Finally, he looks at me and mouths,get away.
My mouth goes dry as I feel Alessandro’s grip tighten. Not enough to hurt me but enough to help me piece together that something horrible is about to happen.
“I need to use the ladies’ room.”
“Not now,” Alessandro snaps.
“Please, I really need to go, and it takes ages to get out of this thing. I need my mom or my sister to help me.”
He’s completely ignoring me, his body rigid, as he focuses on the scene unfolding around us.
I watch as Hailey and Savannah run away from the dance floor and out of the courtyard, their faces pale. Others file out as well, including Bianca, Mom, and most of the other women in my family. It seems like a lot of Alessandro’s side are leaving too—the vulnerable guests.
Alessandro’s wrist vibrates.
I feel my throat constrict as several gunshots go off. Then Nick throws his body at Max, sending them both to the ground.
So many people scream, followed by the sound of stampeding feet.
After the crowd of people sprint past, I can tell that Max and Nick are unharmed; the bullets barely missed them. I glance at their shooter and see that he’s lying on the ground with a pool of blood around his head. One of our soldiers stopped him.
My heart feels like it’s pounding in my throat at the sight, and then my knees buckle.
Alessandro reacts quickly enough before I can drop to the ground, pulling my face to his chest.
More gunshots continue to go off, and I jolt in surprise with each one.
I feel like I can’t breathe.
I’m trembling in terror at the thought of my family members dying.
Alessandro flips me around so my back is flush with his chest, then I feel what I assume to be the barrel of a gun on my side.
I panic. Trying to thrash away, but it’s impossible in my tight corset, long skirt, and heels.
“Calmati,” he instructs me to calm down as if that will help.
“Max!?” I call out because there’s nothing else I can do. He’s distracted as he aims his gun at someone and fires from theground. Then my gaze flips to my cousin, who is using a dead body as a shield as he fires at Alessandro’s family.
The sight of that makes my body go limp until Alessandro hisses in my ear to stand up.
I look towards where my grandfather was sitting and notice that he’s gone. This calms me a bit… knowing that he isn’t certainly dead.
It’s chaos as people flee around us as Alessandro drags me out of the courtyard. I try to find my parents, aunts and uncles, anyone that can help me, but everyone is sprinting away or firing guns at Marco’s men. I know that this may be my best chance of escape—while there’s still a state of pandemonium in the air. But his grip is so strong that I can’t get out of it. All those years playing sports in high school and college, all those hours in the weight room, and there’s no hope.
It’s not fair.
Despite that, I don’t give up as we leave the courtyard and go down the hallway. I land a couple of good kicks to his shin and continue to flail around. Eventually, we get to a more secluded area, and I feel even more desperate.
I stab my heel into his foot.
He hisses in pain. I feel the gun leave my side, wondering if I made any progress with my horrible situation.
Next thing I know, he turns me around and I’m over his shoulder.
“Let me go!” I continue flailing, but just as it was before, he has too tight of a grip on me except this time I can’t even land a kick anywhere.
He jogs to hurry us along to wherever it is he’s taking me. Their torture room? Their dungeon?
