Step Bride: A Bad Boy Mob Roman(94)

“Who are—” I said, but before I could say anything more, he pulled out a gun and shoved it in my face.

“Get inside, bitch,” he said, voice gruff.

My insides felt like ice as I backed into my apartment. My eyes were wide and I put my hands up. It almost seemed fake. I felt myself begin to tremble as he followed me in, shutting the door behind him.

“On the couch,” he grunted.

“Okay, please don’t hurt me,” I said in a quiet voice.

I backed into the living room and sat down on the couch, my entire body shaking. I had never seen a real gun in front of me before, let alone had a man wearing a ski mask shove one in my face.

For a brief moment, I wished that the cops could have been around. Not to save me, but to see what was happening as proof that I wasn’t insane.

“If you fucking scream or move, I will kill you,” the man said, sitting down on the coffee table, facing me. He held the gun pointed at my chest.

“Take whatever you want,” I managed to say. My voice was shaky, and I felt like I was about to cry. In my bedroom, Petey began whining, but thankfully he didn’t bark.

“Is your dog back there?”

“Yes, in my room.”

“Can he get out?”

“No.”

The man was quiet for a second. He released a low sigh. I wanted to ask him his name, ask him what he wanted. I wanted to offer him some coffee from the kitchen. In that moment, I would have done anything to show him that I was a person, and not some random person he could murder. I wasn’t thinking straight, though, and just continued to stare at him.

“Did you see two men dumping bodies into the river?”

The question cut through me and I took a sharp breath. Those packages had been dead bodies? There was no way. They were more or less square, and they looked so heavy.

Unless the bodies had been broken up.

I nearly screamed, but my mouth could only move uselessly. I was unable to make a sound, frozen with sheer terror. The guy gestured with his gun, putting it in my face.

“Did you see something or not, bitch?”

“Yes,” I managed.

“What did you tell the cops?”

I stared at him, confused, until it clicked. He was the guy in the van. Maybe he was the guy who had chased me, too. And they had no clue what I had said to the cops. He probably thought I told the cops about what I had seen, and he was going to punish me for it.

“Nothing, I swear to god I told them nothing,” I said.

“Why did you call them?”

“The van.”

The grunted. “What do you mean? Hurry the fuck up.”

“I saw the van following me. I was scared. Please don’t kill me.”

“What did they say?”

“Nothing!”

“What did they fucking say?”

“They didn’t say anything. They thought I was lying.”

I was practically crying, and my entire body cringed away from him. I could barely control my thoughts, let alone my body. Violent trembling overtook me, like my whole body was convulsing.

The man stood up and paced to the other side of the coffee table. He held the gun out straight, pointing it directly at me.

“I’m sorry, but I have to do this,” he said.

“Please, please, I’m so sorry, I didn’t tell them anything.”

They say your life flashes before your eyes. Nothing flashed for me. I was just frozen with fear, staring at the guy’s masked face. This can’t be real kept running through my mind.

This can’t be real, this can’t be real, this can’t be real.

Suddenly, the front door burst open with a loud bang. The man jerked up and looked over, but before he could do anything, something hit him in the shoulder, sending him spinning to the ground. I looked over, shocked, to see Liam standing there, a gun held in his two hands and smoke curling from the end of a long black barrel. He immediately rushed over to me.

“Ellie, fuck, are you okay?”

“What’s going on?” I said. My mind was reeling. I couldn’t think.

“It’s okay, it’s fine, I’m getting you out of here.”

Liam stood and looked down at the man, who was on the ground, groaning. He kicked the gun away from him and stomped down on his shoulder.

“Tell Colm he can go fuck himself,” Liam said.

“Fuck you, Liam,” the man on the ground grunted.

Did they know each other? I couldn’t get my frazzled mind together. Blood was pounding through my ears.

Liam kicked him again, harder, and the man stopped struggling. I stared, my entire body locked in fright and confusion. Liam turned back toward me, putting the gun into the waistband of his pants, and knelt down next to me.

“It’s okay. You’re safe now.”