I shut my mouth and felt the burn of his gaze. “Please drop this.”
All he did was shake his head.
“Liam—”
“He’s the reason I lost you. None of that shit would have happened if he hadn’t been a problem—”
“Please,” I whispered. “I understand you’re angry. I understand you feel betrayed. But please don’t kill him.”
There was no sympathy whatsoever. “I’m gonna break every bone, break every inch of his skin until he’s fucking inside out.”
The mental image flooded my brain, and I actually felt sick. “If you love me—”
“If I love you?” he snapped. “Bitch, if you loved me—”
“Call me that again, and I’ll shoot you myself.”
He turned quiet, but a subtle smile spread across his lips. “That’s the woman I married…”
“I’m asking you to do this for me, Liam. After everything you’ve put me through, you should do this for me.”
“Everything I put you through?”
“We wouldn’t have gotten divorced in the first place if you hadn’t ruined it. Our lives would be completely different right now. The butterfly effect started with you, and you devastated me so much. Let’s not rewrite history.”
He wore a bored look, like what I said meant nothing to him.
“Please.”
He moved his arms to the table and rested them there as his eyes drilled into me. His bright blue eyes stared into mine as he took his time. He massaged the knuckles on his left hand as if he’d punched something hard earlier that day. “I’ll make a deal with you…”
I didn’t want to compromise, but I would if it meant I could save Damien’s life.
“You take me back. We move to London. Start over.”
That was a ridiculous demand.
“I won’t touch your boyfriend.”
“That’s not a deal. You’re blackmailing me into doing what you want.”
“That’s my price.” He shrugged even though that was a completely inappropriate response. “I want that asshole dead more than anything, so you need to offer me something I want more. You.”
“You would really want to be with a woman who doesn’t want to be with you? Who’s only there because she has to be?”
“Yes…because it’s you.” His sincerity was so bright, it was unmistakable. It was like a shooting star.
It was the first time I’d ever been truly disturbed by Liam. His desperation was so potent, so unmistakable. I wanted to keep Damien safe, but if I agreed to this, I would never get a chance to be with him…to see if things were as good as I remembered. That reality was terrifying to me, to leave everything behind…including the man I’d wanted for so long. “Liam, I want you to know nothing is going on between Damien and me. I told him I need time to get over this because I’m not ready to be with someone else. I don’t want you to think I’m jumping into bed with another man because that’s not what’s happening.”
His voice was so cold. “You think I’ll believe anything you say?”
“I’ve never lied to you, Liam. I confessed everything that ever happened. I just didn’t tell you who he—”
“Spin it however you want. You made me look like a fucking idiot, giving my money to those guys, while they thought I was the biggest dumbass on the planet. Say what you want, but you’re wrong and you know it.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you—”
“Then we’re even. I forgive you for your lies, and you forgive me for my infidelity.”
“They aren’t—”
“One wouldn’t have happened without the other.” He held up two fingers. “If I’d had all the information, it would have changed everything. We would have moved and started over. You took that away from me.”
I dropped my gaze.
“You want me to know how sorry you are? Prove it. Say yes.”
A part of me felt guilty for the way I’d handled things. If the situation were reversed, I would be livid if I’d spent so much time with his former lover and had no idea. I wasn’t completely innocent in all of this. But I also didn’t want to give up my chance to be with the man I’d fallen in love with. “Liam—”
“Give me your answer.” He wasn’t the gentle giant he used to be. Now, he was treating me like he owned me…like I wasn’t a person.
“You are one hell of a man, Liam. You can have any woman you want—”
“I want you.” His eyes narrowed. “You’re the only woman I want underneath me for the rest of my life. You’re the only woman I give a shit about. You’re the woman of my dreams, the future mother of my children, and I’m having you one way or another.” He’d changed from a man into a maniac, turning psychopathic once he knew Damien’s identity. He couldn’t think clearly, his rage dictating everything. “It’s gonna happen, no matter what. In one scenario, you can save his life. And in the other…he’ll die, and I’ll still have you.”
“I would never take you back if you did that.”
“Doesn’t mean I won’t take you.” He leaned back against the chair and stared. “When I thought I fucked up, I was willing to step aside and let you go. But now that I know the game was rigged, that I never had a chance, I want a redo. And you’re giving it to me.”
My heart started to slam into the walls of my chest because I was actually afraid. “You’re scaring me.”
“Good. That means you understand how serious I am.”
I pulled my hands off the table, my pulse so strong I felt my entire body vibrate with the feeling of drums. Everything felt different, as if my mind understood that I was in danger, that I should run before it was too late.
“Your answer.”
I was afraid to say it out loud. “No…”
He stared at me for a long time, his body as rigid as a pile of rocks, his heartbeats stalled. His eyes were so pretty, but right now, they were sinister, terrifying. “I was hoping you would say that.”
Four
Annabella
I sat in my lonely apartment and watched the sun disappear over the horizon until my living room went dark. The TV wasn’t on to cast an intermediate glow across every corner. Dinner should be in my stomach by now. But I was too distressed to think about everyday life.
What the fuck just happened with Liam?
A knock sounded on my door. It was subtle, like he knew I was sitting right by the door and didn’t need a loud and obnoxious announcement of his presence.
It couldn’t be Liam because he’d never been so gentle. I turned on the lamp beside me then navigated through the living room furniture to the front door. Without checking the peephole, I opened the door.
Damien was dressed in black head to toe, his usual watch gone. He had a large wooden door leaning against the wall, already detailed with my address. He hardly looked at me before he got to work. He pulled a screwdriver from his back pocket and worked on the hinges that held my cracked door in place.