Chapter Three
Ellen opened her mouth to tell him about the men, but she couldn’t form the words. In her mind she could still see that poor man on the ground, his hands battered from being crushed. And then the blood. So much blood.
She’d dealt with plenty of crime victims in the ER, but that was a controlled setting, with a staff of medical professionals and brightly lit, not some dingy alleyway where she felt helpless to do anything.
The more she thought about it, the more that fact bothered her. She’d gone into nursing to help people, both sick and injured. As terrified as she was, it killed her that she hadn’t been able to save that man.
She wondered if she’d called out if she could have saved him. The thought passed. The truth was, if she’d yelled, they would have just shot her and then the man. Those ruthless, evil men didn’t seem to care about hurting people.
Ellen sighed.
Zane leaned forward and placed a hand over her wrist as she held on to the mug in her lap with both hands.
“Start at the beginning,” he said. “Tell me everything, and we’ll work up to it.”
The soft, soothing way he said it made her feel at ease, like he would handle things. Of course that was Zane. It was five years later, but he was still the same man, reliable, handled things, handled people who hurt her.
She nodded. “Zoe had called and asked if I’d bring a box over to the casino,” she said as she stared down at the coffee in her hands. “Just some old things, pictures, mementos, nothing special in terms of money, and since I don’t see her much these days, I decided to go. After Mom…” Her lip shook, and she took in a few deep breaths to steady herself. “The problem is her new guy. You see, she got this new boyfriend a year ago.” She looked up at Zane. “He’s not a good guy. Not just that, he’s a bad guy. Really bad.”
Zane didn’t interrupt but nodded. She wondered if he was worried she might break down and just start sobbing. Hell, Ellen half wondered it herself. Lord knew she wanted to.
“So I bring the box,” she said. “We argue about things, about her life, and then I hear a noise. This awful noise.” She swallowed the bile that rose into her throat. The sickening crunching sound still echoed inside her head. “She told me not to go,” Ellen said. “It was like she knew. Like this wasn’t the first time she’d heard something like that. I can’t… how can she be used to something like that?”
Zane frowned. “And what is it that you saw?”
Ellen could already feel the tears welling up in her eyes. Her sweet baby sister knew what was going on and just wanted to ignore it. Maybe Zoe was completely gone if she could do something like that.
“There were three men,” she said. “One on the ground, and two standing over.”
Zane leaned in farther. She knew this was the part he had been waiting for.
“They were using a sledgehammer to break the guy’s hands,” she said. “I…”
She closed her eyes and sucked in a breath, but all she could see was the way the hammer came down and the pleasure the two men took in it. Her stomach lurched, and she took several deep breaths to calm herself.
“The biggest guy was hammering, but there was another guy there. He was in charge.” She stared directly at Zane. “I thought they were going to let the guy go, but then the guy in charge pulled a gun, and he shot the guy they were hurting, three times. Shot him dead.” She shook her head. “I’ve seen a lot of people die in my line of work, but I’ve never seen someone murdered in front of me.”
Zane’s brow furrowed. She could see how serious it was just by looking at his expression.
“Did you know these men?” he asked after a moment of thought.
She shook her head. “I’ve never seen them before. They had thick Russian accents, and the one that did the shooting looked like he had expensive clothes on. Nice purple shirt, suit, lots of gold chains. They didn’t know I was there at first, but then they noticed me.”
“Fuck,” Zane mumbled.
Ellen didn’t like the sound of that. She took a drink of coffee, and the smooth warmth washed over her. It helped fight the cold that had enveloped her heart.
“How did you get away?” he asked.
She shrugged. “I always carry pepper spray. A guy came up and grabbed me from behind, so I sprayed him. The other two shot at me but missed.” She offered a silent prayer of thanks. “Well, mostly missed. You saw my car.”
“And Zoe?”
She shook her head. “She was gone when I turned around,” Ellen said. “Likely cleared out as soon as she smelled trouble. Zoe always was good about not getting caught.” A quiet and bitter laugh followed.
Zane leaned back and scrubbed a hand down his face.
For the first time, she realized there was stubble there. Something she’d never really seen aside from when they were teens, and he thought it was being cool. Which it was. Dark circles lined his eyes, and she could see the redness in the whites.
“How fucked am I?” she whispered.
He shook his head. “You’re a loose end,” Zane said. “They need to tie it up, or you can end up sending them and who knows what other people away if they were aware this guy was going to get killed.”
Ellen swallowed. “So I’m totally fucked.”
He stood and placed his cup in the small sink by the coffee pot. “For now you’ll come to my place,” he said. “I need a good night’s sleep and a clear head to make any decisions.”
She frowned. She didn’t have to work tomorrow, but it would have been nice to change clothes.
“What about my place?”
Zane turned back to stare at her. “Did they have a chance to see your license plate?”
She could still see the boss guy as he watched her drive away. The evil glint in his eye as he did so. Her heart dropped, and she let out a long groan. “Yes.”
He nodded and took the cup from her hand. Ellen stood as he did so.
“Then they will know where you live by now. The Russian mafia has ties everywhere these days. It’ll be easy for them to make a call and get your address.”
She froze. “Did you say Russian mafia?”
Ellen could feel her head start to spin as Zane nodded. She’d thought she was in deep trouble, but she hadn’t quite grasped how deep until just then.
“Your sister got mixed up in the wrong crowd,” he said. “And she’s put you in terrible danger. The Russians mean business, and they don’t forget. They don’t have a problem killing innocent people or women. We need to keep you off their radar until I can get this fixed.”
The world shifted around her, and suddenly Zane seemed like he was much farther away. Like he was shouting at her from down a dark hall.
“El?”
Warm arms wrapped around her, and she felt all her weight being lifted.
“El? Ellen!”
There was a comfort in those arms, and Ellen let herself slip down the tunnel until she closed her eyes completely.