Page 20 of Collide

‘Follow her. Approx 8 minutes away.’

“Put your foot down, Frank, there’s somewhere I need to be,” Iinstructed my driver who obliged by accelerating harder. I stared out the window as the affluent part of the city ebbed away, replaced with derelict buildings, graffiti, and whores on the street corner.

East Bay was an absolute shithole, but it needed to be. The cityneeded to have its rich and poor factions to work, there could be no Yin without Yang. And without the poverty and the need for drugs and crime, my organization simply wouldn’t work.

Maybe that made me sound callous, but honestly?

I didn’t give a fuck.

Isaac kept me updated on Riley’s journey home as we edged closer. Iwas re-evaluating my plan to collect her, thinking I would just intercept her before she got to the dive she lived in when a worrying text came through.

‘Someone’s following her.’

I sat up straight in my seat and dialed Isaac.

“Who the fuck is following her?” I demanded angrily as if it wasIsaac’s fault.

“Dude from the club. He tried to dance with her and got kicked out forhis efforts. Not before she got a knee to his nuts,” Isaac replied casually.

Fury spiked my blood, whoever this fuck head was better think twice about touching her.

“I’m only a minute away, if he touches her, put a bullet in his head.”

“Ah, slight problem. She’s gone into the park and I can’t followotherwise my cover will be blown,” Isaac replied.

I couldn’t stop the growl from leaving my throat. “Fuck your cover,Isaac, I’m paying you to keep her safe,” I hissed.

Fucking Nicky, if he’d just admitted to stealing earlier then I wouldn’thave been late to pick her up from the club.

“I know, Mr. Wolfe, but I work undercover!” he protested.

I hung up on the prick, vowing to wring his neck when I next saw him.

Frank turned the corner and the park up ahead of uscame into view. There were barely any street lights but the glow of an oncoming car’s headlamps lit up the exit and a petite figure came flying out of the gate. Even from this distance, I knew it was her, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

That was until I saw the figure exit the park, grab her from behind,and drag her into an alley.

Frank saw it too, the car accelerated and we shot down the last partof the road before screeching to a halt near the mouth of the alley. I opened the door and launched myself out, reaching the alley in time to see the dead man walking push Riley backward.

She stumbled and fell into a pile of garbage bags, panic etched allover her face. She was so focused on her attacker that she hadn’t seen or heard my arrival.

“Cunt!” The man shouted.

It would be the last thing he ever said.

I didn’t think twice about grabbing his head from behind. One hand onhis shoulder, one on his forehead, and I twisted his head to the left as hard as I fucking could, I was so fucking angry that had I yanked any harder, his head would have come right off his shoulders.

The crack of the bones in his neck signaled that I had successfullybroken his neck and I let the piece of shit drop to the floor.

It took me a full minute to calm the rage that was sweeping throughmy body before I could look at her, her tiny body flying backward kept repeating in my mind, and killing the fucker once wasn’t enough. If I could have brought him back to life and killed him again, I would have. Only this time I would have taken my sweet time with the prick.

“Is...is he dead?”

The fear in her soft voice broke me out of the murderous thoughtsswirling inside my head, and I was overcome with the need to bundle her into my arms and protect her from the dangers of the world.

It was an alien concept to me, I was usually the one people neededprotection from, not the protector.

Fucking hell, I needed to man the fuck up.

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