AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Refusing to let my fear overtake me, I hit Ryan’s number and counted the rings before he answered.
“Hey—”
“Someone is trying to wreck the limo!” I cut him off.
I heard his sharp intake of air, but his voice was notably calm when he spoke. “Where are you?”
I lifted my head in an attempt to look out the window in hopes of seeing a street sign or landmark to let me know where we were, but a bullet hit the glass. If the window hadn’t been bulletproof, I would have been hit right between the eyes. Not all of them had armor-piercing bullets, it seemed. A good thing, or I would have been dead on the limo floor. “Fuck!” I ducked my head again. “I don’t know. We just left Medusa’s and were headed in the direction of Cali’s apartment.”
Police sirens joined the chorus, so loud they sounded like they were right behind us, but I didn’t see the flashing of lights.
“I’m coming, baby.” Ryan’s voice was low, deadly, but still eerily calm. “Don’t be scared. I’ll take care of it. I swear. I’m coming to get you.”
“I-I love you,” I whispered. “Remember that, okay. No matter what happens, I love you.”
“Nothing is going to happen!” he bellowed, the calm fading as I tried to prepare him for the very real possibility that I might not survive this. “I’ll be there soon. I promise.”
The sound of a powerful engine getting close was the only warning I had before we were hit again, this time from the back. Without the protection of seat belts to hold us in place, we rolled forward. I dropped my phone. Ciana and Cali screamed, and I heard Pietro shouting to hold on to something because our driver was out cold.
I clutched at one of the bench seats when I fell against it, my shoulder hitting it at an awkward angle. I cried out in pain, my entire arm and shoulder feeling as if they were on fire. Instinctively, I knew it was dislocated, but too much was going on for me to fully understand what that meant.
“Stop, stop, stop!” Ciana screamed. “We have to stop. Why aren’t we stopping?”
Holding my injured arm against my chest, I sat upright and came face-to-face with her. The fear on her face nearly made my own choke me. “C, calm down. It’s okay.”
“Nova, the driver is knocked out!” she shouted, tears spilling down her face. “So why aren’t we stopping?”
“Fuck,” I whispered, realizing she was right. “Pietro!”
“His foot is trapped on the gas,” the guard called back to us. “I’m trying!” There was a pause quickly followed by, “Motherfucker! Hold on!”
I glanced through the partition in time to see a Hummer-like truck pull ahead of us and turn. All I could think about was Cali and that she was pregnant. Shifting, I wrapped myself around her, using my body as cushioning just as the limo collided with the small tank. The last sound I heard was metal tearing through metal before the world went dark.
38
Ryan
***This chapter may be considered too graphic for some readers.***
She’s going to be okay.
I kept repeating those words to myself in my head as we sped toward the last known location of the limo. It and the SUV were equipped with GPS, but the SUV gave a different position reading than the limo. The app showed me that more than ten blocks separated the two, with more distance growing between them by the second.
While Zio drove and Dad cursed from the back seat, I tried to call Nova over and over again. Switching between her and Ciana each time, I didn’t get an answer from either of them. As soon as I’d lost contact with Nova after her call, we had jumped into action. Pop started making calls as I found the two vehicles’ locations and tried to reach the girls.
The limo’s dot stopped moving on the screen. She’s going to be okay. Whatever idiot had decided to scare her and my cousin wouldn’t live through the night, but she would be just fine.
My hands began to sweat, my heart pounding so hard I thought it might beat right out of my chest, but the erratic pace was somewhat soothing. As long as my heart was still working, then I knew Nova was fine.
The flashing of lights had Zio slamming on the brakes. The scene we drove up on looked like a war zone. Cars on their sides, upside down, dented in so badly that it was hard to tell if they were full-sized or compact. Fire trucks, ambulances, cop cars all had their lights on as at least thirty first responders ran around trying to assist those in need of immediate medical attention.
Without hesitation, I got out and started running. The GPS said that the limo was another block and a half up the street. I heard Pop and Zio yell for me to wait, but I couldn’t. Not when the reason I continued to breathe was somewhere in the middle of all this chaos.
The moment my eyes landed on the limo, I nearly fell to my knees. Six first responders were standing around what now looked like a crushed tin can sticking out of what must have been some kind of military-grade tactical vehicle. Other than what was left of the limo jammed into its side, the damn thing looked intact and was probably still drivable.
“Nova!” I bellowed her name, catching the attention of the first responders. Two of them grabbed me when I started to climb on the top of the limo, needing to get to her. The back door was dented in too badly to open it, and the front looked like it had been pushed into the back. “Let me go, you sonofabitch. Nova!”
“Son, you need to calm down,” the man who appeared to be the oldest of the first responders commanded. “I don’t know who Nova is, but they can’t hear you.”
