Mateo reached into his suit and pulled out a handgun, holding it at his side.
"Do not leave the car," he says sternly to Zoey and me. "Stay right here and put your head down." He opened the car door, I took heed of his words, and Zoey and I kept our heads down.
I kept hearing the sound of gunshots being fired repeatedly. I slowly turned to the window side to peep at what was going on. There seems to be a set of men shooting at Sins men; there were more than twenty of them.
I find my eyes wandering to where the bullet holes are at the front of the front seat. There were three holes, two at the front and one at the back. My whole body was stiff when I realized the direction of the bullet hole.
I was the target.
I was shaking in fear; they were so close. I could have died if not for the bullet that missed me by an inch. Who were these people?
Could they be Sin's enemies, and they are trying to get to him by getting to me? Zoey took my hands in hers, trying to steady them as they continued to shake uncontrollably.
I couldn’t control how my heart raced in fear; just the thought of almost dying makes me pale and sickly. I began chanting a series of prayers in my mind, praying that the man above would listen to me.
Mateo opened the door, jolting me from my thoughts. My eyes trailed down to the side of his waist, which he was holding with his right hand, and I saw blood. Panic rose in me. His gun was still secured in his hand.
"We need to get inside. Come on, follow me." Zoey and I wasted no time and stepped out of the car. Sin's men covered us while we raced inside the house.
"We are going to your room, Mani." Mateo said, and we all moved in that direction. When we got in, Mateo slid through the walls of the room to the floor, grunting in pain.
"Lock the door!" Mateo spat the word with so much difficulty as another shot was heard from downstairs, making me tremble in fear as I stood up, dumbfounded.
"Lock the door now, Mani," Mateo screamed out at me.
I quickly ran to lock the door while Zoey assisted Mateo in standing up, supporting his weight on Zoey and the wall beside him. His bloody hands were fumbling with his phone before placing it on his ear while speaking to someone intensely in Italian.
Bullets started coming through the windows, leaving the glasses lying on the floor in pieces. Mateo took my hand, and I took Zoey's. We walked straight toward the walk-in closet. I was confused. I didn't know what he was doing, and I wasn't the only one; Zoey raised an eyebrow and asked me, but I just nodded my head in response.
Mateo went to the table where Sin keeps his watches in the center of the room and opened the shelf. I didn't know what he did there, but the table was divided, and an iron door could be seen on the floor.
I helped him pull it open since he was hurt, and we both hurriedly went down the stairs, revealing a passage. Mateo pressed a button by the side, closing everything up like it wasn’t there.
Soon, light illuminates the way, showing us the way. We walked into what looked like a cave in silence for a minute before I saw another door with a fingerprint scanner at the side.
"Place your hand on it." Mateo said. His right hand was covered in blood that had been continually dripping on the floor. But he didn't seem to mind, even when he grunted in pain and applied more pressure to it.
"I don't think my fingerprints are registered." I told him I was confused, wondering why my print was registered in the door when I didn't even know until a few minutes ago that this passage existed.
"Just trust me and do it." he grunts out. I placed my fingers on the pad, not really expecting it to respond when it did. I walked inside with Mateo following behind, shutting the door.
A dim light flickered, illuminating the whole room, and I noticed we were in some kind of cottage. My eyes quickly wandered around the room, taking in the view. Mateo sat on a couch, and Zoey sat on the floor beside him, looking at his wound.
The place was kind of dusty, showing that it hadn't been used for a while. But the place looked great and marvellous; it had everything, from a kitchen to a bedroom and bathroom.
Mateo grunted in pain, and I was immediately by his side.
"What do you think you are doing?" Zoey asked in horror, watching him press a knife to his side, trying to take out the bullet.
"What do you think Zoey, I need this bullet out before it moves and goes down to my spine" he grunts and lets out a strangled growl, his breath deep and slow.
"Let me help you." I said I was reaching for the knife, but he moved it out of my reach.
"No," he answered firmly.
"You could get infected if I don’t help you."
"I don’t care. You could hurt yourself with the knife, and I don't think I can handle Sin's wrath."
"Quit being stubborn, Mateo, and let her help." Zoey tries to reason with him.
I rolled my eyes at this; he was the one hurt, yet he was worried and scared that I could hurt myself. "Did you know I studied medicine? I might not have started my residency yet, but I think I know how to handle a knife, so quit being stubborn and let me help."
"Do you plan on bleeding to death here, Mateo, or would you rather let Mani help you?" Zoey asked him, fed up with his stubbornness.