Page 4 of All Your Lies
I scream as the truck hits the back of my car again.
“Hurry, Dad. Please,” I sob.
“Do you have your gun?”
“Yes, but I can’t—”
“You can. Get it!” he barks out.
Just as I’m reaching over, a white van pulls in front of me and slams on its brakes. I swerve hard to the left to get out of the way, making my passenger side scrape along the side of their car.
“Someone stopped in front of me.”
“Fuck,” Dad mutters. “Take the next left-hand turn. Then gun it, Alexandria.”
“Okay,” I say just as I turn, then look behind me. There are no lights in my rearview anymore. “They’re gone.”
“Do you have your gun?”
“No. I haven’t—”
“Get it now!”
I stretch my body across the car with a huff and pull open the passenger glovebox. I take my eyes off the road to reach in and retrieve the gun when my car gets hit again.
A scream rips through my throat as my car spins out of control before coming to a stop against something hard.
Dots blur my vision as I try to scan my surroundings. I’m so dizzy, and my head feels like it got hit with a sledgehammer. I rub my fingers against my temple and pull it back when I feel something wet. Something dark and sticky is on my fingers. I bring my fingers closer to my face to inspect it when the glass of my window gets shattered, and I’m wrenched out by my hair.
I let out another piercing scream as glass shards slice through my side on the way out. The hand in my hair doesn’t leave as I’m dragged across the unforgiving ground. I desperately try to break free with my nails embedded in the hand of my attacker that’s attached to my strands of hair while my other hand tries to grip the dirt tightly. I feel the sharp sting as my nails dig into the earth and snap as I try to prevent my attacker from dragging me any farther.
It’s futile.
He’s bigger and stronger.
The sound of tires screeching and lights getting closer fills me with worry about being run over, but it could be the lesser evil compared to the attacker’s intentions. Inches away from us, the car comes to a halt, and the door swings open with a loud creak.
The air grows heavy as I fix my eyes on my dad. His hand is steady as he aims the barrel of the gun above me. A mixture of hope and dread fills me.
The man releases my hair, but it’s too late.
An eerie stillness replaces the piercing sound of the gunshot, with only a faint thud breaking the silence behind me.
My eyes meet my dad’s as he tucks the gun away in its holster beneath his jacket and approaches me with a determined stride.
His eyes usually sparkle with love, but what I see now is worry and rage.
I cast my eyes to the ground, unable to bear the intensity.
I choked.
The heir to his empire choked.
I let myself down. But worse, I let him down.
“The coordinates I sent require cleanup. Alexandria’s first.”
My head snaps up to observe my dad and his blatant lie as he speaks into his phone.
