“So how about it? You ready to play catch and release.”
“Sure, but I hope you know. If I catch you, I have no plans of releasing you.
“Oh, that’s exactly what I want, she says with a wicked gleam in her eye. Alright, close your eyes, count to ten, then come find me.”
“Okay, but don’t go too far.”
“Why not?”
“Wouldn’t want you to get hurt.”
She spins around, throwing open her arms as she laughs. “Nothing can hurt us in Italy, Rich. We’re invincible here.”
I hear her giggle echo down the corridor.
“One…two…three…”
“Come find me, Rich.”
“Four…five…six…”
“I’m getting away!” Her voice is practically singing; the joy and happiness in it uplifting my heart.
I may have peeked, seeing a pop of blue disappear around the building up ahead.
“Seven… eight… nine…”
I’m almost to ten when the night splinters apart, altering our fate forever.
She screams, and it’s the most gut-wrenching sound I’ve ever heard. Instantly, I’m on my feet and moving forward so fast that I trip on a rock, my knees hitting the pavement just as the alleyway opens up onto a roadway.
The white van door starts to close just as my hands dig into the unforgiving cobblestones, her frightened eyes begging me to move faster. To save her.
The masked man covering her mouth, smiles evilly as he points his gun straight at me. Then he says something in Italian, the gun firing before I even have time to react.
It whooshes past my ear, nicking it before splintering the concrete wall behind me.
It’s too much of a distraction. I barely blink before the van’s door slams shut, and the wheels squeal off into the night, stealing my girl along with it.
“NO!” I scream, racing after them. “MINDY!”
I don’t have my piece.
I don’t have a car.
I have nothing that can help me get to her fast enough. The guilt hits me so fucking hard, the silence that follows is deafening.
I stand there with my chest heaving, hands bleeding from my fall, more blood trickling down my ear as I stare at the empty street, pretending that if I look hard enough, I can rewind time and change her fate.
Something inside me shatters as a familiar roar of rage rips out of my chest, a feral battle cry that echoes off the ancient stone. It’s a declaration of war I’m not prepared for. Lights flick on in some windows above me, and a dog appears on a landing, barking so loudly that someone somewhere screams for him to shut up.
She’s gone. How the hell can she be gone?
I’m already moving; it’s like instinct, my body seeking out the only people who can help me. My brothers. My friends. Every step is one of desperation, knowing that the longer I take, the further away she gets.
My lungs give out just as I hit the sand, crumbling a few feet away from the happy lovebirds that are still dancing in the moonlight.
Voorhees gets to me first, kneeling down beside me to help me to my feet.
