Chapter 58
CHAPTER 58
Ivy
Max’s eyes connect with mine as he drops to his knees in front of me.
He brings his fingers up to eye level …
And signs.
Close your eyes.
But I’m too flabbergasted for a moment.
He knows how to sign?
Something goes off in the hallway, filling the hallways and the kitchen with smoke. Then a knife is pushed against my chest, and I swallow away the lump in my throat.
Even if I’m scared, I have no other option but to trust Max right now.
I gulp in a breath and close my eyes, then wait.
He cuts through the straps with ease, and the bomb falls off. He catches it and chucks it into the hallway.
A bright flash fills the area, and the floor beneath me shakes.
Cora’s panicked face frightens me. I can see her scream even though I can’t hear it.
Can you walk?
Max signs to me again.
I nod.
He helps me up and signs once more.
I believe you.
Tears make my vision cloudy, but from the corner of my eye, I spot the barrel of a gun coming from the hallway. I try to scream.
Too late.
It happens so fast.
One flash and Max is on the kitchen floor, bleeding from a gunshot wound in the back.
I grab his face.
Max, please! Get up.
He leans up to sign.
Can’t. Take Cora. Run.
I sign back to him.
You’re hurt. Can’t leave you.
So he signs back.
You should. I love you. Stay safe.
Tears roll down my cheeks, but I still get up, grab Cora, and run like hell. Through the smoke, through my tears, through the pain in my legs, through all the horrors I’ve endured in my lifetime, I run, and no matter how far I have to go to keep her safe, I will get there, no matter the cost.
Her little hands hold me tightly. Despite everything we’ve been through, she still trusts me enough to take her to safety, so I will.
I jump over the bodies littering the hallways and bolt outside into the fresh air, where I heave and cough to get the smoke out of my lungs. Still, I keep running across the grass and the pavement, all the way to the locked gate.
Behind me, Stefano is catching up.
“Shit!” I hiss.
I put Cora down and grab a gun from one of the dead guards, then shoot off the lock.
I kick open the gate, grab Cora’s hand, and pull her with me toward Heath’s car. I tug at the door, and surprisingly, it opens. The key is still inside, probably so they could make a quick escape.
I jump in and put Cora on the passenger’s seat, then close the door, and hit the gas.
Right as that fucker Stefano runs up to the gates.
More flashes go off, and I can feel the car vibrate from the gunshots going into the metal as we drive off.
My heart is racing as fast as the car as I try to bring us to safety, but where the fuck do I go?
In a blind panic, I drive toward the only place I once deemed safe; my home.
I swerve through the streets, trying to get to my apartment building. We’re so close, I can almost taste the freedom. But every once in a while, I glance at Cora to make sure she’s still here with me because it all feels like a fever dream. She’s crying and shaking, traumatized by what happened, and I’m sorry that I don’t know what I could possibly do to fix this.
Suddenly, something jumps on my shoulder, and I freak out, nearly driving into someone crossing the street.
A familiar set of paws taps my cheek.
Bagel?
He jumps off me and onto Cora’s lap, where he settles, and she begins to pet him.
Why is he here?
A smile forms on Cora’s face. Even though I have no clue why Bagel is in Heath’s car, at least he brings Cora a little bit of happiness.
BAM!
Another car drives into my back end, and I scream as the car begins to swerve across the road.
I throw a glance in the rearview mirror. Stefano’s behind the wheel, menacingly glaring at me like he intends on driving us straight into hell.
This man won’t rest.
Not until we’re all dead and buried.
Grinding my teeth, I grab the steering wheel and hold on tight to regain control, but the car is being pushed forward by his.
Fuck. At this rate, we might crash.
He’s completely lost it.
He’d rather kill his own kid than let us escape?!
I jerk the wheel sideways to keep us from crashing straight into the wall of my apartment building. I brace for impact, shielding Cora with my body as the back of the trunk hits the corner of the wall and spins around.
