LAYLA ABRAHAM

Once Ralph had revealed his face and name, Layla all but decided that she wasn't interested in asking him anymore questions. Instead, she needed some quiet to think about her escape plan. That included getting out of her hand cuffs, opening the lock on the door, flinging herself out of a moving car and running like the wind to safety.

And all without him suspecting a thing.

That would be excruciatingly difficult, especially with the way he kept a keen eye on her, glancing at her through the mirror every ten seconds, almost as if he didn't trust her.

It would be hard, but hopefully not impossible. Otherwise she was royally screwed.

"You wanted to know what happened to your friends?" He asked after a while, breaking the silence they had upheld for what felt like forever, but in reality, was just short of an hour.

When she perked up at the question, he chuckled.

"Look to your left."

"What?" She questioned, but for once, was eager to follow his instructions.

They were no longer driving by what she assumed to be a forest, and now had joined the highway.

"What am I looking at?" She asked, confused as to why he was pointing out the blue sedan to her left. Was this some type of car game? Is that what they had resorted to for entertainment to during an active kidnapping?

When she met his eyes in the rear-view mirror, realisation dawned on her, followed by hope.

"Jerome and Byron are in that car?" She questioned, unbelieving.

He nodded. "One of them is. I can't remember which one. The other is in a car a bit behind us." He gestured and when she turned back to glance out the back window, she was met with multiple cars behind them. She couldn't possibly tell which one held either one of them. They all looked equally innocent – or equally guilty, if you were a glass half empty kind of person.

"Why are you telling me this?" She turned back to face the front.

He smirked at her. "Maybe it's finally time to reveal my evil master plan."

But before he could indulge her on the details, a loud scream escaped her as the glass behind her shattered into tiny pieces over her back, neck and hair. When she felt the little shards of glass pierce her skin, she screamed again.

"Fuck, fuck!" He banged a hand on the steering wheel. "Get down!" He commanded.

She did as was told, shielding herself between the seat she was previously sat on and the back of the one in front of her.

Layla watched with wide eyes as he reached down for something by his feet, one hand still on the steering wheel as he navigated them through traffic. His actions were jerky and the car was no longer driving as smoothly as before. He had also increased the speed and was now flooring it. The blue sedan that was previously driving next to them followed suit.

At first, she had falsely allowed herself to believe that it wasn't them that was being shot at, but when the shots continued, clearly aimed at them, she forced herself out of that delusion.

Being delusional wasn't going to keep her alive.

When she saw Ralph brandish the gun, she felt like she was going to be sick. The scream died in her throat as he turned his body and began open fire through the broken window, one hand still on the steering wheel, glancing back and forth between both ends of the car.

"How did they find us so fast?" He asked, not really expecting an answer. Not that she had an answer to offer him.

At the moment, Layla could do nothing more than cower in her spot and watch the whole ordeal with wide eyes, her hands clamped over her ears. With her raging headache and the shootout that she was currently stuck in, it caused the light ringing in her ears to amplify to the extent where she was struggling to hear what was going on around her.

Every time he fired a shot, she couldn't help but flinch, afraid that somehow, one of the bullets would hit her. If he just angled his arm down, he would easily be able to put a bullet through her head and there wasn't anything she would be able to do about it.

It wasn't like she was able to run anywhere. The thought alone was absurd. As soon she stepped a foot out of the car, she was sure there would be a bullet through it.

If Ralph didn't shoot her, then the police definitely would if she were to stand up and get in the line of the open-fire which they were currently had going on. If she somehow did manage to escape the moving car alive, one of the other cars would run her over.

Layla Abraham was utterly and completely fucked. She had never felt so useless in her life.

Glancing up at him with fresh tears in her eyes, she was surprised to find that he was looking down at her. His lips moved but she couldn't hear what he was saying. She watched him pull the trigger on the gun multiple times, ducking and swerving out of the way when the police retaliated. His mouth kept moving and it looked like he was screaming at her, but she could only hear the ringing in her ears.

What was wrong? Had she gone deaf? What was he saying?

Another scream passed her lips when he grabbed her. Her hands were still tied behind her back, rendering them useless. Determined not to die without putting up a fight, she rammed her shoulder into him and tried to kick at him with her legs.

"Fuck, Layla! I need you to listen to me!" His lips moved frantically and it looked like he was screaming at her, but she was barely able to hear him.

"Don't get up! Don't you dare get up!" He screamed at her, only a faint sound to her. "I need you to turn around, but don't get up!"

"What?" She sounded, confused. There was too much going on for her to comprehend in such a situation.

"Turn around, Layla. Please turn around!" He fired a few more shots and when he ran out, he cursed again before turning around and sliding his body down on the seat, hiding him from the police's view.

She blinked through the tears as he reached under his seat into a bag which she hadn't noticed before. Ralph pulled out two more guns, both of them already loaded. He shoved one into the waist band of his jeans while he lifted his arm and shot more bullets blindly, not even bothering to aim properly.

His jerky actions and quick breaths suggested that he was out of control, no longer thinking straight but just acting on impulse.

Everything from that moment on was a blur as Layla felt a pair of hands grab her body. He kept her low and out of sight as he tugged her into the front, seating her on her lap as one did to a child, with her back pressed against her front.

"I need you to take the wheel." He shouted into her ear, having realised that she hadn't been able to hear him earlier.

Layla kicked and flailed as he trapped her by lifting one of his legs and wrapped it around her waist, trapping her. She felt him reach between them, fumbling around with her shackles.

