Honored_ An Alpha Mob Romance(29)

“But Colm Brennan thinks the world is changing. Colm thinks in order to survive, we need to start killing innocent people. He doesn’t want to honor the peace we’ve made, the peace our fathers made.”

Liam looked disgusted and angry, and his fist gripped the coffee mug so hard that white pressed up along his knuckles. I stared at him, trying to process the story he was telling me, but it felt too fantastic. It was too much like some crazy action movie, and not at all anything like my real life.

“What does this have to do with you?”

Shame spread across his face and he looked away from me.

“Don’t hate me,” he said softly.

“What are you talking about?”

He looked back at me, the shame replaced by a determined hardness that took me by surprise.

“My father was an important boss in the gang back before Colm took over. Because of him, I got involved in the business and rose through the ranks. When my dad passed, I started taking over parts of his territory. But because of him, Colm didn’t trust me, and he thought I would be too loyal to the old guard. In order to prove myself, he told me that I had to kill you.”

The silence felt deep as I let that sink in. He looked grim, a frown spreading across his perfect lips, and I felt his words reverberate through my skin and my bones.

“But you didn’t,” I said, meeting his eyes.

He nodded. “I couldn’t.”

“Why?”

“There’s something . . .” he started to say, but stopped. He looked down at the linoleum tiles and sipped his coffee, and then looked back. “It wouldn’t have been right. I couldn’t do it.”

I nodded. “So they had that guy Max do it?”

“When you called the cops, it freaked Colm out. When he told me what they were doing, I got over as fast as I could. And you remember the rest. By the way, why did you call the cops?”

I explained the van to him and how terrified it had made me. I told him about the paranoia and how seeing the van that night pushed me over the edge. He laughed softly.

“Those dumb fucks,” he said. “You weren’t ratting on them. You were just scared.”

“What’s going to happen now?”

“Now, we stay hidden.”

I made a face. “What about my job? What about—” Then it hit me, the thing I was forgetting. “Shit, I forgot about Petey!”

He looked confused for a second and nodded. “Your dog.”

“Please, we have to go back and get him. He must be so upset.”

“We can’t go back there, Ellie.”

“You can’t stop me, asshole.”

I stood up quickly and strode out into the living room, grim determination etched onto my face. I didn’t care if those people were going to try to kill me. They had already ruined my life. Everything was over for me; I might as well try to save Petey from starving to death in my bedroom.

Before I got too far, though, I heard Liam move up behind me and grab me by the hips, pulling my body against his. I struggled, but he wrapped his arms around me, holding me tightly. His body was hard and strong, all cut muscle and power.

“If you go there, you’re dead,” he grunted.

“I can’t leave Petey alone. He’ll starve,” I said, struggling.

He cursed softly but kept holding me. I stomped on his foot and he grunted in pain. He got a better handle on me and lifted me up off the ground easily, throwing me over his shoulder. I kicked and punched but it was like hitting brick. He carried me over to the couch and threw me down onto the cushions, following immediately to hold me there. As I struggled, I was amazed at how strong he was and how restrained he seemed. He could have easily hurt me if he had wanted to, and I wouldn’t have blamed him, but he was only being as forceful as he needed to be to keep me there.

“I’ll have someone take care of him,” he said, gritting his teeth.

“No. He has to come here.”

I slipped a hand free and pushed my palm against his face.

“Fuck, Ellie,” he grunted, slapping my arm away. I thrashed and screamed.

“Get the fuck off me, you psycho,” I said.

I thrashed harder, kicking my legs and yelling, but he didn’t react. His face remained passive and serious, and he continued to hold me down. Eventually, I had to calm down, and I slowly stopped fighting him, breathing deep. I felt exhausted, beaten down and defeated. First, that man tried to murder me, and now Liam wouldn’t even let me try to save my own dog. I was powerless, an absolute failure. More than that, I was a little unhinged, and I knew it. Liam didn’t do anything wrong, but there was something boiling up inside of me from the stress and the fear. I actually felt a little bit better after having struggled and burned off some energy.