Honored_ An Alpha Mob Romance(22)

Max was on his way. Max was on his way to kill her that very second, and I was ten minutes away at least. If I was lucky, I could cut that in half, but would I be too late? From what I knew, Max had been staking her out for the past few days in that stupid fucking van, stalking her like an asshole. She had probably spotted him, and it had scared her, which made her call the cops.

What were they thinking? If Ellie was going to talk to the police about what she had seen, didn’t they realize she would have done it already? Colm was paranoid, insane with trying to hold on to the Mob. He was willing to make reckless and stupid moves, and it was going to get him and everyone else killed. Worse, it was going to get Ellie killed.

I pressed harder on the gas and zoomed through the streets, weaving around slow cars where I could and cutting down side streets when I was blocked by traffic. I silently prayed that a cop didn’t see me, because Ellie was dead if I got pulled over. Frankly, I wasn’t even sure if I would stop for a cop; maybe they’d be able to help stop Max.

My wheels screeched and sent up smoke as I pulled a hard right into Ellie’s neighborhood, flying down the street. My hands gripped the wheel as I blew through two more stop signs, coming up to her block. Up ahead, parked in the middle of the street with its doors wide open and emergency lights flashing, was a black van. It was missing its license plate, but I knew exactly who owned it.

I was too late. I was too fucking late. Max had gotten there before me.

I slammed on my brakes and jumped out the door, the gun already in my hand. I flicked off the safety and jumped up her stoop. The building’s front door was locked, so I shot it off, using three bullets, but I didn’t care. I didn’t have time to sneak in. I kicked the door open, wood splintering all over the place, and jumped inside.

My heart was going to break through my chest.

I couldn’t be too late. I couldn’t be too late.

As I barreled up the steps, there were no thoughts in my mind other than the overwhelming need to save her life.





Chapter Ten: Ellie


I sat at my kitchen table, looking at the Saturday morning light filtering in through the windows. I sipped my coffee and sighed, feelings of shame and anger still lingering from the night before.

The cops came pretty fast. But by the time they arrived, the van had already pulled away, and it didn’t show up again. At first, the two officers were pretty kind to me; they came into my apartment, sat down at my table, and listened to me as I told them about this mysterious van following me around. They didn’t put too much stock in the guys dumping packages into the river—apparently that happened all the time—but they didn’t seem like they outright didn’t believe me.

They had agreed to stick around the neighborhood for a little while and keep an eye out for any suspicious vans. So for the next half hour, they parked down at the corner and waited. I paced around my room, embarrassed and nervous.

Of course the van never showed up again. After a half hour went by, the cops came back and told me that there was nothing they could do. They said I was probably seeing different vans, that I was just upset from the guys harassing me the other day, and that I should consider talking to a friend or something instead of calling the police. They left after that, and I buried my face in a pillow.

I had never called the police before in my entire life. I had never needed to, for any reason. I wasn’t the kind of person to overreact about something or to make things up for attention. I knew what was happening to me.

I wasn’t crazy. I definitely wasn’t crazy. I couldn’t be crazy, could I?

I took another sip of coffee and sighed. I looked at Petey in the other room and wished he could verify my story. He had seen the van at least once or twice, and he was around when the guy chased me.

Unfortunately, Petey was a dog, and his English wasn’t great.

The cops were actually pretty nice about everything in the end. I understood that they felt like I was wasting their time, though they didn’t rub that in my face too much. Philly was full of real problems. But I genuinely had no interest in making up stories, let alone in making the police come out every time I was scared. In the end, it was completely pointless to have called them, and I regretted it. They made me feel like a bratty princess, even though they were more than professional, when I was far from that. I had gone through my own shit, dealt with my own demons, and I always would. I hated that I was suddenly the girl who was afraid of random vans.

The coffee was cold on my next sip, and I sighed. As I stood up to refresh my cup, I heard my doorbell buzz.

Petey let out a bark and I looked up, surprised. I wasn’t expecting anyone. I padded over barefoot to the intercom system and hit the button.