Chapter 73 Chapter Seventy Three - A Mother's Intuition

Chapter 73 Chapter Seventy Three - A Mother's Intuition
"Here, Lil-bit." He set the bag on the kitchen table. "Gianni wanted you to have these."

Lily's eyes went wide. She pulled out a professional sketch pad and her mouth dropped open. Then she started pulling out more. Markers cascading across the table, glitter pens and acrylic paints.

Linda's expression softened. "Cedric, this is too much…"

"You don't get a vote. Gianni bought them."

Lily was already organising everything by colour, completely absorbed, gesturing for her mother to come look.

This was the perfect moment to slip away, now that they were both too distracted to pay attention.

Cedric took a step backwards toward the hallway.

"Ceddy?" Linda glanced up.

"Just need to use the bathroom again. That pasta went right through me." He laughed awkwardly, scratching the back of his head.

He slipped into the hallway and closed the bathroom door, he would’ve locked it if the locks weren’t broken, so this would have to do for now.

His heart pounded as he gripped the window frame and pulled it open. Just like most other things in the house, it was old and broken down, so the window stuck when he tried to open it, before finally giving way with a shriek of wood on wood.

Cedric froze, listening for the sound of someone approaching, hoping to God that no one heard that.

But there was nothing, they were both probably still looking through all of Lily’s new stuff.

He shoved the window up and leaned out of it to assess the situation; the fire escape was right there, and although it was rusted it still looked solid enough for him.

He swung one leg over the sill, manoeuvring through the narrow opening, about to drop down. .almost there…. Almost…

"So you're not even going to say goodbye."

Cedric froze, one leg still inside, the other on the fire escape.

His mother stood in the doorway, her arms crossed, with an angry grieving look on her face.

"Ma—"

"Don't." She held up one hand. "Don't lie to me. Don't tell me you're coming back soon or that this is important. We both know how it happened the last time you said that."

Cedric couldn't bear to look at her.

"Don't look at it that way, Ma," he said finally. "I promise I'll be back soon. I mean it this time. I just—"

"You're going to die out there." Her voice cracked. "Whatever you're mixed up in, it's going to kill you. I can feel it, you know how mothers always know these things. And I'm going to be left alone with Lily, and she's going to ask me where you are, and I won't have an answer for her.”

"Ma, please—"

"You're all I have, Cedric. You and Lily. That's everything I’ve it left in the world." She took a step forward, then stopped.

“Your father left us with nothing but debts. Ray is God-knows-where. And now you're doing this, abandoning your family so you can run toward a man who's going to get you killed."

5:56 PM.

Four minutes left on the clock.

"I'm sorry," Cedric said, and he meant it. "I'm so sorry, Ma. But I have to—"

"You don't have to do anything. You could stay here and let those guards protect us. Wait for Gianni here where it’s safe. But you won't, will you? Because you've never been able to let someone else take care of you."

"I love you, Ma," he said, swinging his other leg over. "Tell Lily I love her too. And I really will be back. I promise."

"Cedric, don't you dare—"

But he was already moving, scrambling down the fire escape, his hands slipping on the icy metal.

Behind him, his mother's voice shouted frantically "Cedric! Come back!"

Then a deeper voice came, the voice of one of the guards saying: "Stop! Get back here!"

But Cedric didn't stop. He hit the third-floor landing and kept going, taking stairs two at a time. His foot caught and he stumbled, nearly falling over the railing and crashing to the ground.

“Whoa. Easy.” He breathed deeply, trying to calm himself, then he grabbed the bar, pulled himself back, and kept moving.

Above him, a guard suddenly appeared at the window, furiously yelling. "Mr Falcone is going to fucking kill you for this!"

"Get in line," Cedric muttered.

He sped down to the second floor and then down to the first floor. The final ladder rattled down and Cedric hit the ground hard, his knees buckling underneath him.

“Fuck!” He yelled in pain, then he jumped to his feet and started running as fast as his legs could carry him.

The guards were shouting, calling into their earpieces to each other in sharp Italian. One of them spotted Cedric and quickly rounded the building, sprinting toward him at breakneck speed—

Shit.

Cedric bolted left into the alley, vaulting over garbage, and ducking under fire escapes he burst onto the next street.

He could hear the thump thump thump of footsteps coming behind him, and he knew that if he didn’t already know the area so well, he’d be beyond fucked.

One of the guards caught up with Cedric, getting so close that he grabbed his shoulder and nearly pulled him back. “Get back here you stubborn piece of shit!”

Cedric yelped and spun around. He scrambled at the guard's hand, writing like a worm until he ripped free of his grasp and ducked to the opposite side, running at top speed.

But it wasn’t enough! The guard was still far too close for comfort, close enough that Cedric could hear him cursing in Italian…

"Fermati, cazzo!"

One turn later and Carter burst onto the main road. It was packed full of traffic-jammed cars, patient drivers cursing and pressing their horns as a million headlights lit up the night.

There was no time to think. Cedric pushed himself faster, running straight into the road, muttering, “Sorry, excuse me, please don’t hit me” as he wove in between the different vehicles.

“Get the fuck out of the riad!” one bus driver screamed, his brakes squealing as he skidded to a stop.

“My bad!” Cedric yelped. Horns blared as he passed, dodging the different oncoming cars.

One taxi had to swerve out of the way at the last minute, missing him by mere inches while another car screeched to a stop. “Fucking tweakers!”

Cedric stumbled to a halt in the middle of the intersection, his chest heaving with terror and adrenaline.

Behind him, the guard had stopped at the curb, looking around for some other course of action that didn’t involve walking into New York traffic like a suicidal maniac.

In front of him, there were headlights. So many headlights, an entire sea of them, bearing down from every direction.

And Cedric stood there, frozen, caught between the world he'd left and the unknown he was running toward.

He took a deep breath, gritted his teeth and began to run. And this time he did not look back.