He's Fire and She's Playing with It - Mafia Version

Chaper 29: Way Down We Go

Adryan was off the bed and on the floor in less than a second, scrambling with his pants. Ally was too struggling with her clothes but he was quicker and was already at the door when she only had had the time to pull her jumper over her head. Someone was knocking, the sound a faint throbbing in her confused mind.

"Adryan!"

Adryan, who apparently recognised the voice, turned to Ally one last time.

"Stay here."

Those were the only two words he uttered before opening one of the doors and rushing into the hallway, slamming it shut with so much force that it trembled on its hinges.

She wrestled with the rest of her clothes, covering her body with the sweet fabrics of cotton and lyocell. She glanced at the glass wall and hurryingly crossed the room to turn off the lights. She turned to the windows and slowly walked up to them and opened the curtains enough that she could peek out. The world down there was dark and peaceful. There were no signs of an attack on the house. Maybe no one would even know what had happened if the attackers put down everyone within its walls.

Put down.

Like they were animals led to slaughter.

Then a faint light of fire lit up the surroundings, the gleam disappeared so fast that if she hadn't happened to stare at the right place, she would've missed it. She waited for the sound of the gunshot to hit her, but it didn't. She took a step toward the window and gently tapped on the glass. Reinforced. Of course. Every entrance and exit to the house were guarded. Adryan had made sure of it.

She turned to the door and scanned the room for a place to hide. A late reaction to the traumatic interruption of their evening. She found none. Probably also one of Adryan's security measurements.

She felt the panic creeping in, an even later reaction. Maybe she was in shook, every feeling coming on way too slowly. Her eyes locked on the door. She needed to leave the room, to find somewhere with two exits. If someone entered the bedroom, she would be stuck, with nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. She had made the decision and tippytoed to the door before her brain had had the time to list all the dangers that were out there. She pressed an ear to the white wood. Silence, nothing but silence. But the doors couldn't shut out the sound - she and Adryan had heard the gunshot clearly - which meant that the hallway was either empty or someone was waiting to strike. She took a deep breath, willing her body to keep calm. She didn't have time to panic, couldn't waste precious seconds on doing so. She opened the door. If someone was out there, she wasn't safer in the room than in the hallway. At least she could try to escape, instead of waiting on Adryan or someone else to find her.

Someone else.

Her mouth went dry. Again, she was finding herself in a dangerous situation that she couldn't control no matter how hard she tried. She didn't have enough information, wasn't physically strong enough to fight someone off. The only thing she could do was to be smarter than them. Whoever they were and whatever they wanted.

She assured that the hallway was empty and there were no sounds coming toward her, as she stepped out, as visible as a deer in headlights.

She slowly made her way to the place where the path turned around a corner, concealing the view. She was moving as quiet as she could. She rounded the corner and gasped.

Thalia was laying on the floor by the ladder, which was miraculously still standing.

Her arm was twisted in an unnatural way. Probably from the fall that the bullet to her chest had caused. Blood had poured out on the floor, a huge puddle of red surrounding her. Ally didn't have to check if she was dead, but still pressed two fingers to her throat in an attempt to find and a non-existent pulse.