Before You Knew Me

Chapter 6- The night things changed

The bakery was quiet.

For the first time that day, there were no customers laughing around the tables, no cups being placed on saucers, no mixers humming in the kitchen, and no staff calling out orders.

Elara stood behind the counter, checking the day's figures on her tablet while Thomas finished locking the kitchen.

"Everything done?" she called.

"Almost," Thomas spoke as he glanced toward the kitchen.

"Don't forget the back door."

"I've worked here longer than you've been alive."

Elara laughed. "That's impossible."

"Feels possible." Thomas laughed.

He walked past her carrying the last box of supplies.

"You going home?" he asked.

"In a minute," she sighed.

"You always say that," he scoffed.

"This time I mean it," she smiled politely.

He disappeared through the back. Elara switched off the lights one section at a time. The warm glow slowly disappeared until only the small lights above the counter remained.

She locked the front door. Checked it twice. Then stepped outside.

The night air was cool. She pulled her jacket tighter and reached for her car keys in her pocket.

She was already thinking of tomorrow's schedule. Normal things. Safe things. Meeting at nine. Shipment at ten, staff interviews, cake orders. Normal.

Then she heard her name. Soft. Broken.

"Elara."

She looked up from searching for her keys and froze. She knew this voice. It was dark out, the street lamp wasn't over her car, she almost squinted.

"Daniel?"

She walked closer and the glare of the light shone on him. He stood beside her car, and her stomach dropped. She gasped.

Blood covered one side of his shirt. His face was bruised, cut above his eyebrow, cheek split open. One eye swelling shut. Knuckles raw.

"Daniel!" she shouted, rushing toward him. "Are you alright? You're bleeding — what happened?"

"I... Elara, listen to me — we don't have time." He didn't give an explanation.

But she was already reaching for him. And that's when his whole body went rigid.

He wasn't looking at her anymore. He was looking past her. Down the street. Listening.

She heard it too. An engine. Fast. With no headlights.

Daniel's eyes went wide with pure panic.

Not for himself.

For her.

"ELARA!"

He roared her name — not a call, a warning, a scream tore out of him.

A black SUV swung around the corner, back door flying open while it was still moving. A man jumped out, gun already up.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

The bakery wall exploded right where Elara had been standing a second before.

"ELARA, DOWN! GET DOWN!"

Daniel lunged. He didn't grab her — he launched himself at her. One arm locked around her waist, the other slamming over her head to protect her, he tackled her sideways off her feet as more gunfire ripped through the air where her chest had been.

They hit the pavement hard, him taking the entire impact, rolling her with him, tucking her tight against his body.

"I'VE GOT YOU! I'VE GOT YOU!"

He rolled her behind her own car, using the engine block as cover, his entire body over hers like a shield. She was freaking out, hyperventilating. Her car windows shattered above them, glass raining down. Elara was screaming now, as Daniel bent over her like a shield while the glass fell over him. He buried her against his chest, his heart hammering against her ear.

More shots. Pinging off the trunk.

Daniel came up from behind the engine block, pistol suddenly in his hand, and returned fire — two brutal, controlled shots.

The gunman dropped.

"ELARA, THE CAR! NOW! WE HAVE TO MOVE NOW!"

He yanked the back door open, practically throwing her in.

"GET IN! ELARA, GET IN!"

Another SUV screeched in from the other end of the street. More doors opening. More guns.

Daniel vaulted over the hood as bullets sparked off it, dove into the driver's seat through the broken window, jammed the key in after pulling it from her hands — she had been holding it so tight she didn't realize it.

He floored it.

*THE CHASE*

The car screamed backwards, clipped a bin, spun forward with a scream of rubber.

"ELARA, STAY DOWN! HEAD DOWN!"

She fumbled with the seatbelt, shaking violently, screaming as the rear windshield exploded.

BANG! BANG!

"THEY'RE SHOOTING! DANIEL THEY'RE SHOOTING!"

"I KNOW! STAY DOWN!"

He shot through a red light, horns blaring.

"WHO ARE THEY?"

"People who want me dead! They found out about you — they know you're Gabriel's daughter!"

"WHAT? MY FATHER?"

"They know, Elara! They know who you are! Now is not the time to explain!"

A man leaned out of the chasing SUV window, aiming.

"ELARA, DOWN! DOWN! DOWN!" Daniel shouted, one hand forcing her head into her lap as he swerved — bullets punched through the headrest where her head had been a second before.

Elara screamed, a raw, terrified sound.

Then — CRASH!

One of the SUVs rammed them from behind. The impact launched Elara forward toward the windscreen. Before she hit it, Daniel's arm shot out, grabbed her and yanked her back against the seat as he swerved the car hard to keep control. If they weren't being shot at, that would have been so cool.

Tears streaming, gunfire still popping behind them.

One SUV misjudged a delivery van and slammed straight into a parked car with a sickening crunch of metal. Gone.

One left, right on their bumper, ramming them again.

"WE'RE ALMOST THERE!" he yelled.

"WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME?" She cried.

"TO A SAFE PLACE! I'LL EXPLAIN WHEN WE ARE SAFE!" HE YELLED BACK AT HER.

Daniel killed his headlights, turned down an alley to lose the car on his tail, took another corner so tight the tires screamed, and when he felt they lost them he took a savage right into an underground parking garage under an abandoned building. Three fast turns in total darkness, then brakes — dead stop — engine killed.

Silence.

Only their breathing. Her sobs. His blood dripping onto the steering wheel.

Above, the last SUV roared past the entrance, kept going.

Gone.

Daniel turned to her, his bruised face inches from hers, voice hoarse, broken, still saying her name like he couldn't stop.

"Elara. Elara, you're safe. Look at me. You're safe. I got you. I got you."

And for the first time, Elara realized they weren't moving anymore. They were stopped.