Chapter 13
DOVE
He shot that man.
He fucking shot him!
I should be grateful. Part of me is. A bounty on my head just confirms that leaving for Florida is the smartest thing I can do right now.
Everything is slipping out of my control, and I hate it.
God, everything hurts.
My head.
My face.
My back.
That fucker, Aaron I think I heard his name was?
What a fucking rat.
Seems that Felix, as powerful as he’s supposed to be now, isn’t powerful enough to keep other people digging into this mess.
I have to leave tonight.
There’s no way in hell I’m risking another greedy fucker tracking me down.
My car splutters and jolts, sending a pulse of alarm through my chest but thankfully it holds together.
I need to get home, clean up and pack, and then ditch this car for another before I pick up Alex.
Then we’re getting on a plane and never looking back.
“Ow.” Sharp pain throbs at my temple as I wipe away more blood, trying my best to guide it down my temple rather than into my eyes.
The gash is deep enough that even now the blood flow remains constant, if a little sluggish.
Explaining all of this to Alex is going to take some creativity but luckily, my car’s beat up enough that a car crash is believable.
Fuck.
Felix.
He shot that man without hesitation. Killed him to keep my presence a secret and I just yelled at him. The panic that overtook me at another body on my trail was overwhelming but as my apartment building finally comes into view, calmness settles within a few breaths.
I should have said thank you.
Felix was a complicated man back then, so there’s no telling how he’ll react now.
I’m lucky he didn’t change his mind and kill me right in the street.
The fact I’m alive means he still doesn’t know the truth.
What borrowed time I have is rapidly running out.
Parking haphazardly, I scramble out of my car and sprint up the steps to my apartment.
It’s cold and quiet inside. I make a beeline for the bathroom, flick on the light, then crouch and dig under the sink for the medical kit.
Locating it, I snatch it up and open it on the edge of the sink but my hands shake so much I can barely prevent all the contents from spilling out into the bowl.
“Fuck!” Gasping for air, I brace both my hands on the cold sink and lift my gaze to the mirror. “Calm down,” I scold myself. “Take a breath.”
Wide, bloodshot eyes stare back at me. I’m running on pure adrenaline at this point and the tired, bag-heavy eyes gazing back at me tell me I’m on fumes.
It’s fine. I can sleep on the plane.
Wiping my bloody nose with toilet roll, I turn my head and study the gash on my temple, then the split on my brow.
Pain from my temple overwhelms the pain from my other wounds, including the split on my lip, so that’s where I focus.
Clearing the items out of the sink and back into the kit, I turn on the tap, gather water in my palms, then duck my head and splash it all over my face.
After three handfuls of the same, I lean back up and freeze.
Blue eyes glare back at me from a black balaclava and for a second, the stranger and I both freeze in place.
Fuck.
I didn’t hear anyone.
I should have checked.
Why didn’t I check?
A bounty is a bounty.
The stranger whips rope over my head and I lift my hand just in time to catch my wrist in the noose as it tightens over my neck.
He tightens it with a grunt, leaning back and thrusting his body into mine so I’m dragged off the floor with nothing but the noose around my throat and trapped wrist to hold me close.
I choke.
Blood pounds in my ears, the rope cuts into my wrist and ignites hot pain all the way down my forearm and the pressure of the rope and my wrist against my throat briefly cuts off my air.
I lift my legs, scrambling with my feet until my heel catches on the edge of the sink.
As soon as I’m stable, I tense my leg and push with all my strength, throwing my body back into the stranger.
He stumbles backward with a yell and topples into the bathtub.
We crash backward and land together but he keeps all his strength on the rope, choking me.
I can’t breathe.
I’m going to die here.
Fuck.
I throw my elbow back hard and catch the soft tissue of his gut.
He grunts and I do it again, and again, frantically throwing my sharp elbow back into him again and again.
He tries to tighten the rope further but the next plunge of my elbow causes him enough pain that the rope slackens and gives me my window.
I push my trapped wrist forward, ignoring the pain, and wrench the rope away from my throat with a loud, desperate gasp.
Grabbing it with both hands, I rip it free while throwing myself out of the tub.
I hit the floor and a second later, he lands on top of me.
His weight forces all that precious air out of my lungs so I throw my elbow back again and catch him in the face.
He grunts and jerks backward. I roll over, lunge upward and follow his fall backward until I’m on top of him.
His fist collides with my aching jaw and my head snaps to the side.
