𝘾𝙊𝘿𝙀𝙋𝙀𝙉𝘿𝙀𝙉𝘾𝙀 - Rio x Reader

•Chapter 24•

A couple of horns blared from disgruntled drivers whom barely missed your barreling Mercedes as you ran a red light. The call went to voicemail once again. The first text was enough to send you into panic— but the second was more than enough to shove your entire realm of sentience into a throat constricting hysteria.

Your eyes darted from the road ahead and back to the screen of your phone— rereading the text to make sure you weren't hallucinating.

Something wrng with Vera. Hurry.

Last sign of life since the first text. The engine roared upon the increasing weight of your foot on the pedal. Your heart rate had to have been stroke level. It was unclear whether the speed of your car or the sheer terror is what made everything around you blur. The phone rang again. Rio's caller ID plastered across the screen with the fated red and green button again. You declined the call with a shaky thumb.

Was Vera okay? Had she fallen ill? Gotten hit by a car? Had an allergic reaction? Fell and hit her head?

The ringing in your ears prevented the sound of your frantic breathing to register. The tires squealed against the pavement as you abruptly hung a left.
Had your eyes not been focused on your phone, you would have seen the oncoming, busy 4-way stop.

The phone rang for probably the millionth time. It had gotten to be too much. With a trembling hand, you answered it and struggled to tap the speaker phone button.

"What do you-", your body violently jolted as glass shattered around you.

The whine of bending steel frames briefly infiltrated your ears just before the abrupt whoosh sound of the airbags deploying. Your body slumped against the airbag as the— now combined— cars spun to a halt. You hadn't heard the steady horn going off, the shouts from bystanders calling for help, or the hiss from a mangled radiator.

Your phone sat amongst the shards of glass lying in the floorboard. Thick, warm droplets of blood began dotting the screen around Rio's name.

-

years prior...

Your father's voice boomed against the thin sheetrock and vibrated the walls of your room. It sent a shockwave through your own body and had your breath getting lodged in your throat. Your mother's screaming followed immediately after. They fought... a lot. But the panic festering within your nervous system never dwindled with each altercation. Hell, it was almost like it was worse each time.

Your mothers yelp and the slam of a door had every fiber of your being on high alert. Each step towards your bedroom door was taken slowly and so quietly that only the sound of your own racing heart filled your ears. Upon opening the door, your wide eyes peered down the hallway to find your mother picking herself up out of the floor. You watched from the safety of your room as she brought her hand to her lip only to find her fingers brushed with crimson. Tears boiled over in your eyes as she turned to go to the bathroom, muttering curses under her breath.

She caught sight of you, tears rolling down your rosy cheeks from the crack in your door. A scoff rumbled through her as she shook her head. "I don't know why the fuck you're crying. He didn't hit you."

She passed your door and stumbled into the bathroom across the hall, slamming the door behind herself. Your heart lurched at the sudden noise. You were young, you couldn't comprehend how a man could be so cruel. Not just any man— your own father.

-

Rio paced back and forth across the wet pavement, flashing lights from the ambulances bathing the streets in a dull orange hue. His thoughts were whirring around his head, too many things that had happened and too many things that were bound to happen next.
The only constant within them— you.