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I screamed and banged on the window. Gabe tensed, looking back at me then around the yard to make sure no one heard anything just before hands stretched out from the third row of seating, covering my face with a rag that made my head spin. Just as I was about to lose consciousness I felt a sharp prick at the side of my neck and the world went dark.
Teo
One minute I was drivingalong, talking to Mia, heading toward my wedding with my whole life ahead of me, the next my car was flipping on its side and rolling down the steep ravine. I wasn't sure what came over me but as the car rolled, I leaped from the car into the thick brush.
My ears rang and my head pounded but I knew I had made the right choice when my car landed at the bottom of the ravine and burst into a fiery explosion that shook the ground beneath me.
I wasn't sure if whoever had run me off the road would come back around and make sure that the job was done, so I reached for my gun, but it was no longer at my side where I always kept it. It had probably fallen during the crash along with my cell phone that I vaguely remember flying out of my hand on impact. I scrambled, looking for the gun and finally spotted a glint of metal in the tall shrubs.
I grabbed the pistol and scrambled as best as I could into the thicker overgrowth and settled my back against a large rock.
I scrubbed my hand over my face. My whole body hurt, and my mind felt groggy, but I had to focus. I waited for several minutes until I was sure that whoever drove me off the road wasn't coming back. Chances were that they saw the explosion and assumed that I was burning down below.
Whoever it was that had tried to kill me was bold, I'd give them that. But they were also stupid because I survived. I would find whoever it was that tried to take me out and make them suffer.
I stumbled, struggling to find my footing as I pushed myself to my feet. I kept close to the upward slope and leaned on it for balance, grateful for the fairly level ledge that broke my fall.
I couldn't climb the steep hill where my car had gone over, especially not without any climbing gear, so instead, I limped my way parallel to the road above until the slope tapered off.
The level ground made walking easier, but my ankle still hurt anytime I put pressure on it. Experience told me that it probably wasn't broken, just a bad sprain. In either case, I didn't need to be walking on it, but I couldn't trust hitchhiking and risk running into someone who worked for whoever drove me off the road. I had my suspicions of who might be motivated to stop the wedding from happening. I would be sure to hunt down whoever was responsible just as soon as I made it home safely and married the love of my life.
I had walked about a mile when a dark sports car came down the road. I ducked behind some overgrowth, but they had already seen me and pulled over to the side of the road. I gripped my gun until my knuckles ached and prepared myself in case it was someone coming to finish the job.
"Teo? Is that you?" Alessandro's voice called out from the other side of the shrubs and my shoulders sagged with relief.
I stumbled my way out of the brush, and he rushed to my side, grabbing my arm to help pull me up onto the side of the road.
"Man, I'm glad to see you."
"What the hell happened to you?"
Another two cars came flying down the road, slamming on brakes and pulling over to see what was going on. Nic drove one car with Enzo in the passenger seat while Luca and Dario were in the other.
"Hey, what's going—shit. Teo, you okay?" Nic asked through his window.
"We're good," Alessandro said. "Go on ahead. I'm going to get him checked out then we'll catch up."
"Okay I'll text you with whatever I find."
Nic and the other car drove away, and I looked at Alessandro suspiciously.
"What's going on? Where are they headed? The vineyards the other way."
"They're not heading to the vineyard, and neither are we."
A sinking washed over me when I looked at Alessandro's expression. "What happened?"
"First we need to get you taken care of. Then I'll explain everything."
"Explain first," I challenged.
"Okay but remember you're no good to anyone hurt and beat up like this and if you have a concussion you need to be seen before you run off trying to play superhero."
"I think we both know I'm no hero." I raised my brow and waited expectantly. "What's wrong?"
“It's Mia,” Alessandro said hesitantly. “She's missing.”
"Missing? What the hell do you mean she's missing? Where did she go?"
