Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 103413 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 517(@200wpm)___ 414(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103413 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 517(@200wpm)___ 414(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
“Come on, Liam. Known you a while now. You don’t have a heart.”
“That’s not true. Might be easier if it were.”
Victor looked down at where his hands were tight around the balustrade.
“Regent is distracted at the moment.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. But he’s gonna start noticing what I have.”
“You’ve been home a day. What could you have noticed?”
“Play with fire, you’ll get burned.”
Liam stared at him coolly. “I’ve played with fire my entire life. I always come out on the other side. Scorched, burned but whole.”
Victor stared at him. “Just make sure that no one else gets burned. Or I will destroy you.”
Fuck. Victor was back one day and he’d figured out something was going on. He was right, Regent might be distracted but it wouldn’t take him long to figure it out.
Liam sent a text to Nico and Lottie.
Liam: Tomorrow we tell them.
Liam resisted yawning as they walked back into the house. Maxim had stayed at the club. He had his own apartment in the city anyway.
Fuck, he was too old for this.
“I’m too old for this,” Nico complained, as though he’d read his mind.
Victor just grunted.
“Anything happen?” Regent snapped at him.
“No, not yet.”
“It’s not working. We might have to pivot.”
“It’s only been a few days,” he pointed out.
“Still, we can’t keep you here forever, helping us.”
Liam shrugged. “We’re friends, aren’t we?”
“Perhaps,” Regent said.
Liam raised an eyebrow as Nico stiffened beside him. Then a sudden scream pierced the air.
“Lottie!” Nico said frantically, taking off in the direction of the cry. It hadn’t come from upstairs, but from the living area. Liam followed after Nico. Regent and Victor were close behind.
Victor reached around to the small of his back, pulling out a gun. Regent and Liam drew theirs. His heart raced. Fuck. What the fuck was happening?
When they slid into the room, Nico was standing in front of Lottie, his arms out to his side.
“Lottie, it’s me, it’s Nico. You’re safe. You’re safe.”
There was something frantic in Nico’s voice that stabbed him in the gut. They both loved this girl. They’d do anything for her. Sacrifice themselves for her.
He didn’t risk a glance at her brothers. Nico’s love for her was clear in his voice.
“No! No! Don’t touch me! Don’t hurt me! No!”
Liam slid his gun away, her brothers doing the same when they realized that she was trapped in a nightmare rather than being threatened.
“Step back from her,” Regent said calmly. “She doesn’t know who you are. She might think you’re him, and you’ll scare her more.”
Nico turned his frantic gaze to Liam, and he nodded.
“She’s hurting herself though,” Nico told them.
Fuck! He glanced down at where she’d scratched her arms with her nails. Fuck. Fuck.
“Lottie, darling. It’s me, Regent.” Regent moved toward her, his voice calm, hands out to the side.
“No, no, no! I won’t let you hurt me!” She stumbled back, nearly tripping over a footstool.
“Don’t get closer to her,” Liam warned. “She could hurt herself further.”
Regent shot him a look.
“Want me to get the Doc?” Victor asked. “She might need a sedative.”
“Drugs?” Nico snapped. “How would drugging her help? She hates to even take fucking ibuprofen when she has a headache.”
“It’s better than her hurting herself,” Regent snapped.
“Lottie?” Liam said quietly but using a firm voice.
“Liam?” She stared directly at him.
“That’s right. It’s me, baby.”
“Baby?” Regent snarled.
“Liam, we have to get out of here. He could come back. He could hurt you too.”
“He’s not here, baby. He can’t hurt you.”
“But he might have a gun. He might try to shoot you.”
“Nothing is going to happen to you or me,” he soothed. “You’re having a nightmare, baby. He’s gone.”
“He’s gone?”
“Yes.”
“Did you kill him?”
“Yes, I killed him,” he lied. He wished he had.
“I remember you said that you wouldn’t let him hurt me anymore.”
She remembered that? “That’s right.”
“But you left!”
“I didn’t leave, baby girl.” She was killing him. Her cries, the tears running down her face, the scratches on her arms. All he wanted was to take her into his arms and make everything better.
“You did! You left! The first person I saw when I woke up was Detective Sands.”
“Mike said he got a tip-off,” Regent said, referring to the NYPD detective.
“He did,” Nico confirmed. “From us.”
“I watched until they were right there. I promise I didn’t leave.”
That had killed him more than anything. To stand in the shadows, waiting until the cops were close enough he could practically feel their hot breath on his neck. But if he’d stayed then they would have arrested him. The grandson of Sean Carmichael. They wouldn’t have cared that he was innocent. Still, he’d have stayed with her if he had thought she was that coherent. He’d thought her too drugged up to remember.
“You said you’d stay.”
“I stayed as long as I could, baby. I promise.”
“You never break your promises.”
“I don’t. I never break my promises.”