Page 22 of Untouchable

Despite my assumption though, Alessandro quickly pops up from the ground and looks up at me, nodding encouragingly. I go to tell him that there is no way I can do what he just did when I hear my bedroom door handle jiggle. My eyes widen as I hear a loud thunk, causing my dresser to budge an inch or so.

“It is now or never. Come on. You can do this. Just breathe,” Alessandro says as his eyes quickly flick around our surroundings.

I nod as I close my eyes for a second before gripping the railing and carefully swinging my legs over the ledge. My body freezes for a minute as all of my muscles clench in terror. I blow out a rough breath before I wrap myself around the curtain as tightly as possible and inch myself down a little at a time. I slam my eyes closed and let Alessandro’s words repeat in my mind as I make my way down.

You can do this. Just breathe. You can do this. Just breathe.

When my feet are no longer wrapped around fabric my eyes fly open and I begin to flail.

“Stop moving. The curtain isn’t that strong. Careful!” Alessandro chastises, his panic clearly rising with each word. I can’t even focus on what he is saying though as I begin to have a full-on freak out.

“I can’t,” I cry. “I just can’t!”

“You already have. Hard part is over. Just let go.”

“Why on Earth would I do that?” I snap. “You will probably let me fall just to see me hurt. It is your favorite sight!”

I don’t know why I am choosing this particular moment to open up this old wound when there are men clearly here to kill us while I dangle 12ft from the ground barefoot. I guess even in life-or-death situations, I can’t resist the opportunity to be a petty bitch.

A look of confusion and something that almost looks like hurt passes across his face before he softly shakes his head.

“I will never let you fall, Bella.”

My stomach dips as I am instantly thrust into the memory of the last day where we were Alessandro and Seraphina. The last day where I stupidly held on to my childhood crush and thought that maybe our time had finally come. But with those words, the reminder of what came next is like a slap in the face.

“I don’t trust you! You are the least dependable person that I know!” I argue.

His frown deepens, tinged with regret as his head swivels around the lawn.

“We don’t have time for this, Seraphina,” he growls lowly.

I open my mouth to yell at him when the sound of splintering wood rings out above me. Pounding feet thunder through my room and before I can think, two men are yanking on the curtain that I am currently white knuckling.

Panic claws inside of me as I look down to Alessandro.

“JUMP, BELLA!” He shouts.

Without wasting another moment despite my paralyzing fear, I let go, free falling right into Alessandro’s arms.

He catches me easily and holds me for only a moment as his eyes sear into mine. I see something almost softening in the normally hardened gaze, but as fast as it came it is gone again. He swiftly places me down onto my feet before grabbing a hold of my forearm and dragging me towards the woods surrounding our property.

We are only 20 feet away from the tree line when a hand buries into the back of my hair. I let out a shrill yelp as my body is yanked backwards. Alessandro turns in an instant and his eyes widen as he takes in my attacker. He doesn’t waste a single moment before he is tackling the man to the ground. I wriggle away from them quickly as I scramble back on my hands and knees.

When I turn to look at them, I see Alessandro delivering blow after blow across the man’s face. Blood, sweat and what looks like a few teeth are being sprayed across the lawn with each hit. Shots are being fired from the balcony from the two men that broke into my room. With Alessandro and the man on the ground are rolling around so much though that none of the shots even come close.

Flicking my eyes back over to Alessandro I watch as the masked man is able to get a solid shot in to Alessandro’s jaw, causing his head to snap back for a moment. He blinks his eyes hard like he is trying to banish the stars he is no doubt seeing.

When his eyes open, they land on mine. The pain and dizziness that was displayed on his face disappears and determination settles. His jaw clenches and he winds back his arm, connecting his large fist to the man’s throat. He makes a choked gargled noise as Alessandro does it again and again. The man’s body finally goes limp, and I know that he has to be dead. Apparently, Alessandro isn’t taking any chances though.

“Look away, Princess,” he says lowly, not taking his eyes off the man underneath him.

Squeezing my eyes shut I hear an undeniably loud crack. I don’t open my eyes again until I feel Alessandro tugging on my arms, pulling me to stand next to him. I let out a shaky breath as I look down at the bloodied man at our feet, his neck twisted at an unnatural angle. Oh my god. He killed him. Right in front of me. I just watched someone die.

“Come on. Run,” Alessandro says, pulling me back towards the woods once more.

I stumble as I try to keep up, especially when sticks, rocks and dead foliage begin to scrape and cut my bare feet. However, the sound of gunfire coming from behind us spears me on while I do my best to block out the pain.

Alessandro doesn’t slow down for a second. Not to scope out our surroundings or to see how close they are behind us, and neither do I. Right now, we are just running for our damn lives. Just trying to make it out of this alive. As of now I am not so sure how good our chances really are.

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