“Damn. It’s so fucked up that all of this has been going on in our city right under our noses.”
“I know. But they always say the biggest cities have the darkest secrets.”
“You can say that again.” She picked her glass up.
Our conversation eventually shifted to something more uplifting. Inaya was telling me how she met with Emmet at his archery club and he showed her how to shoot a bow. I couldn’t get a read on what was going on between them. Emmet was so quiet and distant, but it seemed like he allowed Inaya in his space or more so she forced her way into it.
We continued our brunch and after a couple hours we broke apart, agreeing to meet at her house so she could ride with me to the farmhouse. It was still mind blowing to me that we were being invited into their family meetings.
On my way home I took the back roads, knowing traffic would be heavy on the main roads. As I drove, I checked my rearview mirror, noticing a car following closely behind me. I was going well over the speed limit and they had room to pass if they wanted since it was just us two on the road.
“Get off my ass, asshole,” I mumbled, throwing my blinker on when I got close to my turn. The car turned when I did and was still on my ass. The windows were tinted too dark for me to see who was driving. The car was white and medium sized.
I pressed the button on my steering wheel to change the song. I was about fifteen minutes from my house.
It wasn’t until my second turn that I started to think the car was following me. Each time I sped up they did the same, and when I slowed down, they stayed close to the rear of my car. Thenext street I saw I threw my signal on as if I was about to turn and mid-turn I hurried and snatched my wheel forward, causing the car to reverse and come after me.
“What the fuck,” I mumbled.
I gripped my steering wheel tightly as my heart slammed wildly inside me. My eyes bounced around the road I was on, which had deep ditches on each side. I had a couple miles to go until I was back on a normal street. A couple cars passed by me going the opposite way.
Regretting not putting my phone in my holder, I reached for it so I could make a call but it was knocked out of my hand when my car was hit and jerked forward.
“Fuck!” I yanked my wheel.
My foot pushed heavy on the pedal. Panic and adrenaline rushed through me. Whoever this was, was deliberately trying to run me off the road. This time I hit the button on my steering wheel and the voice assistance rang through the car and appeared on the screen.
“Call—Ah!”
My heart fell into my stomach when the back of my car was rammed again. I saw another street coming up and quickly yanked my wheel to turn onto it. The car slammed into me again, hitting my back passenger side, causing me to lose control and my car to spin.
A high-pitched scream released from my mouth. My car hit something and jumped. Pain shot through my head when it slammed against the windows. My body bounced against my seatbelt. The sound of glass shattering filled my ears. Blood rushed to the top of my head as my hearing became muffled and my vision blurred.
The warnings I received weeks back came to mind, causing my already sore chest to grow tauter.
No. It couldn’t be them.
My heart tripled in speed.
Regret filled me as I wished I would have taken the threats more seriously. Whoever was after me meant business and it was clear the warnings were now a thing of the past.
“Someone help,” I gasped through a fit of coughs. My airbags deployed and my body was upside down. The smell of gasoline and smoke filled my nose. I could see the blurred outline of feet walking toward me. My body refused to listen to my brain. It hurt everywhere. I wasn’t sure what was going on, or who those people were, but as my eyes grew heavy, I prayed this was one of the times Ezra refused to respect my privacy and showed up to save me.
CHAPTER 27
EZRA
It was getting close to the end of Felix’s trial. The last of the witnesses were being called this week then we would be preparing closing arguments. Me and my team had managed to debunk a good amount of the prosecution’s claims. Most of the evidence they presented didn’t have proof to show the claims they had against Felix.
The judge had just declared recess for lunch. When I stepped out of the courtroom and turned my phone back on, I was caught off guard by the amount of missed calls from my brothers.
“Are you coming to lunch with us?” my co-counsel asked.
I attempted to call Lucas back first since I had the most calls from him. “No, you guys go ahead.” His phone went to voicemail, next I tried Nazai.
“Where the hell are you?” he answered.
“I’ve been in court all day. Why are you and Lucas blowing me up like I owe y’all money?”