Luca and the other two employees complied, their faces leached of color.
“Vivian,” Luca hissed. “Get down.”
I wanted to. Every instinct screamed at me to crawl into a corner and curl up until the danger was over, but my muscles refused to obey my brain’s commands.
I’d lived in New York for years, but I’d never experienced a mugging or assault. Sometimes, I’d watch the news and wonder how I’d react if I were caught in such a situation.
Now I knew.
Not well.
One second, I was signing receipts and talking to Luca. The next, the sight of the masked men had pressedpauseon the tape of my life, and all I could do was watch, numb, as the one who’d shouted instructions caught sight of me still standing.
Anger lit his eyes.
Fear ricocheted through my body as he stalked toward me, yet my feet remained rooted to the floor. No matter how hard I fought the creeping paralysis, I couldn’t move.
Everything felt surreal. The store, the robbers,me.
It was like I’d floated out of my body and was watching the scene play out as an invisible third party.
The masked man neared.
Closer.
Closer.
Closer.
My pulse reached deafening levels and drowned out everything except the heavy, ominous thud of his boots.
I should be focused on how to escape my current situation, but time flipped back with every footfall.
My first camping trip with my family. Walking across the graduation stage at Columbia. Meeting Dante.
Life events, big and small, that’d shaped me into who and where I was today.
How many more of those did I have left, if any?
Pressure squeezed the oxygen from my lungs.
Get down.But I couldn’t.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
He was here.
The last thud finally kicked my fight or flight into high gear.
My body jerked, a gasp of life in the face of death, but it was too late.
The cold metal of a gun pressed against the underside of my chin.
“Did you not hear me the first time?” The man’s hot, wet breath fanned across my face. My stomach turned. “I saidget on the fucking floor,bitch.”
His dark eyes gleamed with malice.
Some criminals were all bravado. They just wanted to snatch the goods and leave without actually killing anyone.