Someone pries the knife from her hand, and I watch with my jaw clenched as she gets dragged back to her feet. One of the bastards puts her in a chokehold.
She kicks. She claws. She fights like hell. But he’s stronger, and now he’s lifting her off the pavement.
Her movements start to slow. Get weaker. But she still isn’t done fighting. She tries to headbutt him, but she misses. And to get back at her, the coward slams her face into the brick wall.
The sound echoes through the speakers. Wet. Sickening.
My hands are shaking. I curl them into fists to make it stop, but it doesn’t work. I’ve already lived this moment. I was there. I felt the rage boiling under my skin. The split-second decision to intervene. The satisfaction of putting them down one by one. But watching it now is different.Worse.
Because I’m standing here helpless, watching her get hurt all over again. I force myself to stay still. To keep my face blank. River is watching me. I can feel it.
On screen, the gunshots start and the men drop one by one. Bodies hitting the pavement in sequence like dominoes. The camera doesn’t catch me, but it catches her. Standing there. Frozen. Staring at the bodies. Then, looking up and staring at me.
A jacket is tossed at her.My jacket. Then she runs off screen and the footage cuts to black. Silence fills the room.
River turns to face me. His expression, unreadable in the worst possible way. “That footage was taken from a parked car in that alley way,” he says. His voice is calm. Too calm.
I drag my hand through my hair and rub the back of my neck.
“You told me there was nothing to worry about.”
“There isn’t.” I hiss. “She’s not going to say anything.”
“How could you possibly know that?”
I hold his gaze and River’s eyes narrow.
“You know her, don’t you?”
I stay quiet.
“Jesus Christ, Echo. Is she the girl you brought here? The one you’ve been seeing?”
“I’m not seeing her.” I say, feeling annoyed at the implication. “We’re just friends.”
Briggs snorts from across the room.
I ignore him.
River doesn’t. “Since when have you made a habit of befriending liabilities?”
“Since now.”
His jaw tightens. “Do you know where I got this footage?”
I shrug. Even though my pulse is hammering. Even though I already know the answer is going to be bad.
“The police are circulating it.” River says. “Along with every other criminal organization in the city, not to mention every independent contractor on his payroll. He’s offering two hundred thousand dollars to anyone with information leading to her whereabouts. He wants her found, Echo. Do you get what I’m saying?”
I swallow.
Yeah. I understand.
“She’s in danger,” River says. “We all are.”
I already knew that. I’ve known it since the second I let her walk away that night. Since I started tracking her phone and monitoring her location and posting guards outside her bookstore like some obsessive fuck who can’t let go. But hearing River say it out loud makes it real.
“She needs to come stay with us,” River says. “It’s the only way we can be sure Casello won’t get his hands on her.”
