she opened the door and stepped from the vehicle. Vasco was taken by surprise and took a moment to realize what she’d done. He was out of the car, his gun in hand when she started sprinting across the road. A silver car was coming and she didn’t see it in time. The car braked, but not before brushing her thighs, sending her sprawling across the hood before she rolled off onto the pavement.

There wasn’t much pain. She was more frightened than anything else while having the wind knocked out of her. Trying to catch her breath she heard voices and then a face loomed in front of her. It was like the sun was shining down on her as the face came close.

“Mira, are you hurt?”

Not sure she was seeing things or not, she asked, “Archer, is that you?”

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