She almost had herself convinced until she saw him get out of the car, carefully fastening his blazer button. It was him. It was Gino. She watched as he looked around, his men exiting the car also. This was it, she thought. They were going to find her and then they would execute her.
Her legs felt paralyzed, unable to move for a moment. She had to consciously tell herself to run to her bus. She pulled the gray hoodie down securely over her head and ran away from that area toward the back of the bus depot. Gino and his men walked into the bus station. She was terrified she didn’t have much time. She needed to hurry and get on her bus. But where was it?
Gino walked up to the attendant and pulled out a picture of Cierra taken from footage of a surveillance camera.
“Have you seen this girl?” he asked the same man that Cierra had bought a ticket from. “She is a wanted fugitive.”
The attendant, not recognizing Cierra replied, “I don’t think so. I don’t think anybody like that has come through here.”
The photograph showed Cierra with long hair and different clothing taken before she left Miami. It was also taken before her face had rounded as a result of her pregnancy.
Gino left the ticket booth and walked through the bus terminal searching for anyone who resembled the girl in the picture. He had to work fast, but he also had to be thorough about it.
Cierra ran to her bus, looking behind her to make sure nobody was following her as Gino, who was on the opposite side of the bus terminal, told his men to spread out. They obeyed his order, each one of them rushing to a corner of the bus station.
Cierra found her bus and walked onto it, observing the available seats. She went to the back and sat down next to the window pulling her hoodie over her head until it rested securely over her eyes.
Gino saw that the buses were getting ready to leave. He stepped in front of one causing the bus driver to brake suddenly. Flashing a fraudulent law enforcement badge, he motioned to the driver to open the doors.
“Let me on this bus,” he said.
Gino walked up the stairs onto the bus and looked around. He stared at each passenger searching for the woman who had caused him so much time, effort, and energy looking for her. When he was positive that she wasn’t on that bus, he got off and ran to another one, insisting that this bus driver also let him on.
Cierra saw Gino exiting the bus as hers was pulling away. Jolts of pins and needles spread over her body as she received visual confirmation that he was there searching for her. She was not paranoid after all. She held her breath, said a silent prayer, and willed the bus to drive away before it was also stopped by Gino.
When she heard the bus accelerate and saw the bus terminal in the distance, she exhaled thankful to have escaped Gino. She could only hope that the future would bring her safety for herself and for her child. She breathed a sigh of relief trying to relax. This anxiety could not have been good for her or her child and she made a conscious effort to calm her body and release the stress she had been carrying around with her these past several days.
Her mind shifted to thinking about all that had happened. She missed Giovanni desperately. She slowly fell asleep as the hum of the bus continued on.
Chapter 3
The dawn chased away the night as the sunrise peeked over the mountain horizon. The bus drove along the winding road, travelling around the corner of a mountain. The scenery was breathtaking. Tall trees everywhere and nothing but nature on all sides. Cierra woke up, slowly opening her eyes. She managed to get some sleep on the loud, rumbling bus and even slept through most of the night, something she didn’t think she would be able to do.
Riding down the highway felt peaceful. She could only imagine North Carolina as a whole was beautiful. She never felt more welcomed anywhere else than when they lived in Wilmington. It certainly was a far cry from Miami. She was sad to leave Wilmington. It was the place she hoped she would have her baby and live with Giovanni. She wanted to bring the newest member of the family home to their cozy beach cottage where together, they would continue a life uninterrupted by the past.
She thought about it a lot. The three of them leaving footprints in the sand as they walked along the beach collecting seashells. All the memories and experiences their child would have as they documented every second of every day. It was the perfect place to raise a family and she was heart sick to have to leave.
It wasn’t realistic to consider a life like that was possible. Cierra understood that. At least not until the matter of Gino was handled. As long as he was alive he would come looking for them. He wanted revenge for the death of his father at Giovanni’s hands, and he was going to track both of them down to the ends of the Earth to get it.
She didn’t have a choice but to leave Wilmington. Maybe when Gino was handled she could go back, but for now she had to find a new life, just her and the baby. Cierra closed her eyes, purposely focusing her energy on bringing positive vibes into her personal space. She could get depressed and mourn the loss of living in Wilmington, or she could get proactive. Asheville seemed like a reasonable alternative located on the west side of North Carolina. She figured it was far enough away that Gino wouldn’t suspect that she would stay so close within the same state. Sometimes the best places to hide are close to home.
Morning traffic was bustling with people who went about their days going to work, doing what they normally did on a weekday. Cierra could only imagine the lives of others and their morning routines, and hoped that one day her life would be routine and no longer filled with death threats or inconsistencies.
The mountain ranges against the morning sky were breathtaking. She had never seen anything like it before in her life. There was no ocean to admire, but she noticed that there were plenty of lakes that were just as gorgeous. Asheville was a place she thought she could possibly stay for a while. At least until after she had her baby. Perhaps the people here were just as nice as they were in Wilmington.
