Like clockwork. Ananbella watched the guard disappear into the makeshift guard shack that was constructed on the side of her house. She should have been grateful. Once Piero Albano not only escaped custody near a year ago, but the man also managed to slip through the Italian mob's fingers on their own soil. That news alone should have rustled her feathers, but nothing was more dangerous than her in her own head trapped in her own home.
She pressed her back against the brick cladding on her house's exterior and counted the five seconds until the second guard popped into view. He disappeared on the other side of the shack to take is usual pee. It was disgusting really. There was a perfectly good bathroom inside her house yet the foolish half which couldn't help but act more like a dog might. She slipped past the guard shack and into the bushes between her house and her neighbors.
She pulled the hoodie over her head and stuffed her hands in her pockets as she strolled down the sidewalk. Night was quickly coming upon them, easier for her to get away. She couldn't believe it really. She had to sneak out of her house like she was a delinquent adolescent something she never actually had to do as a young person.
She swallowed the memory trying to stay in the present. There were a lot of things that were just different about her childhood. Like the fact that she really didn't have one. She turned the corner and headed down the block where the rental car set waiting like a beacon of hope at the end of a long dark tunnel.
Round the clock supervision for her own safety despite her rejection, argument, and eventual suspension. She could protect herself. Besides, she knew from being kin to one of the most ruthless criminals in the known world, that if someone wanted her, no amount of security detail was going to stop that. Might make it more difficult, but if they got what they wanted in the end then was it really worth several men's lives?
She pulled the hoodie off once she locked the car doors. She exhaled taking account of the vehicle. The corner of her mouth lifted. Everything was right where she'd left it a week before.
She started up the engine and pulled away from the curb a giddy excitement filling her from the inside. It was a strange feeling really, but she rather enjoyed it. Moments later she pulled into Vulcan's, her favorite burger and frozen custard place. She set in the hard seat and enjoyed the hot crisp outside of the waffle fry and the molten lava potatoes on the inside of it.
She remembered when she took Elena there for the first time. It was almost dark like it was now, they were hungry and it was just them. They took the money from his jeans. She ignored the stiff chill from the body. With his eyes closed he could have just been sleep.
They slid the blood stained bills on the counter. She'd never forget the look on the cashier's face. She knew what the woman was thinking looking at the dirty little girls and the raggedy bills on the counter. She didn't say anything could have been the glare on Elena's face. She'd been to Vulcan before that day, but somehow the food tasted better. Perhaps it was the feeling of freedom she was tasting.
She was back in the car taking the long way home. She checked her watch. It was getting late she probably should get back. She turned onto a dirt road. A short cut from the country highway she was cruising down to her neighborhood.
A giddy joy filled her from the inside out when she heard the track on the familiar song. A song she hadn't heard in a good while. A song that brought fond memories back to her.
She rolled the windows down and let the crisp spring air chill her skin. "Making my way downtown walking fast faces pass and I'm home bound." It was a brief time in her life when they were just two young girls enjoying a day. The song came on when they were heading to the mall after having gotten mani pedi's. Still to that day Anabella didn't know where Elena got the money for the prom day pampering. She hummed through the instrumental as well before picking back up on the lyrics. "Staring blankly ahead just making my way; making a way through the--"
Jarring impact...
The cringy sound of metal impacting metal...
Her eyes slowly opened long enough to tell her she was upside down in the car, the smell of burning, the airbag had been activated. Breathing was difficult, was in the hot smell of her heated surroundings or was there something. She tried to move her arm but the limp was heavy. She tried to will them to stay open, but her heavy lids closed...
Her eyes opened again.
The feel of pavement under her told her somehow she'd gotten out of the car. She looked around and there was no one. She wondered if the other driver was okay. Or, at least she thought it was a car that hit her. She couldn't remember. She stopped army crawling away from the vehicle realizing just then that she had been moving at all. She turned to look at the smoking vehicle. Bright lights from what must have been the other car involved she could see hers was flipped over. The other vehicle looked to be some sort of truck determining how high the lights were.
She blinked her eyes when the light was interrupted by a figure blocking part of it. A figure that was advancing toward her.
Her breathing started to increase as the adrenaline started through her. The person didn't make any efforts to vocalize their intentions. They didn't seem to have been injured at all by the accident. That should have been a good thing accept the eerie feeling as the man's paced figured got closer. She knew the man's walk, the man's silhouette even as the blood ran down her face. She'd studied the man's file for years as she prepared to bring him down.
She noticed the gun that hung at his side as he approached. He lifted the metal weapon and aimed it at her head. The feeling a nausea threatened her resolve. She held back the urge to purge her insides. She would not show him weakness. She set her jaw and struggled to hold his figure in her site and her world threatened to go black again. The man's fine silky voice laced with his Italian accent confirmed her suspicions about his identity.
"I warned you Annabella. You should have killed me when you had me at the end of your gun." She felt the cool metal press against her temple. She remembered her last interaction with Piero Albano. He was on his knees before her and she pressed the gun against his forehead. He said the words then that she dared to repeat. "Well, what are you waiting for?"
|:|A/N|:|
Well hello there boos. Okay we're starting this one off with a bang! If you've been following this series, thank you for your patients on me getting out this story. It's not perfect yet, but I think it's shaping up to be one of my favorite installments in this collection. If you haven't checked out the other 4 stories they are, as of this point in time, available FREE here on Wattpad in full so check them out!
This one is NOT on my website only here on Wattpad.
See you soon,
ALEX
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Smoke & Gun (+18) (COMPLETE)
Romance|:| She remembered her last interaction with Piero Albano. He was on his knees before her and she pressed the gun against his forehead . He said the words that she dared to repeat. "Well, what are you waiting for?" |:| Piero had plans to kill her b...