Finally, we come to a stop against a fire hydrant, which bursts, water cascading all over the car’s roof.
I blink a couple of times. My head hurts, and my bruises sting, but I’m still alive … and so is Cora.
But when I look up into the rearview mirror, there he is again, slamming his car door shut as he waltzes over to our car.
I grasp Cora, who holds Bagel tightly, and kick open the door.
A blinding light radiates off the hood as a bullet skitters past us. I duck behind the wall and slip past, holding Cora tightly as we run into the building.
My heart is racing in my throat as I run up the stairs, dragging her along, while she barely manages to hold Bagel. We go all the way up to our floor, but my house is no longer safe. He knows where I live, so the only option I have left is…
I knock on Mrs. Schwartz’s door, and the second she opens up, I shove her aside and burst into her home uninvited.
I can see her yelling at me with a frying pan in her hand.
What … you … doing? I’m … cook!
I try to lip-read, but it’s hard when she’s mad.
I close the door and put my finger to my lips. “Please,” I mouth. “Help us.”
She makes a weird face. What … saying? Can’t … understand you.
Grunting, I grab a piece of paper, steal her lipstick, and write down the words: Hide us. Or we die.
Her eyes widen, and she immediately puts down her pan, grabs me, and ushers me into her bedroom. She points at the closet, so we get in and hide underneath her clothes.
Cora huddles closer to hug both Bagel and me, squishing us both, and I pat her back to make her feel better. I know she’s scared. She doesn’t deserve any of this fear, but how do I take it away?
I can feel Bagel purring against my belly, but all I can think of is how many people have had to die for us to be safe. How many people got shot and wounded because of me?
Max.
My heart aches at the thought of him lying there in a pool of his own blood.
God, Max … please, let Max be okay.
Heath
Minutes ago
When I finally make my way through the smoke in the hallways while carrying Silas, I find Max lying on the floor, blood staining his shirt.
“Max!” I scream, and I put Silas down so I can run to him.
I get on my knees and pick him up. “Max, please, stay with me!”
He groans. “Ugh, my shoulder hurts.”
Tears stain my eyes. “You’re alive.”
“Pffft, you think I’d die after only kissing you twice?” he jokes.
“Fuck, c’mere, you little twink.” I grab his face and smash my lips onto his. “Don’t you go dying on me now.”
“I won’t, promise,” he groans. “It’s just a gunshot wound to the shoulder blade. No big deal.”
He’s joking now, but I know he’s just hiding the pain from me.
“What happened?” I ask.
“Stefano shot me after I pulled the bomb off Ivy’s chest,” Max says.
“Where the fuck is she?” Silas growls. “I can’t find her, and I can’t see shit.”
“I told her to run,” Max says. “Cora is with her.”
“Fuck,” Silas grits, getting up. “We gotta go after her.”
“Stefano’s gone too,” Max says. “He ran after her. I saw it.”
“Okay, time to go.” I grab Max by the waist and throw him over my shoulder.
“Wait!” Max yelps, pointing at something on the floor near the kitchen door. “Her hearing aids.”
I bend over to grab them and shove them into his pockets.
“Jesus Christ, everything hurts.”
“Stop bitching, we gotta go save Ivy and Cora, remember?” I tell him as I help Silas out the door too.
I’m the only one left standing, and I’m not about to let my best friend and lover die on me.
But the moment I step outside and gaze across the yard, my car is nowhere to be found.
“Where the fuck is my car?” I yell.
“Shit, Ivy must’ve taken it,” Silas responds.
“There!” Max points at one of the expensive cars in the garage next to the mansion. “We can take that one.”
“Fine. He stole our girl, so we’ll steal his car,” Silas says, hobbling over to the garage.
Stefano’s personal driver lies on the asphalt, dead as can be, and Silas fishes the key from his pocket. “I’ll take that.”
Skid marks are all over the grass leading to the garage. Someone hastily drove a car away from here.
