AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I stop short and whip around. Liam is standing not far behind me. Where had he come from? How hadn’t I heard him?
I hold my knife up. “I’m leaving.”
His eyes are cold, dead as he steps forward and rips the knife from my hand. “I told you, you’re not to leave the house.”
I turn to run, my first steps sliding on the snow before I find traction. But I don’t make it far before an arm wraps around my waist and jerks me back against Liam.
I fight, but he effortlessly hoists me over his shoulder and turns back to the house. He’s holding my legs so tightly, I can’t kick him, but I punch him in the back, hoping I’m hitting his kidneys.
“Let me go! Help! Somebody help me!” I’m screaming as loud as I can, hoping neighbors, if there are any, will hear me and call the police.
He marches up the steps and into the house. A group of men watch as Liam carries me up the stairs.
“Don’t let him kill me,” I beg the men.
A few smirk. All have an amused expression. Do they really find murder funny? God… how did my life come to this?
Liam carries me back to my room, tossing me on the bed. He sets my knife on the bedside table. “Keep it if it makes you feel safer.”
“You’re a murderer! I thought you were the FBI, but all this time…” I’m sick at the idea of how much I liked him. How much I wished he’d like me back. How much I wished he’d touch me again like he had before.
He leans over, his face right in front of mine. “I am a murderer. I killed Igor, the man who gave you over to Fiori. I’ve spent the last few days killing all his men as well. Do you have a problem with that?”
“You shot that man yesterday.”
“He drugged you.” Liam’s words come out nearly as a growl. “He died because he put his hands on you.”
He’s saying words that sound like he’s protecting me, but all I can see is how he’d shot that man in the head. Hear how Cherry told me he was the Boss in the Bratva. This isn’t the man I thought he was. I can’t trust anything he says.
I shove him away and reach for the vase of flowers on the bedside table, hurling it at him. It slams against the wall, shattering into pieces, one of which ricochets and hits Liam in the cheek.
He touches the spot and looks down at the blood on his fingers.
Now, I am dead. I have nothing to lose as I scramble from the bed and reach for the knife.
Before my fingers can wrap around it, he’s on me, pinning me to the bed with his body. He grips my wrists, pushing them over my head.
“Don’t test me,” he growls out. “I don’t want to hurt you.” His blue eyes drift down my face, hovering over my lips. I flash back to when he’d first moved me back to New York. He’d looked at me the same way. Longing ached in my chest as I’d waited to see what he’d do. He’d kissed me and I’d been enthralled by it. Did he want to kiss me now?
Who is this man who for so long looked out for me, protected me? He’d held me and kissed me and even touched me intimately. He may not have been gentle then, but there was a tenderness to him. I’d felt safe in his arms.
Now, he’s pinning me to the bed. His fingers are biting into my wrists. Anger is radiating off him. My heart cracks as I realize how much I cared for him. Wanted him. Needed him. Believed in him.
“What happened to you?”
His gaze drifts up from my mouth to my eyes. Our gazes hold, and for a moment I think I see the old Liam.
The one I trusted implicitly.
The urge to kiss him is strong, even as I know it would be idiotic because he’s not the man I thought I knew.
Something crosses his features. I’m not sure what. Regret? Guilt? But in a flash, it’s gone and I wonder if I imagined it.
He pulls away, scrambling off me. He strides to the door, leaving without a word. The door slams so hard, it rattles the room.
I close my eyes, and as the adrenaline tanks until I’m shaking, I weep into the pillow.
Why did this happen to me?
