Chapter 45 Running Away
Evelyn’s POV
I bolted through the forest, my lungs burning with each desperate breath. My legs screamed for mercy, but slowing down wasn’t an option. not when I was certain those psychopaths were already on my trail. Not when Lorenzo had made it painfully clear that I wasn’t supposed to go anywhere.
But I had to run.
“I can’t stay there…. I can’t….” I kept staggering as branches slapped against my arms and face.
Finally, I stumbled out onto a lonely road I could barely recognize. After a few minutes, a cab appeared from the distance.
Thank God, I said to myself, still panting from the run I just survived.
I waved my hands like crazy as it approached. “Please! Stop!”
The car halted. I threw myself inside before the old man behind the wheel even fully pressed the brakes.
“To the train station,” I said breathlessly. “Please drive….. just drive.”
He gave a small nod, eyes meeting mine through the rearview mirror. Something about his stare made my stomach twist, but I blamed it on paranoia.
Everything scared me now.
I kept muttering prayers under my breath. Just this once, God. Please, just this last time. My heart was racing, panic crawling up my throat, when my phone suddenly buzzed.
I didn’t need to check the screen to know who it was.
“Elena?” I answered.
“Evelyn! Thank God! I’ve been calling. Are you okay? Daisy’s ready. I’ve already signed the discharge papers.” Her voice ragged out.
“I’m in a cab. Five minutes out. Lorenzo’s men must be after me by now. Elena, we need to move fast.” I answered urgently.
“I know,” Elena cut in. “Just get here. I’m still at the hospital, we will all meet at the station.”
Suddenly, my voice dropped low as I noticed the driver staring at me through the mirror. His eyes didn’t look like someone who cared if passengers cried or bled in his backseat. There was something flat, practiced….. wrong.
But I shook it off.
Elena’s voice softened. “Eve….. what’s wrong? You sound different.”
“I’m fine.” I lied. “Just…. we need to leave before Lorenzo realizes where I went.”
A male voice echoed behind her suddenly.
“Elena, who is that?” I asked sharply.
“I…..what? Eve, no one is….” I didn’t get to hear her last sentence before the line cut.
The call ended.
“Damn it!” I hit the seat with my palm out of frustration. My hands shook. My chest tightened like I was about to pass out.
The driver cleared his throat softly. “Bad network here.”
“Just keep going,” I whispered again, turning to the window, trying to focus on anything else because his face was already scaring the hell out of me.
But before my eyes could settle on the view, something shifted, cracked, on his side.
Then I saw it.
It was a pistol.
Tucked right there in the side pocket of the car door. Bold. Open. As if he didn’t care whether I saw it or not.
My stomach dropped so fast I swore I heard the thud inside me.
What could a driver possibly need a gun for?
Was it for protection….. or for me?
The thought made my stomach twist. A driver isn’t supposed to carry a weapon, not like this, not pointed, not ready, not lying so casually within reach.
“Sir?” I said quietly.
He didn’t answer. The man didn’t even blink. His hands stayed glued to the wheel, his gaze fixed straight ahead like he didn’t hear me.
I swallowed hard, my fingers curling against the car seat. “Please pull over. I….. I need to get down.”
Still no response, he didn’t even move. It was as if I was talking to myself.
My pulse spiked. “I said pull over!”
Something inside me snapped. The air felt heavy, suffocating. “Who are you? You’re not a normal driver, are you?” I asked, my voice brittle, trembling on the edges, half hoping he would deny it….. but knowing, deep down, he wouldn’t.
The silence that followed my question told me everything that I needed to know.
My body moved before my mind caught up.
“Help!” I screamed, pounding the window. “Somebody help me…..!” Cars around us kept driving, honking, some slowing down but not enough. People never cared enough.
I lunged forward, trying to grab the wheel. The man shoved me back with one hand, his strength shocking.
“Sit your ass down!" he barked, his legs pressing hard on the brake to make us jerk.
My blood turned ice, fear hovering around me but I refused to back down.
“Open this door!!” I yelled, kicking the seat. “Let me out!”
Before I could think of another word, the click of a locking door cut through the air. But I moved faster.
I slammed my shoulder into the door. Pain shot up my body, sharp and relentless. I tried again. And again.
“Stop that, you little brat!” he barked, one hand slamming the wheel faster while the other shot out to steady me.
“I said let me go!” I screamed, fumbling wildly for the handle. I had no idea where the strength came from, but I had never felt this kind of power in my life.
I yanked hard. The door gave way with a crack, and a blast of air hit me, too heavy that I thought it would carry me away.
“Are you crazy?!” he yelled, grabbing my wrist.
I wrenched away. “I’d rather break my neck than go wherever you’re taking me!” And before fear could stop me, I threw myself out of the moving car.
The world spun from the road to the sky and back to the road again, until my back hit the ground with a thud that stole my breath. Pain shot through me making me wonder if I was still alive. My head rang, my vision blurred, but I forced myself up.
Cars screeched. Someone shouted. People gasped.
But I staggered up, moving faster as I could.
“Move!” a man shouted from behind me and I spun around to meet the cab driver, he wasn’t alone anymore.
More men came from behind him, they were big, dark, armed with weapons, emerging from alleys, parked cars, every shadowed corner as if they had been waiting for me.
My heart nearly stopped. “Stay away from me!” I shouted.
They didn’t stop.
“Do not touch me!” My voice cracked. “I don’t know who any of you are!”
They didn’t answer and that terrified me even more.
I didn’t need to be told what to do. I had to run.
My legs pushed me through the open marketplace as I shoved past people, knocking down baskets, tables, anything to slow them down. The men kept chasing me through the bustling open space. People screamed around me, but no one lifted a finger to help.
“Stop her!” An order came from behind. “Don’t let her out of sight!”