Mafia King (Young Irish Rebels #2) - Vi Carter Page 0,8
it’s her eyes.
Goodbye, I mouth, and she quickly turns away from the window. The one person who I was truly looking for isn’t here. Noel.
I get in, and the door closes behind me. I don’t look out the window at my family. My bags are already in the trunk. Liam climbs into the front and takes a look at me in the rear-view mirror.
“Are you sure you have everything?”
His question would be considered considerate, but there is no emotion attached to it. Dad said it was a trait that people admired Liam for. You never knew if he liked you or not, you never knew if at that moment he was planning and plotting your slow and painful death.
“Lady.” As the Range Rover rolls down the driveway. I think of my horse. “I have a horse, but I’ll come back for her at a later date.” Once I know the savage won’t eat her, that is.
The Range Rover picks up speed. I want to turn in my seat and look out the back window. I’m imagining Noel running after the Range Rover, devastated that he never got to say goodbye to me. I give into temptation, and I turn in my seat.
My breathing grows quicker, and something deeply rooted and frenzied grows bigger and swallows my hope as I stare back at the rising dust. There is no Noel chasing after the Range Rover. I face forward as my breaths grow shallow.
One, Two, Three…
I continue to count as the Range Rover runs smoothly down the main road toward what must be my new home. If I closed my eyes, I would think we weren’t moving at all. The scenery around us flickers past quickly, and each time I reach one hundred, I start counting again.
Time passes in a blur of trees and numbers before buildings start to rise and fall away again. as I reach for the window. I stop a hairbreadth away from touching it. Green eyes that are so wide hold my attention, and I look away from my reflection and sit fully back. Gray turns to green, and the small part of me that had dreamt of this moment dies inside of me.
Liam hasn’t spoken a word, and I stop counting when it no longer keeps everything inside me at bay. I sense the panic that circles along the edges, waiting for a break in my armor, so it can escape and infiltrate my system.
I take another look at Liam as we drive into a darkened tunnel. He sits rod straight, both hands on the steering wheel, and I find myself analyzing him, looking for a kink in his famous armor. It wouldn’t matter how long I looked at him. I truly believed I wouldn’t find it.
The orange glow of the tunnel wall lights moves past us, and I start to count them just as the world is lit up with fireworks. The explosion rocks the vehicle, and the fireworks bounce off the Range Rover, becoming something deadly.
“Get down.” Liam doesn’t shout, he doesn’t raise his voice, but his words break through my frozen state, and my fingers fumble with the seatbelt. It takes me three tries before I get myself unclipped. The vehicle swerves, and I grip the back of Liam’s seat as glass rains down on me like the aftermath of a sprinkler. A screech fills my ears as I dive to the floor. The sound stops as I bite my cheek.
Closing my eyes, small chunks of glass coat my back. The vehicle swerves, and I swear we are airborne. Gravity shifts and I’m flying backward, my back taking the assault from the floor. The dark ceiling fills my vision, and light pours in, and I think it’s the end.
Isn’t that what people say when they die, that they see a bright light wash over them. They say it’s warm. Mine’s not. It’s cold and harsh against me. My eyelids flutter closed, protecting me from the onslaught of light after the darkness of the tunnel. The light dances and filters behind my lids as I hold my hands just above the glass-strewn floor, but with each movement of the vehicle, I have to grip the floor to stay in one place. Warm liquid leaks, but I don’t dare get up. The vehicle seems to smooth out, and I slowly open my eyes.
Air pours into the space and beats against my clothes. My hair rises on the wind and whips against my face. Trees move past,