to. That was the difference in her life, she could choose what she wore now. With a hint of a smile on her face, she left the penthouse and went down to the car she’d decided to drive.
The sunlight glinted off the windshield of the white Fiat Matteo ordered for her when she pulled out of the parking garage. It was a small, compact car, and though it was rather boxy, she loved it. She just had to get used to driving in New York traffic. That part wasn’t so easy, but she was getting the hang of it.
She turned right as she pulled out of the garage and came to a yellow traffic light. She braked just as the light turned red and waited for the green signal. The car was quiet, so she turned her gaze to the radio and had just started to flick through the buttons when a pinging sound made her look up.
There were men in black standing 200 feet in front of the car, they’d surrounded it, and every single one of them wore black ski-masks. Marie froze, her mouth as wide open as her eyes were as she took in the fact that each man held a handgun in his hand, all pointed at her.
Stupidly, she glanced up at the light and wanted to cry when she saw it was still red. She looked down and saw that one was drawing closer. Her brain went into automatic then and said fuck the traffic light, she had to move. She stomped her foot down on the gas just as the gunman started to fire, and his companions joined him.
Bullets sprayed into the car, the windshield starred so badly she could barely see, and each second felt like an eternity as the car began to move forward. The men moved as she drove by, but the shots being fired did not stop. Something stung her side as she drove by a group to her left but she ignored the burning pain as she tried to get away.
What the fuck was happening? She couldn’t figure it out, and at the moment all she could really focus on was her escape. The side mirror to her left was gone, the windshield was cracked and in fragments but still holding steady in its frame. She tried to see through a small section about two inches wide as the car sped forward, but the pain in her side started to sting even more and she felt her panic turn into a rope around her neck that grew tighter with each moment that passed.
Her thoughts turned to Matteo when she saw that the men were far behind her. She needed to call him, but she couldn’t take her eyes off that two-inch section of the windshield for long and she was afraid to take her hands off the steering wheel. She wasn’t sure what the shots might have damaged in the car and she was worried it would stall before she could get to… where? The spa? No, not there. She needed to go somewhere safe. She saw a white sign with a blue H on it and finally glanced down at her side.
A started cry of fear and surprise tore from her throat when she saw the entire left side of her camisole was covered in red. Blood. That was blood. Holy fuck, that was blood. Another sound of distress broke the silence in the car and her foot came off the gas pedal. She realized she’d slowed down when a car behind her blew its horn and she glanced up startled. She’d taken her eyes off that two-inch section for too long and she was about to run into a light pole.
She put her foot on the brake, but she didn’t do it fast enough. With the sound of screaming metal in her ears and fear crushing her heart, Marie braced for the impact. She hit the pole at 45 miles per hour. An airbag exploded from the steering wheel and threw her awkwardly back against her door just as the back end of the car swung around and tilted over. Marie’s head slammed against the window as the car crashed down on its side. Blood continued to pour out of the wound in her side, a warm trickle of her life slipping away, she thought just as the world went dark around her.
“Marie? Marie, can you hear me?” A stranger’s voice called to her from somewhere outside