Astor
The road is dark as Aaron pulls the golf cart to a stop. “I can’t take you any farther,” he says. “Just follow the road two miles north, and you’ll come to a little gas station where you can call for help.” Sadness clouds his features as he helps me from my seat.
“And you and Mia?”
“We’ll be okay,” he assures me. “We’ve got a plan.” He turns and starts back to the driver’s side of the small cart. “Now go. They’ll notice you’re gone any minute. Stick to the side of the road, and if any cars come, hide in the treeline.”
I nod, my feet already starting to move. He wastes no time in rushing back toward the house and I follow his example, tiny rocks cutting into my bare feet as I rush down the empty roadside. Twice a car passes, and I do as Aaron told me and step into the woods. Branches and stones tear at my skin. I know my feet are a mess already, though I’ve barely made it half a mile.
About thirty minutes later, I see the lights of the gas station in the distance, and tears sting my eyes as I force my feet forward a little faster. The pain now is almost unbearable, but I know that once I get inside that building, this entire ordeal will be behind me.
There’s just one car in sight when I hit the parking lot, and for that I’m thankful. I look a mess, and I’m still wearing my pajamas from last night. Walking up to the door, I tug it open and breathe a sigh of relief as my torn-up feet land on the cold linoleum floor.
“Hello?” I call into the empty store. “Hello? I need someone to call the police.”
The door to the right of the cash register opens, and when I see Tommy step out, a wicked grin on his face, my insides twist. Another man, this one in a suit, steps out behind him, the store clerk held to his chest with a gun to his head. My entire world screeches to a halt. How did they know I’d end up here?
“Hello, Astor,” Tommy says, his tone calm and collected, as if we’ve just run into each other by chance, and he’s one of my oldest friends.
My gaze slides to the store clerk whose face is pale, his body trembling with fear. The man holding the gun to his head steps forward, around Tommy. “Astor, my name is Vincent DeCarlo. Since Tommy here has been careless with you, I’m here to take you back to my home.” Tommy’s eyes grow wide, but Vincent pays him no attention. “Now, be a good girl and walk your sweet little ass outside to my car and get inside, or this man here is going to get a bullet in his temple.”
My chest aches as panic freezes my lungs entirely. The clerk’s eyes plead with mine. “You have until the count of three.” Vincent digs the gun deeper into the man’s flesh, and tears swim in my eyes, blurring my vision. I’m frozen, unsure whether to obey or to turn and run. “One.”
I glance down at my sore feet and see the skin hanging from the soles, blood and dirt smeared on my flesh. “Two.”
The clerk lets out a small sob, and I watch as a patch of wetness grows from nothing to a large stain on the front of his pants. Vincent opens his mouth to speak, but before he can say anything, I turn, slowly hobble outside, and make my way toward the car, defeat making each step heavier than the last.
The three men follow me from the store and watch as I climb inside the back door, closing it behind me. I watch as Vincent speaks to the clerk who is shaking his head wildly, then nods. Vincent then pulls the gun away, claps him on the shoulder and walks away. The clerk doesn’t move as the two men get into the front seats of the car. He doesn’t move as we pull out, and as I watch through the window as we drive away, he still doesn’t move an inch before we’re out of sight.
“That was a wise decision, Astor,” Vincent says from his place behind the wheel. “I knew you were a smart girl.”
“Why did you say I was careless with her, Uncle Vinny?” Tommy asks, his voice pitched in a whine. “It’s not my fault she got away.”
“Do you have any idea what would have happened if she’d made it to that gas station before us, Tommy?
I watch from behind as Tommy’s shoulders slump, and he pouts. “But she didn’t.”
“But she could have,” Vincent replies, the calmness never leaving his tone. “And if she had, that would have looked bad on all of us. I’m not letting you take me down because you can’t take care of your things. And if you can’t take care of your things, they’re going to become my things.”
My fear is nearly forgotten as I watch Tommy cross his arms, his face turned toward the window. There is no trace of the man who’d struck me. No sign at all that this is the same man that Mia had warned me was a bad man. In Vincent’s company, he’d become a petulant child, angry that his new toy was being taken away.
The drive to the Todd’s huge manor takes but a few minutes, and I watch out the window, trying to get some sense of where I am. I don’t even know if I’m in the same state anymore. The house looms above us as we draw near. Mrs. Todd is standing on the front step, arms crossed, her angry eyes on Tommy. Vincent exits the car first, and I watch in surprise as Mrs. Todd’s head dips in a submissive pose. Even though I can’t hear their words, it’s clear she’s afraid of him.
Tommy reaches for the handle, but before he gets out of the passenger seat, he turns toward the back and spears me with a look that makes me shrink back in my seat. “This isn’t over, you stupid bitch. You’ll be seeing me again.” An evil grin spreads across his face. “You think you escaped me, but Vinny is much, much worse. Believe me.”
He swings his giant frame out of the car and lumbers up the stairs, his head held low as Mrs. Todd speaks sharply to him, and then he disappears inside the house. As Vincent and Mrs. Todd finish their conversation, my mind races to keep up with this recent turn of events. I’d been free. I’d escaped, only to be grabbed by someone even more sinister than the psychopathic Todd’s. The way they submitted to Vincent makes my blood run cold. What kind of man could bring those two monsters to heel?
As Vincent climbs into the car and starts it up without a word, I realize that whether I like it or not, I’m about to find out.