Page 63 of Did My Heart Love Till Now?

“I trust you.” Sofia hooked her arm in mine.

“We need to hurry.” Nick lifted his chin at me. “You have your key?”

CRACK!

Sofia jumped.

I nodded. “Yeah, let’s go.”

Nick held out his hand.

“What?” I wrinkled my forehead.

“You’re not driving. I need you and Sofia in the back where you can stay low. Joey and I got this.” He looked at Joey.

Joey nodded.

I dug my keys from my pocket and dropped them in Nick’s palm.

“When we get in the garage,” Nick pointed to Joey, “press the button on the wall closest to the door. Gavino,” he turned to me, “how do I remote start it?”

“Press the lock button then the one under it twice.”

Nick flickered his eyes as if he were calculating it then stepped over to the door. “We have to stay low in case they’re on a motion sensor.” He spun to us. “Also keep in mind, whoever is watching those cameras will more than likely see us leave so we have to hurry. Stay low. Move fast.”

He led the way. We all ducked and ran down the hallway, following Nick. As we came to the stairs, we stopped, seeing it was full of unobstructed windows.

“Shit.” Nick pivoted to the right. “We have to go this way. Move faster.” He took off running down the long corridor and took a right. “There’s a window. Get down.”

We army-crawled under the window. Nick stood up once past it and waited for us. When we were all by it safely, he led us down a smaller staircase. “The garage is through here.” He opened the door.

Joey slapped his hand on the wall button, Nick remote started the car, and the four of us ran for our lives. The Mustang was almost impossible to cram our bodies into with any sort of hurry. We were finally in. Joey and Nick were able to slide in shortly after. There were no more shots fired unless I had been so distracted I missed them.

“Thank God you backed in.” Nick muttered as he shifted the car into drive and peeled out of the large door. “Get down.”

I umbrellaed myself over Sofia and held her down in the seat. “You okay?”

“I don’t know.” She whimpered.

“Your dad and his friends are terrible people.”

“I know.” She sniffled.

I offered her the only promise I would keep. “I'd die before I ever let anything happen to you, Sofia. I don’t want to live without you.”

She lifted her head, peering through the darkness into my eyes as she whispered. “Then kill them so you don’t have to, Gavino.”

17

When we arrived at Gavino’s house, he had Nick use the back entrance so we would go undetected by any crowd or cameras out front. Three lights were on inside. Gavino had noted it was strange since his mother and sister were meant to be away until further notice. I wondered if his brother had come home but according to Gavino, he rarely ever showed his face.

“Be careful.” He warned as we came to a stop where the drive ended, and the walkway began. “The kitchen light is on. I should go check it out.”

Joey whipped his head around. “No. Stay here. I can go get a closer look.”

The Mustang was a two-door car, so Gavino and I were trapped unless one of them let us out. Joey opened the car door slowly and stepped out, ducking. With his weapon in his hand, he jogged toward the kitchen window. Nick opened the driver’s door and stuck his feet outside. He clutched his gun in his hands, watching out for any sign of a trap.

“Nicky, be careful.” I exhaled.

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