Bella’s eyes narrowed. "Keep going," she said.
They raced through the residential area, past houses and trees and children playing in yards who stopped to stare. A woman walking her dog jumped back onto the sidewalk. The black car stayed behind them, matching their speed like a shark following a wounded fish.
Bella looked at her tablet again. She marked the location of the nearest guard station. Ten minutes away. Too far.
She marked the police station. Fifteen minutes. Also too far.
She marked the Moretti compound. Twenty five minutes.
She needed sothing closer. Her eyes scanned the map. There. A private security office owned by one of Leo’s associates. Five minutes.
"Turn right at the next stop sign," she said.
The driver turned. The black car followed. They were close now.
Her phone buzzed. Leo: I am sending help. Stay on the line.
She did not have ti to answer. The black car was speeding up, its engine roaring, closing the gap.
"Faster," she said.
The driver pressed the gas. The car shot forward.
The security office appeared ahead, a small building with a glass door and a sign that read "Private Security." Cars filled the parking lot. Guards in uniform stood near the entrance, chatting and drinking coffee, oblivious to the danger racing toward them.
Bella’s heart leaped. "Stop there!"
The driver pulled into the parking lot, tires screeching. The black car hesitated at the entrance, its engine idling.
Then the black car’s window rolled down. Bella saw an arm extend. A hand. Sothing glinted in the light.
A gun.
Ti slowed. Bella saw the muzzle flash and heard the crack of the shot. The glass of the security office door shattered. Guards shouted, dropped their coffee, and reached for their weapons.
The black car’s engine roared. It turned and sped away, disappearing around a corner, leaving only the echo of gunfire and the sll of burnt rubber.
Bella stared at the broken door. Her hands were shaking. Her heart was pounding so hard she thought it might burst.
"Get inside," she said.
The driver did not move. His eyes were wide, staring at the shattered glass.
"Now!"
He scrambled out of the car. Bella followed, her legs weak, her breath shallow. Guards ran toward them, shouting questions and drawing weapons. Soone grabbed her arm. Soone else pushed her toward the building.
She looked back at the street. The black car was gone.
Bella pulled out her phone. Leo had sent a dozen ssages. She typed back: I am safe.
Leo: Stay there. I am coming.
Bella was shaken and scared. Her hands would not stop trembling, and her heart was pounding so hard she could feel it in her throat. The world around her felt distant and muffled like she was underwater. Sounds ca to her in fragnts, voices overlapping, footsteps echoing, the crackle of a radio sowhere nearby.
She sat on the edge of the security office couch, a thin blanket draped over her shoulders that soone had given her. She did not rember who, maybe a guard, maybe the receptionist, maybe a stranger. It did not matter. The blanket was warm but she could not stop shivering.
The private doctor knelt in front of her, checking her pulse and shining a small light in her eyes. His face was kind and weathered with gray at his temples. "Ma’am, are you okay?" he asked.
Bella nodded. She did not trust her voice.
The doctor studied her face for a mont, then nodded back and stood up. He said sothing to the guards about monitoring her for shock but Bella did not really hear him. The words floated past her like leaves on a river, there and then gone.
Her mind was still on the road, on the truck, on the black car with tinted windows, on the bang, bang, bang of tal hitting tal, each impact jolting through her body like a gunshot. She could still feel it in her bones.
She heard the guards talking, their voices low but not low enough. The SUV was totaled. Three injured. One dead.
One dead.
The words echoed in her head, repeating themselves like a broken record.
She looked up at one of the head guards standing near the door. He was a large man, broad shouldered, his jaw tight and his eyes dark. He had been shouting orders earlier, organizing the scene, but now he stood still, watching her with sothing like pity.
Bella’s voice was shaking, barely above a whisper. "The person who is dead. Does he have a family?"
The guard’s expression flickered. He nodded slowly, his mouth pressing into a thin line. "Yes, ma’am."
He saw how shaken she looked, her pale face, her trembling hands, the tears clinging to her lashes like morning dew. He did not say anything else. He did not want to upset her more.
But Bella needed to know.
"What kind of family?" she asked.
The guard hesitated, glancing toward the door as if hoping soone would interrupt. No one did. He turned back to her, his voice quiet. "Two younger brothers. That is all. No parents. No wife. No children."
Bella’s throat tightened. She felt her heart grow heavy.
"He started working for Mr. Moretti a few years ago," the guard continued. "They were almost holess before that, living in a shelter. He joined the team so he could give his brothers a better life. Got them into a good school. Rented them an apartnt near the training facility. He was proud of them. Talked about them all the ti."
Bella pressed her hand to her mouth, her fingers cold against her lips.
"The brothers will be taken care of," the guard said, his voice firr now. "Mr. Moretti’s team will support them. Their studies, their careers, whatever they need. They will not be left alone. I will make sure of it myself."
Bella nodded, but the tears spilled down her cheeks anyway.
She did not know the man who had died. She had never spoken to him. She did not know his na or his face or what his voice sounded like. But he had been protecting her. He had been following her car, keeping her safe and doing his job. And now he was dead.
Because of her.
Because soone wanted to hurt her. Because of the stalker, or the black car, or the truck, or whoever was behind all of this. It did not matter who pulled the trigger. The guilt settled on her shoulders like a weight, pressing down, making it hard to breathe.
Bella wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. Her chest hurt. Her stomach churned. Bile rose in her throat, and she swallowed it down with a shudder.
She thought about the two brothers. Young, probably Scared and Alone. Waiting for their brother to co ho. Maybe they had dinner waiting. Maybe they had saved him a seat at the table. Maybe they had texted him and were wondering why he had not answered.
He was not going to co ho.
Bella closed her eyes but the tears still ca.
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