An Arranged Marriage To The Mafia...?

My body seized in the thick black shadows, my breath drew sharply in the bottom of my lungs and my heart raced beyond my rib cage. Panic dwelled in every inch of my entire body and felt my back press up against the dark, damp wall. Inwardly I cursed myself and shrank back further as instantly regret of my tremendous screams began to sink in.

"Amelia." A rough voice shook through the tension-filled air as the shadow stepped around the small tool shed, disguised by the shadows, yet the voice was unmistakable. "Amelia...."

"Ethan..?" I paused in mid motion as I attempted some form of escape.

The shadow dorning figure took a lighter step forward and a simple beam of light allowed enough visability for my eyes to recognise the stressed frown line of Ethan's forehead, his mouth a tight straight line and his eyes filled with what I supposed to be relief. For a moment I stared bewildered at him until the weight of panic and responsibility of my own life lifted from my shoulders. In a matter of seconds I had completely thrown myself into the arms of my shadowed fiancee. Clearly taken back Ethaniel stood rigid for a moment before his arms wound about my shoulders bringing my hysetrical body closer to his and burrying my teary face into the crip white shirt adoring his body.

"Are you alright? Did they see you?" His voice was above a whisper as we walked briskly across the damp grass, his fingers laced in my own hand tightly and comforting.

"No." I sniffed back tears and wiped at a stray tear with the back of my freehand. Ethan paused for a mere second to stare down at me before popping the locks to his sleak car and opening the passanger door before closing it behind me once I was settled inside.

Streets blurred around the edges, scenery sped by and burned familiar out lines of streets I once played along growing up. I shrank inside the leather upholstery and allowed my head to lull in tune with the radio against the cold rain-covered window. Ethan's face held an expression of determination his eyes flickered randomly along the busy streets and occassionaly directed their focus on me, yet I never made the attempt of eye contact and I surely never attempted to strike a conversation.

The black car pulled up to the side of the curb in a single fluid motion, the tyres mounted the small gutter and the engine rolled along the drive way until it was cut out directly before the Radev's family manour. Timidly my legs moved behind Ethan, my hands trembling in shock and shoulders shaking as the front door was pushed slowly open. Ethan moved his arm around my shoulder and held me closer to his side while we silently stepped down the hall. I jumped and flinched as a door directly before us burst open with an incredible force, my heart still screaming even as Maria Radev stood gawking in the doorway followed quickly by Antonio and their son Marcus.

"Amelia!" The motherly hands cupped my face and brought me quickly toward her bustling figure, "Thank heavens you're safe!"

I smiled timidly and allowed Ethan's hand to envelop mine as Maria finally released me.

"Amelia." I shifted my gaze to the patriach of the Radev family; Antonio, his eyes wary and burning. "Did you happen to see your father before you ran from the house?"

My heart sank.
My father had been inside when the doors had burst open.
My father had been unaware, locked up inside his office mountained by a tonne of paper work.

Panic drew itself across my face, shock and denial seethed and everyone within a one hundred metre radius could tell.

"I-I..." I paused to take a shaky breath, "He was still inside... in the office... he-he didn't, he didn't know..." Ethan's hand squeezed my palm reasurringly tight as hysetrics began to build up inside my stomach. Realisation had suddenly struck me. Jakowski's men had not intended on finding me, they had been completely unaware that I was kept inside my bedroom, instead they expected that I would be exactly here with the Radev family. They hadn't seen me leave or heard a sound I made because they were pre-occupied with searching out my dearest dad. The bullet from the gun shot had never reached me because the gun wasn't aimed at my back as I sprinted across the grass, instead it was aimed at-

My stomach rolled and flipped along the walls of my gut and I snatched my hand from inside Ethan's tight grasp.

"We have to go back!" My chest screamed in panic and my surroundings felt fake as if this was all a dream slowed down to a drone just so every moment was pure agony.

"Amelia..." Ethan's voice clearly told me this was simply out of the question and it had a pit of pure rage burning in my chest.

"We have to go for him! They will kill him!!" My eyes were wide with fear as I span on my heel to face his sorry expression and when he said nothing I stammered. "He's my dad. If you're all too gutless to go and help him then that's just fine. But I will not stand around while they do god only knows what to him!"

My legs sprang the instant my sentence was over and I bounded down the hallway back in the direction of the front door. Ethan's voice called at my back but I simply ignored him the adreneline pumping through my tired legs enough to drown out his resoundingly calm voice. My hands fumbled with the small handle of the large wooden door and in an instant I was outside, pausing for a moment in the light down pour before my right arm was violently pulled backward spinning my entire body around to face a flustered and visably frustrated Ethaniel Radev.

"What do you think you're doing?!" His voice was raised as the rain fell harder.

"I'm going to help him!" My lungs were tight as I struggled with his grasp.

"Amelia don't be stupid, you have no idea who or what was in that house, you can't even be sure if you're father was even in there!"

"He was home Ethan! He had no warning that they were coming, I have to go back for him!!"

"And how are you going to get there? You're car isn't here and nobody in this house will lend you theres or drive you to your death. And even if they did what were you planning to do once you got there? Walk in and immediately be shot? They will kill you Amelia."

"I have to help him..." My voice no longer screamed through the heavy splutter of rain drops but fell into a whisper, Ethan's hands released their strong grasp around my wrists and stood watching me for a moment to be sure that I wouldn't try to run again. Instead I felt the bubble of hysterical tears soar their way up through my throat, my knees give way and the sobs began. I sat in a disgraceful mess in the middle of a cobblestone path, my face burried in the palms of my hands and my shoulder shaking with aggressive tears.

I could hear the shuffle of feet along the passage way and feel the presence of somebody else, soft murmuring floating above my head at the two standing figures before me, yet I didn't care; instead I let another waves of hot tears flow from my already reddedned eyes, my ears picking up fragments of conversation and Ethan's deep voice through the rain.

"Just find him." I heard a grunted reply and the disappearance of broken footsteps over the loose gravel and the sounds of cars burning to life.

Within seconds my knees were lifted from the rough ground and my body brought quickly into Ethan's arms as he turned and carried me back inside, my surroundings whirled through thick tears as we passed through hallways and small furnished rooms until the familiar fragrance of Ethan's bedroom errupted all my senses. The lights were dulled to a soft subtle glow, the low light bouncing from every clean cut surface. The fragrance of crisp cottons and his cologne mixed together and left a comforting smell about the air. The soft cotton sheets indulged my bare skin and the perfectly soft pillows made my eye lids heavy. Ethan's arms brought the covers closely around my shoulders and i grasped his hand tightly before he was able to pull away, he responded exactly how I had hope climbing slowly over my huddled body to lay before me. His stronger arms enveloped me quickly and I burried my face into the material of his shirt.

It was here that I suddenly felt okay. I felt reassured with the gentle silence that my father was going to be genuinely safe, that he was perfectly fine and that Marcus Radev would bring him smiling through the front door in no time. In Ethan's arms the impossible felt possible, it was just a shame that reality was unreachable while he held me close.