Blurred Lines 1: CHASE
Chapter 127

-Sofia-

'Focus, Sofia. Breathe in, breathe out. I closed my eyes, knuckles turning white as I gripped the steering wheel. My heart thumped with each bullet hitting the lock of the garage roll-up door. 'Elise was safe with Jose. I kept this thought in my head, opening my eyes, waiting for the right time to ram my foot on the gas pedal.

The Dawson's Defender was bulletproof, Jose told me. How he knew that was beyond me. I didn't have the luxury of time to investigate when and how they planned this escape plan.

I wasn't schooled in this kind of situation, but I knew the chances of these men finding the escape passage on the garage grounds were high. And I cannot risk being with Elise in my state. She was better off with Jose.

"You can do this, Sofia." I shook my head, my vision blurring. Jose put a bandage on my bullet wound, but that wasn't enough to stop its recurring effect on my body. Then again, we had no time to focus on such things. If these men catch me, my bullet wound would be the least of my concerns.

The lock on the garage roll-up released one by one, and when the last one snapped, the metal furled up. The sound of metal grating against metal as it curled up made my molars ground.

The Defender's engine hummed, roaring as I slammed my foot on the gas pedal, the wheels rotating forward.

Bullets from all directions came down in torrent speed on the Defender's windshield. I kept my eyes open, taking a good look at the men hunting us. Five stood in front, and the rest were firing from the side. The tips of their assault rifles sparkled like fireworks on the fourth of July.

Though the car was bulletproof, I still feared for my life. I mean, bullets were freaking raining down on me! One hit and I'd be dead!

Doing my best to push aside my fear, I did what Jose instructed me to do. 'Drive, as if Elise is inside the car with you. With this thought in my head, I aimed for the three guys in the middle, the car moving at lightning speed. I hit the guy at the

center.

"Holy shit!" I cursed, feeling the weight of his body when it slammed against the nose of the Defender.

I reversed, maneuvered the car to the side, and hit another two. They weren't even afraid to be run over and jumped to the side at the last second, evading the same fate as their companion.

"They want you dead. You and your family," I grumbled, looking through the rearview mirror as I made the car fly towards the road, running over Dawson's wooden fence.

The Defender left a trail on the lawn, the car bounced, and the wheels swerved as I made it to the road. Finally angled in the right direction, I shifted gears and glanced at the rearview mirror, seeing six men run to the SUV in front of our mansion. Three of them hopped in each vehicle.

Fuck. They left three of their companions to search the house.

These men were obviously trained for this kind of situation. I sighed in relief that Jose was with Elise. She's safer with him.

Jose instructed me to head straight to the precinct and drive over the speed limit to attract the highway patrol's attention. 'They'd be forced to interfere, Jose insisted.

"Shit!" I ducked when the first of the many bullets hit the back of the Defender. Fuck the highway patrol and precinct. These men will kill me before I even reach the highway.

The street was empty since it was almost midnight, giving me no other option but to rely on my instinct to survive this fucked up situation. I swerved left to right; the wheels skidding each time I pulled the wheel abruptly; I felt the car almost tumble over to the side. It was as if they weren't running out of bullets. We were now on the deserted road lined with treelines on each side. The moon was high in the sky, and the tree's shadow danced on the car's hood at a fast speed.

My determination wasn't waning, yet my body felt the weight of the bullet wound on my shoulder. My vision became unfocused, seeing too many lines in the middle of the road. I shook my head, my desire in keeping it together overpowering my fatigue.

I was almost on the highway when I lost control of the car. They aimed at the rear wheels. I tried controlling the veering of the vehicle, but it had been a futile attempt. With the speed I was going, all I could do to save myself was direct the car into the forest and hope that I could buy some time before I totaled this car.

The car bounced up and down the forest terrain before it slammed into a huge tree a few meters away from the road. My body slammed forward with the force of the hit, and the seatbelt kept me from propelling through the windshield.

A loud ringing hissed in my head. Smoke belched from the crumpled hood and the dizzying scent of fuel struck my senses. Vision blurring, my clammy fingers slipped a few times before I could unbuckle my seatbelt. I opened the glove compartment and took the gun Jose gave me. Disoriented, I fell on my knees when I opened the door and slipped out of the car.

