“Creed!” I scream.
I don’t think; I just act.
I rip from Antonio’s hand, pulling me to safety, and jump toward Creed. He spins and catches me. A weight hits me like a professional linebacker and shoves Creed and me sideways, and the truck window explodes from the hail of bullets that opened up.
Arms wrap around me tight, but I know they aren’t Creed’s in the frenzy and panic as we tumble across the pavement.
Once we stop rolling, I realize it’s Severyn who saved both me and Creed. She and I are out of the barrage of bullets, but I’m far away from Creed.
His face is dark and grim as he crouches behind a vehicle. Severyn pulls me farther back, getting us behind a car as people scream and run from the area where the gunfire staccato occurs.
“Who the hell is firing at us?” Severyn shouts, but she isn’t looking at me, and I realize she must have a comms piece like Tag.
Constant heavy gunfire comes from the roof as all the men keep low. My heart lurches into my throat as I see armed men advance toward the back of Electric, where Creed and the rest of them are pinned.
The sound of revving vehicles’ engines echoes, and I know my father is barreling toward me.
Creed is pinned away from me, the bullets peppering everything, but he makes to come for me, his desperation clear. Tag tackles him and slams him down.
Severyn jerks violently, and I fear she’s been shot. “Shit.” She touches her right ear, and when her eyes lock on mine, they’re filled with panic.
She doesn’t have her gun any longer, and she grips my hand as two SUVs screech to a halt not far from us. More terror fills me when I see my father and Salome.
“Sophie, we need to run.”
I can’t move. Terror and horror in equal measures with a desperate need for Creed war inside me.
“Run!” Severyn pulls me to my feet, snapping me into action.
We run like the wind.
We bolt across the street, dodging traffic as horns blare. I can hear my father and his men race after us, which fuels my resolve to run as fast as possible. It isn’t just me now; they’ll harm or take Severyn, too.
We enter the park with thick trees at a full sprint, the blackness like a blanket smothering out the streetlights and the moon, but we don’t slow. Severyn keeps a death grip on my hand as we stumble over tree roots and branches slash at our skin. She pushes us harder and faster, and I give myself to the survival instinct that’s humming through me to run as fast and for as long as possible.
We run and run. I lose track of time, as we weave through the trees, trying to stay away from our pursuers. My body is giving out, though, and I can’t run much longer as my legs fill with lead.
I stumble, nearly taking both Severyn and me down. My chest feels like it’s caving in on itself, and I can’t breathe.
“Come on, Sophie,” Severyn urges, breathing heavily and clutching my hand, which is slick with sweat.
Tree branches snap close to us, and adrenaline surges through me, giving me another burst of speed. Then, my legs seize completely, and I collapse to my knees. “Go,” I gasp. “Save yourself.”
“No.” Then she snaps, but it isn’t at me, “I know, dammit.” She pulls me to my feet. “Shit,” she hisses, yanking me to the left. Severyn curses again and pulls me farther to the left.
Reality settles into my bones.
We’re being surrounded.
This is it…
Severyn pulls us behind a partially felled tree. Her eyes dart between mine in the dark. “Sophie, we’re going to be taken.”
My stomach bottoms out.
“They’ve surrounded us. There are too many; I can’t fight them all.”
“You can fight them?” I gasp, trying to catch my breath and stay quiet.
“Yes, but I won’t win. So, I’m going to keep that knowledge from them for now and use it when it will be an actual advantage. They’re going to think they’re getting two scared women. They won’t see us coming.”
I clutch her hand. “I… This isn’t something…” I start to hyperventilate, thinking she’ll be taken with me. Because of me. “My father… I’m sorry…”
“Sophie, trust me, okay,” Severyn whispers urgently as the men close on us. “My team will know where we are. They and Creed will come and get us. Okay? Be brave, but don’t do anything to make these men angry. We’ll be compliant and scared—”
“I am compliant and scared,” I half-choke, half-laugh.
“We’ll go willingly with them.”
Beams of light blind us and triumphant jeers in Spanish surround us.
Severyn slowly stands with her hands up. “Don’t hurt us.”
I mirror her actions and am quickly shoved against a tree. My eyes meet Severyn’s and understanding passes between us.
“Hija,” my father says from behind me. “Eres un dolor en mi trasero.”
“I’ve been a pain in your ass?” I snark at my absolute cunt of a father, briefly forgetting the part of being compliant.
“Miralo, puta.” Salome grinds my cheek into the rough bark of the tree, but I refuse to cry out in pain. He presses his hips into my backside before I’m spun around.
My father’s eyes are dark and beady, like a demon straight from hell. “You’re my ticket to the big show, Sophie. And your friend will be a bonus.”
Salome slams a needle into my neck and depresses the plunger. His evil face and rancid breath fill my world before the blackness overtakes me.
