Page 108 of Lethal Attraction

“No, not okay,” Theo bites as he rises. “You may be able to sit here and listen to it, but I sure as hell can’t.”

“Theo—” Alana calls, but he doesn’t listen. Dom follows behind him, retrieving a cigarette from his pocket as they step out of the bar.

I watch the whole ordeal from the outside looking in, but my mind keeps circling back to the woman from earlier. I squeeze Thalia’s hip, getting her attention as she glances over her shoulder at me.

“I saw someone,” I whisper.

She lifts a brow. “What did they look like?”

“Tall, dark hair,” I roll my wrist, trying to form the words. “Just come with me. She couldn’t have gone far.”

She nods before we slip away from the group. We take one step past the threshold of the bar before both wincing at the fight that’s happening in the parking lot between Bailey, her fiancé, Theo, and now Dom.

“All I’m trying to say is that you would rather spend your time here, with people you don’t even fucking know while I’m at home, living the life we built together, Bailey.” Liam rages as he tosses a hand in the direction of the bar.

The blonde woman runs a hand through her hair, looking far more stressed now than she did a minute ago. “What is it going to take to make you understand that someone is actively trying to kill me?!”

“I never asked for you to take over!” Liam shouts, his chest rising and falling. “We were perfectly fine until you decided you needed a bigger purpose!”

Bailey’s face drops into something heartbreakingly blank. Not rage, but exhaustion. The kind that comes from tearing the same wound reopened over and over until there’s nothing left to bleed.

For a moment, the parking lot goes quiet except for the distant thump of music from inside the bar.

Then Bailey laughs. It’s a short and bitter sound that reverberates sadly.“You know what?” she says, shaking her head. “I spent months convincing myself you were scared. That this was fear talking. That eventually you’d understand.”

Liam scoffs, rolling his eyes. “Oh, here we go.”

“No,” Bailey points at him. “You don’t get to interrupt me this time.” The sharpness in her voice actually makes him pause before she continues,“I was shot twice last year. I have three scars on my back from a knife attack. Someone put a price on my head before I had ever accepted leadership of the South Branch. And every single time I came home bleeding, you looked at me like I was an inconvenience.”

Theo’s jaw tightens as Dom lowers his cigarette, eyes narrowing.

Bailey doesn’t stop. “You keep saying I chose this over us. Well, I did.”

Liam folds his arms triumphantly. “There it is.”

“But not for the reasons you think.” She counters, and his expression falters. She steps closer, her boots crunching across the gravel. “I chose myself. I spent years shrinking myself to fit into the life you wanted. Years pretending I didn’t have ambitions because they made you uncomfortable.”

“Ambitions?” Liam laughs cruelly. “You’re running a network of murderers, Bailey.”

Theo moves before anyone can stop him as he stalks quickly across the parking lot. “Watch your fucking mouth.”

Liam turns slowly towards him, his expression bored. “What? Did I hurt your feelings?”

Theo’s eyes darken.“No. But you’re doing a fantastic job proving you don’t deserve hers.”

The parking lot seems to freeze at the shared knowledge of Theo and Dom’s feelings. Everyone here seems to understand that, except Bailey herself. Yet the way Theo looks at her now makes it impossible to miss—like she’s something precious and worth protecting.

Liam notices too, and his face twists into a cruel sneer. “Oh, now I get it.”

Theo’s expression hardens. “Don’t.”

“This is about them, isn’t it?” Liam points aggressively at the duo. “You’ve got two attack dogs following you around, telling you how amazing you are every second of the day.”

Dom flicks his cigarette onto the pavement. “Careful.”

Liam ignores him as he continues on his rant. “You know what’s funny?” he says to Bailey. “The second you got power, suddenly these guys couldn’t stay away from you.”

Bailey flinches hard, and everyone notices the tight coil in her shoulders. Thalia’s hands tighten into fists as her jaw grinds with fury. And whatever restraint either man had been clinging to starts evaporating.