Claimed by the Hellbound Rider

Crossing the Line

Elena POV

The weight of the last several hours came crashing down as soon as the door clicked shut behind him. My hands started trembling, and a sob got stuck halfway up my throat. I stood, leaving the pizza and wine on the table, and started pacing around the penthouse.

I had no idea what to do next. How to navigate this situation. And I couldn’t stop the conversation I’d overheard from playing on repeat in my head.

Before I realized it, I had my phone in my hands and a browser open. I typed the attorney general’s name into the search bar. Thousands of hits came back.

But it was the one about halfway down the page that caught my attention.

“US Attorney General Nicholas Yarrow Orders Investigation into Organized Crime on the East Coast.” My thumb tapped the link almost automatically, and I scrolled through the article. There was a lot of fluff, but at the end, there was a hotline advertised for tips.

Could I do that? Could I call, tell them someone was willing to order his assassination?

Could I live with myself if I didn’t?

If I made the call, there was no taking it back. No pretending I’d misunderstood later. No sliding quietly back into my life with Luca and pretending tonight had never happened.

The moment I involved the government, everything would change.

My gaze drifted around the penthouse—the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Manhattan, the expensive artwork Luca had spent months choosing because he said the place should feel like both of us, the half-finished wine still sitting on the table beside our abandoned pizza. Three years of memories wrapped up in these rooms. Holidays. Lazy Sundays. Nights tangled together beneath silk sheets while the city glittered beneath us.

I loved him. God help me, I still loved him.

And if I made this call, I might lose everything.

But if I stayed silent and Nicholas Yarrow ended up dead because I’d been too afraid to act…could I live with that?

My father used to tell me the world wasn’t divided into good people and bad ones. There were shades of gray everywhere. The important thing—the thing that defined who you were—was knowing where your line stood before life tested it.

I had thought I knew where mine was. But as I looked around me, at the penthouse I’d shared with Luca for the past three years, I realized my line had been steadily moving. It had moved so far and so often, I wasn’t even sure where it had started anymore.

I knew the Mancinis weren’t innocent. I’d known that from the beginning. Luca had pursued me for six months before I finally gave him a chance, for crying out loud.

So why hadn’t the conversation about the Attorney General sent me running? Why had I stayed frozen outside that vent, still thinking about the way Luca had held me on the dance floor? Wishing I could just…erase the conversation from my memory entirely?

My stomach twisted painfully.

Because the moment that finally shattered something inside me hadn’t been hearing about murder. It had been hearing Luca calmly promise to kill me.

I stared at the number for the hotline until my screen went black. My feet carried me around the living room, to the balcony door, and back again. I unlocked my phone, checked that the number was still there, and locked it again. Then I threw it on the sofa and walked to the glass wall. I stared out over the city, though all I really saw was my reflection.

Pale face, arms crossed over my front as I hugged myself, wide eyes full of panic. The woman in the window was far from the calm, collected professional I prided myself on being.

Maybe I’d completely misunderstood the entire situation. Luca wouldn’t really hurt me. Look at what he was doing right now. Alessa had only bruised my arm a little, and he was out seeking retribution. Someone who cared that much wouldn’t kill me. He probably just needed to save face with Giovanni.

My engagement ring caught the light and flashed in the dark window. I closed my eyes, hearing Luca’s voice. “I’ll kill her myself.” He was so calm and cold when he’d said it. And the way he’d told me he was taking out the trash? What if that meant he was killing Alessa? Just for ruining my dress and bruising my arm? Was that really who I wanted to marry? And, for f**k’s sake, woman, you’re not even mentioning the elephant in the room! He talked just as calmly about killing a member of the government!

Turning, I strode over to the couch and snatched my phone up. I keyed in my code and stared at the numbers, my thumb hovering over the screen. My breath was too fast, my palms too sweaty. I closed my eyes and counted to ten, trying to at least get my breathing under control. And I pressed the button to call.

Then I immediately hit the little red phone.

What was I thinking? Luca just said he’d kill me over this!

Yeah, but he also said he’d kill the AG, didn’t he? Can you live with yourself if that happens and you didn’t call?

Damn it. My head dropped forward until my chin hit my chest. I couldn’t. I knew I couldn’t.

This time, when I hit the call button, I didn’t hang up. It rang once, twice, then: “Organized Crime Task Force tip line. How may I help you?” The voice was female and bored. Like this wasn’t a life or death situation.

“I…I don’t know if this is the right number,” I stuttered out.

“Well, hun, if you have a tip, this is the right number.” Was that…gum popping on the other end of the line?

“I overheard something tonight,” I said, the words flowing faster now. “While I was with my fiancé. Something bad.”

“If you’ve got a tip, hun, now would be the time.” I could picture the operator rolling her eyes just based on her tone, and it made me irrationally angry. Didn’t she know how hard this was for me? How dangerous?

“I overheard several men threatening to assassinate the attorney general.”

“Uh-huh. And where were you when you heard this?” Fingernails on a keyboard carried through the phone speaker. At least she was taking notes, I guess.

“I was at a party. My engagement party.”

“Look, hun. Do you know how many people mouth off about killing government officials at parties? Unless you have something concrete, I need to open up the line for other callers.”

“You don’t understand. It was at my engagement party. Celebrating my engagement. To Luca Mancini.”

The line fell silent.