Page 17 of The Woman with the Target on her Back (Grassi Family)

Like the pussy cookies.

And how she bristled when I ordered a to-go coffee then sat in the cafe to drink it.That’s a waste of a paper cup. You could have gotten a ceramic one instead.

“Alright,” Aurelio said, nodding before taking sip of the bitter coffee. “Well, you’re stuck with me now until you figure this shit out.”

“As what? My babysitter?”

“How about we call me a… mentor?” he suggested with a smirk. “Less degrading for the both of us.”

“Mentor,” I repeated, and was about to say something else.

When the stairwell door opened and slammed.

And there she was.

Looking like she was seconds away from breaking into a million little pieces.

CHAPTER FOUR

Traveler

I was a little… let’s go with ‘overwhelmed.’

It was the closest I could get to explaining how I felt as I walked on shaky legs into the elevator, and had the doors close me in, creating an unexpected surge of adrenaline.

My mouth went dry as my throat started to tighten enough for my hand to move there, pressing against my neck as my heartbeat started to hammer relentlessly against my ribcage.

What the hell was going on?

A cold sweat broke out on my arms, back, chest even as I started to feel a little light-headed.

The door chime nearly made me jump out of my skin.

But then the doors were sliding open, and the pressure on my throat and the relentless thrumming of my pulse eased back like the fog when met with daylight.

I stepped back out of the elevator and onto the intensive care unit. Two steps out of the elevator, it was like the event never even happened.

A panic attack.

That was… new.

I’d always been pretty laid-back, go-with-the-flow, the proverbial duck with the water sliding off its back. I wasn’t even sure I’d ever felt anxiety before, let alone an actual panic attack.

Over nothing.

Well, no. Not nothing. An enclosed elevator.

It didn’t take a genius to conclude that I seemed to suddenly have a bit of a fear of small spaces.

Claustrophobia.

Because of the oven and the men outside of it.

Great.

Just great.

A shiny new phobia to go with the rest of the shit I was already dealing with.

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