Saved Mafia Bride by Mae Doyle
Clara
Iswear, the house rocks on its foundation. Falling to my knees, I try to grab the doorframe to steady myself, but I can’t seem to get a grip on it as everything shifts under me. Down the hall there’s a puff of smoke that blooms into the hall and I reach up, covering my mouth before the dust can get to me.
“Audrey!” A loud voice rings out and I gasp. Someone calling for me is bad enough, but someone calling my old name, the name I thought that I left behind? That’s worse. So much worse.
“Audrey! Nick wants to see you. He has a nice little bounty on your nice little head. Come on out, darling.” His voice is sing-song and i feel panic rising in my chest.
A whimper escapes my mouth, slipping through my fingers and I imagine the sound reaching the man down the hall. In my mind, I picture it wrapping around him like a rope and pulling him to me. I want to scream and run but there’s nowhere to go.
The only way out is past him.
I managed to get the trunk under the bed open after finding the key hidden in the kitchen, and I’m holding a gun in my hand, but what I’m going to do with it, I’m not sure. The weight is heavy and unfamiliar and I don’t even know if there are bullets in it. Growing up, my parents never would have let me hold a gun, much less shoot one.
I never wanted to hold one. And now I wish more than anything that I had before. I wish that I actually knew what I was doing right now because it feels like my world is crumbling into a thousand little pieces. The gun is the key, but only if I figure out what to do with it.
“Audrey!” The man’s voice is closer now and I drop into a crouch, holding the gun out in front of me. I stare past it, pleased to see that it doesn’t waver even though my arms are already tired from keeping it out in front of me like this.
“Come out! You don’t want me to have to come find you. I saw you through the window, darling. I know that you’re in here, just waiting for someone. Maybe you and I can have some time to play together before I give you to Nick, what do you say? Maybe I get to be the first one to taste that sweet little pussy of yours?”
I think that I see something coming through the dust and debris, but I’m not sure. My ears ring from the sound of the explosion and the man’s voice wavers, making it difficult for me to really understand what he’s saying, but I hear it.
I know what’s coming. I don’t have to hear every word perfectly to know that if he makes it down the hall and reaches me then I’m fucked.
The shape darkens, looking more human than it did a moment ago and I know in that second that I have one chance at getting this right. He wants to take me back to Nick, which means that I have to be alive. I need to stay in one piece so that he can hand-deliver me.
He won’t shoot me.
That thought is the only thing that gives me the strength to pull the trigger. It moves easily under my touch and I’m actually surprised when I hear the sound of it explode. Even though I want to drop the gun and cover my ears, I do it again, then again, a scream billowing out of me as I keep shooting.
The shape in the dust stops walking, then falls. I can’t hear it hit the ground, everything else is so loud. Throwing the gun away from me like it’s burning me, I scramble to my feet and run, almost tripping over the man in the hall. My feet slip in his blood but I pick myself up and keep going, my palms stinging from where I fell on the floor.
When I burst out into the living room, I’m shocked at what I see. Half of the wall is missing, sunlight streaming in from outside. Rubble is everywhere, but I don’t want to take time to check it all out.
All I want is Gavin.
Looking down at my hands, I’m shocked to see that they’re covered in blood. My jeans are, too, from where I fell, the liquid already soaking in and making the fabric stick to my skin. It’s uncomfortable, but I’m not going to strip out of my clothes right now. I have to move. Have to get out of here.
Have to get to Gavin.
As quickly as possible, I pick my way through the rubble and then step outside, my lungs screaming for fresh air. Whirling around, I look for Gavin, for the one man I know can protect me, but I don’t see him. He’s not here, not by the trees, nor by the cars.
He has to be somewhere, though. It takes a moment, but then I remember that he was going up to the main house with his brothers. Turning, I stumble away from the guesthouse, then orient myself, running up the driveway.
If I had car keys, I could take a car. It would be faster. I’d be there by now.
My brain isn’t being helpful. Thoughts rattle around in my mind as I suck in sharp breaths, trying to get as much oxygen as possible so that I can keep moving. Already my muscles are screaming even though I’m not anywhere near the house.
Keep going.
The only thing spurring me on is the thought that Gavin will be up there and will take care of me when he sees me. I cling to that, each step harder than the last, then look down and remember that I don’t have shoes on.
The bottoms of my feet feel raw from the tiny stones littering the driveway but I don’t want to stop and look at them. I just have to keep going.
I’m running, pumping my arms, tears streaming down my face, when I think that I hear someone calling my name.
The man. He isn’t dead. He’s coming for me.
“Clara!”
My name washes over me and I realize with a start that someone is using my new name, not the name that I tried to kill. Not the name that ties me to my past and to the person I don’t want to be.
“Clara! Stop!”
I wheel around, my heart slamming in my chest. Someone is behind me, and they’re calling me, but I have to stop and see who it is. Sure, it could be Nick, but he wouldn’t call me Clara. I know that he wouldn’t.
He’d call me Audrey, if only to bring me to my knees in front of him. If only to make me remember who I was and where I came from. If only to make me see that I still belonged to him, no matter how much I wanted to deny it.
“Clara!” Gavin runs up to me, his face twisted with fear. I’ve never seen him look anything but confident and I falter for a moment, my legs threatening to give out under me. I’m suddenly so tired that the thought of going on any farther actually feels like it hurts and I stumble forward, letting him grab me and pull me to his chest, letting him catch me.
