Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 90211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 451(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 451(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
“No, you don’t, they’ll understand—“
“They won’t. There’s nothing to explain. I betrayed them and I did it on purpose. Maybe I had good reasons and maybe Kieren lied to me, but that doesn’t change what happened. I still did it. Please, be here with me.”
“Alright, Luke, okay.” I squeeze his hand, still bound to the chair. “They’re going to want to kill you, but I’ll talk to them. I’ll try the best I can, okay? I swear, I’ll try.”
“Yeah, okay.” He lets out a shaky sob and leans his head back against the chair. “Feels better, finally saying it out loud. You have no clue how fucking stupid I’ve felt. I don’t know how I let Kieren manipulate me like that.”
“He was good. I fell for it for years. I don’t know if he meant anything he ever said to me, but he made me feel like I was special, like he loved me more than anything, and it was intoxicating. But listen to me, Luke, if there’s anything else you can tell me… something I can take to Liam, maybe use it to help you… now’s the time. Anything you can think of.”
His lips twitch as he shakes his head. “There’s nothing. Kieren never told me anything… except this one time, we went to a meeting…” He trails off, worried and considering his next words. “It was in the suburbs. This big house on a cul-de-sac. Kieren kept saying it was the real Baranov inner sanctum where the old man keeps all his dirt. Kieren was joking about how the Baranov boss is old school and doesn’t trust electronics. So maybe that means they didn’t make copies… and if those files are anywhere, they’ll be in that house.”
Hope flips into my chest. “Can you give Liam an address?”
“I don’t know. Maybe, I remember the area, and if we click around street view for a while I think I can find it.”
“We’ll start there.” I squeeze his hand one last time. “That’s really good. Thank you.”
“Do me a favor.” He watches as I move back toward the bedroom, going slow. My head’s pounding again and I need rest. “Don’t do anything stupid… don’t try to keep me alive and get yourself in trouble… live your damn life, okay? Live it the way you want to.”
I can’t answer. Years stream down my face as I escape into the bedroom to bury my face in a pillow. I sob hard for Luke, anger at Kieren and rage at myself and hatred of my father mixing and pulsing and driving me mad. If I had never met Kieren, if I hadn’t fallen for Kieren’s bullshit, or if I had been stronger in the face of my father’s relentless onslaught of abuse and bullshit—
Luke might not be tied to a chair in my husband’s living room waiting to die right now.
“Hey, hey, it’s okay, love, it’s okay.” Liam’s voice caresses me, his fingers running through my hair. I feel him sit beside me, his body big and warm. “You’re okay, love, you’re okay.”
“Luke… they’re going to kill him, aren’t they?”
His face is grim. “Most likely they’ll want to.”
“Please, Liam—“
“Don’t beg, love. I’ll do whatever you ask if you beg. Please, don’t put me in that position.”
I sit up, not caring, and touch his cheek. “Help him. Do whatever you can, but help him.”
“He betrayed you. He betrayed his own family.”
“I know, but he did it for me. Kieren lied to him, manipulated him, and I can’t stand watching him die. I can’t survive it.”
Liam’s shoulders tense but I know if anyone can save Luke now, it’ll be him. He can make it happen, and I don’t know when I got so confident in my husband. I can’t remember the moment when I crossed the line and began to fully believe in him, but I’m there now. Liam’s the only one who will do anything for me, and he’s right, I shouldn’t ask this of him.
But I’ve been living for other people for too long. Now it’s time to be selfish.
“I’ll try,” he says at last. “But I won’t promise.”
“I know you’ll do your best.” I lean up and kiss him. “Thank you.”
“Stop crying, alright? It’s fucking me up. I can’t stand seeing you like this.”
“I didn’t even know you cared.”
“Too fucking much, baby.” He slips into bed beside me and wraps his arms around my body. “Now, the doctor said to keep you awake, but you also need to rest, so I’m going to stay right here and poke you in the face if you start to drift, alright?”
“Sounds awful.”
“Yeah, it’ll be torture, but at least you’ll have me.”
“My husband in my bed and my brother tied to a chair. What a wonderful life.”
“You get used to it.”
CHAPTER 30
LIAM
“Iwant you to know that I’ve had a long day and I’m unhappy, and all of this is fucking personal.”