Paloma's P.O.V
Just as I am cleaning the tables from my pink coffee shop when I see these big men coming into my store, this has me fearing the worst as I am in Italy in the most gang filled area I have to be cautious.
"Two espressos and 1 cappuccino to go." The tallest one said.
"Coming right up." I say as nicely as possible, but I swear my smile looks so fake.
All I could think about is how I fled the gang life of my family in Mexico 10 years ago and have been in hiding since. It's been 5 years since I've last seen any movement toward capturing me so I have to keep an eye out for any of these suspicious looking men. I do have a gun but hopefully I don't have to use it. I packed their drinks and took one last look at their faces.
"Have a good one." I tell them.
It's going to be a pain if they come back.
"Aw Bella, you should sit down for a bit and take a rest," Says an older woman to me.
"I would love to but my break is almost coming up in half an hour and I am going on a walk in the beautiful park if you care to join me?" I say as sweetly as possible.
Hopefully she doesn't take me up on this offer, I love how sweet she is but I just need to clear my head after working for 6 hours already. I know it might sound crazy to walk after waitressing and making drinks all day but being my own boss lets me sit and chill out anywhere. I just need more time to myself. Luckily since the park is close to all the gangsters' areas it might sound weird but it's safer for me than if I'm in just a random park.
"It's okay Bella, these legs don't take me far enough which is why I enjoy your beautiful coffee shop with it being so close to where I live. I hope you have a good time on that walk," She said to me as I nodded and smiled.
The bell chimes and I welcome in one of my other regulars but he is different, after always only seeing older people and gangsters come in here for some coffee. He looks more fine every time he walks through the door. Any man who looks nerdy and buff can take my heart away. He always comes into the café before I have my break to have a drink but to also read the books I have in my store that's connected to the café.
"Paloma it's been a while." He jokingly says.
"Ahh yes it's almost been 24 hours since we have last seen each other, the horror." I look up at him bantering back.
I start preparing his drink as every time he comes here it's the same mocha coffee.
"So the book you recommended to me was fantastic, the thought behind another world being more powerful than ours and us being the weaker beings really puts a different perspective of life in my head." Dario explains.
Me and him have the same book tastes of psychological horror so I do enjoy giving him more recommendations. It makes me happy to at least talk to my customers in a friendly manner. Just can't get too close to anyone even if he seems perfect.
"I'm glad you liked the recommendation especially because it's one of my favorite books showing that we fear to be treated just like we treat animals." I say as I finish making his coffee and handing it to him.
"Thank you Paloma and I hope you have a good break, sadly I was a little too late to have a full conversation but I hope you enjoy it." Dario's says as I'm taking my apron off to go to the park.
I do have a worker for the book shop but I only keep a part time worker in the café in the very morning and when I go to my break. It's been 5 years since I started this business and it has been going well but I am getting more nervous as time comes by with my family trying to chase after me. I don't know what lengths they go to capture me since I am in gang territory of one of their enemies, there is less chance that they would try to come into this part of Italy.
It is a 15 minute walk to get to the park which is fine since I love looking at the city. When I was back in Mexico I was never allowed to go anywhere outside the mansion unless I had security surrounding me. It was suffocating so having this freedom felt amazing especially with all these beautiful views. I do have my gun on me though just in case something goes bad.
I can finally see the park from here. It has such beautiful flowers and trees all around. If I wasn't so burnt out from reading this would for sure be my spot especially the sweet sound of birds chirping.
I was going to find a bench but I wanted to walk around a bit to clear my mind. Half way through the park I felt an itchiness in the back of my head like something was staring very hard.
The sound of gunshots starts to get close, I hear people's screams around me and see all those around falling like ragdolls. I pulled out my gun but before I could unlock it, it was shot out of my hand. Before I knew it I was surrounded by these men in black.
"Marina it's time to go h-." Before he could finish he was shot right in front of me. I'd like to know who did that but I'll just take it as luck.
When they looked away I took it as a chance to run for it, I needed to get to my café as it has bulletproof glass with a heavy door. Luckily I am very athletic just in case I was to get captured again I would have a chance. The two who tried to run after me got shot which gave me better odds.
After 10 minutes of running some of them ended up catching up to me enough to try and shoot me. I was so close to my coffee shop that they seemed to get desperate. One of them pulled out their guns and hit me in the leg.
"Sorry Marina, we can't let you slip away like last time." Said to me.
They tried to sleep me so that they could take me easier and as much as I tried to scream for help to fight them, I couldn't fight hard enough, everything was going pitch black.