Page 23 of In My Blood
I looked to the two men in front of me again and sized them up. They were younger than Rafe, but obviously older than me. The taller one was definitely over six feet tall, while his partner was a little shorter. They were slim, but obviously in shape. They wore dark clothes and both had jackets on, so I didn’t know if they had guns, but if they did they were out of sight, which might give me the time I needed.
“So I am a prisoner?” I growled as I turned to Rafe. “You lied to me again!”
“I’m just trying to keep you safe. You don’t understand…” I didn’t let Rafe finish what he was saying. The only advantage I had was surprise.
Before anyone seemed to realise what was happening, I spun into a back kick, smashing the heel of my foot into the tallest guy’s crotch, while I also went right for the shorter guy’s solar plexus with my elbow. Neither went down, but they did stumble back, so I managed to get between them and I kicked the back of the taller guy’s knee with as much force as I could. As he stumbled and dropped to the ground the shorter guy grabbed for me as I knew he would. I caught his arm and twisted it behind his back fast and violently, forcing him to the ground beside his partner. A part of me knew I had the upper hand, because there was no doubt in my mind Rafe’s men were too afraid to fight back and hurt me, especially while Rafe stood watching. But I’d take any advantage I had, and knowing they were both down, I set off running, and went straight to the door for the stairs.
I could hear Rafe yelling my name and two sets of heavy footsteps racing down the stairs after me, but I was barefoot and faster. My adrenaline was pushing me through the aching and pain in my body and I just kept on going, not once stopping to look behind me. I don’t know how many floors up we were but the stairs seemed never ending, until finally I came to a small fire exit onto the street and burst out of it.
The street around me was hectic, as always during the day, so I dove into the middle of the crowd and tried to power walk, my short stature making it easier to hide between the people around me.
As soon as I passed a small alley, I ducked down it and ran as much as I could in bare feet. I knew I was stepping in and on disgusting crap but I didn’t have time to worry about it. I just had to get somewhere Rafe and Dio wouldn’t think to look for me.
I made it to my old neighbourhood and hid myself in the doorway of a long since boarded up store front. I wanted to go to the club, but it wasn’t open yet and wouldn’t be for a few hours. I didn’t know where any of the girls I could trust, lived, and I didn’t have my cell phone. That left me with one option and it wasn’t one I was eager to use. Justin. His apartment building was directly opposite where I was hidden, and I was pretty sure he’d be in there at this time of day. It was a really shitty option, but Rafe and Dio would never think to look for me there, and maybe I could wheedle some cash out of Justin so I could at least get a bus out of the city.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck,” I uttered to myself. I had no idea what I was doing. Rafe had finally come to get me. Wasn’t that what I had wanted? But my idea of him was so screwed up in my head. I had loved him so much for years. He had been my hero. Then Mum drilled into me again and again that he couldn’t be trusted. She spent hours telling me what a monster Marcello was, and that Rafe was following exactly in his footsteps. She convinced me that Rafe was no longer safe. No longer my hero. She made me fear him.
Then she was murdered, just as she predicted over and over again that she would be. Her body had been in pieces, for Christ’s sake! And Rafe had it all cleaned up. He didn’t want to call the police. Was finding me just part of his plan, leaving my Mum there like that, just to traumatise me so much I had no choice but to call him? Was that why he was there? Washe behind the whole thing? But why? Why would he do that? Surely he would have killed me too if he were like Marcello, but he didn’t seem to want to kill me. He just wanted me back in London. Was there something I was missing? Did he need something from me?
But then I thought about him, about the pain I saw in his eyes each time I accused him of something. I had seen and felt his worry about me when I woke in that hotel room, and before that when he’d found me in the apartment. He’d seemed so genuine when he talked about home and how much he had missed me and always wanted me back. That couldn’t all be a ruse, could it? It had looked so real.
“Fuck!” I gasped again as I realised just how screwed up my mind was. Maybe I was as paranoid as my Mum had been. It was certainly starting to feel like it, but I also knew I had to be cautious. I had learned only too well through my life that evil was very much real and roamed the Earth. I had seen it up way too close and personal. I had to try and protect myself and right then I was too unsure about Rafe, especially after he tried to stop me from leaving. I was no one’s prisoner.
I looked over to Justin’s apartment building again and saw him actually walking out of the entrance door. He was still wearing the clothes he had on days ago, and the smug smile on his face as he talked into his cell phone had me freezing in place as I recalled what I had allowed him to do to me that night after work. My hands shook at just the memory. It had all made so much sense at the time, but now it had been another sacrifice I made, all for nothing. I didn’t have the pills, and I didn’t need them either, nor did I have, or even really need the rest of my wages that I had been paid. I didn’t even know what had happened to the money in the chaos of the last days.
Justin drove away and I let out a sigh of relief. I never should have even contemplated going to him. It had been a terrible decision. Justin would never have helped me without getting something in return, and the only thing I had to give him, could never be up for sale or trade again. I had to try and do better moving forward. I had to try to find some respect for myself and my body, no matter how desperate I got.
And desperate was what I was right then, freezing cold in nothing but my hoody, no shoes on my feet and the streets covered with a covering of snow. I was freezing cold and so exhausted I knew if I stopped too long I would pass out.
Folding my arms over my chest I ducked out of my hiding place and decided to head for the club. If I were lucky the manager would arrive early and at least let me into the changing rooms. I had my work shoes in my locker. They were low heeled pumps, but they would be better than being barefoot.
The walk to the club took everything I had left in the tank, and when I arrived there it was locked up tight, no cars in the parking lot. I walked over to the small smoking shelter that the manager had erected last winter for the employees when we had a particularly bad stretch of snow. It was nothing more than two wooden fences that were attached to the back of the building to create some shelter from the wind and snow, but as I huddled into the back corner of it, I felt a difference in temperature, the biting wind no longer whipping at me.
Feeling pretty safe there, sure Rafe and Dio had no idea of where I worked, I leaned my head back and closed my eyes. Before long exhaustion took over and I drifted off.
DARIO
“What the fuck just happened?” Rafe gasped as we ran side by side down the stairs after Cara. She was so fucking fast though!
“Cara just kicked Don and Brax’s arses,” I answered, though I understood his shock. It had been the last thing I had expected to happen too.
“CARA! Just stop! Please!” he called down the stairs as he realised the same thing I did, she was getting away from us too fast, no matter how hard I pushed myself. I had no idea how she was moving with the pace she was. She had to be exhausted. I didn’t even know the last time she ate anything.
We burst out onto the street at least a full minute after her, maybe longer, and she was just gone. Rafe ran left and I went right, running down the pavement, just shoving people out of my way as I frantically looked for her. There were so many people around though, and Cara was so petite, it would be easy for her to vanish, and she had.
I ran around like a man possessed until my phone vibrating in my pocket caused me to stop and answer breathlessly.
“Anything?”
“No,” Rafe replied, sounding way less out of breath than me. “She didn’t even have shoes on, Dar. Where could she have gone?”
“We’ll find her,” I tried to reassure him and the terror I heard in his voice again. “Meet me back at the hotel.”
I hung up and started jogging back as fast as I could through the insane crowds. As I got to the hotel, I saw Rafe coming from theother direction, Brax, and Don – two of our security and the ones whose arses Cara had kicked, were with him.
“What now, boss?” Brax asked Rafe.
“We fucking find her! I’m not leaving this city without her. What the hell am I paying you both for anyway? Have you seen the size of her?” Rafe barked angrily.
