Calloused

29

We walked a few more blocks as the sun had now disappeared from the sky. We looked over our shoulders, paranoid, and on edge the closer we got to the SUVs. 

"They should be going to our house to look for us. It should give us enough time to leave the country." My father whispered to me. H still held me because I was still too weak to walk on my own. The pain meds must have been wearing off by then because I was feeling less groggy. My chest still hurt like hell, though.  

"Hopefully." I sighed, looking behind H's shoulder and at the men following close behind us. 

"I won't stop until you are safe, mi amor." My father promised me as he placed his hand on the top of my head. 

"You're all we got now." He smiled weakly at me. Our empire was crumbling. We needed a better solution than running and hiding forever.

"We will survive this." I agreed with a fire in my eyes. Once the black SUVs were in sight, we looked around each one. We checked for explosives, tripwires, bombs, etc. We were thorough and extremely cautious. 

H helped me in first, then he let my father get in. Niall sat in the passenger's side while H hopped into the driver's seat. We took off, careful to watch behind us as we drove. 

The others were in front of us. My father had given them very clear instructions.

Don't stop until we are in Italy. My father's voice repeated in my head. We had a private plane at the airport. It would take us a few hours to reach our destination, but it would be safer than being on the ground where Vincent was. 

Anywhere would be safer than here in NYC. A place where our enemies could hide. I stared at H as he gripped the steering wheel tightly, his knuckles turning white. He was tense. I leaned my head on my father's shoulder and felt my eyes grow tired. I couldn't keep them open as the exhaustion took over my body.

My father rested his head on top of mine. It had been years since we were this close, I had missed feeling safe and protected by him. Our line of work had caused us to grow so distant from each other. I felt like we both had forgotten we were still family amongst the chaos. 

"Fuck!" H cursed loudly as he swerved the car violently to the right. My eyes shot open as I looked around in panic.

"We got company!" Niall snarled, looking past my father and me. We whipped around to see that 2 other black SUV's had started following us. The first one accelerated forwards, smashing into our bumper. I almost flew backwards but my father caught me. H struggled to keep the truck steady as he swerved back and forth, trying to shake them off. 

The man on the passenger side of the first SUV hung out of the window and aimed a gun at us. 

"Gun!" I barked as I ducked down. He fired at us, the bullets made a clunking noise as the hit the metal body of the truck.

"Hold on!" H roared as he took a hard right, the tires skidded against the pavement, screeching in protest. I looked back to see one of the SUV's following us. The other continued after our men's vehicle. We lost sight of them.

I clung to the seat for dear life as H tried to lose them. My father pulled his gun out and took the safety off. 

H weaved in and out of traffic. They caught up again and rammed into us once more. They shot at our back window, the bullets made contact, causing it to shatter. I cursed, feeling the adrenaline course through my body. My father shot back, trying to hit the man with the gun.

"Filthy bastards!" He yelled in anger.

"H! Swap with me!" I demanded as I climbed into the front seat. I sat on Niall as he grumbled at me in annoyance.