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“Who’s done this to you?” I asked in a calm, low voice. I had no idea why, and maybe it was the way she looked at me asking for nothing when most people would have begged and screamed, but I felt like she was mine now to protect, no matter the cost.
Just then the door swung open and a tall, muscular man stumbled out.
“You bitch can run, I give you that.” The man was an absolute giant, six-seven, maybe taller. A fistfight would not be advisable with a beast like that.
“Piss off, asshole,” he threatened me, pulling out a knife.
I rose to my feet. Emotionless.
“You have ten seconds to leave,” I said in a threatening tone.
“You fucking joking?” the man growled back.
“Ten. Nine.” I started the countdown, but then one look at the woman again changed my mind.
“Ah, fuck that. Look away,” I said to her, stopping my countdown at eight as I pulled out my gun. The look of amusement in the giant’s expression faded from one second to next, right before I pointed my gun at him and pulled the trigger. The echo of the shot thundered through the alley as the bear of a man dropped to the floor like a lifeless sack of rocks.
I tuned to the woman whose eyes were widened at me in fear and something else I couldn’t make out. I reached down to pick her up. Most women would have screamed for help or wiggled to fight me, but this one didn’t even move one inch.
“Good girl,” I said to her in a low voice. Her nails dug into my arms as I carried her in the direction of my car. “For as long as you’re with me, you do as I say.”
Chapter 2
Elise
Moments ago, I had made my peace with leaving this piece-of-shit world that had tortured me all my life. I had fought my husband and his thugs for too long already. So when I finally slammed onto the hard, cold concrete in an attempt to flee Loronzo, my husband’s righthand man, something in me had just given up. I had lain in my own puddle of blood when I decided I was too tired of running just one more step. I could rise no more. And as sad as it was, I told myself it was okay. I had given my asshole husband a hell of a fight, an ordinary woman against one of the East Coast’s biggest mobsters. I would leave this world proudly, and at least I would be finally free.
But then my eyes found his. A stranger as handsome as the devil. Muscular, lean, tall. At first, I thought the poor guy had no idea what he was getting into. I gave him permission to not even bother, to keep walking and save himself. But he leaned over, his touch on my beaten face like the warmth of the summer sun on a frosty morning. I was struck by his fearless calm.
I expected Loronzo to punch the stranger straight in the face, even stab him if that wouldn’t do. Loronzo had been working for my husband for the past ten years, carrying out his dark business, running errands in the shadows. If someone needed to die, he was the chief executioner.
But this elegant stranger had the balls to threaten him.
Loronzo tensed his neck with rage, pulled out a knife, but in no time the stranger told me to look away and shot Loronzo right in the chest. Loronzo’s bewildered face and body dropped right next to mine. His dull eyes and mouth were torn open in horror.
I almost smiled in relief.
Later, Loronzo. Guess I am the last woman you get to beat.
But none of this was anything to grin about. This whole thing was a mess, a calamity that would beget a bigger calamity. Not only did I escape again, but this time someone also killed one of my husband’s favorite thugs. I had no doubt he would now make it his only goal in life to kill me.
The smart thing would be to get up and run, but I didn’t know where I could go. I had started running months ago, but they always found me. I sniffed back tears and willed the tightness in my throat away. With the help of a friend, I had escaped to South Africa. But like the devil my husband was, he’d even found me here, thousands and thousands of miles away from New York.
So, when this dark knight bent down and, in one smooth movement, slid his arms under me as he lifted me off the ground, I dug my nails into his steel-hard arms—not to fight him, but to make sure he wouldn’t let go. He lowered his voice and whispered to me, “For as long as you’re with me, you do as I say.”
And as tired as I was of this life on the run from my husband, I was okay with that.
Most people would tell me to run. That this man was a killer and a monster just like my ex. But in the world I lived in, this was the only sort of man a woman like me needed by her side. And what else could he possibly do that hadn’t been done to me already?
The answer to this question was as depressing as it was true.
Not much.
I leaned my head against his chest as he carried me. I could feel the ripple of his muscles beneath his jacket, and the strength of them soothed me somehow. Maybe I was tired, maybe it was just my nerves, but in that moment, I felt as if this man would be able to protect me even from a monster like my ex.
He carried me a few blocks, then stopped in front of a black SUV.
“Can you walk?” he asked. I nodded, so he put me down. It was silly, but I regretted being back on my feet again. In his arms, I was like a little lamb protected by her shepherd. I willed my eyes to scan the street around me.
