Family

FORTY-SIX

By the time I had finished putting away the dishes, cleaning the island and getting ready, Leo was patiently waiting by the front door for me. He was dressed comfortably, a thick, woollen hoodie and a pair of wide leg jeans along with a pair of trainers we had gotten him a while ago. 

He looked cute.

"Leo wear this, it's quite cold outside." Forwarding the blue scarf in my hands, I expected him to reach out and take it but that was stupid of me. He still hasn't warmed up to us or forgiven us.

"Do you not want to wear it?" He doesn't respond, looking at his shoes as if they're the most interesting thing in the world.

Sighing, I unlock the front door and make my way to the garage. Antonio hasn't taken his car. Grinning, I grab the keys to his car and lay the scarf I bought for Leo on my lap - he'll definitely want it later.

I can tell by the way his body's shivering every second that he's cold but he refuses to talk to me, staring into nothing out of the window.

The car thankfully warms up by the time we've left the house, trees are the only thing we can see for a few miles before the other houses come into view. 

It takes us a while to get into town and I waste no time in driving to my favourite ice-cream shop. Leo perks up slightly in his seat, shifting ever so slightly. 

He looks adorable when he gets excited like that, I just wish he'd smile a little.

Those pills really do work, maybe if I had taken them sooner, much sooner, things could've been different to how they are now.

A small sneeze from my left brings me out of my thoughts and narrow my eyes on my little brother.

"If you don't wear this scarf around your neck, we aren't getting ice-cream. The last thing I need is you getting sick Leo." My voice is firm and a small smile plays on my lips as he wraps the scarf around him after I place it onto his lap.

The bell jingles as we enter, the cozy shop not seeming to be too busy.

I doubt anybody would want ice-cream when it's this cold out.

"What can I get for you?" asks the cashier, a polite smile on her face.

"Pick a flavour Leo." I gently prod, nodding to the vast selections of ice+cream flavours.

He points to vanilla and mint and I chuckle slightly causing him to look at me. 

"Who said you could have two scoops?"

He bites his lip, stepping back from me slightly and I know i've just gone and messed things up.

"I'm joking Leo, are you sure you just want two?" He doesn't move, fidgeting in his spot.

Sighing softly, I turn to cashier," Two scoops of vanilla and mint ice-cream please." 

She nods and I quickly pay, grabbing our tubs of ice-cream and making my way to the seats near the wall. Passing Leo his ice-cream, he's quick to take his spoon and devour it.

"Slow down or you'll choke." 

During the time it took me to finish my ice-cream, Leo sneezed at least four times. He's definitely sick, judging by his red nose and the amount of tissues I've given him to use.

"Lets get you home." I mutter, leading the way back to the car.

Turning the keys in the ignition, I freeze momentarily, catching sight of a figure clad in black behind the car. Of course, there's nobody there when I turn around.

"Want to take the long way home Leo?" My question goes unanswered but I'll take it as a yes anyway.

My fingers tighten on the steering wheel as I notice the same car has been trailing us for a while now. It's windows are completely tinted so I can't make out who's inside.

"What the hell?" I mutter to myself.

Throwing my phone into Leo's lap, my eyes remain focused on the road, "Leo call Antonio the password is your birthday. Quickly!" I shout, noting how the car behind us has now multiplied into three others.

The line rings for a few seconds before he picks up," Did you take my car?" 

"Did you put a trail on us?" I question, my knuckles turning whiter every second.

"Someone's trailing you?" He questions lowly.

"Shit." I mutter.

"Do you think you can lose them?" Antonio asks, he's probably trying to hide it but I can hear the worry in his voice.

"I'm trying, Leo's here with me I can't be too reckless and get us both killed." 

"How many vehicles are there?" 

"There's three-"

"F-four." A quiet voice stutters.

 Antonio curses," Do your best to lose them, my car's got a tracking device installed so we'll catch you up."

"Antonio." There's no way I can lose them, they're starting to close in on us.

"There's a gun under the driver's seat, shoot at their tires." He instructs.

"I can't shoot and drive!" Sure enough, there is a gun underneath the seat and I don't even want to know how it got there.

"You've got to try!" Now I can really hear the fear in his voice.

Good thing is, we're on a road that goes straight for miles. Bad thing is, there's only five cars driving and I can't see any cameras around here either.

"Leo, can you watch ahead and let me know if anything happens or comes in our way?" I plead, rolling down the window.

He's shaking but holding the phone so tightly in his hands.

"We're going to be fine okay? We're going to be fine."

I can barely make out Antonio's voice over the phone as I fire shots at the tire's of the cars behind us, who knew taking those lessons would come in handy?

Successfully hitting one of the car's tires, the other three pick up their speed, closing the distance between us.

"I'm out of bullets." I mutter, rolling the window up and checking to see if there's another gun lying around somewhere.

"Alfonzo?" Antonio calls on the loud speaker.

"What?" My foot slams all the way down on the foot pedal, rapidly picking up speed.

"These guys are probably after Giovanni and I, I'm sorry you're in this mess because of me-"

"No." I abruptly cut him off," I noticed something back at the shop but I didn't pay attention to it. They were definitely there and they saw Leo and I go back into the car, they're after us."

Or maybe just one of us.

A harsh thud from my right makes me lose control of the wheel for a moment before I realise a black SUV is hitting the side of the car. Another one is quick to follow onto the other side, pushing into the car.

Leo groans at the impact, glancing at me with teary eyes. 

"A-Are we going t-to die?" He whispers.

"No Leo, we aren't." 

Before the cars have another chance of hitting us again, I increase our speed even more if possible, successfully making the two cars crash into each other but there's still one more left.

Glancing in the rear view mirror, only three cars remain in the positions, the fourth nowhere to be seen.

Maybe I shouldn't have offered to take Leo out for ice-cream because if I didn't, a black SUV wouldn't be parked in front of us, as if begging me to crash into it.

Spotting it too late, there's nothing to be done as the car crashes into the SUV in front of us. The last thing I see is an anxious Leo reaching towards me, terror embedded onto his face.

I'm sorry Leo.

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Thoughts? 

Make sure you're sleeping on time!!<3