With a shake of her head, she responds. “You don’t always get what you want in life.”
She’s right, and our love story is the most vivid testament to that. “True,” I concede. “But at least you can try.” I pause, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. I lean in slightly, our faces mere inches apart. It’s as if time itself freezes, allowing us this one intimate moment.
“Do you ever wonder…” she starts, a hint of vulnerability creeping into her voice. “Do you ever wonder if we would have fulfilled our promise?”
I chuckle at the thought. We were kids when we made the promise. A silly one at that. I gave her a sunflower and told her that when I’m old enough, I promise to marry her. Also, take her to the ocean so she can swim. It all seems so tragic now. Though the question hangs heavy in the air, like a thick fog that refuses to dissipate.Do I ever wonder?The answer is simple.All the fucking time.Of course, I wonder—how could I not?
I cup her face, bringing mine even closer. “All the fucking time, Ronnie. As far as I know, I kept it. You live in my heart. Loving you is all I’ll ever know. All I ever want to know. You’re all I’ll ever want. In this life and the next.”
“Iz…” she whispers, her voice barely audible over the wailing sirens. I let out a laugh so dry it feels as if it scrapes my throat raw. “It’s okay. I know. I know.”
Her eyes swim with a wave of emotions. I can see the regret, the longing, the unspoken love that dwells within her. If only she would give in. Accept our truth, it wouldn’t hurt as much. At least I hope. Because this is torture. Just as I lean in to capture those beautiful lips, she backs away from me. In an instant, her presence is replaced by the chilly breeze that now nips at my skin.“Ronnie?”
She steps back, wrapping her arms tightly around herself. “No,” she says hoarsely, her gaze cast downward. Her voice is a low whisper. “We shouldn’t have come here. I can’t do this shit….” She trails off, her face frozen in fear, and that’s when I feel it—something firm and cold. Realization slamming into me, it’s a gun pressed against my back.
“Don’t make a move, or I promise it will be your last. What you both will do is get in the SUV, and we will all go for a nice drive,” a deep voice speaks from behind me, causing my muscles to tense up. Adrenaline spikes through my brain, rushing through me like roaring waters. I go to move when the pressure of the gun halts my movements mid-way. “Don’t be a hero, boy, or you’ll die a fool.” The sound of the safety clip is all the warning I need to stop. I have no idea who this man is, but his intentions are clear, and I’m not about to take any chances. Not with herhere. Not when her safety is at risk. Slowly, I raise my hands in surrender, trying to keep my focus on Veronica, who looks like she is about to faint. I can’t have her doing that because she needs to stay alert. If she could get out of here. I can focus on my situation. “Ronnie, run!” I shout.
Snapping out of her trance, tears stream down her face as she sprints towards my car. Using that small distraction. My body moves with the instinct to protect what’s mine. I whip my head back just in time to connect my head with his nose, causing him to drop the gun in surprise. Only to see her stop in her tracks a second later as a woman emerges from the shadows behind my car, pointing a gun at her chest.
“Isaac,” Veronica whimpers, her voice shaking with fear. My body goes cold when I lock eyes with Ronnie, mirroring her terror and shock. The woman presses a gun directly to her chest, blocking Ronnie’s path to the driver’s door. Her face is covered by a ski mask, only exposing the dark braid that falls down her back.
“Nice try,” she sneers before pushing Veronica towards me, causing her to stumble and fall into my arms. I hold onto her tightly, shielding her from harm. “I wouldn’t try anything else,” the woman hisses as she waves the gun between us. By the sound of her voice, I can tell she’s older than us, maybe in her early forties. She looks at the man and says to him, “They will be perfect.”
My mind races to make sense of what she’s saying. None of this makes any sense, and I don’t care to make sense of it. Not when I can feel Veronica’s heart racing against my chest, the poor thing is terrified.
“Perfect for what?”
“Everything,” she replies. The man behind me chuckles darkly. Using the gun, he pushes me forward. The moment we are only feet apart, I rush to her side, alert to the danger surrounding us. I tighten my grip on Ronnie, pulling her into me as if I can swallow her body and shield her from whatever the fuck is going on.
