Aria's POV:
There were people everywhere and one mistake would have cost our lives. That realization had only truly sunk in when Lawrence went deathly still.
"Stop," Lawrence hissed and crouched down by the corner of a turn, bringing us all down with him.
I couldn't see what exactly was going on, but just enough to get a grasp. There was a young maid, probably twenties. I've seen her around the house, she would always accompany Ms. Elaria.
About 8 big men surrounded her and she was backed against the wall, whimpering as she bled from her arm.
If the four of us tried retreating to where we came from, they would hear us so we were stuck.
"Please!" She yelled desperately, tears streaming down her face. "I don't want to die!"
The men laughed at her desperation, humiliation and fear only sucking her further in. I wanted to get up and help, but I froze.
They all had the tattoos. The same one those three men that killed Mama had. I couldn't breathe anymore and all I could do was stare at the young maid in fear.
One of the intruders crept closer causing a cry of pleading to escape from the maid. He grabbed her by her collar, lifting her as if she was nothing but a toy doll.
My eyes widened in disgust as the man licked the trail of blood that had been dripping down the maid's face. She tried leaning her head away from him but he had a firm grip on her.
That's when we made eye contact. Just me and her. I could see she was petrified and I wanted to help her but I couldn't move. I was frozen, stuck to the ground and my voice was gone.
Her lips parted briefly as if she were to say something but instead, a gurgling noise replaced words briefly followed by blood.
The man dropped her to the ground before kicking her away from his feet like an animal as she choked on her blood. A bloody jagged line reached from ear to ear as her maid uniform slowly turned a deathly red.
As the men laughed, Lawrence shook his head before leading us back to another route while the men were distracted.
I just let it happen.
I don't know why I couldn't move. Everything had stopped.
"C'mon, Aria," Adela whispered, breaking me out of my trance.
Adela had to pull me along because I couldn't avoid looking at the sight of the dead young maid who was brutally murdered.
"This way," Adrian says, leading the way around a different corner.
Walking down the same halls I used to distract myself was now littered with bodies of workers, guards, and the people who I'm guessing are affiliated with Mama's murderers.
"Albert?" Lawrence hissed, breaking me out of my shock.
I hadn't even noticed the heavily injured man who wheezed out shaky breaths.
Albert was resting against the wall, clutching onto his side where blood soaked his shirt. I've seen the elderly man walk in and out of Lawrence's office so I had suspected he worked with Lawrence as his right-hand man or assistant.
As I stared harder at the man I realized he was the same guy that I had been blessed with who got me a milkshake when everybody was being hardasses.
Lawrence kneeled to his colleague and wasted no time, "We need to get out of here."
Lawrence had begun trying to help Albert up but the injured man shook his head. "I'll only slow you down, Mr. Hart. You need to go now."
"No, we can all make it out of here. We just have to-" Adrian began quietly but was quickly interrupted by Albert.
"With all due respect sir, it is too much of a risk especially with Miss Hart and Ms. Alvarez. You must leave me behind to leave safely."
"We should at least try," I said, loud enough for everybody to hear and everybody looked my way. It was the first time I'd spoken up but the fear and shakiness in my voice were evident.
"She's right," Adela agreed, nodding at the sound of it.
Without saying another word, Adrian and I helped Albert out. I realized then he was a petite man with a frail build as I stood right beside him. Albert being beside Adrian did him no further justice.
As we slowly trudged our way down the hall, the only thing that filled the hall was Albert's wheezes and gunshots followed by screams.
It made my stomach twist into knots of fear at the thought of it but I focused on quietly humming a song to distract me.
"Your mother used to hum whenever she was scared," Albert stated, scaring me. "She said it was an easy way to keep her mind off of the things going on around her."
I looked up at the old, fragile man. "Did you know her well?"
"In a way," He tilted his head thinking about it. "Hope is... Hope was the sweetest lady ever to set foot in this mansion. She was a lovely acquaintance."
A small pained smile painted my face. "That sounds exactly like her."
"All the workers in this mansion will greatly miss her and that is a fact, Miss Hart." I looked up at Albert and smiled sadly at him before nodding at him.
We stopped at a dead end as Lawrence placed his hands against the wall. My confusion was slowly replaced with realization as the wall slowly began to move inwards, turning into a door.
A secret passage was revealed, showing a set of narrow stairs heading down somewhere. I gaped in awe at the sight in front of us. It was like I was in those spy kids movies only it was happening as bullets flew around the whole place.
As if on cue, a scream ripped through the air scaring the shit out of all of us and had us hurrying down the stairs in a frenzy. It was too narrow for Adrian and I to help Albert down the stairs at the same time so he gently pushed me forward, urging me to go follow Adela.
It had felt like an eternity of huffing from running down the stairs before Lawrence threw a door open to an underground parking lot, a variety of vehicles parked around.
Whether it was black sports cars or weird cleaning vans there were still so many in the vast space.
"Hurry up!" Lawrence whisper-yelled as he guided us through the maze of cars.
Gunshots echoed and bounced off the walls. These people were everywhere in the house and they were showing no mercy.
I knew Jeremiah had basketball practice and Landon needed to go pick up the crib Adela and he ordered yesterday.
My stomach turned at the thought of Elaria still being in the house or worse but I shook that thought away.
Lawrence was way ahead of us as he pushed a key into a black minivan before sliding the door open. He helped Adela into the van who then assisted Albert into the seat, taking him off of Adrian's hands.
Adrian then hops in before reaching a hand out to help me up but before I can grab onto him, an arm roughly pulls my back into them holding a gun at my temple.
"Get off me!" I shrieked in fright, my whole body flailing around in an attempt to shake them off.
In an instant, Adrian, Lawrence, and Adela pulled their handguns out and pointed them at the person.
"Put the guns down on the ground or I'll blow this bitch's brain," a raspy, male voice speaks behind me before speaking more to himself. "The boss gon' love this one."
YOU ARE READING
Their Princess
De Todo"You can't bring her back." Aria's world was flipped upside down unexpectedly when men barged into her home, ruthlessly killing her Mother. Aria's Mother was her only light source, and it had been taken from her. Suddenly, men claiming to be her fam...
