THE BADDEST PRINCIPESSA

Chapter Forty - Ice Cream or Hot Chocolate

I sat in the back of Carlos's car with his boyfriend in the front passenger seat and his girlfriend sitting In the seat next to me. They all seemed stressed. "It's time" his girlfriend Camila speaks causing Carlos to start revving the engine. 

"Carlos" I squeak. "What's going on?!" Camila reaches over and puts her hand on my mind to comfort me. "You see Aria, all of this going to be over soon. No more mafia, no more violence."I slowly sunk into my seat wishing the ground would swallow me up.

"Shit, they are gaining" Camila is currently looking out the back window.

"Fuck, plan b" Carlos shouts. "No," Camila and Daniel both say at the same time."

"We have no choice. We gotta do it" he says. They are both hesitant at first but then I see them reach down to the bottom of their seats and pull a metal suitcase. I watch them pull out a gun.

They both start shooting at black SUVs behind us following closely. The strange thing about this is that they aren't firing back at us.

"Carlos, who are we shooting at?" "I promised Alessandro you would be safe with me but I realised that was never possible while in the mafia. It doesn't matter whether you stay in my father's custody or Ales's because either way the mafia was putting you in danger"

"Who are shooting at?"

With a loud sigh "Our guards" 

"You're killing the people who are supposed to protect us"

"Just trying to get away. We are just hitting the tyres so they cannot track us."

Considerably one of the cars just crashed into a wall there is no way the drivers survived that impact. My chest is getting tighter, and I'm breathing heavier. In a faint voice, I hear my name being called in a panicked tone as I slowly lose consciousness. 

5 hours later

I woke up in a strange room. Lying across a comfy bed I slowly make my way to look through the window. I am in a secluded cabin in the woods.  

I slowly made my way out of bed. I crept towards the door and opened it slightly. Grasping my surroundings. I see Camilla lighting the fireplace and Daniel putting up photo frames. I couldn't see Carlos anywhere. 

I try to creep out as quietly as possible. A little creek in the old wooden floors and both of them have their eyes on me.

"Hey," I say awkwardly. Camila turns to Daniel "I'll go get Carlos. He probably wants to explain this to her." She walks into another room. 

Daniel gestures for me to come sit by the fireplace. "It's cold. Take a seat in the living room and I'll go get us all some hot chocolate."

Carlos pov

Once Aria had passed out in the car, we managed to lose all the cars following us. Camila threw everyone's phones out of the window so they wouldn't be tracked. The only communication we have left is my burner phone. It's been 5 five hours since we went AWOL. 

I have been getting non-stop phone calls from everyone since then. I imagine everyone is going mad right now but I had to get Aria out of there.  I've tried to leave before but I used a credit card that was tied to my family so they quickly found out what hotel I was staying at. This time I took money out of an ATM and bibbed this old couple to sell us their cabin. The banks were not concerned about how much money I took out due to the fact. It was unsurprising for us to take out millions out in one day. Usually, it was when Daniel went on his gambling spree.

We have a few people outside of the mafia who are helping us build up our new identities to start our new lives. I'm looking to be a fitness instructor meanwhile Camila is going to continue to be a teacher in high school as before. Daniel is going to pursue his dream of writing his novels. Well, he does have a master's in literature so what do you expect?

Camila knocks on the door and enters. "Aria's awake and she seems a bit confused," she says. "I'll go talk to her" I get up and walk into the living room and see Aria and Daniel sitting down having a hot chocolate next to the fire.

"Aria," I started. "We need to talk".

"Okay, why am I here? What the hell is going on?" She asks worried.

"I needed to get you away from this life. It wasn't safe. I made a promise to Ales."

"How can I believe a word you say, how can I trust you?"

"I know it must be difficult and hard to understand but I did this for your good"

"My own good? You don't know a single thing about me. Take me back to my siblings"

"I am your brother"

"No, my other family. You are nothing but blood to me"

"I get this is hard. Please try to understand"

"Don't you get it? You're no different from them! All of you think you can control me, tell me what to do. But I've been making my own choices since I was a kid. Mom leaving was a wake-up call. I needed out. You can't change that. You're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem. Everybody needs to leave me alone. I can survive on my own."

"Dammit, Aria! Don't you see what I am trying to do? It wasn't about controlling you, it was about protecting you! This life, it's not a game. It's dangerous, and you were in the crosshairs. I had to make a tough choice, and maybe it wasn't the right one, but I did it because I care about you!" 

Aria glared at them, her voice trembling with anger "GET OUT MY FUCKING LIFE".  

She pushed herself out of the chair with a jerk, her movements sharp and angry. A flicker of something else, maybe fear, crossed her face for a brief moment before she walked out of the room and slammed the door behind her.

Selfishly I was hoping she was quite grateful.

Camila and Daniel walk over to me and both place a loving hand on my shoulders. "I'm sorry honey," Daniel said. "I thought she would trust you did this for the best" Camila commented."But why should she? I don't even think she knows how to trust someone." I said.

Author: Apologies for literally being a year since I last updated. Life gets hectic. I'm gonna make no promises on when I'll be uploading as life always gets in the way. I started this in 2021. Eventually, I'll finish it. Honestly keep harassing me in comments it will remind me lol.