Page 15 of Untamed

The sun blazes high above, casting everything in a blinding, golden glow. Olive trees blur into green smudges as we speed past, and the warm air blowing through the window smells of salt and summer.

Matteo hums along to the music, tapping his fingers against the steering wheel. Every now and then, he sneaks a glance at me. “You sure, you’re okay?” he asks eventually, his voice softer than usual.

I nod, even though my chest feels tight. “Yeah, I’ve never really been apart from my sister,” I mumble. “Now we’re leaving, it all feels very real.”

Matteo doesn’t say much, just a tight nod, eyes locked on the road ahead, one hand steady on the wheel, the other hovering close to the gearshift. The steady hum of tyres on asphalt fills the car, but it does nothing to soothe the gnawing tension crawling under my skin.

We’re cruising along the highway, the Sicilian hills a blur of dusty green and sunlit gold. It should feel peaceful, safe, but my gut is telling me something’s off.

I glance ahead. My parents’ car is two lengths in front, steady in the middle lane. Everything looks normal, until I feel Matteo tense beside me. His hand shifts on the steering wheel, jaw locked tight, eyes flicking from the road to the rearview mirror and back again.

“Matteo?” My voice cracks with unease. “What is it? Is something wrong?”

He doesn’t answer. Doesn’t blink. Just leans forward slightly in his seat, like he’s bracing for something.

The air around us shifts, thick and electric. I twist in my seat and look behind us and that’s when I see it. A black Alfa Romeo, low-slung and mean, weaving through traffic like a goddamn predator. It cuts too close to a van, then darts behind us, riding Matteo’s bumper like it wants to climb into the boot.

My stomach free falls.

“Wait. Who the hell?—?”

“Head down,” Matteo bites out. “Now.”

The panic hits like a gut punch. My breathing stutters, short and rapid, my hands scrambling uselessly at the seatbelt as if I can protect myself from something I don’t even understand.What the fuck is going on?

I barely finish my thought when the car jolts forward with a thud. The Alfa Romeo has tapped us,on purpose.

“Oh my God,” I gasp, eyes wide, pulse hammering in my ears.

“Figlio di puttana!” Matteo spits, swerving hard. “Lo sapevo… bastardo infame.”

The black car accelerates again, but Matteo suddenly jerks the wheel and veers into the left lane, just in time. The black car swerves violently and clips the rear of the car with my parents in it and sends it spinning.

Everything around me slows.

Their car lurches sideways across two lanes, caught in the stream of fast-moving traffic. A truck slams on its brakes...but not fast enough. Tires screech against the asphalt. The force slams the car into the guardrail at full speed. The impact is thunder, the noise deafening. Shattering glass. Screaming metal. Their car crumples like foil against the guardrail with a crunch that echoes in my bones.

I don’t breathe.

I’m frozen.

Just staring. Like I'm trapped in some action movie.

No sound, no thought...just the image of their car, smoke curling from the hood and the high pitch ringing in my ears.

“M-mum...Dad.” I whisper and then my brain starts to function again, and I realise what just happened. A scream tears from my throat before I even realise it. Matteo curses sharply, pulls into the shoulder and slams the brakes, but it’s too late. The world is already tilting, chaos swallowing everything.

Smoke, the crumpled wreck of my parents’ car mangled and motionless against the twisted barrier.

My seatbelt locks tight across my chest as we screech to a halt, the smell of burning rubber thick in the air. My limbs tremble as I fumble desperately with the buckle, my hands shaking, my heart a wild, stuttering drum in my ears.

“Mum! Dad!” I cry, throwing the door open and stumbling into the road, oblivious to the traffic, to Matteo shouting after me.

All I can see is them.

Trapped inside.

“Nooo!” I scream again, raw and broken. It feels like it rips through my entire body, like it tears something open inside me that I’ll never be able to put back together again as I stumble toward the wreckage. But before I can reach it, arms clamp around my waist, hauling me backward. “MUM!” I scream, my voice ripping the air. “DADDY!” I thrash against the hold. Wild, desperate, kicking and clawing, anything to break free. “Let me go!” I sob, the words splintering from somewhere deep inside me.

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