V - Escape

"I need to go to the bathroom," I interrupted the mood I was getting into, as we walked through the doors of the building I thought I was safe in for a moment.

"Just now?" sidelong glanced at me Maddox, seemingly annoyed.

"Yes, just now," I looked at him sternly.

Was I losing my mind?

How could I face him in my vulnerable situation?

He could kill me right outside the door of the building where there were hundreds of police officers and no one would do anything for me.

"I hope you don't try to escape. Dax," he said and looked at his brother knowingly, "Don't even think about touching her without her consent."

The man mentioned, nodded, leaving a smile in the air that made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.

How could he look so dangerous and attractive at the same time?

"Can my friend Lev come with me?" I asked the one with different eyes, as soon as we bumped into her on the road, "I have to explain to her what's going on."

My friend looked at him as if she was facing the monster of her nightmares, but tried to disguise that she wanted to run away screaming.

She couldn't imagine how I felt being subjected to those men with no escape; fortunately the hotel was not far away and our bags were ready.

There was no way we were going to stay with those maniacs.

If my memories were not wrong, there was the perfect place to look for a solution to our problems.

I was probably about to risk my life, but I didn't feel entirely sane in that situation.

Was it a dream?

"Don't be long," he commanded and leaned close to my ear, "or it will be me, my little girl, who will have fun with you tonight," he observed me insistently and fearing the worst, I pulled my friend's arm to lead us away to the farthest bathroom of the station.

I locked the door and breathed again, however, Lev grabbed my shoulders tightly and shook me hard.

I looked at her quizzically. If I hadn't woken up, she had already helped me.

"Damn it, Ami! What nightmare am I living? Who the hell are those bastards who want to take you away? Where to?" she asked without stopping, as if she was in a roulette of uncontrolled emotions, "Your wedding is tomorrow, damn it. What are we going to do? What are we going to tell Draven?" she paced around the bathroom, while I stared at the open bathroom window that looked out onto the street, "He's going to have a heart attack. No, I'm going to have a heart attack, no way!"

"Calm down, Lev."

"Calm down? Am I the one who's supposed to calm down?" she opened her eyes worriedly, "Ami, they want to kidnap you, do you realize that?"

"You think I don't realize?"

"Then what the fuck is going on? Tomorrow everything is ready for your wedding, we lost our stuff, Francesca died, June and Kari are missing, our families don't know anything and now three strangers came to take you as if you were theirs!"

"I know that!" I shouted, "But we're getting out of here."

"What?" she looked at me as if I had gone crazy, "What? You can just disappear and I didn't know?"

"Don't be ridiculous, out the window," I pointed to the back of the wall, where the sun's rays were filtering through; it wasn't a very big window, but it was enough room to get both of us through.

"Yes, we're going to die," she shrieked, as I looked for a way up, "Do you think what happened out there was a game?" she objected desperately, "Surely there are snipers on the roofs like in the movies, ready to kill any strangers."

I found a trash basket high enough to reach the top, while my best friend was delirious with fear.

I just wanted to escape the nightmare.

"The only difference is that we're not in a movie, Lev. Get up here and let's go," I extended a hand toward my friend and she looked at me quizzically.

"Ami, at what point did you get up there?"

"While you were losing your mind, I was looking for a way out. Do you want to move? We don't have much time," I insisted annoyed, "Do you have your stuff?"

"Yes, of course, but...," I didn't let her finish, when I pulled her by the hand to come upstairs with me.

"We'll leave right away for the hotel; we'll figure it out on the way. We'll be fine," I climbed up to the window, trying to see that there was no one suspicious nearby.

"Work it out on the way? Are you out of your mind, Ami? Did you see his guns? They were real," she complained, as I pulled and rolled off, since I wasn't used to doing acrobatics, "My God, Ami, are you okay?" my friend asked worriedly and I forced her to shut up, "Sorry."

It was the first time the situation required me to bring out my less worked out side; physical exercise.

"Hurry up, Lev, I'm sure half the city heard your screams already," I whined and she complied, while throwing profanities in the air.

"If I die, I'm going to make your life a living hell in hell," she pointed out angrily, as I forced her to run, hand in hand, "For God's sake, this is wrong. We're going to die."

I saw a cab in the distance and raised my hand.

"Shut the fuck up and get in the car, Lev," I growled.

I was scared enough as it was, without getting worse with my best friend's paranoia.

It was true that I had no idea what we were going to do, but the first thing was to escape.

*******

- Omniscient Narrator -

Maximilian walked away from his older brother, towards a corner of the building where he was going to smoke while waiting for Amalia to return from the bathroom. However, as he was about to light the cigarette he stopped when he saw the aforementioned Amalia running with her friend towards a cab across the street.

They did not notice his presence, as he appeared later.

He lit the cigarette, while he watched in amusement as they ran away, without having the slightest idea that they were better located than the GPS.

For a moment he thought that having found a charm in a stranger had been a waste of time, but he changed it completely when he saw her risking her own life to escape.

A few minutes later, while Dax was ordering a general services employee at the station to open the bathroom door, one of Dangello's subordinates arrived to inform his boss of Amalia and her friend Lev's arrival at the hotel.

"Surround the perimeter; no one is to leave that hotel without my permission," he ordered grimly and walked over to his sports car, to get to the hotel as quickly as possible, "Max..."

"I'll take care of the hotel owner," he didn't let his brother finish, when he had already put out his cigarette; he pulled a gun out of his coat as if it was nothing, as he walked to his car.

"Don't murder him; I still haven't been given the personal information on Amalia and her friends," Maddox objected.

"It's a good excuse to pay him a friendly visit," he grinned in amusement, as he started up, leaving only the sound of the engine in the air.

"Maddox, Maddox!" shouted Dax, as he left the building, after discovering that the women were no longer in the bathroom.

His older brother looked at him sternly and he realized that half of his men were gone, as was his brother Max.

"You know he escaped."

"Sir, excuse me, but you just got a call," interrupted one of Dangello's men again, who was in charge of assuming the role of assistant in all matters they couldn't directly resolve.

He was partly forced to take on the job, or else Dax might deliberately use his bad temper against his family.

"Mr. Declan Beaumont requires your presence at the casino on urgent business," he said.

He tensed his jaw, but he couldn't put his duties aside, least of all with someone as influential in the New York drug trade as Declan Beaumont was.

"Well, change of plans. Dax," he called to his brother and tossed him a bat he had in the passenger seat, "Have fun."

The younger one smiled in satisfaction.