AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Should’ve listened to my intuition.
I shook my head, then pulled myself together. I would not dissolve into self-pity. Not over an asshole like Alex. “What if I’m tired of putting up with his temper? What if I decide I deserve better?”
“Don’t say that.” Matt’s voice was firm but gentle. “You two are a match made in heaven. He’s just scared and protective.” He glanced over at me with concern, but also…conviction. Then he looked into the rearview mirror and focused back on the road.
I narrowed my eyes. “Protective?” I scoffed, feeling the sting of unshed tears behind my eyes. “Or controlling?”
Matt chuckled. “Or possessive of you and therefore overreacting?”
I stared at him, gnawed on my lower lip. “You’re his best friend. You need to say shit like that.”
He chuckled. “I’m the first one to tell you he’s a flawed, entitled bastard. I love him to pieces, but I’m not an idiot. Our heritage, the money, the power, the violence…it all shapes you. You become hard. You become cynical. You stop believing in the good in people. And most of the time, your mistrust’s justified. But he loves you. It’s just his way of showing it is not really…traditional. But you’ll see.”
I stared outside. It sounded like Matt had a few demons of his own. But was he right?
Alex also never said he loved me, never said he wanted me to stay by his side. Never hinted at any kind of future.
I wiped my hands over my face and held back the tears I refused to shed. “How can you be so sure?” I turned away but caught Matt looking in the rearview mirror again.
I looked back, and before either of us could say another word, headlights suddenly appeared in the rearview mirror, close…too close.
“Shit,” Matt muttered and floored the accelerator.
The engine roared, and the dark landscape blurred into a streak of blackness. “Hold on!”
Panic surged through me. “What’s wrong? Is someone following us?” I turned back around and stared at the headlights.
The pursuing car was gaining on us despite our breakneck speed.
My chest tightened with fear. Why would anyone be following us? Was it a trap? Who were they? What did they want?
Did Franco use me to betray Alex?
Each dangerous curve sent my stomach lurching, but there was no time for nausea or second-guessing. I gripped the armrest tighter, praying we could outrun them.
“Shit!! Brace yourself,” Matteo shouted, a split-second before he jumped on the brakes and the attackers’ car slammed into the rear-end of the Ferrari.
The car lurched forward and sideways, tires screeching.
My head snapped back against the seat as we spun out of control. The impact sent us spinning off the road, and my world became a chaotic whirl of glass, metal, and screeching noise.
Before everything went black.
I came to with a gasp, disoriented and dizzy. Smoke was billowing from the hood, and the metal crackled and popped.
“Fee…are you okay?” Matt’s voice sounded distant, but his concern for me was evident even through the haze of pain and disorientation.
“I…I don’t know,” I admitted, my head throbbing and vision swimming. “You?”
For a terrifying long moment, he didn’t respond, and panic flooded my chest. Then he groaned. “I’m good.”
I forced my head to the side and looked at him. Blood trickled from a gash on his forehead, but his gaze locked with mine, clear and lucid.
“We need to get out.” He grunted when he pulled out a gun from his holster, then unbuckled himself, and opened the door on his side—which thankfully swung open without a hitch. “Get over here.”
I didn’t know where our attackers were, but the acrid smell of smoke and burning rubber filled me with enough panic to make me move despite the pain.
I opened my seatbelt and sucked in air when pain shot through my skull as soon as I started to move.
