AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She stumbled but I caught her, my hand on her lower back to steady her as she began to scale the narrow staircase. Her pregnancy wasn’t showing yet, but I was suddenly hyper aware of her condition–of our baby. My baby. And the mother of my child in danger.
We made it up to the roof and out into the biting night air. The city lights twinkled in the distance like a million scattered diamonds. It would have been beautiful if not for the circumstances.
“Where now?” Adriana asked, turning to face me. Her dark hair was wild around her face and her eyes were wide with fear, but there was a fierce look of determination set on her face that made my heart swell with grudging admiration.
“There!” I pointed towards a fire escape on the next building. “We jump.”
Her eyes followed where I pointed and widened, “You’re joking!”
“I wish I was,” I replied grimly. “But it’s our only chance. It looks worse than it is. I promise.”
She turned to me then, her dark eyes searching mine, desperate for reassurance. “Tristan,” she said, her hand clasping onto my arm. “I can’t do this.”
“You have to, Adriana,” I said, placing my hands on her shoulders and looking deep into her eyes. “You’re braver than you think. We’ve got to leap. It’s the only way. And it’s, look, it’s narrow. It just looks worse than it is.”
“And if I fall?” she asked, her voice quaking.
“You won’t,” I promised. “I’ll be right here with you. We’re in this together, remember?”
She swallowed hard, nodding as she moved towards the edge of the building. Together, we looked down at the yawning drop between our rooftop and the next one. The harsh city lights seemed distant and cold from up here, disinterested in the fate of two people caught in a cruel game of life and death.
“Tristan.” Her voice was a breathless whisper. “I’m scared.”
“I know.” I tightened my grip on her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. “But we’ve got this, alright? One…two…”
I had no idea if we did, in fact, have this. I just knew it was our only chance. I had my piece on me, of course, but I didn’t know who had broken in, and putting her in danger was an unacceptable risk. The only option was to run, although I knew there would be a reckoning later.
“On three,” I whispered, tightening my grip on her hand. She nodded, her hazel eyes locked with mine, her expression filled with a combination of terror and trust.
Her grip tightened on my hand as we flew through the air. The cold night air whipped past us and for a moment, everything was silent, calm, surreal. Then we landed on the other rooftop, jarring and hard. She stumbled but I caught her against me, wrapping my other arm around her protectively.
“We…we did it.” Her voice was shaky against my chest, disbelief lacing each word.
There was no time to celebrate. I grabbed my keys out of my pocket, put them in her hand. “Run downstairs, get in the silver Audi,” I said.
“Tristan, I can’t just leave you here–”
“You don’t have a choice, Adriana,” I cut her off, desperation creeping into my voice. “Go now. I’ll be right behind you. There’s already a destination on the sat nav in the car, drive there. Got it?”
She hesitated for a moment longer before nodding, her grip tightening around the keys. With one last look at me, she started running towards the fire escape, her footsteps echoing in the silence of the night.
I watched her figure disappear down the stairs before turning back towards our pursuers. I could hear them now, their heavy boots pounding against the rooftop. As if on cue, the wind picked up, whipping my hair around my face as I reached into my jacket for my piece.
I had no intention of going down without a fight. This was not how the story between Adriana and me was going to end; not with us separated and alone on two different rooftops, but together. As a family.
At that moment, I knew she was going to have that baby, whether she liked it or not.
And I was going to be there to take her through it.
Adrenaline coursed through my veins as I stood alone on the rooftop, my heart pounding against my ribcage. I took a deep breath and squared my shoulders. It was time to face the music.
The sound of boots grew louder and closer until finally, four men appeared at the top of the staircase. “Look who we’ve got here,” one of them sneered, his eyes scanning me from head to toe with a look I knew all too well.
There were four of them? I didn’t recognize any of them. And I was in trouble.
“Were you back at the pub?”
The smallest one, a man with a shaved head and a red-trimmed leather jacket, flashed me a cold smile. “As if I were going to tell you, Callahan.”
