A Very Merry Hitman (Holiday With a Hitman #2)

9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

I’ve been dreaming of a white Christmas, but if it runs out, I’ll drink the red.

“Hey,” Aileen answered on the second ring when she saw Elli’s name on-screen. “You have good timing. I’m just leaving the center.”

“How’d the toy drive go?”

“Really good. And on top of the toy donations for the kids, we raised a lot of money for the community center. And, I heard that an anonymous donor pledged to double whatever we brought in today.”

“Well, triple if you want to get technical.”

She laughed lightly. “I knew it was you, and you’re wonderful.”

“You’re not wrong. So how’s my perfect angel doing?”

“Good. Turns out she just made herself sick by eating an entire cake.”

Elli snorted. “Oh my god, what was she thinking?”

“Your perfect angel is eleven, Elli. She wasn’t thinking.” Aileen fished out her car keys as she reached her car. Dark clouds had rolled in an hour ago, but luckily no rain yet. “Actually, she was determined to prove someone wrong.”

“That’s my girl.”

“I swear to god—” Aileen let out a short scream as another freaking Santa raced out from behind the row of cars, a pistol in his hand.

“Toss your keys to me, then give me your purse,” he snarled .

“Aileen, what’s going on?”

“And your phone.”

Time seemed to slow as she stared into the dark, angry eyes of the poorly dressed Santa. She didn’t think it was the same guy as the other night because he seemed shorter but she’d been sitting then. And it had happened so fast.

“Can you hear me?” he snarled again, stalking closer, waving his pistol around her face. “Give me your keys and get in your car! We’re going for a ride.”

Oh, no, no, no. She wasn’t getting in her car with him.

When she didn’t move fast enough, he lunged for her, his gun arcing downward—and away from her.

And in that moment, her parents’ and Theo’s training kicked in. She swung up hard with her purse, knocking the pistol out of his hand.

It clattered to the concrete, falling under her car.

He cried out in surprise, but he wasn’t stunned for long. As he dove for it, she turned and sprinted back toward the community center. There were two cops working the event, and while normally she was the last person to involve law enforcement, desperate times and all that.

She screamed as she ran, hoping to draw attention, and that was when she realized she was still clutching her phone, could hear Elli shouting for her.

Right before she rounded the corner of the building, she glanced over her shoulder, saw the Santa running down the street in the opposite direction.

“Another Santa attacked me,” she gasped out as she held her phone up to her ear. “And I’ve gotta talk to the cops.” Words she’d never thought to say. “I’m fine, but I’ll call you back.” She ended the call, raced up to the nearest police officer.

In khakis, a black polo with the Miami PD logo, he turned, smiling warmly at her. “Aileen, you’re back.”

“A man dressed as Santa just tried to carjack me.” And she was pretty sure there was more to it than that. Because no way two Santas had tried to mug her that close together. Right?

Unless there was some weird Santa crime spree she just hadn’t heard about. No way, that would have been splashed across the news so this was something else.

Once the cops jumped into action, everything was a bit of a blur. Even driving to the station to make an official statement, which luckily was only five minutes down the road. Even with traffic. She ignored Elli’s multiple calls, then Dante’s (she felt bad about that), and then yes, Theo’s.

Because she couldn’t deal with questions right now. She group texted them that she was fine and would be home soon and that they all needed to chill and not say one single word to anyone yet. Including her parents—especially her parents.

We’re going to talk about this later , was Dante’s response in a separate text. For some reason she pictured him saying that to her in a really stern brunch daddy voice and she almost caved and called him back.

Because she liked that way too much, she thought as she made her way down to the lobby of the PD substation.

But she couldn’t let the three of them just take over like she would have in the past. In addition to trying to take back her sexuality, she wanted to take back all of herself. Her control, her sense of self. And that meant she had to deal with shit on her own, with no one else involved.

Weirdly, today had actually helped. When that asshole had tried to carjack her, likely wanted more than just her car, she hadn’t panicked. She’d reacted and then run to safety.

She’d saved herself. And yeah, she knew it could have ended a lot differently, but—

“Crap,” she muttered to herself when she stepped into the lobby, saw both her parents sitting there waiting—looking a whole lot like they were planning a murder.