Page 55 of In My Blood
“Shock? No,” I shook my head. “I’m n-not. I’m good.”
The passenger door at my side was ripped open and I jolted hard as I looked to it with alarm.
“Just me, lass. It’s safe now. Ye both alright?” Arran asked as he leaned in and looked between me and Callan.
“Glad you taught me to shoot a bloody gun,” Callan laughed flatly.
“Aye. I wish ye didnae need to know, but this just proves we were right to train ya.”
“I agree,” Callan nodded. “Though I think Cara was a better shot than I was. Maybe you should train her.”
“Ye know how to shoot?” Arran asked with surprise.
“Hilt taught me,” I shrugged.
“The armed robber?” he questioned, and I nodded. “Of course he did.”
“Let’s move. We need to get home and rethink our security. Whoever wants Cara just upped their game, big time,” Dante said.
“Can ye walk, Cara?” Arran asked.
“Yeah,” I started to shuffle across the glass covered seat until I got to the door. Arran held out his hand and I placed my shaky one in it, grateful for the help.
Once he helped me down from the back of the car he wrapped his arm around me and pulled me into his side. I found myselfleaning heavily into him, even though I knew I shouldn’t. Not when I barely knew him.
When we rounded the shot up car we’d been inside of, Callan met us and he wrapped himself around my other side, holding me too. I didn’t say a word. I just allowed them to be there, because I needed them to be. I had no idea why, when I knew not the first damned thing about them, but I felt safe with them.
“Rafe’s meetin’ us back at the house. He wanted to come here, but I didnae think it wise. Lord help whoever set this up. Yer brother’s gonna rip ‘em limb from limb,” Arran said.
I saw more men spread throughout the space around us as we walked towards some cars parked a short distance away. Obviously, they were Rafe’s men, and there to protect us, but they made me feel uneasy, especially since they seemed to be predominantly dressed in black too, and were clearly armed. Bodies were laid out on the ground around the car we had exited, pools of blood surrounding them, and I forced myself not to look, because with every body I saw, I also got a flashback of my Mum’s remains laid in a lake of blood, in pieces.
I was reassured of the knowledge that those men were there to protect us though, when a car came careening up the road and right towards us/ Instantly, all of the men moved to form a semi-circle around us, blocking us from whoever got out of the fast approaching car. Arran tensed at my side and I saw him start to raise the gun he held in his hand, but then he sighed and lowered it again almost instantly.
“Relax lads. It’s Dario,” he called out, and all of the men around us seemed to just disappear and return to where they had been before.
We were almost to one of the three black Range Rovers, which we seemed to be heading for, when Dio parked beside them and leapt out of his car.
“What the fuck?” he snapped as he looked around, then to me. His eyes were lasered on mine and he didn’t look away as he stalked closer.
“Is anyone hurt?” Dio asked as he finally looked away from me and up to Arran.
“Dante got grazed, but it’s nothin’ serious. I was just gonna get the three of them home. I think Cal and Cara are both a wee bit in shock,” Arran explained.
“Rafe’s waiting at home for you,Piccola,” Dio said. He cupped my right cheek in his hand and lifted my face until I was looking up at him. “You’re sure you’re not hurt?”
“I’m s-sure.”
“You’re shaking so hard,” he uttered as he stepped even closer and placed his other hand on my hip.
“I’m okay,” I assured him shakily, as I became ensnared by the intensity of his stare. He stood so close I could feel the fabric of his suit touching my skin, and smell what I was sure was his aftershave. It was something fresh and citrusy. It was a nice reprieve from the smell of my mother’s blood that seemed to have been clinging to me since I saw those bodies, and the flashbacks started. “I thought you…that you were on a flight this afternoon?” I asked, as I recalled saying goodbye to him earlier.
“I was. I was on my way to the airfield when Arran called me, but after this the plans have changed. Rafe wants me close untilthis threat is handled. I’ve sent another of our guys to Chicago to investigate, and he’ll let me know if he finds anything.”
“I’m sorry you had to do that,” I told him, feeling guilty. All of this trouble was because of me and I knew it. It was because someone wanted to get their hands on me for some reason I didn’t understand, and it was causing chaos for Rafe, Dio, and the family.
“Don’t. You have nothing to be sorry for. None of this is your fault. I don’t know what’s going on, but I will find out. We won’t let this happen again,” he told me firmly, and I was sure he believed it, but he had no way to guarantee it.
“You didn’tletit happen this time, Dio. It j-just happened,” I told him tiredly.
