Ch.34: Cornered

Nicholas hurried away, along with Valentino, Albert and Milo. They headed towards the vast space behind the building, where the cult members had parked. Some of them had already taken off, some were still reversing out of the lot and onto the street. Headlights seared the night, cutting through the darkness in yellow beams.

A few people still stood around. Nicholas gazed at them, trying to figure out if any of them carried a phone. During the meeting, they had all been so focused on Valentino that if Nicholas had interrupted to ask for a phone, they would've jumped him. All of them.

But now he could approach them, so he stepped towards a young woman.

"Hey," Nicholas said. "Could I use your phone real quick? Need to make a quick call."

The girl showed her empty hands. "I still haven't gotten it back," she said. "Phones are never allowed in meetings with our Master. We leave them outside in a box."

Nicholas looked around, and of course some of Sasha's men themselves were guarding the boxes that contained all the phones. They shot Nicholas a dirty look, like they could see through his plan. Valentino noticed, and he didn't stop Sasha's men from thwarting Nicholas's potential attempt at grabbing a phone. They might be in conflict right now, but both wouldn't want the cops to get involved.

Valentino approached Nicholas.

Bastard, Nicholas thought.

"Move," Valentino whispered. "Or stay with Sasha's men if you want. I'm sure they'll take good care of you."

Nicholas grimaced at Valentino. "I—"

"Ah, my God," Valentino drawled, his voice loud enough to attract the attention of the cult members who were still standing around. "How many times I am gonna have to tell you, no, I can't bring back a soul right now. I'm tired and you're wasting my time. Let's go."

Before Nicholas could even begin to rage, all the people threw seething glances in his direction, frowning and snarling and whispering, ready to attack him.

Sheesh, Nicholas thought. Calm down.

They all got angry just by the idea of someone bothering Valentino.

"Master," the guy who'd promised to drive them said, walking up the group. "That's my car over there."

Valentino headed towards the small black car the guy had pointed at, towing Nicholas behind. Nicholas wrenched his arm free and continued his way on his own. When they made it to the car, Valentino extended his hand towards the guy without even looking at him.

"Keys," Valentino said.

"I'll drive you."

Valentino shook his head. "Thanks, but I'll drive."

Oh, hell no. Nicholas looked at Valentino. "I'll drive."

The guy hesitantly handed his keys over to Valentino, ignoring Nicholas.

Nicholas moved towards Valentino, tsking at the guy. "The Master doesn't wanna bother you, that's why he's offering to drive. You should've insisted." He shook his head. The guy squirmed in shame. "Since you're so rude, I'll do it."

Valentino smiled at Nicholas, and his unamused eyes said: yeah, nice try. "No, thanks. I actually wanna drive." Then he opened the door to the driver's seat and climbed in. "Get in."

Milo and Albert climbed in as well, and Nicholas reluctantly followed. Before the guy could settle in the passenger seat, Nicholas leaned forward to whisper to Valentino, "You can't keep using innocent people as a shield." He frowned at the gear stick between the front seats. "And that's manual. Do you even know how to drive a manual car? Let me drive."

Valentino craned his neck to look at Nicholas, brows furrowed in an offended frown. "I like driving manual cars."

Oh…

The guy finally sat in the passenger seat.

"Hey," Valentino told him. "I forgot my phone on my chair. Mind grabbing it for me?"

The guy didn't take a second to nod and leap out to look for it. Valentino leaned over the passenger seat, stretching his arm across the space until he clutched the door handle and slammed it shut.

Outside, the guy straightened and stared at the car.

"Master?"

"Sorry!" Valentino said, turning the car on and taking off.

"Who are you and what did you do to Valentino?" Nicholas said.

Valentino scoffed. "I didn't leave him 'cause I care. It's 'cause it won't matter if he's with us or not. They're gonna kill all of us now, including him."

"I thought Sasha draws the line at murder?" Nicholas said, glancing behind through the dusty rear windshield. The cars of cult members must've hindered Sasha and her men, but they would chase them down soon enough. "And they need you for the cult. They can't kill you."

"Sasha draws the line at murder," Valentino said. "Her boss doesn't. If they sense something wrong with our work here, they'll simply kill everyone involved and shut the whole branch down."

Nicholas's stomach sank. "They're onto this whole mess?"

"At this point, yes. They should be," Valentino said, pressing down on the gas pedal. "No one trusts anyone in this organization. Sasha already messed up once before, when my parents were alive. So I'm sure her boss is spying on her and they must've figured it out by now."

Okay, Nicholas thought. It's simple. I just need to get out of the car when we reach a town or somewhere where I can get the cops.

Surely nothing bad would happen until then.

Surely—

Two expanding yellow beams appeared at the horizon across from them.

"Oh, God," Valentino said. "Seatbelts, everyone! I'm gonna drive like a crazy person!"

Nicholas decided against it. Too much restriction. He needed to be free and ready to spring into action whenever the opportunity arose, so he just pressed his back flat to the backrest and grasped the door handle.

Valentino made a violent U-turn — so violent that Nicholas almost crashed against Milo and Albert had he not swung his arm out and grabbed the driver's seat.

Then Valentino sped up. The engine roared louder and louder as he accelerated, until he finally geared up, and the noise calmed down again.

With how fast the car was moving, Nicholas's chest felt hollow, like the air was slamming straight inside.

"Valentino," Nicholas said, opening his eyes again after squeezing them shut for a few seconds as he'd tried to adjust to the speed. "Use your brain. Turn yourself in before it's too late."

"Turn myself in?"

