Page 54 of Mafia Kings: Dario

But the priest held me tightly by the wrist.

I stared at him in horror –

Then struggled to pull away.

He held me even tighter, his hands like a vise.

“You must tell me how you escaped,” he hissed. “If there is a passageway into the house – ”

“Let go of me!” I cried out.

Suddenly I heard another sound behind the door, like it was creaking open –

And my terror gave me the strength to break away from the priest.

“STOP!” he yelled as I stumbled for the small door on the opposite side of the room.

I ignored him and exploded through the door into the daylight.

I looked around wildly.

I was in an alleyway between a stone wall and the church.

To my left was a dead end.

The street was 60 feet away to my right.

I started to run –

When the door burst open behind me, and a heavy body tackled me to the cobblestones.

I tried to scream, but a hand that stank of nicotine closed over my mouth.

“Quiet,” a man’s voice hissed in my ear, “or I’ll gut you like a fish.”

Strong hands flipped me roughly onto my back, and I found myself staring up at a stranger with brown hair and a scraggly beard. He wore a cheap suit and he smelled of cigarette smoke and sweat.

I heard the priest behind him. “Did you get her?”

“Yes,” the stranger snarled. “Now get back inside.”

The priest immediately slammed the door shut, leaving me at the mercy of my attacker.

The stranger turned back to me, malice in his eyes. “Now, you and I are going to have a little talk – ”

That was when I bit down on his hand.

The taste of smoke and dirt was disgusting – but not as bad as the copper taste of blood.

“AAAAH!” he screamed, then slapped me. “You BITCH – you’ll PAY for that!”

He pressed my face to the cobblestones with one hand, and I heard him fumble with his belt with the other. There was the metallic clink of his buckle and the sound of the leather strap.

“NO!” I screamed.

He cackled. “You’re going to pay me back for what you – ”

He was interrupted by the growl of a powerful engine – far away at first, then rapidly getting closer.

---