I released a deep breath, my knees almost buckling in relief. At least the immense guilt I felt for dragging them into this mess with me could stop now. My friends, still tied up, were tossed aside like garbage, and I was led to the van.
“Sienna,” Christine called out from where she and Mandy had been thrown to the ground.
“Don’t worry about me,” I assured her. “I’ll be fine. Be careful on your way back.”
When I arrived at the back of the van one of the men slapped a patch of duct tape over my mouth. He glared at me. “Jesus, preserve me from rich girls.” Then he unzipped my purse, took my phone out and threw it with force onto the road. It smashed into pieces. Then he pushed me roughly into the empty van and the door was slammed shut behind me.
I found myself lying on my side in pitch dark. I could still hear the men speaking outside though.
“If either of you say a single word about anything you’ve seen to anyone, we will hunt you both down and kill you. Do you understand?”
There was no answer from my friends, so I assumed they must have nodded. The van shook slightly as the men got into their seats in the front.
Now I knew what my father had been so frightened about. Why he had felt it necessary to marry me off to a stranger to keep me safe. Was I being kidnapped for money? Somehow, I doubted it. I had no idea what these men wanted from my father. I could only hope that whatever their demands were, it would be something that wouldn’t break my father.
I knew now that my decision to run away from Angelo had been the wrong one, but even though I had jumped from the pan into the fire itself, I couldn’t bring myself to regret my choice. I had only done what any other girl in my situation would have done if they had been forced to marry a man they detested. No matter what happened … I would never regret standing up for myself.
I began to wonder if these masked strangers would be the last people I ever saw. I thought of my Nonna and Gemma, and tears filled my eyes as I bent my head in complete and utter dejection.
Suddenly, a gunshot exploded somewhere nearby, and before I could even lift my head, the van careened off to the left and I was thrown off balance, my head banging on the metal side. My heart leapt into my throat.
It swerved once again, and I was thrown along to the other end. This time, it hurt bad, so I quickly tried to spread myself and press myself to the floor of the van, so I’d have more stability. Then multiple shots rang into the air.
We were being attacked.
My first thought was my father’s men had come to rescue me. Other than that, we were being attacked by a rival family. All of a sudden, a bullet zinged past my head, and burst its way out of the opposite end of the van. Whoa! No way, could it be my father’s men out there. They wouldn’t be shooting into the back of the van. We were being attacked.
I’m going to die here!
More gunshots rang out as I pressed myself to the floor as low as possible and prayed my father’s men would win out. Suddenly, something rammed violently into the van. The sound was deafening. With a scream muffled by the tape across my mouth, I slid on the floor helplessly and slammed into the side of the van. The vehicle skidded sideways for a few seconds, its tires screeching, before it completely lost its balance and landed on its side. I felt myself fly into the darkness and ram hard against the metal.
“Arhhhh.” Pain spread through my entire body.
The moments that followed were surreal, the only sounds I could pick up was a strange hissing sound, probably from the engine of the van. Other than this, it had become an ominous silence.
It was not over.
I tried to move my legs. They were like lead. I tried my very best to rise, but no dice. All I could do was flail them about like two dying fishes. Another gunshot followed and I went still. I held my breath and waited.
Chapter 18
Sienna
Suddenly, the door of the van was pulled open.
Somehow, I found the strength to scramble to my elbows and knees to retreat further into the van, quickly moving as far away as possible from danger. I turned around to meet whatever was coming for me, but my eyes wouldn’t adjust to the sudden infiltration of light from outside. All I could see was a dark silhouette watching me silently. It was like the straw that broke the camel’s back.