She looked out the window watching these powerful images flash by her. The bus pulled in and stopped at a local general store. It reminded her of Mayberry in The Andy Griffith Show. It was a tiny little town on the outskirts of Asheville that appeared to have a small marina where boats were docked, their owners most likely at work right now biding their time until the weekend to enjoy the lake again.
She wanted to stay on the bus. The soothing motion granted a feeling of safety to her, but she was also a little hungry. She hadn’t eaten anything since she stayed at the kind woman’s house the night before. Cierra waited for the other passengers to disembark. She wasn’t in a hurry so she didn’t mind being the last one out. She walked to the front of the bus, thanked the bus driver and slowly stepped down the steps and onto the gravel. She looked around carefully, taking everything in. Most of the passengers had the same idea she did about getting refreshments. There was no telling when the next stop would be. She followed the gravel path and the crowd to an old general store painted a light blue. It was quaint. Very sweet. Its trim painted in a crisp bright white to stand out from its surroundings.
As she walked in, she noticed a man who must have been the store owner talking to a woman about beans that had gone bad. He was an attractive man, late 30’s with short sandy blond hair. His hazel eyes noticed Cierra and followed her for a second before returning his attention back to the woman waving the bag of beans around.
Cierra looked around and saw the coffee machine sitting on the drink counter. She had been dying for a cup of coffee for forever. She grabbed a paper cup and filled it to the brim, fastening a lid before taking it to the front register.
“Will this be all?” the clerk asked.
“Yes, thank you,” she said, her voice quiet.
“A dollar twenty-five.”
Cierra handed him a five-dollar bill and waited for her change. The clerk put her change in her hand.
“Thank you,” she said as she closed her bag, took the coffee, and walked out the front door.
“Have a good day
,” the clerk said.
She walked onto the pier where she stopped at the end to take in the beauty of the water and look around at the sky. White and gray birds were sitting nearby. This was the most peace she had felt in a very long time. It was easy to get lulled into a false sense of security and she knew she had to say on her guard, but it was very hard, almost impossible, when something so beautiful was staring her in the face.
The birds were alarmed, having heard the bus door shut, and took off in a formation heading over the water. She jerked her head back to where the bus was parked and noticed that all the passengers had returned to the bus. It was about to pull away. She stared at it for a long moment before deciding to stay where she was in this small, sleepy town just outside of Asheville.
The bus gasped and creaked and made one more hissing sound before pulling away, leaving for the next stop. Cierra turned her attention back toward the water. The boats floated in their assigned spaces, gently moving up and down with the rise and flow of ripples on the water. Cierra looked out onto the blue liquid where a small bell attached to a buoy chimed from side to side in the water. As it moved, the birds tried to land on it unsuccessfully.
Cierra looked down, touched her belly, and was comforted by the fact that she knew she wasn’t completely alone. This seemed like the perfect town to raise a baby. She sat down and put her back against an old wood bench. It was settled. This was where she would try to rebuild her life.
Chapter 4
Gino unfastened the holster from around his waist and put it on the kitchen table as he walked through his house. He grabbed a bottle of water. His men got out of his way. They knew he was mad because he didn’t get Cierra.
“We got security footage from the bus station boss. Do you want me to load it up so you can take a look at it?” one of his men asked.
“No, give it to me.”
The man handed Gino a memory stick and he headed to into his office. He sat down at his desk and plugged it into the computer. His screen was divided into four different pieces of surveillance footage. Each one showed a different part of the bus depot.
He started to run through it but looked at his watch. He was late for a meeting and needed to go. This would have to wait until later. He was growing more and more determined every day to catch her and Giovanni. They had slipped from his grasp too many times and this was getting ridiculous. What should have been a simple whack job had turned into crossing state lines and tracking them down. However, this was what it took to avenge his father’s death and to make sure that she didn’t talk to anybody. Fear wasn’t enough. She had to die and so did he. And now they had pissed him off. He was going to see to it that they went out nice and slow.
Chapter 5
Cierra found a quiet place underneath the pier and sat down. She wasn’t sure where to go; this wasn’t exactly planned. She decided this would be the best place to sleep tonight. She didn’t want to draw any attention to herself, especially law enforcement. There were too many questions and she wasn’t going to be able to adequately explain herself to anybody, so the best course of action for right now was to hide the best she could.
She had never been a fan of camping, but had never really tried it before either. She had no tent and no resources except for her sweater and her cross body bag. It was just sand and an old wood pier to lie under, but it was all she needed for now. In the morning, she would try to sort things out and figure out a place to stay. Right now she didn’t want to see another human being. She just needed the time to rest and recover from everything that had been going on over the last few days. All the running nonstop had finally caught up with her. Her body couldn’t take it anymore. She was exhausted. It was all just too much.