“Iz,” she mutters, her hands pulling the fabric of my shirt. My mind races.What the fuck do I do?If I had never brought her here, this wouldn’t behappening. Why does so much bad shit happen to us? This has to be some kind of sick joke. But the gleam in her eyes tells me it’s not.
“I don’t know what the fuck is going on, but touch her and I’ll fucking kill you.” I snap.
“Relax,” the man commands, his voice carrying a bitter edge. “There’s no need for theatrics. After all, we are the ones with the gun,boy.”
“Isaac,” she whispers, her voice shaking as much as her body. I turn my gaze to her, locking eyes with her and offering a lie. A reassuring nod, even if I don’t know how the fuck I’m going to get us out of this mess. “I know,” I whisper back, trying to convey a sense of calm that I didn’t have. “Just stay with me.” My lips curl into a crooked smile, my stomach churns with dread, settling deep inside me. My gaze moves back towards the couple as they move towards each other.
“Don’t do anything funny, we don’t need both of you.” He sneers with a lecherous grin fills my stomach with icy dread. These people are fucking insane, and if we have any chance to escape, I need time to think. “Your choice, hero,” the man spits. “You can both come with us, or you can die right here, and we still take her.”
Over my dead body, they will take her. Ronnie’s grip is tightening on me as she hears his words. My girl is scared and rightfully so. “You’re holding us at gunpoint. I would love to know what choice we have? Fuck you.”
The woman looks away from us, whispering something to the man. Who, for just a second, takes his eyes off us. Long enough that I react without even thinking, my body lurches forward, aiming to tackle his bloated body. If I can get him close range, where I can reach him, this is over. My hand will be the only weapon I possibly need; that’s when the shot goes off.
The sound is deafening, splitting the night like a thunderbolt. My ears ring, and for a moment, all I can hear is a high-pitched scream. Quickly, I glance over at Ronnie, who looks horrified, her eyes wide with fear, her mouth open as if to scream, but no sound is coming out. The woman stands there in shock, her gun still aimed towards me. My pulse races at a million beats per second, filling myears with the sound of blood. It takes me a moment to realize I’ve been shot. Pain shoots down my leg, burning through my nerves. It wasn’t a shot to kill but to disable. It also hurts like a bitch.
I clench my teeth together, limping closer to Ronnie, who just stands there frozen in panic. “Iz,” is the only word that falls from her lips as tears slide past them.
“Now. Get. In,” the man growls. The woman walks towards us, circling us as if we are dangerous animals she should be cautious of. I watch in horror as she nudges Veronica forward with her gun. Too consumed in the moment, with Ronnie, I never noticed the sleek black SUV parked behind us, hidden by the trees that cover it like a shadow of the night. My jaw clenches, and all the muscles in my body go tight. I exchange a terrified look with Veronica, understanding that we have no choice but to do as they say for now. With every step taken toward that ominous vehicle, terror grips my heart tighter. I can see it mirrored in Veronica’s wide eyes, feel it in the tremors wracking her slender frame.
I pull her closer against my side, a feeble attempt at reassurance, and she latches onto the arm draped around her. “Isaac,” Veronica begins, her voice hoarse with unshed tears. “Your leg…” I brace against the blinding pain shooting down my leg and try to reassure her the best I can. “I’ll be fine,” I grunt. The look on her face tells me she’s not too sure.
The man strides forward, his boots crunching on the gravel as he opens the back door of the SUV. He looks at us with a smirk that doesn’t reach his cold, emotionless eyes. “In you get,” he says, gesturing with his gun. I grit my teeth against the pain, determined not to show any more signs of weakness and help Veronica first. The gesture is a betrayal of every instinct in my body urging me to protect her.
“We’ll get through this,” I whisper to her, trying to sound more confident than I feel, tasting the metallic tang of fear in my mouth, but I swallow it, replacing it with a facade of courage for her.
It’s like leading her to slaughter…
Just as she’s about to reluctantly climb inside, the woman approaches her, a black cloth in one hand and a gun in the other, and before we can react, both of us find our noses covered with fabric. My body jerks trying to avoid breathing in the chemical, while watching Ronnie’s body relax into the woman’s arms, and then I feel mine lose the fight against the chemicals invading my system.
