The Shadows

Chapter Eighteen

As Annabella ran to the gates, she noticed how there weren't as many guards as there were earlier. This must be the one of the times that they switch out. Marking the time in her head, she made it to Isabella's car. Jumping in, she turned to Isabella who was already looking at her amused. 

"Did you get out alright? Looks like you had a little bit of a run to get here," Isabella said while chuckling at her. Annabella gave her a deadpanned look. The run from her window to the gate was about a mile. She also had to run from the gate to Isabella's car. Annabella hadn't exercised for a while since she was in the hospital with a broken leg.

"No, Isabella, it wasn't a workout at all. I just had to run over a mile non stop. Also I had to look out for guards and my brothers. Just get going. I need to get my car from your house. I can't believe he is making me do a fight and race tonight knowing that I was just healed from my broken leg," Annabella complained to Isabella. There are many perks of having a best friend and one of them was a free therapist that you could rant to.

When they pulled up to Isabella's house, she tossed Annabella the keys to her racing car. This car was her baby. She took better care of her cars than herself sometimes. They were her pride and joy. Without them, she wouldn't have earned her name as easily. She needed them to get from place to place. Annabella hopped into Light.

She knows, not a very good name for a car, but she had her reasons. As she was called the Shadow in the Underground, it just made sense. You can not have a shadow without light. As this car made her well known, Annabella called her that. She is the light that shines on Annabella's shadows. Starting her up, she got ready to pull out.

Looking over at Isabella, she knew that they were both ready to leave. They had 30 minutes to get to the location for the race as it was the first thing up. To be honest, Annabella was nervous. This was her first race and fight in Italy. She had heard that they were vicious in the illegal stuff that goes down here. Annabella put on some piano music to calm herself down.

When she pulled up to the location of the race, her nerves were not as present as before. Annabella looked around at everyone else. When they heard her vehicle pull up, they stopped whatever they were doing to see who it was. When they realized who it was, they looked shell shocked. They probably had heard that the famous Shadow was in Italy, but probably did not believe it.

 As she parked her car, she spotted her manager. Annabella quickly got out and walked over to him. He might be extremely aggravating, but he had treated her like his daughter. When she needed somewhere to go after getting beatings from her kidnappers, he would go open the gym he owned and they would train for hours on end. He would make sure that she ate and did her homework when no one else would. Even if he didn't see her face to face all of the time, he was always there for her.

"Hey, who am I racing against today?" Annabella asked him once she got close enough to him.

 "Tonight you are racing against a pretty good person. He is the son of a mafia leader I think. He goes by Hellhound. He is a pretty big shot around here and thinks he can not be beaten. You know what needs to be done, Shadow." He tells Annabella sternly.

She gave him a look that said 'you know I will.' Never had she been beaten in a race. This caused everyone to gun after her no matter what. They all wanted to beat the mysterious Shadow. Looking around, she tried to find her opponent. If he was a mafia boss's son, she would need to be careful. The mafia in Italy hated her. 

Not finding him, she instead looked for Isabella. Of course, Annabella found her talking to some random guys. Walking over to her, AnnabellaI noticed that the boys seemed to tense up when they had seen. Her reputation precedes her still. When she reached Isabella, she hugged her. 

"Yes, I know her. Before you ask, she is the Shadow and is my best friend. I understand if you don't want to hang out with me anymore but know that she is chill." She answered the questions that they had in their eyes.

"Wait! We still want to be friends with you guys if you will let us. I'm Giovani and this is Pietro." the first boy answered when the two girls had turned to walk away. 

This sentence changed everyone's lives.