Page 29 of Third Degree

What I wasn’t expecting was the pounding on the car window with an inaudible screaming coming from the outside. I pulled from Elio to see my father and Tomas standing outside the car.

Fuck.

And here came that feeling again. The buildup in my chest intensified as the pounding on the door rapidly increased.

I couldn’t breathe. My chest was caving into itself. It was pure, unadulterated panic that felt like bile rising up my throat.

“Gianna?” Elio looked over at me, concern carved into the features of his face. It was hard to focus on him because the world was spinning in circles around me.

“Gianna.” The pounding on the door grew faster and more intense. No other noises were in my head besides the screaming and pounding. Everything was swirling around in rapid succession.

“I-I can’t breathe,” I managed to get out as I gasped for any remaining oxygen.

“Gianna. Focus on my voice.”

I looked over to where I heard him, my vision too hazy to see anything clearly.

“You are safe.”

The world was spinning until I felt a familiar warmth on my thigh.

“You are here with me. I will protect you, always.” His hand reached over to my heart, where he laid his hand on my chest. As if the warmth blanketed my spinning thoughts, I could feel them slowing. “Gianna.”

“I-I’m here,” I responded, grasping his fingers. Time started to slow back down.

“Are you okay?” he asked me.

I blinked a few times, feeling quite out of sorts, as I was coming down from the surge of panic that laced my chest.. My papa had momentarily paused his assault on the car.

“I-I have anxiety. It gets really bad when I am stressed.”

He nodded in empathy.

“Thank you so much.” I kept my hands on his for a moment before my dad’s voice interrupted us again.

“Elio!” my father roared from outside the car.

Elio jumped out of the car, and I pulled the door open just as he rounded the front on his way to my side.

“You come to my house and defile my daughter!” My father’s gun was drawn at his side, ready to let loose a torrent of bullets.

“Please, Papa!” I pulled on my father’s shoulder, and I could swear there was smoke billowing from his ears.

“Where did you go, Gianna?” My father rounded on me, and his gun was raised as if he was going to hit me with it. My father had never struck me, but in this moment, it felt like he was close.

Instead, Elio jumped in.

“She was with me.”

“You defiled my innocent daughter!” Instead, he turned toward Elio and struck him in the face with the gun. Tomas took a step forward toward them. Elio didn’t react other than bringing his hand up to the stinging red mark on his cheek.

“Stop acting like this, Papa.” It was going to start happening again.

“You are never to see him again.” My father sneered, I stole a glance at Elio, who was standing there with his teeth gritted. “We are going back to Chicago. We are cleaning this mess up, and you will never see him again.”

Tears exploded from me, shaking body trembling. I felt a familiar hand on my lower back, and I turned around to see Elio silently offering me empathy with his eyes. I also knew he was going to try and defuse the situation.

“I… can’t,” I tried to get out between broken sobs. “I need to see you again.” But Elio only looked at me once more with the same profoundly sad eyes as when I had first met him.

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