The day went by fast as they spent it packing up their luggages, Marco told Andrea that they were leaving Chicago to Florida where one of his cousins stay and told the twins that they were taking a quick summer vacation at their uncle's house. He had borrowed some money from his relatives to pay for their plane tickets and by evening, they were already done packing up their things without touching any of the furnitures, just like the arrangement Marco had with Jerome stated.
While Andrea helped her sister pack, she couldn't help thinking about the weird man that came to the house earlier. He was so rude and annoying, he even had the guts to try to claim her as his wife and the thought of being that man's wife repulsed her so much that she rather die than be that weirdo's wife.
Over her dead body!
And thinking back on the event that took place this morning made her blood boil to a very high degree. How dare he threaten her father like that?
She was glad that he didn't return again after he left, never seeing him again that day and Andrea prayed that it would stay that way forever. Hoping that they would be gone by the time he visits next but the feeling in her gut told her this wasn't going to be the last she would hear from Jerome. He will be back and wouldn't go away so easily. Even when Andrea tried to shake off the negative thoughts she still couldn't, knowing quite that not listening to her gut would just be deceiving herself because deep down she knew her gut was right. It always was. Jerome was a lunatic who knew how to make threats and God help her that he didn't also knew how to fulfill them.
She hoped that he wasn't as good at fulfilling his threats as he was in making them. Like hell, the man literally barged into her house and staked his claim on her, he couldn't just walk out like that. He wouldn't just leave her so easily. She had a bad feeling about all things, Jerome might have looked calm but his bodyguard didn't. Matteo looked like someone who killed people as a sport and Andrea was now really getting scared.
She zipped up her sister's bag and seeing as they was already done packing, she decided to take a long shower to relax her body. She washed her hair as well and when she was done she stepped out of the bathroom. She went to her bed and sat on it. Picking up her phone, she checked for any missed calls and saw that there was none. She then saw that she had received a new message and immediately opened it to read.
' I wouldn't do anything stupid if I were you, sweetheart.' was what she saw written in the message when she opened it. It was from an unknown number and the message was sent to her private number. She read the message again but didn't make any sense, who would send her such a weird text? Who even calls her sweetheart?
She didn't usually give out her private number and there were only a handful of people who had it, so who could it be? What was she going to do that was stupid?
She racked her brain, searching her memory for anything that could give her a hint of who could have sent this to her and her mind went back to this morning, Jerome had addressed her as sweetheart. So could it be that he sent the text?
No... No.... He couldn't possibly have, why would he? He didn't have her number, so how? Who was he really?
Andrea's palms started growing sweaty and her hands were shaky as she held her phone and read the text over again.
' I wouldn't do anything stupid if I were you, sweetheart.' Her phone fell out of her shaky hand and fell on the floor but luckily didn't break. What the hell! Was Jerome watching her every move or something? Did he know that they were planning to leave Chicago? This was crazy, he was crazy and had gone way too far this time. First he claimed her as his wife, threatened her father, now he was stalking her and even threatening her as well?! Unacceptable! He's a psycho, a madman and if he thinks she would run scared to him then he was horribly mistaken. Sure she was scared, horrified even but she wouldn't let him know that. She wouldn't go down without a fight.
Andrea bent down and picked up her phone from the floor. Seeing as it was already past ten in the night, she laid down on her bed and covered herself with a blanket to sleep. But after closing her eyes for twenty minutes and not drifting off to sleep, she shifted to lie on her back and stared at the ceiling, thinking. Thinking of what the next day had in store for her, praying that there wouldn't be any interference from that pest called Jerome Montenegro and sincerely hoped that they would safely leave without Jerome or his henchman, Matteo, figuring out. She laid there, contemplating about all the possible outcomes of tomorrow then she paused. Why was she even thinking like this, for goodness sake she was a grown woman who had freedom of her own, Jerome had no right over her life or even the right to be in her thoughts. So why was she stressing so much?
She closed her eyes and this time forced herself to fall asleep.
