Chapter Twenty-Four: Rose
Watching that interrogation was like being way too invested in a movie. Except the movie was my life and I did have everything to do with it.
For the past few weeks I had wondered why someone would seemingly shoot three people in cold blood, and attack another man who hadn’t done anything. Maybe that was the problem; I considered all of those men innocent, that they hadn’t done anything to deserve being shot and killed. Though no one could ever deserve to just be killed in my eyes, they had done something.
They were participating in so much illegal activities, that if the cops got to them first they probably would have been spending most of the rest of their life in prison. The mob had just gotten to them first. That was another thing; I never even thought the mob was a real thing, I thought it was just over-exaggerated for the movies. Sure, I believed that there were Irish people who organized crime, but never a real mob with all the ridiculous ‘family values’ and shit.
But there they were, sending out a real hit man to get rid of the people who had crossed them.
It was visibly obvious when Alex realized that the whole thing was bigger than he had imagined, than any of them had imagined. Still, they held their own in the interrogation and got him to crumble like a petty thief. It was somehow interesting to watch and even though I was scared it was very arousing. Seeing them in their element, taking control. It was downright sexy.
But I was also glad that Nate was there watching me, especially when they asked him about me.
Which was even more frightening being that I knew he was lying when he said he didn’t know about me. I was the one who had put him in that room, who had the cops on his tail since that third murder. There was no way something as powerful as the mob wasn’t going to try and get rid of a primary witness in their case.
I was so afraid I was shaking. I didn’t think I could ever calm down, or ever process my thoughts correctly again. Every time I left my apartment, I would be looking over my shoulder. I would always feel watched, always feel like I was being followed. I had no idea how I would survive it.
“Are you okay? Maybe that’s a stupid question, but still.” Nate offered me a sweet smile as he tucked hair behind my ear and cupped my cheek softly.
I looked up into his eyes and they grounded me for a moment.
“I’m…good as I can be right now.” I hugged myself like I was trying to keep myself together. I probably was.
I didn’t want to fall apart in front of them, and I wanted to be as strong as I could. They had enough to worry about me without hoping I wouldn’t break down, so I tried not to. But still, it was scary. Someone had already been following me, taking photos of me. And I had no way of knowing how much they saw of me and Nate that night. And now this; a suspect in custody who more or less confessed to everything. I thought that would make me feel safe, but it didn’t.
But if she has anything to do with us, she should get very far away from here.
I thought of him saying that over and over. With his thick Irish accent that was scarier than anything else. I used to read a bunch of romance novels where the hero had an Irish accent and I always thought it would be sexy; it wasn’t. Especially not when it was practically warning me to skip town and disappear altogether.
Alex and Max had taken him—Owen—to central booking. It felt weird saying his name like he was a regular person. He wasn’t. Nate kept looking at me like he was waiting for me to break out into a panic attack.
“Where is the restroom?” I asked him. His hand was warm and heavy on my lower back as he led me to it.
After I used the bathroom and washed my hands I let everything I was holding in go, not caring if anyone else was in the bathroom. I hadn’t cried that much in a bathroom since sophomore year of high school. Every emotion I felt since the whole thing started just came barreling out. When I finished, I tried to make my eyes look like I hadn’t just cried them out, but it was no use. I almost wished I wore eyeglasses at that point. Finally, I left to go and face them.
I rounded the corner and they all stood outside of Alex’s office. Their eyes fell on me at the same time and I knew they all saw the truth in my eyes, but I tried to fake a smile anyway.
“I need to head home,” I announced. I wanted to be around them for comfort, but they reminded me of the whole ordeal, so I really didn’t know what I wanted.
“We’ll drive you.” Alex stepped forward, his voice stern and imposing. It made me shiver with submission and excitement.
“Don’t you have to work?” I gestured to all the people bustling around, working on the new case. They hadn’t seen something like that in a while, apparently.
“It’s fine, you shouldn’t be out by yourself,” Max said, and I gave him a funny look.
Nate sighed and explained. “We want you to be safe, and that means you’ll probably be seeing a lot more of us for protection. When you aren’t at work, we want to be with you.”
I stared back at him like it was something new. But it had just gotten increasingly suffocating. Not the being around them part, but just needing protection. Knowing I wasn’t safe on my own. I had been safe on my own for my entire life.
“Okay. Fine.”