Page 7 of King of My Heart

The other one makes it behind me and slams a hand over my mouth when I try to scream.

I fight with all I have. I kick, and I drop my weight to the ground. Lists and lists of the things I should be doing in case of attempted kidnapping run through my brain, but one is highlighted in red:do not let them take you to another location.

I manage to kick the guy in front of me in the balls, but the other one is already dragging me toward the car. He’s got one hand pulling my hair, ripping strands out. When I manage to bite the palm pressing against my lips, he curses and drags it to my neck.

I don’t hesitate one second. I scream.

“Help!! Help!!” Sam’s building stands tall at the corner of my eye, and I push my vocal cords past their capacities. “Sam!!! Sam!! Help me!”

I don’t give up when I’m thrown to the back of the car through the open door they both came out of. I feel dizzy, the world lopsided as I’m forced to lay down on the back seats.

No, no, no. The driver is ready to go. One hand on the steering wheel, one holding a phone to his ear.

One of the two guys sits in the front passenger seat while the other pushes my legs so he can sit with me and close the door. I don’t fucking let him. I kick at him, extend my hands above me and pull at the handle. The door opens, and I put all my strength into going out the other way, but he grabs my legs. And while he does so, the guy who sat at the front comes out, rounds the car, and grabs my hair again. He holds my head in place and a rag in his other hand.

“No!!” I shriek in complete panic. “Help!!”

“No one’s coming for you, baby.” The guy with the rag chuckles. The next second, it’s on my face. “Night-night now.”

It’s suffocating, disgusting. It burns my lungs and makes me cough as tears fill up my eyes from the asphyxiating fumes.

I try to hold my breath as long as possible. Long enough to hear the driver talk to someone on the phone.

“Yes, it’s her. She’s got the Bianco family tattoo.”

I fight in the men’s hold despite my limbs going numb by the second. The driver turns around, and my eyes grow wide when he talks again. I know him. I know this face it’s…it’s… “We’ve got the girl who killed your father, Mr. Volkov.”

It’s Aaron Williams,my brain whispers as blackness engulfs me.

After that…It’s a complete blackout.

1

ROSE

Blood- Kloud

16 months later…

They say your life flashes before your eyes when you die. I see it so clearly tonight, as a car hits ours at full speed, that it feels like it’s taking me my whole eighteen years of existence to die.

Since I was a little girl, I’ve wanted to die. It came around nine, when Bianco started abusing me. I hated the pain, but I hated the unfairness more. And I didn’t want to live a life that was not fair. Because it reminded me that, had my parents not abandoned my brothers and me as babies, I might not have ended up with a sadistic foster dad who prepared many orphan kids to become his soldiers.

Mateo Bianco trained me for a lot of things. He groomed me so I would grow accustomed to mental abuse and control. He tortured me so I learned to love the pain. He taught me how to live a life as part of the Cosa Nostra.

The Bianco Family was one of the most prominent families in that criminal organization, and Mateo wanted me to become his wife one day. He also taught me how to use a gun. I could shoot with perfect aim by the time I was twelve. And for some reason, the times I shot to kill are what stand out the most as I feel myself slipping away. They’re in bright colors, forcing their way in front of my eyes.

Shooting my own brother to escape Bianco.

The day I shot Vladimir Volkov to save said brother.

The rest is blurry, like I’m trying to open my eyes underwater. I still make out moments that have marked me.

The pain Bianco inflicted.

Sam’s smile when he laughed.

The pink dress Rachel wore the day I fell in love with her.

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