I pinched my eyes shut repeatedly, fighting off my hazy vision. Through the darkness, my eyes were of little use but my other senses were heightened. I felt the cool ground under my palms. Dried leaves, tree branches, and dirt scraped my skin as I crawled away from the car.

Flashlight glow moved from the road, muddled voices of men giving instructions to one another followed. Their voices were only echoes, as though we were in a dome and it's bouncing around the walls.

I was on all fours, dragging my body as the pebbles and dirt dug on my palms and knees. There was a warm thick liquid that had been constantly dripping from my head through my eyelids. Using my reeling senses in searching for a place to hide, I didn't make it that far. The men after me were already at the crime scene, and I used the nearest tree trunk to hide.

Calming my drumming heart and jagged breath, I clutched the gun close to my chest.

'Focus, Sofia. Aim, squeeze, recoil, repeat.

"There was no one else inside the car," one man said. Then a radio static wheezed in the silence of the night.

"Ross and Luke found an access hole in the garage. They're in the sewer now." The man on the radio answered.

'Oh, God. I hope Jose made it to Chuck. Please save my daughter. She had so much to live for.' Tears gathered on the seams of my eyes.

"Roger that. She can't have gotten that far," the man murmured the last statement to his companions in the forest.

"Search the area. We'll have our heads chopped off if we don't find her," another answered.

I sank in deeper on the huge tree trunk, its roots protruding up from the ground covering me on each side, hoping I could wait for them out and run to one of their cars or find a passing car by the road at best.

"You two take south, Sage, and I will take the north. Matt, Greg, stay here in case she tries to come back to the road."

I bit my lip. My luck seemed to have been running out. I looked up, focusing on the twinkling stars. As long as Elise was safe, I didn't fear whatever Nikos was planning to do to me. Chase will find me soon.

It was quiet, too quiet. Even the men they left behind seemed to have stopped moving, and all I could hear was the slow rustling of the leaves up the forest canopy.

Time slowed. The stars twinkled in the sky, bordered by the trees erect around me. My mind was still fighting, but my body was already giving up. My eyelids were heavy, anchoring them too close together, and the next thing I knew, darkness engulfed me. When I regained my senses, the sharp scent of alcohol and bleach struck my nose. Doing a full body check with my eyes closed, I wiggled my fingers in my hands and feet. The stinging pain in my shoulder reminded me of what happened in the mansion, the people chasing us, and the road crash I'd gotten myself into.

My back was pressed against a soft cushion. A bed, I presumed. There was a slow beeping sound on my side and a cool metal circling my right wrist.

I already knew my fate even before I heard a faintly familiar voice call my name. "There's no use in pretending you're sleeping, Sofia."

Nikos.

Forcing my heavy lids to part, the blinding light hit my irises. I blinked once, twice, groaning as I adjusted my head to the side, hoping to ease the stress on my eyes.

'Why do they have to put a bright light on the ceiling?'

It took me a few seconds to adjust to the light, making out Nikos' silhouette leaning on the window, a view of the mountain range behind him. This guy looked different from the one I met on Mr. Torres' birthday. Dressed in a plain white tee and khaki shorts paired with brown loafers, he could be mistaken for a young tourist, not a man determined to command terror. His tousled hair framed his pretty face. We both regarded one another. His face was clad with curiosity, while mine was disgust and hatred.

"You don't look surprised to see me," he stated, pushing off from leaning on the window. He walked regally to my side, lifted a pitcher from the bedside table, and poured water onto a glass. Dropping a straw on the glass, he pressed a button on the side of the bed; the soft mattress behind me moved until I was reclined at a sitting angle, offering the glass of water to me.

My mouth was as dry as a desert; I can't be picky about the relief my captor was willing to offer me.

I sighed as soon as the water slid down my throat. Nikos watched me intently, his gaze scrutinizing my every movement.

"You're not afraid of me," he said, setting the half-empty glass on the bedside table. "You assume I won't kill you, don't you?" he smirked, his brows crinkling in sarcasm only he could understand.

