Total pages in book: 161
Estimated words: 154882 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 774(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154882 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 774(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
Tricky had me in a death grip to let go, bawling her eyes out. Through it all, I watched the inferno swallowing Liam’s Royce—flames billowing up to smoke tendrils dissipating in the starless sky.
A few more feet... and we would have died. The realization echoed in my still silent mind. This sweet innocent little girl who’d declared me her friend within an hour of meeting me.
Liam gave up trying to pull her away and threw his arms around us both. Some of his fevered kisses missed and caught me, dotting my forehead, cheek, and corner of my mouth in salty wetness.
We were supposed to be in that car. Me, Sienna, Elizabeth, Liam. Whoever this guy was, he didn’t care who died in his war with the Merchants.
I hugged Tricky, stroking her hair as Sienna hugged and did the same to me.
He tried to kill Elizabeth.
I grasped Liam’s chin, turning him to face me. Bloodshot rims beheld me, he huffed like his heart burst countless times in the span of minutes.
“I’ll do it,” I said clearly. “I’ll help you take this bastard down. Whatever it takes.”
Chapter Four
Sienna got off the elevator first. She kissed me and Tricky, and waved bye to Liam. Liam and I continued the rest of the way in silence.
Elizabeth refused to let go of me. She cried through most of the wait for another car to come pick us up. She finally fell into an exhausted sleep halfway home. I expected Liam to take her, but he led us into the elevator instead, and lapsed into the quiet that consumed us both. What was there to say after an event so horrible? After facing the truth that you almost lost your daughter?
Liam’s house was both what I expected and a surprise at the same time. Unlike Sunny, there wasn’t a string of pretty cooks and maids lined up to greet their master. No one awaited when the lights flicked on, beating the shadows from every corner. What did meet my eyes shifted my perspective.
Liam Hunt gave all the appearance of a cold, humorless bachelor. Cold, humorless single men usually had the minimalist, monochrome bachelor pads to go with them. But Liam, he had a home.
Toys littered the plush carpet. An empty snack bowl and juice box mingled with the remotes on the coffee table. In one corner, a pink princess tent clashed with the black and silver of bachelor pads’ past. This place was completely taken over by Elizabeth, from the photos on every wall to the drawings covering the fridge.
Liam drew ahead, pulling my attention to the slight hitch in his step. Red seeped through his pant leg’s tear. I hadn’t noticed he took such a bad scrape. His impassive expression hinted he didn’t either.
Down a long hall and to the left, Liam motioned to Tricky’s room. I placed her on the unicorn bed, tucking her tight in the sheets. She sported a spot of dirt on her forehead and my blood under her fingernails, but I didn’t dare wake her. Cleaning up could come in a new day when sunlight made the world seem less frightening.
“Can you give me a minute?”
“Of course.”
Through the closing sliver, Liam dropped to his knees, gently stroking her hair and pressing his forehead to hers. I let the little family have their privacy.
Instead of leaving, I went into the kitchen, opening and closing the cabinets. Liam was the type of guy who took the right precautions. He wouldn’t keep medications in the bathroom, so most likely...
I found it by the time he returned. “Sit,” I told him, carrying the first aid kit to the couch. “That’s bleeding pretty bad.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine, Liam,” I said softly. “You can’t be fine.”
Maybe he was too tired to argue with me because he sat without another word. I was gentle peeling away the tatters, examining the extent. Half the skin on his left thigh was left behind on the pavement, still it could’ve been worse. Much, much worse.
“This is going to sting.” I doused a cloth in antiseptic. “I’m sorry. I’ll try to be quick—”
“Why?” he rasped. “Why did you change your mind? Your situation hasn’t.”
His leg was warm under my palm—burning heat spreading from him through me as I dabbed the wound.
“Because, Liam... that age when you stop seeing everyone as a new best friend, it’s not six. It should never be six.”
“Leave that.”
“But you’re bleeding.”
Liam cupped the back of my head. I blinked up at him, pulse rising to his gliding touch behind my ear, along the hollow of my throat, finally to my chin—holding me firm in his piercing eyes’ snare.
“I wasn’t going to free you,” he dropped. “I planned to find a way to bind you to the Merchants and my family for as long as we had need of you.”