When the man sent James into the wall, Ella screamed loudly enough to be heard through the hand on her mouth. The man holding her slammed her face first against the alley wall, and she felt a scrape at her temple and the sticky sweet smell of blood on the cold night air.
The world was spinning now, and she was seeing stars, and she vaguely saw the glint of a knife from beside her, from where James was. The man spoke again, and even through the pain in her head Ella realized this had nothing to do with her. It was about James, and she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"You stay away from the Giancomas, you got me?" the man asked, and Ella could see the knife at James' throat. She tried to elbow back against the man holding her, but he smashed her against the alley wall again, and she went quiet. "You stay away from the heiress," the man growled.
Ella had no idea what he was talking about, but she mentally willed James to agree.