Dark Romance | Mafia

Chapter Twenty-five

Stella's POV:

Everything turned blurry. I clutched my head with both hands as the world spun around me. The gunshot sliced through the air so violently that my ears started ringing.

Voices twisted into screams, echoing off the walls like jagged shards of glass. People scattered, running in every direction, but I stayed frozen.

It felt like the ground had vanished under my feet, and the air itself seemed thick and heavy, suffocating me. My heart hammered in my chest, and my stomach clenched, twisting into knots that made my legs feel like they didn’t belong to me anymore.

With whatever courage I had left, I forced myself to look down. The moment my eyes landed on him, horror punched the breath out of me, and I screamed with everything inside me.

My chest burned as if I'd inhaled fire. My vision blurred with tears, and each heartbeat felt like a drum of doom, echoing in the chaos around me.

Sam was lying on the floor. His shirt was drenched in red, the blood spreading out beneath him in a dark, glistening pool that shimmered in the flickering overhead lights.

One of his hands was pressed weakly against his chest, as if he was trying to hold himself together.

His breaths were short and broken, each one rasping and ragged, sounding as though each inhale and exhale was a struggle against some invisible weight pressing down on his chest.

The metallic scent of blood hit me sharply, invading my nostrils and throat, making my stomach churn violently.

"Sam!" I screamed, my voice tearing out of me before I could stop it. It was raw, hoarse, and laced with pure panic.

I stumbled forward, falling to my knees as they slammed against the cold tiles. The floor was slick and sticky beneath me, and the chill ran through my skin, making me shiver uncontrollably.

My hands trembled when I pressed them to his chest, desperately trying to stop the bleeding, but the blood kept slipping through my fingers like water through a sieve. Warmth spread across my palms, and the sharp metallic smell filled my lungs, making it difficult to breathe.

My heart threatened to explode in my chest, each beat hammering against my ribs like it wanted out.

Another gunshot echoed, louder than the last, bouncing off the walls like thunder.

The crowd broke into chaos, people screaming, pushing, running in every direction. And yet… no one came to help.

No one even looked my way, no matter how loudly I begged. Panic curled around my spine, twisting my stomach into knots. I could see the terror on their faces.

My eyes darted around through the blur of panic, desperate to spot Mr. Romano, but he was nowhere. The realization hit me like a punch, everything inside me shattered.

My chest tightened so painfully that it felt like it couldn’t contain my lungs.
Every beat of my heart was deafening in my ears, hammering a rhythm of terror and helplessness that I couldn’t escape.

My hands shook uncontrollably as I reached for Sam. My trembling fingers brushed his cheek, slick with cold sweat.

The moment I felt how cold he was getting… something inside me collapsed. A scream clawed its way up my throat, but it sounded hollow, swallowed by the chaos around us.

"No… Sam, no. Please, look at me," I choked out, tears spilling down my cheeks, mingling with the sweat.

"Stella…" His voice was thin, strained... each breath rasped as if his chest itself was breaking.

"Stella, I....I..I’m fine," he lied even though his body trembled violently, the blood still spreading beneath him like dark, unstoppable ink.

"Just stay awake... please," I begged, my voice breaking, each word sharp with desperation.

Sam nodded weakly, even though his eyes were slipping shut. His hand loosened under mine, his life seeping away with every faint pulse. Each second stretched into an eternity.

I pressed my forehead against his, willing him to fight, willing him to stay.

"Sam," my voice cracked, my eyes widening in horror, "Sam, hey… no. Sam, look at me!"

"SAM!" I screamed.

I yelled his name over and over, my voice quivered uncontrollably. My arms shook, my fingers dug into his shirt, clutching him as if sheer force could keep him alive.

"Sam! No, no, please… Sam--" My words kept breaking apart. My heart was pounding so hard it drowned out every other sound, the screams, the chaos, the bullets, and all I could hear was the fragile, shallow rhythm of his fading life.

My breath came in jagged gasps, tears stung my eyes, rolling down constantly.

Another gunshot exploded through the air. Before my mind could even register it, something slammed into me....hard. Breaking my trance.

Arms wrapped around my waist, a body shielding mine, and the world spun as I was shoved to the floor, my knees scraping painfully against the tile.

The impact knocked the breath out of me, and I hit the ground with a thud that made stars explode behind my closed eyes.

"Stay down," a voice hissed, rough and low, cutting through the ringing in my ears like a blade.

I blinked up, breath shaking.

AK.

Our eyes locked for a brief moment. His gaze held the unprecedented intensity to burn whatever crosses it's path into ashes.

His jaw was locked tight, eyes razor-sharp, scanning the chaos around us.

One hand was already reaching for the gun strapped to his back, his movements precise and lethal. Every muscle in his body was coiled, ever nerve protruding out, ready to strike.

"Trying to kill yourself?" he growled, his voice edged with danger, a dangerous mixture of fury and urgency that made my insides curled, spreading a terror through out my body.

"I....I have to get to Sam," I choked out, my voice cracked as I gulped my anxiety hard, entire body trembled with fear and helplessness.

His head snapped towards me, he held my arm in a deadly grip, growling in a low voice.

"Move if you want to die," he snapped, his expression subtle yet deadly.

Before I could even argue, another shot fired, making me grab him even harder, and clench his shirt from the back.

The bullet flew by so close to me that it made my hair fly around in a disarray.  The sound reverberated through the walls, prevailing a deafening silence before the havoc broke out once again. Dust and debris rained down from the ceiling above us, and the smell of gunpowder mixed with the coppery tang of blood, filling the room in a suffocating haze.

Until then...