Stalking Emily Saving Emily

Sirens In The Alley

LEO

One second Emily was gasping my name into the phone, the next….nothing. Just the wet slap of tires on rain-slick pavement and the low hum of my engine as I floored it through the city.

I drove like the devil was behind me instead of the other way around.

Jax’s voice crackled through the speaker on my dash. “I’m two blocks behind you. Scene’s already lit up on the hotel cams, somebody followed her into the alley. You want me to call the cops or handle it quietly?”

“Quietly,” I snarled. “I’m not losing her to a f*****g ambulance and a dozen reporters.”

I slammed the car into park before it fully stopped, and flung the door open. Rain hit my face like needles and my shoes splashed through puddles that smelled of piss and garbage.

There she was.

Collapsed behind a dumpster like a broken doll, clutching her phone in one limp hand, pepper spray rolling away from her fingers. Blood stained her upper lip and a bruise was already blooming along her cheekbone. Her waitress uniform was torn at the shoulder, the hem of black dress rode up her thighs.

I dropped to my knees in the filth and scooped her up. Her head lolled against my shoulder.

“Emily,” I whispered against her temple. My voice broke like I was the one who’d been hit. “Stay with me, baby. I’ve got you.”

She made a small sound, and her fingers twitched against my shirt like she was trying to hold.

Jax, the only person on this planet I trusted with her life, appeared at the alley entrance with his gun already drawn, scanning the rooftops. “Perp’s gone. Left a partial print on her door earlier. My guy's running it now. Car’s clean. Get her in.”

I carried her to the backseat of the SUV, a d laid her across the leather gently. My jacket went over her immediately. I climbed in after her, pulling her head into my lap so I could keep pressure on the cut above her eyebrow.

“Drive,” I told Jax.

He already knew where. The waterfront mansion in Jersey was thirty minutes away. A private dock with twenty acres and a bulletproof glass on every window.

Emily stirred once on the drive, fluttering her eyelids. “Leo…?”

“I’m here.” I brushed wet hair off her forehead. “You’re safe now. I swear it.”

Her eyes focused on my face for a second, then she passed out again.

I kept my hand on her pulse the entire way.

The mansion rose out of the darkness like a fortress and Jax killed the engine. I carried her inside without a word, up the wide marble stairs and straight to the master suite I’d never let anyone else sleep in.

She looked so small in my bed.

I stripped off her ruined uniform leaving her in the black lace bra and panties she’d been wearing underneath. Found no marks except the new ones and a hickey I had placed on the side of her breast last night at the hotel.

After dressing her in one of my T-shirts, I cleaned the blood from her face with a warm cloth, wiped the alley dirt from her legs, and pulled the silk duvet up to her chin.

I sat on the edge of the mattress and watched her breathe. My fists clenched so hard my knuckles cracked. Whoever touched her was already dead. They just didn’t know it yet.

Jax leaned in the doorway, arms crossed. “The partial match results came back. One of Dex’s regular muscle guys. Low-level, but he’s been paid a lot in the last month. I’ll have a name by morning.”

“Good.” I didn’t look away from Emily. “And the cameras in her apartment?”

“Still live. He was inside for twenty minutes before she got home. Left scratch marks on the keyhole again. He seemed to be looking for something this time though.”

“She’s probably going to hate me when she wakes up,” I said quietly. “But she’s not leaving this house until I know every single person who wants her dead is in the ground.”

Jax nodded. “I’ll be downstairs. Try not to f**k this up before she even gets a chance to scream at you.” He said before closing the door behind him.

I stayed where I was, tracing my thumb on the edge of her jaw. She sighed in her sleep and turned toward my hand.

I leaned down and pressed my lips to her forehead.

“You’re mine to protect now, Emily,” I whispered against her skin. “Whether you like it or not.”