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Before he ran back inside his house, he took a much-needed second to hand gesture to me, telling me to get away from the window.
I didn’t do as told. As he darted inside, I kept my nervous palms on the glass. My only friend was in grave danger. I couldn’t leave him. I had to do more to help him, even though I was locked away.
I whimpered when watching the two men follow, right behind Kelly. There were immediate crashes and bangs… then another loud gunshot.
I whispered, “Kelly,” hoping his gun had helped him.
Within seconds, one man in a suit came stumbling out of the house, holding his stomach.
I inhaled relief… but then three more men followed, none appearing injured. And they had Kelly in a firm hold.
Kelly was fighting them, even after they shoved him to his knees, his back to his home.
My mouth moved but no noise came out. Where did the other men come from? What are they going to do to him—
One man leaned down, smirking, while whispering into Kelly’s right ear.
As if time stood still, I watched his golden-brown eyes look up… at me. Kelly’s jaw was hanging as if what he’d been told was the last thing he expected. Then he mouthed to me, “I’m sorry,” right before a blade sliced his neck.
In horror, I screamed, “Da! My friend!” I had made a promise to stay quiet, but this was too much. Any silence would be like a blade cutting me, too. “My friend!” Sheer terror riveted my soul. Snot, tears, and slobber from my screams dripped. “Kelly!”
Still staring at me, Kelly’s body fell to the side.
And, just like that, helping the shot man in a suit, the four disappeared into the shadows again.
Paralyzed in shock, moments passed as I gasped and gasped, trying to live through this horrendous act I’d just witnessed. Kelly’s blood had drenched the ground, his back porch light shining off the crimson.
Not knowing how or what to do, my numb feet faced the locked door. My weak legs tried to step forward but faltered. I stumbled, hitting my knees, just like Kelly had.
Since I wasn’t bleeding to death, like my friend, I crawled to the door. Reaching out, I tried to tap on it, mumbling, “Da, bad men.”
The lock clicked, and the door opened. From my hands and knees, I slowly peered up… to see two men in suits.
Pure instinct had me crawling backward, desperate for an escape that didn’t exist, but I didn’t get far. By my hair, I was lifted to my bare feet. A man in a suit studied me, then said, “He’s not lying. She’s her daughter.”
Being forced down the stairs, I heard Da say, “Jacopo, I’ll get you the money, just give me more time.”
Rounding the corner, I saw another man in a suit. He was with Da, and he noticed me, then froze. “Oh merda. Sciocco.”
Jacopo’s strong accent was much different than mine.
He told Da, “Tsk. Tsk. You shouldn’t have kept her. Lorenzo is not so patient now.”
Da, sitting on the couch, was leaning forward anxiously. “I tried to kill her!” He winced. “It just didn’t work.”
“Da?”
He held up a hand, telling me to be quiet. Then he blew out a trembling breath. “Elleora, I need you to go with these men, just for a little while.”
I hadn’t recovered from the shock of watching Kelly’s murder. Now I was to just leave the only home I knew, for the very first time, with his murderers? “But, Da—”
A very familiar knife was shown to me by another man in a suit. “Is it ‘Da’s’ turn for this?”
It still had Kelly’s blood on it. I shrieked, “No!”
It seemed my fate was a hostile one, and I had no choice but to live it.
It hadn’t been me who kept Da from needing more little girls. It was that he had run out of money… to buy more.
