The leader pulled out a gun. Everything froze. “Stay out of this, old lady,” he growled.
“Don’t you dare,” my mother spat back.
The crack of the gunshot echoed in the small house. My mother’s body crumpled to the ground, lifeless. A scream tore from my throat as I lunged toward her, but another man grabbed me, pinning my arms behind my back.
Jenny tried to fight them, but she was no match. A second gunshot rang out, and she fell too. Blood pooled around her.
“No! Please, stop!” I begged, tears streaming down my face. My body trembled with rage and grief, but I was powerless.
The men dragged me out of the house.
“You should’ve known better,” the leader hissed. Behind us, I heard the roar of flames. They had set the house on fire.
I thrashed against their hold, desperate to escape, but it was no use. The baby inside me stirred, a painful reminder that I had to survive this. For them. For my child. The last thing I saw before they shoved me into a van was the life I had known reduced to ashes.
As the van doors slammed shut and the engine roared to life, I made a silent vow. Whoever these people were, whoever they thought they were, Antonio and Serena Russo, they had taken everything from me. My mother. My best friend. My home. But I wasn’t done.
I clutched my stomach protectively, my tears drying as anger hardened my resolve. They would regret this. They all would.
When I woke up, the world was dark and suffocating. My wrists and ankles burned from the rough rope binding them, and my face felt raw where the tape stretched across my mouth. The van jolted over uneven roads, each bump sending pain shooting through my aching body. I wanted to cry, to scream, but exhaustion pulled at me, the weight of everything that had happened crashing down. My mother. Jenny. Gone. My home, my life—reduced to nothing but smoke and blood.
I fought back, I remembered that much. But there were too many of them. And now, I was here—being carted off to some unknown fate. My baby stirred inside me, a soft fluttering that reminded me why I couldn’t give up. I had to survive. I had to protect the only thing I had left.
At some point, the fight drained out of me. My eyes closed, and the darkness swallowed me whole.