Page 11 of His Kidnapped Irish Mafia Virgin

I thought about tomorrow morning. I’d be back at the café, trying to convince myself that coffee was enough for breakfast. Sofia would try to get me to eat something and we’d have the conversation that we had every day. I’d promise to take care of myself, but I wouldn’t change anything about my breakfast.

. I was almost home when I heard footsteps behind me.

They faded away when the person turned off onto another street. I tried not to think about it much.

When I got to the last intersection before my street, I was trying to figure out if I had milk for my coffee or if I needed to stop at the store. I crossed the road, put my hands in my pockets, and kept walking.I heard two sets of footsteps behind me, so I moved aside to let them go by. They didn’t pass me.

Before I could look back, a hand grabbed my arm and pulled me backward. My bag fell off my shoulder. Another hand caught my wrist, forcing me to stop moving.

I looked up and saw the second man standing in front of me. I was trapped between them.

These men didn’t look nervous or scared. They weren’t wearing masks. They weren’t looking around to see if anyone was watching. They looked calm, like they did this every day.

“Nora Annie Walsh,” the man in front of me said.

I was shocked. In Boston, people knew me as their waitress or as Sofia’s friend. My neighbors didn’t even know my name.

I started thinking about Victor. I remembered the way he used to walk. How I could tell what kind of night it would be by the sound of his footsteps. I remembered the silence before he got angry. How my mom would pretend she didn’t hear anything.

I thought I’d forgotten those things, but they came back to me as I looked at these men. My body reacted before my mind did. I hit the man behind me with my elbow, and he let go of me. I tried to run, but the other man stopped me.

“Easy,” he said. “We don’t want to hurt you.”

I obviously didn’t believe him. People who don’t want to hurt you don’t grab you on the street. I tried to get away again, but the first man caught me. He held my arm tightly, and I knew I’d have bruises tomorrow. I kicked, but they were too strong.

The man in front said, “Let’s go.”

The other man said, “I’ve got her.”

They weren’t trying to rob me. They were kidnapping me.

I panicked and fought even harder. Suddenly, the man behind me let go of my arm, and I stumbled sideways. One of the men flew past me and hit the ground. The other man was grabbed from behind and thrown into the wall face-first. I was frozen as I stared at the man who’d saved me.

For a second, I forgot about everything else. I’d seen him across the bar dozens of times, always moving with that same calm confidence. Seeing him here, standing between me and the men who’d tried to take me, felt different.

He looked almost exactly the same as he always did, calm and completely in command. Somehow, that made me feel safer than it should have.

It was Liam.

***

My fingers wouldn’t stop shaking, even after the street was quiet again. The danger was over, but my body hadn’t realized it. Every breath I took got stuck in my chest, and my legs felt so weak that I wasn’t sure they’d hold me up if I tried to take another step. I stood right where I was, staring at the street. The two men had run away, but I was still trying to understand what had just happened.

Liam stayed where he was for a few seconds, looking down the street to make sure the men weren’t coming back. Then he turned to me. His face didn’t show much as he looked me over carefully, making sure I was okay. His eyes stopped on the marks on my wrist before checking the rest of me for injuries.

His attention lingered on my face for a second before he looked away. I wasn’t sure what he’d seen there. Fear, probably. I knew I looked shaken. Being looked at by him made me suddenly aware of how close he was.

“Are you hurt?” he asked me. I tried to answer, but I couldn’t say a word. I hadn’t realized how much fear could take away my ability to speak.

I shook my head a little, even though I wasn’t really sure if I was hurt or not. My arm ached where the men had grabbed me, my shoulder was sore from trying to get away, and all my muscles were tight, making it hard to stand still. Liam didn’t ask me any more questions. He picked up my bag from the ground, brushed off the dirt, and handed it to me. I took it automatically.

“You should sit down for a minute,” he said. I looked around and saw a low brick planter near me. I sat down on the edge, holding my bag like it was the only thing I had left. The silence between us wasn’t uncomfortable. It gave me time to think and catch my breath.

“I...” I cleared my throat. “Thank you.” The words didn’t seem like enough after what he’d done for me, but they were all I could say. “If you hadn’t...” I couldn’t finish the sentence, but Liam understood what I meant. He nodded and looked down the street again before turning back to me.

“We’re leaving,” he said.

It took me a moment to understand what he meant. I looked up at him, still trying to clear my head. “My apartment is a few minutes away.”