The next morning as early as six, everyone was already dressed and packed, ready to leave. They locked up the house and gave the keys to their neighbor, saying that a man named Matteo would pick it up. They took a taxi to the airport as they had no more cars left and while in the taxi, Andrea's mind seem to be somewhere else. She was contemplating whether to tell her father about the text or not. She knew very well that if she told him, he would worry to much about it and seeing as they were just few minutes away from the airport, she chose to keep it to herself, thinking that since they would soon be out of the state they wouldn't need to worry about Jerome anymore.
While Andrea was deep in thought, she didn't notice the taxi driver pull up in an alley and got out of the car. Marco saw the driver getting out of the car and creased his brows in confusion, wondering why the taxi driver had stopped knowing fully well that this wasn't the airport. Marco open the other car door close to where he sat and came out . Andrea saw her father getting off the taxi, thinking something might be wrong, she got off the car as well and told her siblings to stay put. She went to where her father stood and asked what was going on but he didn't give her an answer because he also didn't know what this was all about.
Just then, a black van pulled up close to where the taxi was packed and as they were looking around, the taxi driver turned to them, pulled out a gun and pointed it at her. Andrea froze at the sight of a gun pointed at her, she became scared, visibly panicking but then she turned to van when she heard its doors shut open and huge muscular men came out of it. Her mind was in shambles, not able to think straight as there was still a gun pointing her way, forcing her to stay put. She saw a huge man stopping her father from going to her and then she heard a deep voice, it was one of the voices that she knew she wouldn't forget anytime soon, one that she prayed that she wouldn't hear again for the rest of her life.
Matteo
" Get her into the car!" Matteo's harsh voice commanded and a man forcefully grabbed her, dragging her to the van screaming and kicking. Her father managed to break free from the men who held him down and went after his daughter but the men let him get to her. Andrea saw her father struggling to get to her and she called out to him.
" Dad!" She shouted, crying at the sight of her father being beaten up by the huge men and it was horrifying. She pushed the man who held her from escaping but she could get far, she was grabbed again by another man and then looked up to see Matteo's extremely angry face. He was even scarier than the rest of the goons. There wasn't a trace of a smile on his face and grip tightened around Andrea's waist. Andrea looked at him with pleading eyes but he didn't even look at her and kept looking at her father get beaten up.
" Please don't do this. Don't hurt him. My siblings are scared, please let us go." She begged but he didn't listen. He lifted her above his shoulders and started walking to the van while she hit him on his hard back.
" Your father disobeyed our orders." He finally spoke. " We told him not to take you out of the state and to stay put but he didn't listen. He deserves what he is getting." He added and Andrea franticly shook her head, feeling extremely scared.
" No, please don't do this. Don't kill him, my siblings have no one and they are just kids, please." She pleaded and he throw her into the van still wearing a very hard expression on his face with not a single look of remorse in his eyes. He was pure evil.
She heard her father groan in pain and since the van door was still open she saw him on the ground with his body badly bruised but at least the men had stopped hitting him.
" Dad!" She called out to him again as he struggled to get up. He stood up, holding his abdomen and gave her a smile.
" Don't be scared, Andrea, Scaffonis are never scared." He said to her from where he stood and she nodded. She then started struggling again to go to him but Matteo held her firmly as Marco tried to approach the van.
" Start the car!" Matteo ordered the driver who instantly started the car. Andrea saw Matteo pull out something from his pocket and on seeing the gun in his hand, her face paled. Her eyes widened when she where he was pointing it, it was at her father and then she heard a gun shot. Next thing she saw was he on the floor, holding his leg that was now covered with blood.
" Dad!" She yelled and struggled. Matteo had shot her father on the leg and he was seriously bleeding. She then started feeling dizzy and also felt the urge to throw up. This wasn't what she planned for her life, she didn't want to be kidnapped by these evil men. God, please help her, she didn't want to go with them. She didn't want her father to die. Her mind was in chaos and she didn't know what to do. She then felt Matteo cover her nose with a handkerchief and she started screaming.
" You should be grateful I only put a bullet in his leg and not his skull." She heard Matteo said before her vision became blurry and everything started disappearing then just like that, she blacked out.