Page 39 of Colin (The Doherty Mafia)
So far, he hadn’t done anything that made me feel like he was a threat. He was strong, he made me feel safe, he knew how to take care of me.
In fact, I had met practically his whole family by now. All his brothers, and the women involved in their lives. The only family members I hadn’t met so far were Colin’s father and stepmother.
And none of the Dohertys I had met, made me feel like I would be in danger. Like they were even capable of committing a crime. They appeared to be strong men and women, closely knit and fiercely protective of each other with very clear black-and-white morals and values. They stood up for what they believed in and would fight for it to their graves.
But wasn’t this what made them so dangerous?
I gasped, opening my eyes—I’d managed to startle myself back into reality.
Who was I kidding?
These sweet funny people who had welcomed me so warmly into their lives would be the very people to turn on me and hurt me when they found out I lied to them. That I had been trying to hurt their families this whole time.
I had to get out of the apartment.
I was way in over myself. I shouldn’t have been there in the first place, and now that I had seen and met the rest of the family and witnessed how much they actually cared about each other—I knew for a fact what they were capable of doing to protect one another.
When they found out I was a detective trying to build a case against them, using one of their brothers to spy on their business and the rest of the family—the Dohertys would make sure I never got to see Las Vegas again.
I jumped out of the bath and slipped into a robe, tying my hair up in a towel tightly and quickly.
I was going to give myself fifteen minutes to get ready and be out of the door. In half an hour, I’d be on my way back home.
I was ready to go, standing in the middle of Colin’s kitchen and taking a good look around the place.
I’d arrived here with nothing, and I wasn’t taking anything with me either. I had those photographs I’d taken of his documents, they were on my phone—and I had yet to decide what to do with them.
Even if I left New York City and built a case against the Dohertys, it wasn’t like they wouldn’t know how or where to find me. I would forever be a target to them.
But this was a part of the job, wasn’t it? When I chose this career—I knew it was going to be dangerous. It was another reason why I knew having a family and being in a committed relationship was not for me.
So it wasn’t the fear of being persecuted by the Dohertys that made me change my mind. Did I actually care about them? Did I care about Colin? Did I really want to bring them down and help the department build a case against the family?
Why should I have helped the very people who spent every day tearing me down? The people who didn’t believe in me or my abilities as a detective?
The Doherty family had treated me in the complete opposite way. Like they were delighted to have me in their presence, even though I had nothing to offer them. They just accepted me for who I was. Just like Colin did.
So it was hard for me to just leave.
I considered leaving a note, but didn’t know what to say in it. We still had to get our marriage annulled. There was still a chance that Colin would find out who I was through his lawyers.
I was standing in the living room, trying to decide what to do, when there was a knock on the door.
I had no idea who it could be…someone from the family? One of the girls? Colin wouldn’t knock.
I made the mistake of opening the door without looking through the peephole first.
An older man stood in front of me. There were three other men behind him—and they all looked like they knew exactly who I was.
“Can I help you?” I asked. My hands had suddenly gone very cold.
The man in the center, who was clearly running the show, smiled at me knowingly. Without answering, he pushed past me into the apartment, followed by his men who shut the door and then locked it.
I didn’t have a chance to think. I didn’t have a moment to escape. And now I was in the apartment—aware that I couldn’t leave even if I wanted to.
Without a word being exchanged, I knew I had just landed myself in a deeper pile of shit.
“Who are you people?” I hissed, backing into a corner of the room.
