Page 2 of Her Passionate Hero

“We’ve been following you. Your Mama is in that fancy old folk’s home up in Glendale. Pretty stupid getting her a room on the first floor. I guess it’s because it has that tree she can look at, huh? You know, anybody could sneak in. Who knows what could happen to her.”

“You leave my mother alone.” She was scared, her Czech accent thick. Aliana wondered if they would understand her. Nicolas was one thing, but her mother? Her mother was totally defenseless.

“I’m not sure you’re going to remember this lesson.” He brought the knife back up to the top of her blouse.

Snip. She watched as the second bounced onto the asphalt.

Snip. The third button bared her pink lacy bra and gold medallion.

“Pretty. I like lace.”

She said nothing.

Mateo slid the knife underneath the delicate material of her bra. Aliana showed no emotion. She felt herself slipping away. She tried to stay in the moment. It was her only chance. She needed to defend herself, not slip away into nothingness. She struggled again, kicking out like she had when they’d first jumped her. The guy behind her just tightened his hold.

“Is that a siren?” That was Rafael’s voice.

She cried out in pain when Mateo yanked the knife away. It ended up slicing into her chest while cutting her bra and chain.

“We’re outta here.” He waved the bloody knife in front of her face. “You remember what I said, bitch. You stop filling my brother’s head with stupid fucking dreams. If you mention anything to the cops, your mother will get the full treatment before we kill her, it doesn’t matter how old she is, a slut is a slut, you get my meaning? Then we start cutting her.”

Aliana thought of her invalid mother suffering the worst fate imagineable and started to moan.

The guy behind her shoved her, and she slammed into her little hybrid. She caught a glimpse of his bald head as he and the others ran to their late model, silver muscle car and sped out of the parking lot. She scrambled for her purse and keys she had dropped when Mateo had spun her around. She took precious extra seconds to find the St. Rita medal and put it in her purse, not caring if the chain was lost. As soon as she found everything, she hit the release button and practically fell into her car.

On instinct, she started the engine. For a second, she thought about the groceries that littered the pavement, then she let out a harsh laugh. She considered getting out of her car to go inside her townhome, but that didn’t feel safe. Neither did staying in her car and calling the police. She needed to leave.

She had trouble getting the car in reverse. She could barely see when she looked into the rearview mirror, it was like it was raining outside because of her tears. She swiped at her eyes. Better. Get it together Novak. She felt the air conditioning blast on her bare breasts and screeched to a halt in the townhome parking lot. Reaching into the backseat of her car hurt her arm, and she groaned as she grabbed her trench coat.

“Sakra!” She swore in Czech. She realized she hadn’t put on her seatbelt as she struggled to put her coat on. Finally, she just put the coat on backward. It was the best she could do without getting out of the car. Aliana jammed on her seatbelt, wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her jacket, and pulled out of her complex.

She had to get away. She didn’t know where. She couldn’t go to the police. Where was she going to go? Where? Finally she figured it out. She had to get to her mother.

“Bastard,” she yelled. He almost hit her. It was then she realized she had just run a red light. “Sakra!” she swore again in Czech.Tears started to fall in earnest. She could barely see out the window. She had to pull over. Then she saw red and blue lights behind her. She pulled into a gas station and parked near the air pump. Nobody was there. She shuddered when she saw a big shadow outside her window. She jumped when the loud knock sounded beside her.

“Ma’am?”

She couldn’t stop crying. She tried. But she couldn’t.

“Ma’am, are you all right?”

A bright light shined into the car, she couldn’t see anything. Aliana rested her head against her steering wheel. Why did she hurt? Why were her hands slippery?

“Ma’am, open the door.”

Aliana jerked her head to the door, taking solace the door was locked.

“Ma’am, I’m a police officer. Look at my uniform.” The light was gone, and she saw it was now shining on the man who was talking. He was older than Mateo and his friends, and he was wearing a police uniform. He looked worried.

“Can you roll down your window?”

It took a moment for Aliana to understand what he was asking. Police. He was a policeman. Oh God, not the police. He knocked on the window again. She had to respond. She pressed the button that rolled down the window.

“Why are you bleeding?” he asked quietly. “Did someone hurt you?”

She gulped. She tried to say something, but the words stuck. She put her hands to her throat. They came away wet. She extended her blood-soaked hand out the window, showing the officer as the blood slowly dripped off the tips of her fingers. It took a moment for her to stop staring at the beautiful red of the blood and see that he was talking into his shoulder. He said something about an ambulance.

“You’re going to be okay.” He reached into the car through the window and unlocked the door. Aliana heard a whimper. Oh God, it had actually come from her. Her tears burned the cut on her throat, and she tried to stop them from dripping off her chin.