Empire /h.s/

nineteen*

He lets out a hum, walking towards a metal cabinet located to the right of the door, and unlocking it with a smaller key. I walk over to him and see that it's filled with different sets of keys with one set missing. All of the keys have labels above them stating what car they belong to.

1965 White Wimbledon Mustang Convertible, 1955 Copper Cadillac Coupe de Ville, 1973 Yellow Ferrari Dino 246 GTS, 1966 White Mercedes-Benz 230SL Convertible. Just to name a few out of the at least thirteen car keys.

Harry turns back towards the cars, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Pick one,"

It takes my brain a few seconds to register what he said, my head whipping to him, nearly giving me whiplash.

"What?" I give the side of his face a shocked look, seeing the cars out of the corner of my eye.

Harry shrugs his shoulders, "Pick one. If we're going to be training you, I need you here on time," he says nonchalantly, as if he's about to hand over a cheap nick-nack, and not some million dollar car.

I rapidly shake my head at him, "N-no, Harry, I'm not going to drive one of your cars. I can barely drive-"

"Do you have your license?" He cuts me off.

"Well.. yeah, but-"

"Then you know how to drive," he shrugs his shoulders. I go to argue more with him, but he simply walks towards the row of cars, my mouth opening and closing like a fish.

"So, preferably, you should take one of the newer ones. The older ones are mostly stick-shift, so unless you know how to drive stick, I would choose one that isn't-," he jesters between the Audi, Tesla, and a vintage Chevy.

"Harry, no, this is not happening-,"

"This one-," he points to a shiny Mercedes.

"Harry-,"

"Is a 2017 Mercedes-Benz S-Class S550, it has multi-link suspension, a twenty-one gallon fuel tank, bluetooth, lots of legroom."

"No-,"

"Leather seats, and the seatbelts automatically adjust-,"

"Harry!" I shout, the sound of my voice echoing off the metal and concrete building.

Harry's head whips to me, grabbing me by my forearms, and shoving me into the side of the car. The top of the car digs into my shoulder blades as Harry stands towering over me.

"I'm doing this to keep you safe, Katherine!" he shouts in my face. My body automatically recoils, trying to put as much distance between us as possible. Harry notices my flinch, and removes his hands from me. Shaking his head to himself, he takes a few steps back from me, pinching the bridge of his nose.

I take a shallow breath in, "W-What do you mean?" I ask him, trying to get him to look me in the eyes, but he keeps his casted down.

"Do you have any idea how unsafe it is for you to be out and about right now?" he looks at me with a tilt of his head, "I'm doing this, not only so you have a reliable means of transportation, but also so you don't get kidnapped or killed on the subway! So, do both of us a favor and pick a fucking car!" He ends his rant, fists clenched, and face red with rage.

I try my hardest not to cry at his loud outburst, mixed in with the potential for my dismay. My eyes sting as my fingers itch to pick at my nails. His sentence alone makes everything seem so much more real. Once again, I keep getting pushed further and further into the darkness on what is going on. Why is my life in so much danger? Who wants me dead? Is someone coming after me? Why is no one telling me what's going on, when it's my life that's apparently on the line?