Page 301 of Mario
I wrench my arm down and twist, the way the instructor showed us, toward his thumb, toward the weak point in his grip.
Pain tears through my shoulder, but his hand breaks loose.
Cindy says something behind us, but I can barely hear her over the roaring in my head.
I can only hope she’s shocked enough not to react in time.
I shove the man with both hands, using all my strength and desperation, and he stumbles into the edge of the path.
For one second, I am free.
I turn and run.
It’s certainly not graceful with my purse banging against my hip, and my breath tearing out of me, but I run toward the park, toward the safety of the people and noise.
Toward any place that is not the parking lot.
“Help!” I try to scream, but it comes out broken.
Behind me, there is movement.
They recovered faster than I expected. Too fast.
It wasn’t enoughis the horrible thought that runs through my mind.It wasn’t enough. I won’t get away.
I feel something I’ve never felt before—a sensation between my shoulder blades—and I know with certainty the feeling of a gun locked on me, prepared to fire.
He is going to shoot me.
He is going to shoot my baby.
I try to move faster, but my body simply isn’t fast enough.
I am not going to make it.
A heavy thud sounds behind me.
The shot doesn’t come, and I keep running because I cannot stop, because stopping means dying, because my mind has not caught up to the fact that I am not dead yet.
Then, a sharp, choked cry cuts off too quickly and is followed by a second thud.
A firm hand closes around my arm.
I jerk against it, terror ripping up my throat.
Before I can let the scream loose, a familiar voice is at my ear.
“Keep going. Don’t look back.”
Chapter Thirty
Mario
I keep my arm around Victoria as I guide her toward the street.
Though I want to whisk her away. We can't move too fast, or we'll draw attention
My hand is firm at her waist, her body tucked into my side, my head bent slightly toward hers as if we are simply a couple leaving the park together. Nothing worth looking at. Nothing anyone needs to remember.