“Shit, Stefano must’ve taken the other car that was here,” I say as I set Max down in the back seat. “We gotta hurry.”
“I’m coming!” Silas snaps, jumping into the passenger’s seat while I get behind the wheel and put it in reverse.
“Let’s go get our girls.”
Ivy
Sweat drops roll down my back as I keep Cora and Bagel close to me, praying he won’t find us. The door slams shut, and I know it’s too late.
He’s here.
I grab Cora’s face and make her look at me so she understands what I say. “Stay.”
She nods, and I swiftly exit the closet so I can grab a knife from the kitchen before he finds us. It won’t do much against a gun, but I’m not gonna sit around in there and wait until he finds us and drags us all the way back to that hellhole.
Fuck no.
I won’t go down without a fight.
If he wants to take her, he’ll have to go through me.
I take the biggest knife I can find and hold it out in front of me as I step out into the living room. He’s got Mrs. Schwartz in a chokehold, and the frying pan she was using to cook her bacon in drops to the floor.
I clear my throat and try to form the words as best I can despite not knowing how they sound. “Let. Her. Go.”
A wicked smile forms on his face, and he shoves her toward the couch, where she hits her head on the table. She’s passed out and bleeding from the head.
Fuck.
Sweat drops roll down my back as he steps closer and closer, taunting me, trying to get me to flee. But I am done running from this monster.
Clutching the knife tightly, I jump at him, cutting into him with everything I have. I manage to hit him in the arms before he grabs my wrist and locks it behind my back, knocking it out of my hand. I fight against his grip and kick him in the balls, and he briefly buckles, allowing me to break free.
I ram my knee into his face, and he stumbles backward, bleeding from the nose.
“That’s it.”
I can read the words from his lips, and they strike fear into my heart.
I punch him in the gut, but he swiftly pulls back, grabs my hand, and twists it around until I’m squealing in pain. His other hand wraps around my neck, twisting tighter and tighter until it becomes impossible to breathe. I claw at his fingers, to no avail.
No. Please. I don’t want to die.
But it doesn’t matter what I try to say.
My throat has already clamped shut, and my voice stopped working the second he got his hands on me. Slowly, I can feel myself slipping away.
Something thuds beneath me, and when I blink, two tiny hands are smashing against Stefano’s knees, and it’s enough to bring tears to my eyes.
Cora, no!
I open my mouth to speak, but the words refuse to come out.
Please, Cora, run!
Despite the fact that I’m fighting him off as hard as I can, my muscles are slowly losing their strength, my grip on his hand waning.
This is it.
This is the end.
I’m sorry, Cora. I tried. I tried so hard, and still, it wasn’t enough.
Suddenly, a knife flies out from the hallways and hits Stefano in the shoulder, and his fingers finally unravel from my throat. I suck in a breath as he releases me, and I drop to the floor, dragging the oxygen into my lungs like a fish on land.
I look up to see Heath standing in the hallway, with Max and Silas behind him, supporting themselves on the wooden beams next to the doors just to stay standing.
Max is alive, thank God.
Max huddles closer to the door and chucks something my way: My hearing aids.
He nods with a gentle smile, and I swiftly put them in.
“You motherf—” Stefano growls as he gets up, and he reaches for a gun in his pocket.
No, I won’t allow this to keep on happening.
He can’t keep hurting the people I love.
I rip the knife Heath threw at him from his back and ram it straight into his thigh. He howls in pain and sinks to his knees.
“I am done running from you. This is the last time, you hear me?! The last time you ever fucking hurt us!” I scream at him with a squeaky voice from all the damage he did to my windpipe.
“You fucking brats, you all just couldn’t stay out of my business,” Stefano growls at Heath. “You want to aid a fucking murderer? She stole my child and killed my wife!”
“He’s a liar,” Max says through gritted teeth, repeating the words I told him in sign language. “That woman in the bed was Ivy’s mother.”