I punch him in the face, crushing his nose under that ridiculous balaclava.
He grunts and grabs my arm.
I slam my fist into his throat.
He chokes, rolling to the side and I crawl up and over him like a spider monkey until my legs are hooked around his head.
Then I tighten my thighs.
The angle forces him onto his stomach to try and escape me, dragging me above him until I’m sitting on the back of his head with his neck locked in my thighs.
His hands scrabble at the floor and he throws one arm back, catching me on the hip.
I squeeze tightly and grab the side of my bath, then jerk my legs together and back.
His neck snaps with a satisfying crack, and his body falls limp while I cling to the bath, panting.
Fucking. Hell.
Only once I’m certain he won’t move do I climb to my feet and grab a bottle of painkillers from the medical kit.
Stumbling out of the bathroom, I make it halfway down the hall when the floorboards creak behind me and a chill shoots down my spine.
The second assailant lunges forward, so I drop to the floor and catch his ankle with the edge of my foot.
He trips and stumbles into the wall. I sprint upward, drop the pills, and grab the lamp from the side table, then smash it over his head.
He goes down and I follow, but he’s fast, catching me off guard with a punch to the ribs.
I crash to the floor with a yelp of pain and suddenly he’s over me and pinning me with his body weight as he sits on my stomach.
“The bounty is for you alive,” croaks the stranger as two meaty fists seal around my throat. “But you’re a fucking animal so I think I’ll just take back your head instead. Caterina won’t care either way.”
Caterina?
I spare her a brief thought as the man chokes me hard and violently, picking me up by the throat and slamming my head back down onto the floor.
Stars burst across my vision as pain blooms at the back of my skull.
I slam my fist into his ribs but he doesn’t budge.
I punch his elbows to loosen his grip but it doesn’t weaken him.
I can’t breathe.
My tongue feels like it’s swelling in my mouth and burning, wretched urge to cough rises through me as my body fights desperately for air.
If they’re here, if they know where I live, how much do they know?
How safe is Alex?
Alex.
A last burst of adrenaline surges through me as I scramble at the floor with my hands until something sharp brushes my fingertips.
Pain is a thing of the past as I pick it up and immediately stab it into the side of the stranger’s neck.
He freezes and chokes, then he coughs and his grip on me slackens. I drop my hand.
A shard of the lamp now protrudes from his throat. Seconds later, a waterfall of blood surges from his mouth, soaking through the balaclava and splashing hot down onto me.
I reach up again, grab the shard and shove it deeper, then I use that grip to shove him off me.
He falls to the side and slouches against the wall, dead.
Blood warms my palm where the porcelain carved an arch across my palm.
Coughing desperately, I scramble to my feet and sprint for the door with my phone in hand. Alex’s location marks him as still at Mary’s but that doesn’t mean he’s safe.
If they found me here, they can find him there.
The drive to Mary’s is the longest of my life.
Pain becomes an afterthought over the swelling, all-consuming fear at how Alex is, if he’s safe and alive, or if I’m about to walk in on my worst nightmare. I can’t risk calling in case he’s hiding.
It’s a miracle my wrecked car holds it together all the way to Mary’s house, and by the time I park, my heart’s pounding so violently I can’t hear anything else.
Lights glow from behind the curtains.
My hands tremble, my knees knock together and my head thumps with pressure while I sprint up the path and toward the door.
As soon as I clutch the handle, it gives way with no pressure and my blood runs cold.
“Alex?! Mary?!”
I stumble inside and trip over the rug into the lounge, where I finally stop and gaze at the carnage in horror.
The sofa is ripped, the coffee table’s flipped over, and several pictures and trinkets have spilled from the fireplace, shattering over the floor.
Mary’s face down on the rug, her perfect white curls matted dark with blood and she’s utterly motionless.
“M-Mary?!”
“Mom?” Alex’s tearful voice cuts through my fog and I spin on the spot toward the kitchen.
“Alex!”
He stands there, face blotched and red with tears streaking down his cheeks but that’s not what turns my blood to white-hot, furious lava. Just behind him, his face emotionless, stands Felix.
Red mist descends.
“What the fuck did you do!?” I scream, lunging for Felix with every drop of my fear fuelling the rage at seeing him here with my crying son. “What did you do?!”
Felix’s fist slams into my face and there’s a split-second after contact where my head snaps back. Ssuddenly all I see is a beautiful, starry night sky.
Alex’s yell rings in my ears and the world goes dark and quiet.