Chapter 2

SELENA

It was night time and I had watched my mother cry herself to sleep, while I and Brianna tried to comfort her. Eventually Brianna fell asleep and I was forced to go to bed as there was nothing I could do regarding the shop. 

I was already in dreamland when I jerked up from bed at the sound of a loud bang.

It was a gun shot.

I clutched the pillow by my side to my chest as if it would somehow protect me from the danger that lurked in the shadows. My eyes were wide with fear, darting around the room as I listened intently for any sound.

When I got back home and told them how I had slapped Aiden Frazier, my mother wept bitterly and told me they wouldn't let us off for what I had done. At first I took it as a bluff but now I feared that he had truly sent those thugs to come for me.

I had let my anger get the best of me when I rushed to his company and slapped him, but I didn't regret my actions. He deserved it for what he had made his thugs do to my mother, how could they have hit my mum like that.

I slowly heard footsteps approaching and every creak of the floorboards made my heart race, and the faintest whisper of wind through the open window sent shivers down my spine. I was acutely aware of the vulnerability of my position, with no escape route and no weapons to defend myself.

The bitter taste of fear and panic lingering on my mind at the thought of the safety of my sister and mother. I was utterly powerless in the face of the danger that threatened me, I had to think fast before things got out of hand.

I rolled out of bed slowly, tip toeing to the corner of the bed where I had a baseball bat lying on the floor, I picked it up carefully not trying to make a sound, it was the only thing in the room right now that I could think of using to defend myself.

I walked to the door as I raised the bat, posing to strike, I could hear Brianna yelling and it only made me more terrified, I braced myself holding on to the bat tightly to strike as the footsteps got closer but before I could organize my defense mechanism in my head, the door came crashing and a hard slap fell on my face.

The impact of the slap was so hard that I staggered back and the baseball bat in my hand came crashing down, tears trickled down my eyes instantly without control as the man in black who had slapped me motioned me out of the room pointing a gun to my forehead.

"Move bitch."

I stood frozen in fear, my eyes wide with terror. My hands trembled uncontrollably at the side, and my heart pounding furiously against my chest. I felt paralyzed by the sight of the gun, it was the first time in my life that I was seeing a gun.

"Are you deaf? Move or I make you," the man yelled at me as I took a step forward and out of the room, I felt the gun at the back of my head as his other hand pushed my back forward.

"Selena," my mother cried out when I was finally in the living room and she caught sight of the man pointing a gun behind my head. I wanted to run to her and Brianna who were cowering in a corner as two other men in black were pointing guns at them. 

"Don't be stupid," one of them warned when my mother was about standing up to cover the distance between us, her eyes were swollen and red, and it only made me angry but I tried to contain my annoyance. 

As much as I wanted to yell at them for putting my mother in an uncomfortable situation, I had to control myself. 

Were they planning on killing all of us?

My body became tense; every muscle was wound up like a spring ready to release. I could hear my pulse throbbing in my ears, drowning out all other sounds. 

"Please don't," I cried out. "Don't hurt them, please."

"Shut up," a voice yelled from the shadows, I had been engrossed with my mother and sister cowering that I didn't notice another man was also in the room sited in the corner. "On your knees," he ordered.

I fell to my knees, my arms outstretched in a desperate plea for mercy. I begged and pleaded with my captors to spare me, my voice shaking with fear and desperation.

"Please, please don't kill me," I sobbed. "I'll do anything, just please don't kill me. I'm begging you."

"Please she didn't mean to do that to your boss, please I am like a mother to you," my mother cried out rubbing her hands together and begging them, if I regretted anything it was getting my family involved in my foolishness. 

There was utter silence and then they all laughed cruelly, their eyes cold and unfeeling. They cocked their weapons, ready to fire on their boss order. 

Brianna and my mother hugged each other tightly at the sound of the gun and I could have sworn my soul was leaving my body, I could hear my mother still begging in a low voice, but it was obvious they were less concerned with our pleas. 

 I closed my eyes, bracing myself for the inevitable. I knew very well that death was imminent but was this how I was just going to die and in front of my sister and mum, my heart kept pounding in my chest as I waited for the inevitable.

Three seconds gone and nothing was happening instead I heard their leaders voice, it seemed he was on a call, I opened my eyes slowly to see what was going on.

"Bag them," it was the last thing I heard before I blacked out.