Tyrant King

Chapter Three

I woke up to faint yelling. My head was pounding, and I couldn’t get the man’s dead body out of my head. I sat up from the couch, grabbing both sides of my hair. I got up, opening the door to the room I was in, and followed the voices to the next room over. I put my back against the wall outside the door to listen. I must’ve just been catching the end of the conversation.

“…is mine, Tim. We had a deal, I expect you to uphold your end.”

I heard my father sigh. He must have nodded because I heard Gabe’s steps getting closer. I straightened myself up, hiding behind the half open door. I didn’t want him to see me. He stopped just outside the room. I could see through the c***k he was looking towards the room I was supposed to be in. He shook his head and sighed, before turning away and walking out the front door.

I counted to 30 before I walked into my father’s study. He looked up at me, horror on his face. “How much did you hear?”

“That he expects you to hold up your end of the deal you made.” I said. “What did you do, dad? Gabriel Silver is not a man to mess with. He just killed someone in front of me!”

“I know, honey. Did you see him leave?”

I nodded. “What is going on?”

“Go pack your bags, Nora. We leave in an hour.”

I just stood there. We were leaving? What did he do? I started shaking my head, tears brimming my eyes. “I’m not leaving. All my friends are here, my school is here… dad, my whole life is here!”

“Enough!” he yelled. I flinched, he never raised his voice at me. “Enough, Nora. Please go pack your bags. It’s not safe here, you’re not safe here.”

My shoulders slumped and I knew I didn’t have a choice but to go. I turned on my heel, running to my room before the tears started falling. I pulled out my suitcases and started packing as much as I could. Twenty years old and I’m running away from my entire life, from everything I’ve ever known.

I needed to know what happened. I needed to know what Gabriel wanted from my father. I never knew him to be in any kind of trouble before.

“Nora! Let’s go!” My father yelled up the stairs to me.

I grabbed the handles of my bags, taking one last look around. “Maybe I’ll be back one day.” I whispered into my empty room. Walking down the stairs, I saw my father’s bags by the door, but he wasn’t there waiting. “Dad!” I called out.

“Just a second! The cars in the garage, go get in!” His voice was muffled. I dropped my stuff by the door and headed in the direction I heard him. I walked into his study just as he was coming out behind the bookshelf. He turned, looking at me stunned.

“What are you doing? Was that a hidden room?”

“I will tell you everything, okay? Please go take your stuff out and get in the car, we need to leave.”

I rolled my eyes but left anyways. I was sitting in the car for a good five minutes before he packed his stuff into the trunk. After getting in, he started the car but left all the lights off. I looked at my father questioningly.

“It’s just to be safe. Gabriel has guards rotating on you constantly and I wanted to get us out before the next shift starts. Just stay down, okay?”

I crouched in my seat. This was so dramatic. We crept down the driveway and along the side of the street painfully slow. We were a few blocks away before he told me I could sit up and he turned the lights on.

It was the middle of the night and I was exhausted, but my father had never let me down before. I decided to lean my seat back and close my eyes. The next thing I knew, I was waking up to the sun rising and the car slowing down. We were stopping at a gas station who knows where. I sat up and yawned, a big stretch taking over my body.

“Rise and shine, sleeping beauty.” My father whispered.

“Where are we? Obviously, I slept for hours.”

My father chuckled. “You were out like a light before we left the city. Did you sleep well?”

“About as well as I could, being in a car. Where are we, dad?”

“We’re just outside Austin, Texas.”

My jaw dropped and I gasped. “What?”

“We needed to get as far away as possible from that man. We’ll be safe in the city.”

“Dad…” I said. “What are we going to do? We can’t hide forever.”

“Yes, Nora, we can. I will do anything to keep you safe, it’s what your mother would have wanted.” He said the last part quietly, looking away from me. I felt shivers course through my body. He never voluntarily talked about her, which means this was more serious than I thought.

“What about my school? My friends? I can’t just leave everything and not tell anyone.”

“Trust me, Nora, this is for the best. We will get a burner phone and you can call your school to withdraw from the program. I have fake ID’s for both of us. We can start a new life here, Nora. A life far away from Gabriel Silver.”

I rolled my eyes and got out of the car. I’m a grown woman, I didn’t need him to protect me like I’m still a child. I grabbed some snacks and an untraceable phone, and headed back to the car.

“Get anything for me?”

“Go get your own, old man.” I said jokingly. “I need to make a couple calls.”

“Of course, take your time. I’ll be right back.”

I plugged the phone into the car and waited for it to spring to life. It’s a good thing I knew Michelle’s number by heart. I dialed her, hoping she’d answer. “Uh… hello?”

I didn’t realize I was holding my breath, letting it out as soon as I heard her voice. “Mich, it’s Nora.”

I heard muffled voices and assumed she was excusing herself from whoever she was with. A few seconds later, I heard her door click closed. “Nora, what the hell! Where are you?”

“Calm down… we had to leave. I don’t know all the details yet, but my dad just wanted to protect me.”

“Nora, Gabriel is losing his mind. He’s downstairs right now interrogating my parents!”

Shit, I thought. “You can’t tell him it’s me, Mich. Please.”

She sighed. “Are you safe?”

“Yes.”

“He’s not happy, Nora. He went to your house this morning and all your stuff was gone. You guys didn’t even lock the door! He thought the Mexicans got you… he has men looking through the entire city for you.”

“He won’t find me. Michelle… I’m not coming back. I just called to let you know that.”

“What do you mean you’re not coming back!? You’re my best friend, you can’t leave me.” I could hear her muffling her sniffles.

Tears filled my eyes, too. “I love you, Mich. You’re my best friend and always will be. But I can’t come back. I’ll keep in touch.”

I heard knocking on her door. “Open the door Michelle, before I kick it down!” Gabriel’s voice might have been behind the door and through a phone, but I heard him perfectly clear. I gulped.

“Don’t tell him it’s me. I love you. I’ll talk to you soon.” I hung up and dropped the phone in my lap. I stared at it, silently crying. What have we gotten ourselves into?