Chapter 3 - The Ghost
Clara panicked and climbed frantically into the driver's seat of the armored SUV.
She slammed her foot onto the gas pedal with everything she had.
The massive vehicle surged forward, striking Julian in the shoulder and knocking him aside.
Gunfire rained down on the reinforced glass, but the heavy armor held firm.
Clara smashed through the wooden garage doors and sped recklessly out into the rainy city streets.
She checked the rearview mirror and saw three black sedans aggressively tailing her.
Sophia was crying silently in the backseat, clutching the dead phone to her chest.
Clara knew they could not outrun professional mafia hitmen on the open highway.
She made a sharp, illegal turn down a narrow alleyway in the city's poorest district.
She parked the damaged SUV behind a row of overflowing industrial dumpsters.
"We have to go on foot from here," Clara whispered to the terrified child.
They crept through the dark, rain-soaked streets until they reached Clara's rundown apartment complex.
It was the only place Julian would not immediately think to look for them.
Clara locked her peeling wooden door and collapsed onto the cheap sofa.
She plugged the cracked phone into a wall charger, praying it would actually turn on.
Sophia walked slowly toward the small kitchen area.
The child stared intently at a framed photograph resting on the counter.
It was a picture of Clara's older brother, Leo.
Leo had died in a tragic car accident exactly three years ago.
Sophia pointed her small finger directly at Leo's smiling face.
"He drove the car," Sophia whispered softly.
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Clara felt the blood completely drain from her face.
Before she could process the horrifying implication, the apartment door was kicked entirely off its hinges.