Cierra wadded up her sweater like a pillow and laid back on the ground drifting off to sleep. The last thing she saw was Giovanni’s face in her mind.
Chapter 6
Cierra walked along the rocky gravel road past the general store that she had visited the day before. The store sat next to the pier on the lake and served as a place to get groceries and bait. She decided she wanted to find out if maybe somebody was hiring. She asked a local man, what else was around and he guided her to a local seafood restaurant just down the way on one of the other piers off the lake.
She stopped and stared at a woman who appeared to run the place. Cierra momentarily doubted herself, wondering if she had enough experience from bartending and waiting tables to apply. She needed money. What Giovanni gave her wasn’t going to last forever. She needed to start earning more cash so that she could find a place to live.
Hesitantly, she walked in to the central area where the bar was and approached the lady who was serving drinks and fried shrimp to customers.
“Excuse me, do you know where the owner is?” she asked.
“You’re looking at her,” the lady said. “Is there something I can help you with?
Cierra looked down and played with her fingers. “I was just wondering if you had any available work.”
The lady looked down at the growing bump on her belly. She didn’t say anything but she knew that if she was pregnant she needed the money.
“Well, we’ve been kind of busy. There’s a possibility that we could use extra help. Do you have any experience?” she asked.
“Yes, ma’am, I do.”
Cierra started to explain that she worked as a waitress in Miami and then realized that giving any specific information away was a bad idea. If anyone asked about her later on those details would quickly match up. So she lied.
“Yes, ma’am. I have had several years of waitressing in Georgia.”
She picked the state of out of thin air.
A child’s balloon popped behind Cierra startling her to the point that she jumped and screamed a little. She jerked around to see if it was gunshot only to see the child holding a string with no balloon.
The owner laughed, “We get that all the time.” Cierra joined in and laughed with her.
“I’m Debbie,” the owner said.
“Cierra.”
Chapter 7
Passengers loaded onto the bus. They looked like cattle being loaded on a truck and led to slaughter. They were all headed to the same place on one big moving contraption.
Gino watched the security footage on his computer looking for any sign of familiarity for Giovanni or Cierra. He zoomed in and out searching for one clue that could confirm his suspicions that she was there that night. The black and white grainy picture didn’t show very much detail but he could make out some specifics. There was no color but he could distinguish between long hair and short hair, man and woman.
He found nothing. Despite footage from different cameras at different angles, he was coming up empty. He found it increasingly difficult to concentrate and wanted to figure out some way to speed up this process.
He was exhausted. Several nights without sleep would put anyone on edge, but Gino was so driven by his anger for blood that he refused to give up the search. He was willing to spend every last dime he had if it meant getting his hands on the man who killed his father, and the best way to do that was to get his hands on Giovanni’s woman. There was no time out for him. It was revenge twenty-four seven.
He tapped on his keyboard trying to pull up footage from different angles. He was about to give up when he noticed a woman with short brown hair rushing at the last minute to try to get on a bus. He watched as she banged on the side of the bus before it stopped and opened its doors to let her on.
He stopped the footage, rewound it, and played it back zooming in on her face.
“Son of a bitch,” he said, the corners of his mouth turning upward.
He had found her. The image was a little fuzzy but he could tell by her body language and the way she moved that it was her. He zoomed in on the top of the bus where the marquee sat. The words Asheville flickered. He knew exactly where she was going now. It was only a matter of time before he had her, and then had Giovanni.
He
wasn’t going to make this easy for either one of them. He wasn’t just going to put a bullet in their heads and call it a day. He would abduct them, torture them for days and then find the most painful way for them to die and double his efforts. No one murdered the head of the Geremia family and lived to tell about it.
Chapter 8
Debbie walked around to each table making sure that customers’ glasses were filled while instructing Cierra to do the same.
“A full glass is a happy stomach,” she said. “Make sure you check customers’ glasses at least three times during their stay.”
Debbie shouted across the restaurant to a return customer, “Hey girl, how you doing? So great to have you here.”
Cierra followed behind her, taking mental notes and learning as fast as she could, while holding an order of several plates in her hands ready to be delivered to table three. She set the plates down at the table as the customers smiled in anticipation.
The restaurant was busy. Cierra was glad to have the distraction of work to keep her mind off of other matters. A wave of appreciation swept over her. She was grateful to have a job and to live in what seemed like a down home town. She appreciated Debbie’s generosity in hiring her. She knew that the hours were long, but it was worth it to take her mind off of Giovanni and everything that had happened.
Cierra came to the end of her shift and clocked out for the day. She left on foot and headed to a real estate agent that Debbie recommended having bought her house from her. It was obvious that everyone knew everyone around here. She thought that would make her feel like an outsider, but instead people were warm and gracious. It was a delightful surprise that Cierra hadn’t expected but appreciated all the same. It only enforced in her gut that this small town was perfect to settle down in.
Hang Em' Up: A Bad Boy Sports Pregnancy Romance Page 100