He grinned. “Good luck.”
“Thanks, Colin.”
He nodded and I turned away, pushing out into the night.
I didn’t even think about looking back. There was only ahead and home to her. Ahead and beyond, out past the breakers of the violence I’d been reared in, through into something new, something better.
Something clear.
Something with honor.
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Ellie
Petey barked, and I nearly cried as he jumped up on me.
“I missed you too,” I said, laughing through his slobbery dog kisses.
I could feel Chelsea watching us with a frown on her face. I knew I’d have a lot of explaining to do, or at least I had a lot of lying to do. I couldn’t tell her what had actually happened, after all. As far as she knew, Liam took me on a really long trip.
“Glad to see you back,” she said after a second.
“Good to see you too, Chelsea. Thank you so, so much for taking Petey.”
She grinned. “He’s a darling. Isn’t that right, you big goof?”
Petey ran around us in circles, his tail wagging.
“So he was okay? No problems?”
She shrugged. “Other than having a dog dropped on me for a couple weeks, everything was fine.”
Yeah, she was pissed.
“I’m so sorry for that again. It all happened so fast.”
“Where were you, Ellie?”
“He took me to Italy.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Italy, for real? How long have you known each other?”
I laughed, trying to play it cool. “Not long at all. But he’s amazing, seriously.”
She nodded. “I want to meet him.”
“You will. Honestly Chelsea, he’s—he’s something I never imagined.”
That softened her up. She smiled slightly. “Okay, let’s relax here. You sound like a lovesick teenager.”
I paused. “Minus the teenager part . . . that’s pretty true.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Seriously? Eleanor, are you in love with this guy?”
I blushed, but before I could answer. Petey began to bark. I looked down at him and rubbed his chest and shoulders.
“Okay buddy, you can have some attention.”
“So you’re back for good now?” Chelsea asked.
“Yeah, I’m back for good.”
“We’ll get lunch soon.”
I nodded. “We will. Seriously, I can’t thank you enough. I owe you big time.”
She laughed. “Yeah you do. I expect repayment in the form of many bottles of wine.”
“I can do that.”
Her expression softened. “It’s good to see you. I was worried for a second. I thought maybe he had kidnapped and murdered you or something.”
If only she knew.
“No kidnapping or murder, just a crazy last-minute trip.”
I helped her gather up Petey’s things and connected the leash to his collar. His tail was going to fall off if he kept wagging it so hard.
“I’ll be back for the big stuff later,” I said.
“Sounds good.”
“Thanks again. I’ll see you soon.”
“Call me later. Tell me all about this mysterious trip.”
“Okay, I will.”
She nodded and waved as I walked down her stoop, Petey in tow. It felt incredible to have him back again; I had worried my ass off about leaving him with Chelsea. But I knew she wouldn’t leave him out in the rain or something like that. I’d have a lot of apologizing to do in the future, and probably a lot more lying to do, but it looked like things were going to be just fine.
I walked down the block, back in my old neighborhood. It actually felt a little strange to be out in the world on my own. I had spent so many horrible, stress-filled days in that safe house that it had almost started to feel like home. But I was out, forever out, and never going back there for as long as I lived. It was a relief that I no longer had a violent gang after me.
Then there was Liam. Something had changed about him that night, the night of the coup, and I could see it in his eyes. There was something heavy there, like he had seen and done things he never wanted to talk about. But he was also lighter, freer, quicker to smile. I understood why: the pressure from living life as a member of the Mob was lifted from him. I don’t know how or why, but he left them, they weren’t trying to stop it, and I definitely wasn’t trying to make him stay.
I smiled to myself. He was something special, something I still didn’t understand.
Petey raced ahead of me, up our stoop, and began to whine in front of the door. He must have recognized my apartment building and wanted to go up and see the place again.
“Okay, Petey, it’s okay. We’re home now.”
I pushed the key into the lock and opened the door. We raced up the stairs, and I flung open the door to my apartment.