Page 10 of Mistletoe in the Mafia

They don’t notice my approach. None of them sees me until it’s too late. I jam an elbow into the neck of the one closest to me, making sure to hit a pressure point hard enough to knock him out. That draws the attention of the other two. The next one goes down just as fast with a punch to his face.

“Who the hell are you?” the one with the knife sneers at me.

I cock my head to the side without giving him the satisfaction of a reply. He rushes at me, but it’s pretty easy to disarm him. The knife clatters to the ground and I have him in a headlock in about ten seconds. I consider snapping his neck but I can’t exactly kill someone in front of her. Although I doubt she’d notice in the state that she’s currently in.

He struggles in my hold, but I don’t let go.

“If I find you again,” I whisper lowly in his ear, “you’re dead.”

And then I’m tightening my grip around his neck, hard enough to suffocate him until he passes out as well. Once he does, I let him fall to the ground. A part of me still wants to kill all three of them but I have no interest in dealing with the headache that will come with cleaning up their bodies.

Plus, I have more pressing issues. My gaze slowly slides over to the woman crouched on the ground, staring at nothing. Her eyes are blank, her face expressionless. She looks almost catatonic. I take slow, careful steps toward her before lowering myself down in front of her.

“Hey,” I say, staring into ocean-green eyes. “Can you hear me?”

I frown when she barely shows any response. It’s like she’s locked in her head. My gaze moves down to her arm where bloodslowly seeps out from where that bastard slashed her. I check it out, glad to see that the cut’s not too deep, and I carefully apply pressure to stop her from losing any more blood. Then I lift my other hand to her face. My fingers glide over her jaw, throat, and other pressure points. She shudders when I squeeze the back of her neck. That seems to snap her out of it. She blinks, slowly coming out of the daze she was in.

“Wh-who are you?” she asks, eyes wide with confusion.

And then she’s looking down at her arm, as well.

“Oh, God. Oh no, no, no, no, no,” she repeats, shaking her head. I arch an eyebrow when her breathing quickens.

“Hey, hey, breathe. You’re fine,” I offer comfortingly, trying to make my voice soft.

“I-I hate the sight of blood,” she murmurs. And then she passes out in my arms.

Wonderful. This day just keeps getting better and better.

I sigh, standing and lifting her into my arms. Her head automatically rests against my chest and I breathe in her floral scent mixed with the smell of her blood.

Earlier, when she took on the three men, she seemed larger than life. Right now, though, she feels small in my arms, fragile enough to break.

“You just might be more trouble than you’re worth, Flowers,” I murmur gently, carrying her to my car.

I stand beside the bed, watching the rise and fall of her chest. Her hair is spread out on the pillow like a dark cloud. She’s been out for about two hours, and I’ve spent those two hours questioning every single decision that’s led me to this point. It allstarted when I was asked to look for her. And then she refused to be found. Every single day spent wondering where she was.

Now that she’s right her in front of me, I have no clue what the fuck to do with her.

She stirs a couple of minutes later. I watch as her eyelids slowly flutter open. She’s visibly disoriented, trying to come to terms with her environment. And then she notices me. I expect her to scream in surprise or at least display some measure of shock.

She does none of those things. Instead, she sits up against the headboard after observing me for a couple of seconds.

“Hi,” she says once she’s done.

I arch an amused eyebrow. “Hey. Are you okay?”

She nods, rubbing her forehead. “Yeah, I think so. I just feel a little dizzy.”

“You passed out,” I inform her.

“Ah. I see,” she says flippantly.

My eyebrows rise even further. “Do you know where you are?”

She shakes her head.

“Do you remember what happened?”

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