Page 56 of Craving Danger

Overcome with the most sickening feeling I’ve ever had, I cover my mouth with my hand as if it will stop me from vomiting.

I take in the bodies, the blood, the weapons, and the other men who all look scary as hell.

I recognize two of them from when they came to the office last week.

“Jesus Christ,” the scariest of the group mutters before he crouches down and searches the pockets of a dead man.

Mr. Vitale takes the gun from my trembling hand and tucks it behind his back into the waistband of his pants.

Guns. Blood. Death.

I shake my head, unable to process the immense shock and terror I experienced today.

I’m surrounded by men.

“Fuck. It’s the Slovak mafia,” one of the men growls. “I recognize the tattoos.”

Mafia?

“Who the fuck did you piss off, Franco?” Another asks.

What is going on?

Mr. Vitale drops the submachine gun on the floor and moves closer to the other men. “Fuck if I know.”

The trembling in my body grows, and unable to just stand here, I begin to walk. I have to step over bodies and pools of blood, and it makes my breaths come faster and faster.

“Samantha!” Mr. Vitale calls me.

One of the men moves toward me, and Mr. Vitale shouts, “Don’t touch her.”

Slipping on the blood, I land on my butt, and my hands slap against the tiles. I feel the sticky liquid beneath my palms.

Lifting them, I see red, and I lose my mind.

Unable to think clearly and drowning in horror, I begin to scramble to get up.

Blood.

There’s so much blood.

I’m barely able to register that Mr. Vitale picks me up and carries me out of the building, where there are more bodies.

So much death.

I can’t.

“You’re safe. It’s going to be okay,” I hear Mr. Vitale say.

No, I’m not. I’ll never be okay again, not after everything I witnessed today.

I’m placed on the hood of a car, and Mr. Vitale’s hands frame my face. He forces me to look at him.

“Take deep breaths. You’re safe.”

My body listens to him while my mind tries to flee from all the violence.

I don’t know how I do it, but I manage to calm down enough to take a deep breath.

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