Page 106 of The Mafia Enforcer's Temptation
“It’s all you have of him,” he says. “That cookbook’s all you have of your mom. So I think you’ll lie to protect it from me and from others. But hiding whatever the truth is won’t help.”
“I’m not.”
“You don’t remember? I don’t believe you. A girl like you who remembers the number of a license plate she sees once can’t remember something she was saying only a few minutes ago? No. I’m not that into you to buy your little lie. What if it’s not really about your bratva?”
I can’t breathe. “That’s all.”
“No, there’s more.”
I try again to push him away, but he wraps his arms tighter around me.
“That man outside Iosif’s place said his boss wanted the Murphys out of the way. And I wasn’t Pakhan yet. He told me I’d make a good sex slave.”
He abruptly steps back, his expression twisted violence. “Were you meeting him?”
“Who?”
“The fucking guy I brained with the brick.”
He comes back at me, fingers digging into my upper arms as he shakes me, and for the first time something dark slithers through me as he does so.
Seamus has never unleashed his full lethal nature on me, but I can see it now, peeking from his hypnotic green eyes.
Fuck, I forgot the rest of that man’s threat about midnight and knowing where the Murphys lived.
“No, I just… I went for a walk. Your brother followed me. Quite loudly. He had the dog with him. I needed to think. I knew he was there, Seamus. I… he went in, and I was following when that car?—”
I stop.
“Let go. You’re hurting me.”
He releases me immediately and the anger on his face dissipates. Then he opens the passenger door and motions for me to climb inside.
Seamus gets behind the wheel and clicks the ignition button. I stare out the window as he drives down the one-way street.
“Put on your seat belt.”
There’s something in his tone that makes me look up.
A bright flash of high beams blinds me as a car flies down the one-way coming straight toward us. And fucking Seamus… he puts his foot to the accelerator and drives at them, too.
I bite down on a scream as this insane game of chicken ensues. Someone needs to swerve or we’re all going to die.
“Seamus, what?—?”
“Hold on. Have faith.”
Fuck.
I can see the driver just through the glare of lights and catch a glimpse of fear before the car just clips us and swerves, slamming into other cars at the same high speed.
Seamus slams his foot on the brake. He gets out, running for the crashed car, and as the horn of the other car shatters the air, I twist around to get a glimpse of who was driving.
The windshield’s shattered and the driver must have been thrown from his car because he’s now sprawled on the hood of another nearby car.
Seamus blocks my view as my heart pounds so hard, it nearly ruptures my rib cage. And then he runs back, pushes me into the car, and gets into the driver’s side before taking off down the street.
“Are you all right, Ava?” he asks.
