His To Claim - Flora Ferrari Page 0,2

me, wisps of damp hair spiraling, making him look old and oddly babyish at the same time.

“I think it’s time you climbed from the car, little lady,” the man grins.

Up ahead, the two gunmen who got the drop on my father’s men are already corralling them near the trunk of the car. The one with the human shield strips him of his weapon and shoves him roughly so that the three of them can surround our men. Then, as the two aim their guns, the third quickly searches them for weapons and starts tossing them into the forest.

“And you,” the man goes on, nodding to Snaps. “We’ve done this nice’n clean, but I’m ready to make things ugly if you want it to go like that.”

“You’re just going to shoot us the second we get out of the car,” Snaps says, shaking his head. “So that’d be a fuck no.”

“I can shoot you when you’re in the car just as easy, pal,” the man snarls.

Snaps and the man stare at each other for a moment, and then the man laughs grimly.

“Motherfuckers,” he growls. “Bulletproof, eh? Fair enough.”

He turns his gaze to me, his beady eyes roaming over my body. I find myself leaning back and pulling the sleeves of my hoodie down, feeling as if I’ve slipped into some warped nightmare.

I want the hoodie to swallow me and let me disappear.

“Here’s how it’s gonna go, little lady,” he says. “For every thirty seconds you stay in that car, I’m going to kill one of your daddy’s men. If your driver or you tries to call anyone, I’m gonna kill one of your daddy’s men. Sound good? Good. And by the way, the timer’s already started. I’d say we’re at about ten seconds. So make up your mind quickly.”

I stare at the men, huddled together, looking weak and far more vulnerable than I’ve ever seen them. I remember laughing and joking with them when I was younger. I remember all the times Mom and Dad would have them around for dinner, and how they smiled and laughed with their wives and their children.

I can’t be responsible for their deaths.

I won’t.

“Snaps, open the door,” I say shakily.

“No fucking way—”

“Open the door,” I yell, smacking the back of his seat with the heel of my hand.

“I can’t do that, Aida,” he snaps.

“Twenty-five seconds, Aida,” the man says, the way he says my name making my skin crawl. “Better make up your mind …”

I dart my hand out to the window switch and press the button to lower it.

Snap reacts quickly, slamming his hand down on the override to send it buzzing back up.

But the balding man reacts quicker, shoving the tip of his gun into the gap so that the mechanism jams and whines.

“I’d stop doing that, if I were you,” the man snarls, voice louder now without the glass separating us. Cold wind rushes in. “Or maybe I’ll start unloading into the car.”

“Snap, we don’t have a choice,” I whisper. “We have to get out.”

“Don’t worry,” the man grins. “We’re not interested in you. Just the girl. She’s coming on a little trip with us.”

My chest seizes and Snaps gaze meets mine in the rearview mirror.

I feel like he’s trying to tell me he’s sorry with his eyes. He reaches across and presses the unlock button.

Immediately, the man’s hand is on me, the butt of the gun pressed coldly into the small of my back.

He marches me into the forest, every step making me flinch at the notion of a bullet tearing through my spine and exploding out of my belly.

“Who are you? What do you want?” I gasp as the soaked underbrush rises up around my chins, drenching my sneakers and sweatpants.

“Just keep walking,” the man says. “We’re not going to hurt you. Don’t worry. You’re with the good guys now.”

Chapter Two

Arturo

“What the fuck did you do, Elmo?” I snarl, pacing up and down my office with my fists clenched.

Elmo flinches every time I come close to him, as though any second I’m going to wrap my hands around his throat and crush it until all the life drains out of him.

He’s wearing his leather jacket and spirals of sweat-damp hair hang at the sides of his head like he’s in the process of being electrocuted.

Elmo stands at about five foot ten, so when I move across the room to stand over him, I’m staring across over a foot of space, my hulking body filled with rage and fire pumping through