Page 26 of Under His Control

“Are you okay?” I turned slightly, out of breath from the adrenaline rush. Cupping Eva’s face between my hands, I stared into her eyes.

She gazed right back at me, those dark brown orbs clear but showing fear. Alarm. I’d scared her, tucking her low and rolling her to safety. But she saw the bullet hole in the glass. I didn’t have to spell a single thing out for her to make her understand.

Eva was well aware of the danger.

She was likely used to it, and that thought pissed me off.

“Are you hurt?” I asked, concerned that she could’ve been wounded in that sudden fall. I wasn’t a small man, and I’d made sure to cover all of her in case the shooter tried again.

“Yes.” She swallowed hard and nodded. The motion prompted me to lower my hands from her face, but I didn’t retreat. I remained crouching low, still blocking her with my body.

The moment was tense, as were any instances sharp on the tail of a life-or-death situation.

All day, I’d struggled to resist that gnawing inner sense that someone was following us. That a person was watching us. Iposed no threat. I wasn’t a target. I had no enemies. But she would—as a Constella.

“I’m not hurt, Liam,” she said, firmly and sincerely.

I nodded, catching my breath like she was from the rush. “Okay.” But I made no move to stand yet. Even though the guards were running up to us, no doubt alerted to the active shooter, I couldn’t let her leave this bubble, this tight proximity of our bodies close together, mine protecting hers. With the sharp tension of real and present danger in the mix, I couldn’t snap out of this soldier mode, this overprotective mindset, and return to the almost easygoing comradery we'd forged while we shopped.

“Miss Constella,” a guard said as he darted up to us.

“Are you all right?” another said, flanking us on the other side.

I’d dismissed them all day. I’d noticed them, and I witnessed that they were up to the task of being members of her security detail. They didn’t crowd in on us, though, giving us space.

Space that made no difference with a sniper. I stood, keeping myself between Eva and the direction where I’d spotted the sniper in the reflections of windows and mirrors. One look over my shoulder proved the lone shooter was gone from the rooftop he’d shot from, but I scanned around us in a three-sixty, anyway. These Constella guards couldn’t have helped her from a distance. It was only because I’d been walking with her that I could act in time.

Fuck.I shook my head at the webbed glass that stayed intact around the bullet hole. She’d come this close. Hell,Ihad come that close. We’d risked death today, and that was a sobering thought to chase away everything else.

“Yes, yes.” Eva nodded as the guards checked her over. “I’m fine. He covered me.”

Both men looked at me, and a third in the distance spoke into his phone. A small crowd began to gather, and as I scoped the parking lot again, I realized that the security men for this shopping area would no doubt be coming by soon. If someone hadn’t called in an active shooter yet, they would any second now.

“You don’t…” I rubbed my face, aggravated by this incident. Just when I wanted to lower my guard and do something as simple as shop with Eva, laughing at our mutual confusion of not knowing what to buy a thirteen-month-old girl who was too advanced for baby rattles but too young for more intense gadgets and gizmos, this bullshit had to happen.

Because she’s not a simple woman living an ordinary life. She’s a Mafia princess, protected and raised to be tough in a violent world of crime and power.

“You don’t want the cops to come, right?” I felt stupid to ask, but it was prudent to mention it.

“Let’s go,” one guard said, an older man who seemed to be in charge.

“We’ll head back to the house,” Eva said, her face tight with weariness but putting up a brave front to hide her uneasiness.

“Yeah.” I nodded, hating that she had to be so used to this. That this was routine for her. She didn’t deserve to be a target. She shouldn’t have to fear for her life—ever.

But as I got into the car and noticed her fingers shaking as she started the engine, I knew she wasn’t actually alone in this. Guns were everywhere. Crazy people could kill anytime in schools, malls, concerts. This shit happened everywhere. And if she weren’t protected, she could be in worse conditions as an abused woman unable to escape a violent partner. It was all feasible, but having a sniper on her back? That was wrong, too wrong.

The drive back to the house was quiet. I fumed, angry that she had to be in this position. She drove with utmost concentration, furrowing her brow as she steered. Every so often, she checked her mirrors, likely anxious to know the guards were right behind her.

“He ran,” I said after a long stretch of quiet. I couldn’t take this silence. “The sniper took off.”

She nodded. I noticed through my peripheral vision. “They’re always out there.”

It was my turn to nod, but I did so while I contemplated the truth of what she said. If I hadn’t been with her, would another guard be on her to protect her? “How often does this happen?”

“Not… Not often.” She sighed, glancing at me and seeming nervous. If not about what happened, then maybe about my reaction. “Security has been high lately. Another Family and organization have been targeting us. Usually, things are calmer—within reason. Attacks in daylight, in public places like that, are not the norm.”

“Because of the risk of killing civilians?”

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