Chapter 11 - THE ROAD TO NOWHERE
“Stop the car,” I said.
My voice didn't shake. The terror had bypassed panic and went straight into a cold, paralyzing clarity.
The driver ignored me. He hit the lock button on his door panel, and a heavy clunk echoed through the SUV, sealing the child locks in the back.
“I said, stop the car!” I yelled, grabbing the metal grate that separated the front seat from the back.
“Sit back down, Emily,” the driver said calmly.
I knew him. His name was Paul. He had driven Nicholas to his doctor's appointments for the last six months. He had always bought Nicholas lollipops.
He was Dante’s man.
Dante hadn't just funnelled money to New York. He had planted his own people right under Luca’s nose.
Nicholas gripped my arm, his eyes wide with fear.
“Emily? Where are we going?” he asked, his voice trembling.
“It’s okay, Nick,” I lied, pulling him tightly against my side. I looked at my mother. She was pale, clutching her purse to her chest.
“Paul,” my mother said, her voice shaking. “They’ll kill you for this. Luca will kill you.”
Paul let out a dry laugh.
“Luca is going to be dead by morning, Mrs. Carter. New York is already moving on the mansion. They just wanted the kid as an insurance policy. And you,” he looked at me in the mirror, “you’re just a bonus.”
I looked desperately around the back of the SUV.
There were no door handles on the inside. The windows were bulletproof. We were trapped in a rolling vault.
I touched the gold bracelet on my wrist.
Anyone who sees it will know exactly who you belong to.
I took a deep breath, forcing my brain to work.
I remembered something Luca had told me months ago, during a conversation in the kitchen while I was making him coffee.
“My cars are built like tanks,” Luca had said. “But the one weakness is the climate control partition. If you pull the emergency release latch under the middle seat, it drops the glass divider.”
I looked down.
Between my boots, under the center console of the back seat, was a small, red fabric loop.
I leaned forward, pretending to comfort Nicholas, and slipped my hand down.
My fingers brushed the rough fabric.
I looked up at Paul’s eyes in the rearview mirror. He was focused on the dark, empty stretch of highway ahead.
I pulled the red loop as hard as I could.
With a sharp hiss, the thick plexiglass divider separating us from the front seat suddenly dropped down.
Before Paul could react, I lunged forward through the opening.
I didn't grab the steering wheel. I grabbed Paul’s heavy winter coat and shoved myself against the driver’s side door, pinning his right arm.
“Are you crazy?!” Paul yelled, swerving wildly.
“Mom, the keys!” I screamed.
My mother didn't hesitate. She threw herself into the gap, reaching over the console and grabbing the keys from the ignition.
She twisted and pulled.
The engine died instantly. The headlights went dark.
The heavy SUV suddenly lost its power steering. Paul fought the wheel, slamming on the brakes, but the momentum carried us off the highway.
We skidded violently into the gravel shoulder, tossing us all against the seats.
The car slammed into a metal guardrail and ground to a violent halt.
The airbags didn't deploy because the engine was off.
For a second, the only sound was our heavy breathing and the ticking of the cooling engine.
Paul cursed loudly. He reached toward his waistband for a gun.
But I was faster.
I grabbed the heavy metal thermos sitting in the cupholder and smashed it directly into the side of Paul’s head.
He slumped forward against the steering wheel, unconscious.
“Get out!” I yelled, scrambling back into the rear seat. I hit the manual override lock on the door and kicked it open.
My mother grabbed Nicholas, and the three of us tumbled out into the freezing night air.
We were in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by dark woods and an empty highway.
“What do we do now?” my mother cried, holding Nicholas close.
I looked down at the dark road.
Headlights were approaching from the distance. Fast. Multiple cars.
New York’s men? Or Luca’s?
May you like
I didn't have time to find out.
“Run,” I said, pointing toward the tree line. “Into the woods. Now!”
