Page 84 of The Italian Reckoning
“Sarah!”
I turn and sprint toward the dark end of the corridor, praying it leads to somewhere, praying it leads to anywhere. My bare feet slap on cold stone flooring as I run faster than I’ve ever run before. Down the hall, around the corner, up some stone steps lacking any kind of railing, down another corridor. I run and I run with my heart ready to break out of my chest and Bobby’s pounding boots tearing after me.
I don’t stop. I barely even remember to breathe.
Every second I’m away from him is a second closer to freedom. To safety.
I run through empty rooms filled with cement mixers and electrical components, down corridors with only half a wall, up and down stairs that are nothing but brick. This place is some sort of half-constructed building which means there has to be a way out nearby.
I run.
I run until I stumble out into a hallway that comes to a dead end and a yawning cavern between two halves of a building opens up to me. Below are several construction vehicles tucked up for the night. There’s stairs to my left next to a half-built elevator shaft and a half-finished room to my right that offers no safety and no protection.
“Shit!”
“Sarah!”
“Leave me alone!”
“Sarah, it’s me! Look up! Look up!”
Following the sound of the voice, a surge of painful relief explodes through me as I lock eyes with Rocky one floor up on the other side of the building. The look of horrified relief on his face tells me I must look awful, but seeing him feels like a dream.
“Rocky?”
“Sarah! Fucking hell, stay right there, okay? I’m coming. You stay right there and I—duck!” Rocky screams that last word and instinct takes over. I drop to the ground and Rocky raises his gun and fires several shots. A scream of pain follows and a thud as just behind me, Bobby hits the floor clutching his shoulder.
He’s right there, less than a foot away.
Bobby scrambles up with a yelp of pain and our eyes meet. For a split second, it looks like he’s about to charge at me anyway. Instead, Bobby takes a step back.
He’s running.
No.
I can’t let him get away. Not this time. All the guilt about Belle and Kara surges up like a wave, clawing at the inside of my throat. My heart slows and through my tears, Bobby becomes crystal clear. For so long, he’s had so much power over me. For so long, he’s haunted my nightmares and forced me into a life of guilt and pain.
I can’t do that again.
Bobby turns to run and I surge upward with a scream, then launch myself onto his back like a spider monkey. He yells in fright and I distantly hear Rocky yell in horror. But it’s all background noise. I don’t have a plan.
I lock my legs around him and claw his face, slam my elbow down onto his injured shoulder, pull his hair, and try to use my weight to topple him backward. He yells and stumbles backward, twisting left and right to dislodge me, but rage and pain give me more strength than I knew I had.
“Fuck you!” I scream, finally finding my voice. “Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you!”
Then, we’re floating.
Falling with the air rushing past me like the strong winds that dance past me on my rooftop.
Then the world goes black.
37
ROCKY
Two days.
Two days keeping vigil by Sarah’s bed, waiting for her to open her eyes. Two days of replaying those final moments over and over in my mind. Seeing her sprint out into that hallway with fear shining in her eyes like beacons and blood trickling from too many wounds to count across her naked body, I felt like I’d walked into hell. Like I was too late to save her and some apparition had appeared to taunt me.
