Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
NEVIO
A ll the way home from the bar, I am thinking about Lenny Malone and what kind of monstrous things he would do to Dalila if he got his hands on her.
It’s eating me alive and making my skin crawl just to think about it.
At least I can explain a little more to her about what is going on.
Perhaps with this new information she will be more open to talking to me again and we can work on our relationship again.
It frustrates me she is pushing me away. That first night - I knew it was too good to be true. Too intimate, she was too open and tender and eager.
“Fuck.” I mutter, remembering her begging me to make love to her.
I pull into the driveway at home and there seems to be some kind of issue.
One guard runs up to my window before the car has even come to a stop.
“She’s gone.”
“What?” I shout. “Impossible.”
“We were just about to get on the phone and tell you - she’s gone. We watched over the security footage and she made a run for it about forty minutes ago.”
“What the fuck?” I shout, anger burning from my lips.
I grab my phone and scroll through my apps, looking for a very specific one.
The app that links me to the diamond bracelet on her wrist.
It has a tracking device in it.
The signal tracker spins for a moment, trying to locate her. I grit my teeth in nervous tension, thick anxiety bubbling in the pit of my stomach as I wait.
There.
“She’s not even that far from here. Did you say she left forty minutes ago?”
“Yes, sir.”
“In a car?” My mind is racing. Her location is off to the side of the road, and I can picture her having rolled a car, now trapped inside it.
“No, sir — she left on foot.”
“What?” I mutter.
Fear grips me as I rev the car into action. I head toward the tracker. It’s only about ten minutes down the road by car.
I park on the side of the road by the tree line and start jogging towards her.
In no time at all, I hear voices. Men.
I duck low. I know the drill. Watch. Gather information. Don’t rush into a situation that you haven’t read yet. It’s a guaranteed way to get yourself killed.
I can’t see Dalila anywhere.
The three men are dressed in security wear. The typical black army style uniforms, guns strapped to their legs, rough looking faces. Scared and dangerous.
“Where is that little bitch go?”
“Malone is going to kill us if we miss this chance to get her.”
“Well, what the fuck are we supposed to do. This place is a shit show. It’s fucking cold.”
“Do I look like I fucking care about your discomfort. Find her or it’ll be your skin he wants instead of hers.”
“It’s a lot of effort to go through just so he can kill her.”
Fuck. They are Malone’s men, which is the worst-case scenario.
If they find her before I do —
No. I can’t let that happen.
“Hey, over here, there are some skid marks, I think she went this way.”
Fuck.
They are looking over the edge of some sort of slope. It looks pretty steep.
“There - you can see where she went—”
“Do you think she fell all the way down the slope?”
“No. The marks in the soil stop—there—”
“Fuck. We have to go down there.”
“Get moving.”
The man moves down the slope. The knife he has in his hand makes me uneasy.
I have to move too. I have to stop them.
I pull my knife from the ankle strap.
“She’s fucking here. That stupid bitch is making me fucking filthy.”
“Get her. Don’t let her get away.”
They are so focused on what the guy is doing over the slope that they don’t see or hear me coming up from behind them.
I grab one man, and his throat is slit before he knows what’s happening.
From down the slope, I hear struggling and Dalila screams. A sound that churns my insides.
He has his hands on her.
The man I’ve just killed slumps down and I catch him, lowering him quietly. The second man catches sight of my movement from the corner of his eye and turns towards me with a surprised gasp.
He’s too late, though.
I swing my arm as I turn to face him, and the blade of my knife pierces through the base of his chin, erupting from the top of his skull.
Sick, gurgling wet sounds drip from his mouth as he tries to scream.
I drop his body over the slope, no longer worried about being stealthy. I want to send the third man a message.
“What the fuck?” His voice carries up to me.
I lean over the slope, looking down at him with my gun aimed at his face. He has Dalila in his grip, but he looks unstable. His footing is slipping.
“Dalila, baby girl, hold into something.” I say calmly.
Then I fire two shots into his shoulder. I don’t want to kill him from here and have him fall while still holding her.
His scream is deep and guttural as it pushes through the cold forest air.
He lets her go to grip his injured shoulder.
As soon as he does, I put a single bullet between his eyes.
Dalila screams when blood sprays across her face from the man who was hunting her.
He slips away, falling down the slope, moving in some kind of slow motion as his body tumbles and slides.
I holster my gun.
“Were there more of them?” I ask her as I slowly make my way down the slope.
“Dalila, were there more men?”
She looks up at me, her lips tinged blue from the cold and her hands shaking as they grip against the branches of a small tree. She shakes her head.
She looks terrified, bewildered, like a small animal trapped in a hunter’s snare.
I reach her and pull her into my arms, digging my heels into the dirt to grip.
I hold her against my chest and kiss her face.
“It’s ok, baby girl. It’s ok, I’ll get you home.” I whisper against her cheek, my warm breath heating her skin. She is ice cold. Shivering and wet.
We move slowly and carefully as I help her back up the slope.
A small cry falls from her lips when she sees the body of the man at the top. “Don’t look.” I say, pulling her face against my chest. “Come on, the car isn’t far.”
I know Malone is waiting for his men to return. He will find out what happened.
It’s only a matter of time before he comes again, this time with more men and more anger.
In the car I pump the heating even though it is a short drive.
I am holding her against my side as we drive along the quiet road towards home.
She hasn’t spoken, and I haven’t pushed her.
She needs to feel safe first. Then I will ask her what is going on. Why she left and what happened with those men?
For now, I just want to hold her, let her know I’m here for her.