"I'm not afraid of dying," I said. "As long as my daughter is safe, I'd happily pass this life, Nikos... or should I call you Brega?"

I kept my eyes on him, awaiting any indication that my assumption was wrong. He had a perfect poker face; his smirk

never faltered. "I see... I have no intention of hurting your daughter if that's what you're looking for. I have bigger plans for her. Once you and Chase are gone, I will raise her as my own."

Chills slithered down my entire body. His wicked smile widened.

"My brothers won't let that happen." My teeth gritted so hard I was surprised I couldn't taste the dust in my mouth.

His brows arched, reaching for the chair wedged on the wall, dragging it against the carpeted floor towards the side of my bed. He sank on it languidly as though he held the time in his palms. "You've been out for two days, Sofia."

I swallowed the gasp ready to escape my throat, pressing my lips into a hard line.

Nikos crossed his arms over his middle. "Let me give you a brief context of what happened. Derek's and that bitch Carlota's plan didn't work in their favor," he huffed. "They think I'm stupid to not realize what they were up to. They went off with a huge bang, though. With a blast like that, they won't be able to survive."

"B...blast?" I stuttered.

He hummed a yes. "They thought I was in a trailer meeting some Japanese gun supplier, right? That was a decoy for my plan. They fell on it willingly. Some sentences are incomplete if you are not reading this novel on FindNovel.net. Visit FindNovel.net to read the complete chapters for free. When they busted inside the trailer, it went kaboom!" Wicked delight shone in his eyes. "Their bodies were barely recognizable. Too bad... I thought I could make a good taxidermy of their heads."

Bile bubbled from my gut, the sour taste rising to my mouth.

"That's... that's not true..." Tears sting my eyes. I know I shouldn't show him any weakness, but Derek... My brother is gone? "I don't believe you!"

"Who gives a fuck what you think, agápi?" he shrugged. "That's not even the best part," his chuckle reverberated throughout the room.

My chest was tight, as though my ribcage was squeezing my insides, and breathing had become a feat hard to execute. I shook my head, willing my head not to believe anything this man was uttering. He was so good with mind games. I won't let him get through me. I won't!

"Your boyfriend," he pulled out his phone and turned the screen in my direction. My tears blurred my sight. I felt the warm liquid trailing down my cheek as I blinked them away.

It was a headline in a local news column. CEO of Montiero Holdings, a murderer.

Mouth parted, I tried to read the column's content, but Nikos took his phone and smiled. "What..."

"That bitch you were so jealous of... She played a huge part in my plans, love. She was the one who tried to run you over." His statement held me speechless, my saliva thickening as I swallowed. "Sammy?" realization dawned on me.

I shoved aside the fact that Sammy tried to kill me. Meeting this side of this man spoke volumes. Sammy was his pawn, and if he managed to kill Derek - 'No. This is not happening! Derek is not stupid. I can feel it in my bones that he's okay. He has to be - he could do so much to Sammy.

Then it hit me. The headline. Murderer.

"What did you do to her?"

His shoulder rose and fell in a lazy shrug. "I just made it look like your boyfriend killed her. He had all the motives, and everything worked in my favor. He will rot in his cell while I take everything away from him... just like what he did to me."

"People will come looking for me, Nikos. They will find out that you killed me soon enough. You cannot hide evidence of the break-in at our place. Even if you have people in the police department, my friends will not stop until they find me and my daughter!" He tipped his head to the side, excitement twinkling in his eyes. "Smart, but who said about killing you? Not yet, at least. We will get married first."

My mouth hung open. "What?"

"You heard me." His lips stretched to a devious smirk. "You will be Mrs. Nikos Avlonitis before this day ends." He rose from his seat and clapped his hands, rubbing them together. "So just relax, agápi mou. We have a big day ahead of us."

In my shocked state, he managed to lean down and kiss my forehead without a protest from me. I pushed him with my free hand, wincing at the pain that gnawed my shoulder. "Get away from me!"

"Feisty. I like... I'll have so much fun breaking you, Sofia." His deep laugh as he left the room sounded like the devil winning the battle in taking my soul.