The Runaway Mafia Queen

The burly man turned around instantly and went away. My eyes were searching here and there. Trying to catch anybody's eyes that would save me or at least alert the local police.

I did not know who these men were. Or actually, I did.

I had not expected him to find me this fast. I had left no trace, no clue behind for him to find me. I had made sure to be careful.

But the only plausible explanation was clearly this only. Ethan. There was nobody else who would want anything to do with me.

At least not this creepy.

I did not want to go back. I wanted someone to help me but there was no one. The road was empty except for some vehicles running down the main road a bit away from where I was pinned against the wall.

The burly and cringy man had probably parked the car a bit far to avoid public attention as the burly man was nowhere in my sight.

So I decided to be brave. The cringy man looked like someone I could take down.

Probably I will get hurt or probably I will get overpowered. At least I will go down fighting.

I adjusted my leg, centred my attention and aim, and with all my power, I slammed my right leg between his legs where the sun does not shine.

Trick worked.

He immediately doubled over in pain and his hand left my throat. I took that as an opportunity and sprinted away from there immediately without taking a breath.

I had barely taken one step forward when Vix, the cringy, thin man shouted,

"Grab the f.u.c.k.i.n.g whore, Rooney!"

In front of my eyes, I saw burly man stopping the car right in front of me with a loud screech.

I changed direction and started to run in a different way. I had barely taken a few steps but the burly man, Rooney, caught me.

He was stronger and faster than he appeared and I had expected him to be.

Geez, how can I forget! Gang people. Obviously, he was not in one just for laughs and giggles.

As he grabbed my left arm, I managed to hit his c.h.e.s.t with the right.

That was a wrong move.

I had probably managed to run past the cringy, I should not have tested my luck with the burly.

As soon as I hit him, his face reddened in anger. He grabbed me by my hairs and started to drag me towards the car.

"WHAT THE HELL, A.S.SHOLE!" I shouted. "LEAVE ME THE F.U.C.K ALONE!"

I kept on shouting while struggling to get out of his arms. I was hoping someone would hear my voice and come for my help.

We were nearly there to his car but worrying about my loud screams catching someone's attention, he put a hand over my mouth.

My struggles became frantic. If he took me now, all of my hopes and dreams were going to get crushed under Ethan's foot.

He forced me inside the passenger seat of the car and shouted, "Let's go, Vix."

Vix did not answer.

He turned around. I looked over his shoulder.

There stood Vix in front of our eyes, staring at us. His neck held in a choking hold by Max.

"F.U.C.K.I.N.G KNIGHT?" Rooney spat out the words in shock and confusion.

Max? What the hell was he doing here?

Then he did not wait for another second. Without caring about his partner, he jumped into the driver seat.

"Wha kind o' people are ye involved with, bitch?" He screamed angrily while starting the car and pulling away from the spot immediately.

Look who was talking.

Just as he started to pull away, a hand entered from the window, grabbed his collar and pulled at him so hard, his head cracked against the metal surface of the car painfully.

Even I winced.

Rooney instantly fell unconscious. My eyes went up to watch Max striding to the opposite side of the car to come to me.

Oh my.

Was this a seriously hot day, or was it the effect of the man coming towards me?

Chances were heavily falling towards the later.

He had pulled out his phone and was talking to someone while giving them our location. As soon as he was near me he hung up.

Max opened my side of the car door, grabbed my hand, and pulled me out of the car.

As soon as I was out, his eyes scanned my body from top to bottom, and he asked, his voice gravely deep, like he was barely controlling himself from doing something,

"Tell me you are not hurt."

"I am not hurt." I replied softly.

Unexpectedly, he pulled me in his c.h.e.s.t, hiding my face in his throat. His cologne filled my world. Or was it just him?

"You should not get hurt." He said in my neck.

I did not know how to respond. Even though it had been barely a week, his voice was so serious and full of worry,  it felt like we had known each other for years.

"I was not planning on it." I responded stupidly.

"Do not try to be a smartass right now." He said while pulling back from the hug.

"How did you get entangled with these idiots?" He asked.

"I do not know anything about them." I lied. I was not sure. But I had an idea that seemed ninety nine percent correct.

"So you are telling me you do not know these people but they are after you with this f.u.c.k.i.n.g photo of you in their hands?" He lifted up my picture that Vix had in his hand up in the air in front of my eyes,

"Yes." I replied with full confidence while staring into his eyes. "That is exactly what I am saying."

He was a PI, and he had definitely showed what he could do in just a couple of minutes. I was not going to take a chance.

He sighed in exasperation while shaking his head.

"Are you even as innocent as you look?"

You are never going to get a chance to find that out.

*****

Turned out, Max had called cops.

When he was on the call earlier, he had called the police. When the police had arrived, Max and the police had greeted each other like long known best friends.

It was all weird.

And scary.

And impressing.

Surprisingly, the police did not come to ask me any questions. They picked up cringy and burly after talking to Max in a low tone for a while, and then drove away.

"What did you tell them?" I asked as soon as the police vehicle was out of our sight.

"That they need to wait 'cause I am going to ask you the questions that may come out offensive and interrogating."

"What kind of questions?" I poked.

"What are you hiding from me, Hope?"

"Nothing of your concern." I looked away.

He came forward, grabbed my chin and made me look at him once again,

"Darling, you are my concern. And not just because you are niece of the man whom I respect very much, but also because you are going to take me to your bed and I would like to know more about the woman whom I am planning on dating."

"Then simply you should not get into my bed." I snapped, "And about being Vincent's niece, that does not have anything to do with you."

I saw his mouth twitch in anger. "You are so stubborn." He muttered.

"Very."

He stepped closer. I stepped back. I definitely did not need any distractions. His closeness and body being the 'discratiest' thing in the world.

"Let me get you home. Then you and I are going to have a long conversation."

Ha. Like I was going to listen.

*****

Instead of going home, he took me to the coffee shop. As we entered, I could not see Vincent.

And then instead of staying in the coffee shop, he started dragging me to the backdoor.

"Where are you taking me?"

"My office." He replied.

"I would like to stay here." I pulled at his hold on my hand.

He turned around to face me, his gaze scorchingly hot,

"I know you would. But the kind of people that you have got running after you, I do not think I am prepared to leave you alone."

Made sense.

We walked to the backside of the building and instead of coming to an open area, Vincent's back door was connected with another building.

We walked forward on the marble floor, turned at the corner, and then I was hit with a stone cold shock.

You must have seen in movies how PI's have a very tight space room with no sight of cleanliness and hygiene. And trash thrown everywhere near them with piles of files and coffee mugs and energy drinks, right?

I did not see that.

I was prepared for that.

But that is not what came into my sight.

Just as we turned, I was met with the cleanliest office with latest interior walls and marble floor. A model like receptionist was sitting by a long dark wood desk typing things in her computer from some files.

When she saw us enter, she nodded at us with a professional smile in greeting.

I was stunned.

He took me to his office which was just as professionally modern as the outer space. A table was set by the wall size window with a head chair and two guest chairs by it.

My hand was still clutched in his and while I was so busy in admiring his office, he brought me near his desk and I was trapped against it with him caging me in before I had even realized it.

"Now," he started speaking while making me shiver under his gaze, "are you going to continue being a bitch or are you going to spill out everything so that I can take care of you?"

"I am not being a bitch. There are just some things that I do not want you to know."

"Are you sure that these things are so minor that you can handle alone and would not need my attention?"

"Of course." I immediately exclaimed. "I am leaving tomorrow, anyway. You do not need to worry about anything about me anymore."

Even though I am scared as hell.