Arianna's POV.

Walking out of the lobby in the airport, I ran a hand through my dirty blond hair as I smiled. Finally, I was back. Italy for me had this feeling I loved. It held something I craved, and wanted desperately, my parents.

I couldn't wait to see them. Maybe they had changed. I knew that my Nonna would be worried if I didn't tell her I was safe, so I drafted a quick text telling her that I had arrived and I would call her later. Then I stuffed my phone into my purse.

My gown fluttered in the breeze, and I pulled my sunglasses away from my greyish blue eyes, and onto the top of my head as I looked around looking for the driver my dad asked to pick me up. At that moment, I saw a guy waving at me, and jogging in my direction. Well, well. It was Marcus the driver.

He grinned as he stood in front of me. "Welcome to Italy Miss. I hope you had a great flight."

I smiled back at him, unable to not be affected by his enthusiasm. " Thank you, Marcus. It was pretty good."

       He smiled and dragged my luggage along.  We reached a flashy blue car, and I stood beside the car and watched as he put my bag in the trunk of the car. I opened the door and sat down.

          "So, where are we headed now, Marcus?" I asked him as I pulled out my phone toying with it. I tilted my head to look at him.

       "Firstly, we'll go to the city and then to your home. It takes quite some time, so it'll be a pretty long journey," he said, as he sat down and started up the car.

       I nodded softly and pulled out my earphones to listen to some music. I slumped back in the chair feeling absolutely drained. Jet lag was not a pleasant feeling at all.

       He probably guessed I was tired and didn't say anything else to me. I rested for about thirty minutes and sat up. I looked outside the windows, and the sight that met my eyes was beautiful. Trees, grasses, gas stations, and a few cars on the road. It was so peaceful. My mind wandered off as I stared in a daze.

      I was startled by a low shout from Marcus. "Dannazione!" I noticed the way his teeth clenched, and his hands gripped the steering wheel. Through the mirror, I saw the fear in his eyes, and that fear quickly reflected in mine too.                      

        I  fisted my fingers in the seat. My pulse throbbed in my throat as I realized that something was wrong. My mouth started running dry as I hoarsely asked him, "what...what is the problem, Marcus?"

        He swallowed and said with some difficulty. "We are being followed, miss" and at that moment I paled. My mind turned blank as I imagined every kind of horrific scene from movies in my head.  I don't know how I managed to say, " Followed? Why? and by who? What should we do now? Call the police?"

        He clenched his teeth and looked into the rearview mirror as he shook his head. " I don't know, but the police won't be able to help us now. We can only try to outrun them and escape."

        Before I could process the meaning of the words he spoke, he said quickly." Sit tight, miss, and don't be scared. Grab onto something."

       I subconsciously followed his orders as I asked him quietly " what do you want to do?"

        He didn't answer me, and the next thing I knew he stepped on the accelerator. I shook and bounced on the chair, hitting my head on the door. I didn't have time to care about the pain as I grabbed the door for dear life. Marcus tried his best to lose them. I  forced down the bile that went up my throat and looked behind me. Sure enough, I saw two cars chasing us at the same breakneck speed Marcus was driving at.

      Then suddenly, I heard a rain of gunshots, and Marcus let out a groan. I looked over at him, noticing that he was injured, but he kept mumbling, "Dannazione dannazione." He pulled out a gun from a compartment in the car and used one hand to drive the car. While he fired at them with his free hand. 

         The car swerved dangerously, and I crouched on the floor. I held a shaky hand to my mouth to stop myself from screaming. ' oh god, somebody, please tell me this is all a bad dream.

        The gunshots continued, and this time it was worse. There was only one Marcus and a lot more of those people on the other side. Suddenly the glasses shattered, and I held two shaky hands to my ears. Ignoring the pain that tore at me as the glass shards pierced my skin. Marcus had sustained a lot of injuries and was nearing his limit. I feared for both of us and I knew he did too.

         Our car was bumped once by the attacker's car, and our car swerved out of control. He tried to steady it, but his injury made it very difficult. We were hit again, and the car went off track and stopped a few meters from a tree. The dust and sand blew into the car. Marcus slumped in his chair not saying a word, but I knew that this time we couldn't escape.

       Almost immediately, the car door was pulled open, and the ringing in my ears didn't subside. I stiffly raised my head and saw Marcus being pulled out of the car, and pinned to the door. His blood flew as he slumped weakly on the door. I could hear indistinct shouts and my eyes turned red, watching as they hit him. I closed my eyes and screamed: " let him go, let go of him...please".

        Finally, they did stop, and he slumped to the ground. One of them walked over to my side, and pulled the door open, as he roughly dragged me out of the car and to the ground. I raised my head and glared at them. One of them with a shiny bald head crouched in front of me and lifted my chin to look at him. I was so overcome by hate that I forgot to be afraid. 

       "Lei è Carina, Vero?" The bald man turned to ask the three men standing behind him. He gave me a very disgusting smile.

        "SI capo, è davvero bellissima" one of them replied, and I turned my head away from his face. He gripped my chin harder, turning it towards him. His eyes turned cold. "Don't do that again bella. I don't like that. I wouldn't hurt you if you behave. After all, who could bear to hurt a beautiful woman such as yourself." The other men chuckled as they watched us. His hand traveled from my chin and rubbed my shoulder in a teasing motion. My skin crawled in disgust.     

        I shot him a dirty look and spoke through clenched teeth. "Don't touch me." He ignored what I said and ran his hands over my body. I fought the nausea I felt when his hands tried to dive into my gown. I panicked, and swung my head forward, catching him off guard. He reacted quickly and slapped me hard. "Bitch, isn't that what you want? And you're behaving so prim and proper. We'll see if you'd still fight like this when you're under a man being f*cked hard."

        The throbbing in my head became worse, and I wiped the blood that dribbled from my lips and looked at him defiantly. "Just wait till my parents find out that you kidnapped me. You'll rot in jail." the bald man gave me a smirk, and spat out, "Quanto ingenuo."

       "You'd better watch your tongue around here bella. Because if you let it loose, you could lose it." He smiled as he spoke to me, and turned to the other guys standing by the side. "I'm liking her more and more, too bad..."

        "It's alright boss, you'll get a better one." The youngest among them said. He nodded as he smiled. "Hmm, venderà a buon prezzo."  I couldn't understand what they said, but it elicited a cheer from the men surrounding him.

        He gestured to me using his chin, and the youngest among them pulled me up roughly and bound my hands behind my back. He pushed and prodded me to move forward. I refused to cooperate, and he gripped my hair, yanking it back so he could see my face. My scalp burned from the pain, and my eyes turned red. "Don't make me do this the hard way Princessa."

The bald man laughed tauntingly. "Carlos show some respect to the lady, after all her daddy will take us to jail if we mess with her."

Carlos smiled, dragged me to the car, and shoved me inside. The bald man got into the driver's seat. As he started the car he told Carlos. "This one is wild, make sure she's tamed and quiet. We don't need a woman causing a ruckus around here."          

I looked at Carlos and saw him smiling creepily at me, and I smelt a peculiar fragrance. I started feeling heavy-headed. "It's done, boss." He said, and that was the last thing I heard before everything went dark.