Just as he released her hands, he raised the gun and pressed the butt of it into the side of her head. "I need you to drive. If you try anything funny, I'm going to blow your brains out." He threatened, his words far from empty.

Sweat ran down the side of her head as she gulped and nodded her head frantically.

The tears had long disappeared as she grabbed the steering wheel and pressed down on the pedal once he moved his other leg.

Did this make her an accomplice to her own kidnapping?

Her chest vibrated against his back every time he reached between the front seats and open-fired on the police. She could feel the outline of the second gun press against her back and the bag which contained more by her foot.

"Faster!" He grunted and fired another shot.

"I can't." She screamed back at him; his words sounding clearer than before.

Instead of answering back, he pressed his foot down on top of hers, forcing the gas pedal all the way down to the bottom, rendering her no choice but to take control of the wheel as he forced them faster.

"Now is not the time to be worrying about getting a speeding ticket."

"Fuck you!" She screamed back at him, all of her pent-up anger suddenly rising to the surface. "I apologise for never having been in a car chase before."

Ralph snorted but before he could say anything to insult or aggravate her further, they were both forced back in their seat as an explosion sounded.

The firing momentarily stopped as several cars in front of them crashed into one another, essentially stopping all traffic.

If she hadn't braked harshly when she did and kicked his foot off of her own, they would have joined the wreckage, leaving slim to no chances of their survival. If the airbag hadn't erupted in front of her, she would have banged her head on the steering wheel and been crushed by the weight of his body over hers, no doubt ending both of their lives.

"Fuck! Fuck!" Ralph swore loudly as he eyed a familiar blue sedan among the wreckage which had now erupted into large, wild flames, spreading quickly amongst the surrounding vehicles.

"That wasn't supposed to happen!"

Layla's eyed widened as she stared at the mess in front of her.

"Was that the same blue sedan as before?" Her voice was desperate as she wondered whether it was Jerome or Byron in the vehicle.

Ralph didn't answer her.

Instead, he pulled open the driver's side door and hurled her out of the car. He kept a firm grip on her arm and pressed the gun against her back as he forced her to run. They weaved through the stationary cars onto the side of the highway.

They couldn't have made more than 10 metres before they were surrounded from all around. Some ran the patrol cars off the highway to get to them, while others ran on foot.

All with their guns out.

If the situation wasn't so morbid and dire, Layla would have laughed at her own joke.

Ralph swore loudly and twirled her around in his arms. He locked an arm over her throat and pressed down hard on it, restricting her air supply and causing her to gasp. He drilled the gun into her temple, his eyes actions jerky and the look on his face wild.

"If you don't let me go, I'm going to shoot her."

"Don't shoot!"

She heard him before she saw him, and when her eyes were finally graced with the beautiful sight that he was, she couldn't hold back the smile on her face. She wanted nothing more than to call out his name and tell him she loved him, but the arm wound around her neck prevented that from happening. She was pretty sure if she wasn't shot, she would die by asphyxiation.

Layla knew Alejandro would come.

Unfortunately, it appeared she wasn't the only one.

"Alejandro Serrano!" Ralph greeted him with a wide smile. "I've been wanting to meet you for some time now."

Alejandro held up his hands in surrender, taking a few cautious steps towards them. "Let Layla go." His pleading tone made her feel sick. She had never seen him so worried before. She had seen him angry and pensive far too many times, but never this worried; never this frightened and hopeless.

"I wouldn't come any closer if I were you." Ralph warned, pressing the gun harder into her head. "Any closer and I'll bury a bullet in her pretty little head. We wouldn't want that now, would we?" He taunted them, his lips turned up into a demented grin.

Alejandro shook his head cautiously.

"No, we wouldn't." His voice was quiet and she closed her eyes, allowing herself to imagine that he was whispering those words into her ear, as he did many nights when he woke her up to make love to her.

She remembered the way she would feign annoyance when he woke her up in the middle of the night for sex, but would never be able to hold up the act when he sank into her.

What she would do to be able to make love to him one last time. To kiss and hold him one last time. To be able to look into his eyes one last time and tell him everything would be okay and that she loved him.

Alejandro Serrano had been a force to be reckoned with since the fateful day he walked into her life. He didn't take no for an answer, constantly butted heads with her and was adamant on fulfilling his role as her bodyguard even when she protested and fought him every single step of the way. He had come to her in her time of darkness and lit her world on fire, but she embraced the flames, savoured the warmth, even.

He rocked her back to sleep every night when she woke up from a nightmare. He held her close and played with her hair until she fell asleep in his arms. He was there for her when she didn't know she needed him, and he was there for her when she called out for him. He was the one thing she didn't know was missing from her life and now that she had him, she couldn't keep him.

He was never supposed to be hers as their relationship had started off forbidden, but fate had a twisted way of making things happen when they least expected it. She had never thought she would be able to love a man like Alejandro, so crude and domineering, but now that she had experienced his love, she would never be able to love another. Her heart had transferred ownership to him the day he had taken it from her unapologetically, and she never wanted it back for it was his to love and to hold, to cherish and to kiss.

They beat all odds and had managed to make it together despite their unconventional relationship, and just when things were starting to get good, it was all taken away from them. She wanted nothing more than to go back and relish every moment she had been blessed to have with him. To be able to live the rest of her life with him and make so many more memories.

But they couldn't.

How could fate be so cruel?

Layla felt her body jerk harshly as the gun fired, but this time, she welcomed the darkness.

-

You can read ahead on Inkitt for FREE: https://inkitt.app.link/RA__illuminating_

Support me to read the rest of this series! https://www.patreon.com/LaylaKnight

Layla Knight

11.06.2020