Into the Darkness: a mafia love story

Arianna POV: 

They had shuffled me over to a car and into the back seat roughly shoving me in the door as I vainly attempted to wriggle free. They laughed as I tried to turn my wrists in their hands and hauled me into the car. I thought to my phone tossed into my purse as I had moronically been dreaming about Giovanni. 

I looked around the car trying to figure out a way to freedom. They got in and one pointed a gun at me. "You try anything and you're gonna regret it," 

I slumped back in my seat frustrated, not just at my situation but mainly at myself. I hadn't paid attention at all, I had disregarded the situation we were in and put my head in the clouds. If I had been focusing I would have noticed Luca wasn't there, and instead of feeling lonely, I would have been on alert. 

Now here I was in the back of a gross car with two old pigs snorting about the pride they took in taking a young girl hostage. I looked at the gun sitting on the console, and how easy it would be to grab it. Then what? I was in the middle of a convoy back to the city no doubt to be thrown into an ivory tower. 

My mind went back to my father grinning with pride "This is why you'll be the best successor,". 

I shuddered at the thought, he was completely insane if he thought I would take on his legacy of bloodlust and power. I thought of the faces of families he had gouged for years, twisted and red with nerves. The fear swimming in their eyes at the mere mention of his name, and the sid-eyed glances I got when they knew who I was. 

I clenched my fists at the thought, he murdered my mother and expected me to take over for him. My mother flooded my memory, her smile, the way she'd never stop to donate to a booster club, veterans, children, the women's shelter. How she'd stop and lend a hand to anybody passing by. Even if we didn't have a lot she gave her time, and herself. 

I was raised by her. 

I looked out the window counting the mile markers, trying to see if anything looked familiar. I looked over the driver's shoulder to see how fast he was going. I might just hurl myself out onto the road, anything, anything to stop from becoming his pawn. 

I will not be used against Giovanni, and I won't forget the lessons my mother taught me. 

We kept driving back taking various route changes, to stay off the radar I'm sure. Not only was Giovanni going to burn the city to the ground to find me, but my father was under a microscope by the feds. This was a dicey move on his part, though he had taken advantage of Giovanni's ambition, he had the same fault. 

All I had to do was get away. 

Eventually, we were on a road that was familiar and I knew there'd be a stop coming up soon I leaned against the door and started fiddling with the window and the controls. I looked at the cars closest to us, our car was splitting off. I wasn't going to get a chance better than this. 

I talked myself up in my head making sure I didn't hesitate I wouldn't have a second chance all I had to do was hurl myself out of a moving vehicle. A slow-moving vehicle but I needed them off their guard. We split off as they took me down a back route into the city, no doubt to avoid the detection of Giovanni. 

I felt my heart race as I gripped the door I did my best to keep my face on of mild anger and resignation. I couldn't let them see me falter as I undid the car door lock with one hand and opened the door with the other. 

I waited until a stop sign was coming up they started slowing and just before the complete stop I moved. My fingers were slick with sweat as I gripped the lock and I opened the door throwing my body weight against it so the momentum would carry me. 

I tumbled out of the car hitting gravel then grass and fumbling further down a long hill as I kept going. I couldn't catch my breath as the world spun around me rolling over rocks and sticks further and further away from my father's men. 

I finally stopped and took what felt like forever to take five large and exasperated breaths bumps and bruises dotted my body and I felt a stinging somewhere on my leg, then another piercing sensation on my arm. I got up pushing past the p[ain and stumbling through the forest. I could hear them curing behind me as they fumbled their own way down the hill guns drawn. 

Don't think about them. Keep going. 

I started running keeping my eyes ahead of me watching my feet and where they landed as I hurled forward. If I was where I thought, I was by a small outlet that had a diner, a gas station, and a small neighborhood. 

Not the safest part of town, but it was safer than what was behind me. I tried to remember if they were loyal to my father or to Giovanni. Every crosswalk, stoplight, and city block had made their decision by this point in the game. 

I tried to picture the map in my head the farthest corners of it but my mind was split from the safety I was skiing and the stability my feet needed to find. I kept my mind on the task at hand and kept running. The one thing I had on the men chasing me was that I wasn't a mildly overweight middle-aged man whose diet consisted of alcohol, tobacco, and greasy food. The other bonus was they hadn't shot at me yet. 

Another calculation into my plan was reliant on what my father had said. If I was truly to succeed him I needed to live past him, I couldn't do that with a bullet in my head now could I? The guns were to keep me in place, but they couldn't actually harm me. 

I kept running through the trees following along until I saw the road I looked as best I could before running across the gravel a car honking at me as it went past, but any adrenaline that might have caused was already in effect. I ran further alongside the road keeping as low as I could to avoid my would be kidnappers. 

I had to keep going, only feeling some mild relief seeing the small patch of buildings up in the distance. I kept rushing forward my eyes trained on the buildings. One more decision, gas station or diner. I weighed both before deciding on the latter, more people and I could at least hide in the bathroom. 

I looked up hoping to see the sun but a grey overcast sky blocked my view. It had to be close to noon by now, if I was lucky there was a lunch rush. I counted the cars, three. I didn't know if that meant three customers or three workers but I knew it meant three phones, one of them had to have a kind heart. 

I grabbed the door and yanked it open a woman pouring coffee behind the counter gasping as I entered and stopping her task. A guy and a girl turning and whispering in shock at the state of me. I brushed a hand over my hair feeling leaves and bramble stuck in it. 

I calmly walked up to the counter my eyes straining with tears, trying not to appear like a crazed person. 

"Please can I borrow your phone?" I asked the waitress. She only nodded and handed it over, eyes wide and mouth agape. 

"Thank you!" I couldn't hide my excitement. 

I looked down at the small screen typing in Giovanni's number…

Wait. I held my thumb over the next digit. I felt hesitation creep up over me and looked over my shoulder, no sign of the men following me. They wouldn't give up, I knew they wouldn't, my father would kill them for losing me. 

I sat for a moment, calling Giovanni or Luca had its risks right now but I had to get back to them. There was someone else I could call, messy as it would be, it might be the only safe option.