"Yeah! You're being chased by the whole organization right now! You think you'll outrun them? Even if you do, they'll hunt you down."

"No," Valentino said. "I'll take Albert and Milo somewhere far and safe and they'll never find us."

Nicholas wanted to slam his palm against his forehead. "Please be realistic, Valentino," he said, leaning forward to look at Valentino. "Even if you somehow manage to hide, is this the life you want? Scared and hiding until they finally find you and kill you? You're just gonna let them ruin your life more than they already did? They've been using you for years. Don't let them win. Rat the organization out before they can hurt you and Albert and Milo even more."

Valentino's expression didn't even change the slightest bit.

"No one's been using me," he said. "No one can use me."

Nicholas had to hold back the urge to snicker. "Your whole branch has been running on your shoulders since you were fourteen. What the hell do you mean no one's been using you, dumbass?"

Valentino's grip on the wheel tightened. "No one can use me."

Nicholas realized he'd accidentally struck a nerve, and now he wanted to strike it harder.

"Your parents used you," Nicholas said. "They gave birth to you to use for the cult, right? That's why you were born. Just for the cult."

Valentino looked at the rearview mirror, catching Nicholas's gaze. His brows were furrowed, his eyes filled with hatred.

"You just want a reaction from me," Valentino said, his voice calm again.

"No," Albert said. "Nicholas is right."

Valentino's jaw slackened and he glanced at Albert now through the rearview mirror. Even Milo shifted, looking at Albert beside him with the same level of shock as Valentino's.

"No," Valentino said. "He's not, Albert."

"He is."

"He's not," Milo said.

"I am." Nicholas watched Albert's side profile. "I know I am. But agreeing with me isn't enough."

"Just shut—Shit." Valentino hit the brakes, and everyone jolted forwards. Nicholas pressed his palm to the back of the driver's seat to steady himself, and then sat back again, peeking in between the front seats. "These are Sasha's men. They're still camping here, these idiots."

Valentino weighed his options for a few seconds, then turned the wheel to the right and sped again, passing the cars along their right side, driving over the stone ridge lining the road. The car shook and Nicholas clutched the grab handle this time, his stomach flipping and turning with the movement.

Valentino drove on soil and ripped through bushes, only for Sasha's car to race closer, driving parallel to Valentino's, except hers was still on the road.

When Valentino rolled the window down, air rushed inside and his hair flew as he shouted, "Maybe let go of this urge to flay me and run. Your boss is onto us! They just cut off our way!"

Valentino never waited for a reaction; he closed the window again and pushed through, overtaking Sasha's car on the right, before finally swerving back onto the even tar of the road. The vehicle stopped shaking. Nicholas swallowed down the bile. Maybe if there was any food or water in his body, he would've puked.

"We're driving back to Julian's house now," Nicholas said.

"I know," Valentino said. "They're probably gonna cut our way off on the other side. They'll corner us in that area."

Nicholas frowned at the place around them, his heart beating against his ribs until his whole rib cage shuddered. Valentino was right. If the organization wanted to kill everyone involved in this mess, they wouldn't let them drive out into the city. They'd corner them in this desolate area.

Valentino drove a little more, then stopped, parked, and quickly sprang out of the car. He ran to Albert and Milo's side and urged them out. Nicholas exited as well, and all four followed Valentino across the road to the other side, passing over the stone ridge, and entering the woods.

Valentino was leading the way between towering trees and grass and weed that reached the middle of Nicholas's shin. As he walked, Nicholas's leg throbbed more and more. He'd suppressed the urge to limp while he'd been pretending to be Julian, and now the pain was washing over him. Still, he kept up with rest.

"They must've blocked the roads already," Valentino said over his shoulder. "They're waiting for our car. I don't think they'll expect us to run the rest of the way, so we have a better chance of getting away like this."

Nicholas was almost about to agree. He was almost about to think, you know, you might be right.

Until a man appeared before them, holding a gun in their direction.

It clicked.

It fired.

No one even had time to perceive the fear.

Nicholas had cowered and squeezed his eyes shut, and after a few seconds, he blinked and looked around, wondering which one of the group had gotten shot.

Wondering why the man hadn't continued shooting.

On the ground a metre or two away, the man was sprawled on his face, his gun tossed next to him.

With a heavy breath, Nicholas straightened and looked at Albert and the rest. They were fine,  just scared and cowering as well. Of course Valentino the suicidal freak had quickly stood in front of Milo and Albert.

When Albert snapped out of his shock, he shoved Valentino out of the way and behind him, scowling and irritated, as if he wanted to say: damn it, Valentino! Stop trying to take a bullet for us!

Nicholas moved a tiny step. "How…"

"Hellooo!" came a familiar voice.

Oh.

Julian emerged from the darkness ahead, casually resting the back of his gun against his shoulder, his lips all smiling and his eyes all glistening like this was a normal situation.

"Julian," Nicholas breathed.

Julian sighed in the most dramatic, theatrical way possible — like the poor guy was actually exhausted.

"All I want is for someone to save me," Julian said, closing his eyes in exasperation, "but I'm the one who keeps saving everyone's stupid asses, hahaha…" He opened his eyes again, giving them all an expectant look. "Is there something you guys wanna say to me?"

Everyone sighed.

"Thank you, Lian."

"You're welcome, even though I don't think you deserve it anymore!" Julian said. "Anyway. Move away from Valentino, please."

Nicholas frowned. "Why?"

"Oh, nothing important!" Julian smiled. "I just wanna shoot him!"

• • •

Julian is back!! 😂❤️

Thank you so much for reading/voting/commenting, it means the world to me! ❤️❤️