Page 84 of Stolen Mafia Vows
“They wouldn’t do that to me.” My voice sounds utterly breakable.
“Wouldn’t they?” She studies her glass as if surprised that it is empty. “Believe whatever you want. But this is going to make revenge taste so much sweeter.”
“Revenge for what?”
She hesitates, and then it’s like watching shutters pull down to cover her eyes. “You don’t need to know.”
“Is this about my family, or Eoghan’s?”
I don’t know whether to believe what she said about my family using me to form an alliance. But I do know that I can’t sit around waiting for them to rescue me. I always felt safe with my family, but now I just feel let down. From a great height, wearing lead boots.
“Drop it, Emily.” She sets her glass down and turns to walk back inside the house.
I grab her arm and spin her back around to face me. “Is it Caleb? Did he … hurt you?”
She glares at my fingers wrapped around her arm until I release her. “I told you to leave it.”
“Whatever it is, you don’t need to do this. I’m sure that you, Ilya, and Caleb can reach some sort of agreement. Let me speak to him. I can?—”
The palm of her hand collides with my cheek in a resounding slap that has me reeling backwards. My face feels as though it’s on fire, and I’m surprised when I touch it, and my fingers come away clean.
“When I want your help, I’ll ask for it.” Her voice is low, feral almost. “Until then, enjoy your vacation. Do you understand?”
I nod, not trusting myself to speak.
I watch Olivia go back to the house and disappear inside before I realize that she has left me out here unsupervised. I check out the doors and windows and I can’t see any movement. Still holding my glass of water, I turn three-sixty slowly, trying to appear nonchalant, and there isn’t a bodyguard in sight.
I must’ve touched a nerve for her to be so careless.
But her carelessness is my opportunity, and I’m not about to waste it.
I start walking away from the house.
The property has a huge plot of land with tennis courts, a basketball court beyond the pool, landscaped gardens with round flowerbeds, and mature trees. It has been designed to create the illusion of space and freedom in an overcrowded city where the architects have learned to build upwards to accommodate the ever-expanding population. But the land is surrounded on three sides by woodland, and I’d bet that there’s a razor-wire topped wall behind the trees.
Past the tennis courts, I glance over my shoulder, and the pool area is eerily quiet. But I keep walking, my heart thumping madly. A voice inside my head is saying that this is too easy, that it’s a trick, and I should turn around while I still can, pretend that I was exploring the gardens if I get caught.
But there’s a louder voice yelling at me to keep going.
I’m being held here against my will. They don’t get to decide what happens to me, and after everything that’s happened, it’s about time I started taking control of my own life.
The instant I reach the gardens beyond the courts, I run for the nearest tree and hide behind the trunk, panting, trying to catch my breath after my first sprint. I wait for raised voices or gunfire, but nothing happens.
They haven’t realized that I’m missing, I tell myself.
Yet.
But they will. Which is why I must keep moving.
Checking out the distance between me and the woods bordering the land, I take a deep breath and run.
Can this be it? Is this all it’s going to take to get away from them?
My blood is gushing in my ears so loudly that I don’t register the barking to begin with. It’s a distant sound, out of context from the setting I’m in. Until I glance to my left and see the dogs hurtling towards me.
I freeze.
Where’s my trusty fight-or-flight mode when I need it? These black dogs are big, and their barking is filling my head, and no one is going to blow a whistle and call them back because no one knows that I’m here. They’re doing their job, and their job is to stop anyone from getting in or out of this land.
