Claudia's POV
My legs hurt from running. Fog clouds over my mind. Painful cold wind hurts my ears as I blink away the blurriness from my eyes. The winter stings my skin as I run.
Just a little more. I huff, taking huge gulps of breath. The anxiety is growing deeper second by second. My throat is now bursting with pain.
Soon I find myself standing in front of the bakery shop. The biting cold around me pierces through my ears to my brain as I take a look around.
There is nobody on the streets. The glass windows of the shop are shattered. The shards are lying on the concrete outside. The heavy wooden door, which once separated the coffee smelling warmth of inside from the harsh cold outside, is left wide open.
My breath hitches before I wipe my face with the long sleeves and gather myself to enter the shop.
The furniture inside is all smashed; the tables and chairs are lying splintered. The lamps, lights, serving dishes, bowls—all lay before me broken and shattered on the pine wood floor.
"M-Mom?" I gather enough heart to call out to her, but my own voice echoed back to me with no visible sign of her.
No, I whisper to myself, No, this can't be happening.
I force myself to inhale a breath as I take a step forward. The entire place was disarrayed, unrecognizable for the person herself who had helped put the place together.
I stop abruptly as my shoe lands somewhere. My eyes snap wide as I look downwards.
Blood. My spine chills. Bile rises in my throat. My hand flies to cover my mouth. A low whimpering sound leaves my mouth as I tremble, staggering back. That dark red liquid on the floor, it was unmistakably blood.
My head spins with dots of dizziness. I nearly choke out vomit but control myself and turn myself around away from the sight of it. My shaking hand finds its way to my pockets. 911, I think as I fumble to take out my phone, I need to call 911.
But as I glance up, I stop myself abruptly. Two dark silhouettes emerge from the shadows of the doorway leading to the exit of the bakery. My lips tremble. "Who..."
"Leave me!!" I scream as loud as I could even though my throat feels like ripping apart. I thrash against their grips on me as they drag me inside a hospital. The doctors and nurses around me notice, but they do not do anything to help. They look at me with pity, but as though they were scared to do anything about it, they turn a blind eye to my cries of help.
I do not have a clue who these men are, or what they want from me and why am I being carried to a hospital room.
But as soon as I look at the patient bed through the small window of the hospital door, my struggles of breaking free die down. The men who had been dragging me push the door open, and I nearly fall on my knees when they shove me inside.
But I gather myself upright and rush to the bedside.
The oxygen mask fits over her face, fogging and defogging as she struggles to breathe with her eyes closed.
"Mo-Mom?" My voice breaks as I manage to speak. I hurriedly take her hand in mine. "Mom. Mom, wake up. What happened? Why're you here? Answer me, Mom." I shake her, tears falling from my eyes on the hospital gown she is wearing.
The door opens again and I turn my head quickly towards it. More tears blur my vision. "Leo," I speak. "Leonard, what happened to Mom?" I ask.
But he speaks nothing. He stands before me wordlessly. And I... I only notice now that his face is bruised. Cuts on his arms, and blood on his shirt.
"How did this happen?" My voice strains as I speak, looking up into his eyes. "Reply to me, Leo!" I grab his collars and shake him, but even as I shout he stands completely still.
Some men dressed in suits, just like the ones who had carried me here earlier, enter through the door behind Leo, filling in the space of the hospital room, instantly turning the air inside suffocating.
My grip on him loosens. "Leo, who are they?" I ask, staring at him, hoping he would speak at least something, that he would tell me what the hell was going on.
A sound of wood tapping on the floor reaches me, and I turn towards it. The wooden cane comes into my view as a man enters. He limps a little on his injured leg, but otherwise seems fine enough with his large build and greying hair.
"Oh well." He looks at me through his spectacled eyes, which makes an unsettling feeling swirl in my guts. "Ms. Claudia, right? A word if you please, Ms. Claudia."
My world begins to shake beneath my feet as the cunning-eyed man in front of me makes an offer. An offer of marriage with his nephew. But the way his face carries a carefree look and evil twitch of a smile tells me that it was not an offer; it was a do or die option. I don't have a choice. If I accept, they'll let me and my family live; if I don't...
My throat feels dry. I don't want to think about it.
"But why me? What did I ever do wrong to them?" I ask, but he brushes me off.
"You were betrothed to him ever since you were a kid. I saw it myself. Your betrothal," he says.
A breath of disbelief leaves my mouth. There was no way my family would ever associate themselves with people like them, much less betroth me to them. We are just common middle class people, trying everyday to makes ends meet. And these people... they look like a group of gangsters.
"What if I refuse to accept your so called offer?" I openly disregard him, my eyes daring. I just have to end this as soon as possible. Whoever these people are, I need to push them away from me and my family.
His old face relaxes more into a smile, a stomach churning, disgust-infusing smile which made me more anxious. "You wouldn't be this brave if you knew who he is," he says.
"Whoever he is, I neither care to know, nor…"
"Carlos de Monroy," he cuts me off as he says, a cunning glint in his eyes. "He is the one you're betrothed to."
My heart drops to my stomach. I could feel my hands and feet growing cold and numb, colder than the winter around me. My head throbbed.
I had heard of him only through tell tale stories. The eyes like that of hungry wolves, the body like that of a demon, and the thirst like that of a starved beast...
What the hell is happening? My head is starting to spin with hundreds of questions. What the hell is this man saying?
I am... I am to marry the most ruthless head of the mafias?
My arms unfold as I take a step back. "No..." I whisper out.
"And if you still refuse..." he says, a smirk taking over his face. His hand waves behind him and my eyes quickly snap to the door of the hospital room. My eyes widen in shock and I gasp as I see the men take out guns from their jackets and point them behind my brother's head, who was sitting near my Mom. Another man points the gun at my Mom.
"You bloody bastard…" My mouth speaks out in anger before I even get a chance to process it all as I lunge for him, but…
"Ahh!" I screamed as I was yanked from behind by my hair.
"This bitch sure talks a lot." A man's voice hisses right near me. I look behind. He had a scar on his face. "She doesn't know her place."
I scream again as he pulls my hair, his grip going tighter. Scratching at his hand, I try to break free.
He instead grabs my arm and throws me to the ground. Even though the pain from falling hurt me, I quickly try to distance myself from them as I shift away, my eyes trying to find something to fight back, or anyone down the corridor who could help me, but it is all empty and dark, filled with nothing but shadows.
The old man who was earlier talking to me clicks his tongue. "Now now, Javi. We don't want bruises on her during the wedding." The wooden stick taps as he walks towards me.
He bends so that he is facing me. "Now, you have two choices." He glances briefly at the man who was probably Javi.
The gun in Javi's hand clicks as he points it at me.
"Either you watch yourself and your family die," the old man says. My eyes shift to the hospital room door in terror, behind which my Mom and brother are present, probably still held at gunpoint. "Or..." he continues, "Help me kill your soon-to-be husband."