The Ones Who Saved Us

Chapter 50

Avalee's POV

I was speeding down the local roads as Teddy directed us using the printed directions our family had left in the glove compartment. Luca and Eden had found a bag in the back with walkie talkies, explosives, guns, and ammunition left there by my dear brothers. For the moment, no cars had followed, but of course, our luck couldn't last for long.

A car similar to the one were in was trailing us. I pressed my foot harder on the gas, but it wasn't enough, and the other car soon caught up. They sped up so they were on the left side of the road, close enough to run us off to the side if they wanted.

My heart was pounding hard against my chest, my hands tense against the steering wheel. The other car's window rolled down, and I was immediately relaxed. It was only Emilio and Matteo in the other car, the latter holding a walkie talkie out from the window, signaling for us to turn it on.

"Luca, can you give Teddy the walkie talkie?" I asked as their window rolled up.

Teddy took it from our cousin and turned it on. "Hello?" he said.

"Hey, Teddy," Emilio said. "Dad and Alessandro sent us after you to keep you safe in case anyone follows. Did anyone get hurt on your way out?"

"No," I said. "How's the rest of the family? What about you guys? Are they gonna be okay?"

"Aves, everyone's fine," Matteo said. "It'll be a while before they meet us at the safehouse, but hopefully they'll be there by morning."

"Fuck," Emilio said. "Guys, we gotta go. There's two cars behind us. Keep driving while we handle these fuckers."

The walkie talkie went silent as we heard the sounds of bullets being fired. I tried seeing what was happening through the mirrors, but all I could make out was Matteo's body emerging from the sunroof with a machine gun in hand, shooting the cars and anyone who dared to lean out of their windows.

A few hundred feet passed before the road split into two, and I swerved to the right. There was a loud clang behind us, eliciting a gasp from Eden and my little brother. Looking in the rearview mirror, I saw that the two cars that had been following us had crashed, one of them flipping over and off the road.

"Your brother shot their tires, and they lost control of the car," Luca said. A second passed before Luca muttered, "Holy shit. There's no way they'll do that."

I heard an explosion as flames flew from those cars. I doubt anyone could have survived that.

Static came from the walkie talkie, and I could soon hear Matteo's and Emilio's laughs. "That was fucking incredible," Matteo said. "Remind me to thank Sandro for the explosives."

The rest of the drive was filled with chatter and bickering, no other cars following us much to our relief.

It must have been two hours before we reached an old-fashioned mansion in the middle of nowhere. Matteo and Emilio pulled their car in front of us, leading us through the tall grasses behind the mansion where a shed was. Matteo got out of the car and directed me to park right next to where Emilio was.

It was pitch black outside, the full moon illuminating the vast field. The warm air caused my sweatshirt to cling to my skin, and the grass felt rough against my ankle.

After Emilio grabbed the bag of weapons and pulled a large cloth over the cars, he led us through the field to a greenhouse that bordered the woods that laid behind the mansion. The floor was carpeted unlike any greenhouse I had seen in pictures. My brothers led us to the middle of the room where they crouched down and felt around the floor, searching for a handle or door.