“You’re right.” He raises a brow and nods. “I won’t call you that. And I’m not trying to butter you up. I’m pissed I got you mixed up in this, but I really can’t let you go back. Not until I know it’s safe.”
“Why did you get me caught up in this? I was fine before today. You knew someone was after you and you came straight to me. Why would you do that? Better question, how did you find out where I lived?”
“I’d been shot, and you’re the only person I could think of that has the skills to help me out. I wasn’t trying to put you in harm’s way. I overheard Maxium in his office ordering the hit on me. I fled before they could notice, but they eventually caught up with me. I was hours out, and no one saw me leave. But I stopped for gas, and they cornered me at the pump, managing to get one off in my shoulder before I fled through the woods behind the run-down service station.”
“If you were hours away from them, how did they find you?”
“My phone,” he says in a groan and smacks the steering wheel. “I should have known or suspected that. I didn’t figure it out until maybe thirty minutes later when I heard their tires screeching over the back road I’d stumbled on. They shouldn’t have been able to find me. I purposely weaved through the trees going out several miles then wrapping around to throw them off my trail. When they caught up to me, I dodged their bullets and cut between more woods. Once I was in the wind, I checked my phone and found a tracking chip embedded behind the battery.”
I listen to him reenact the day he’s had and I’m speechless. This all sounds like some shit right out of an action movie. He pauses for a beat then continues.
“I smashed the phone into pieces and continued to run. I don’t even know how long I was out there, but I was bleeding and slowly losing energy. When I came out on the other side of the forest, I saw the sign for Duluth and hitched a ride. It took a few tries but someone finally stopped to help me. They took me straight to the hospital, but I couldn’t go in. Maxium would probably have all the hospitals in the surrounding states checked. It was pure luck you were home when I arrived.” He huffs and glances to me with a sense of gratitude lingering behind his eyes.
He faces forward again, and I watch him. Seeing him after all this time is enough in itself. But seeing him like this, after so long, wrecks me down to my core. His account of the last several hours sounds horrific, and while I’m glad he didn’t die, I’m pissed.
He wets his lips and continues. “I don’t know what I would have done if you weren’t there.” His voice lowers a few octaves, and I see now he’s just as shaken up by this as I am.
“How did you know where I lived? I didn’t tell anyone in Minneapolis where I was going.” I ask, softly.
“I work for the Federal Government.” He chuckles. “I can find out where just about anyone lives.”
“Just about?” I quiz.
“Yeah. Anyone who has a driver’s license, a cell phone bill…or a job is listed in the database that we have access to. There are ways to live off the grid. Not many people know about ’em, though.”
“I’m so confused here, Dyl… Liam. Maxium put a hit out on you? Makes no sense to me. He’s the most generous and biggest philanthropist we know in the medical space.”
“There’s more to him than you think,” he adds vaguely.
“Care to— You know what, it doesn’t matter. Just tell me what you’re going to do to figure this out. I want to go home.”
“I can’t risk letting you go back. It’s not safe.”
“Risk? You can’t risk the woman you haven’t seen in a year? The woman who you’ve destroyed with your lies?” The words pour out of me as anger bubbles in my chest.
He should have thought about not risking me before showing up at my door. He should have been concerned about my safety and left me alone at the gala all those years ago.
“I didn’t lie to you, I just couldn’t tell you.”
“Lie by omission, same damn thing. And now is not the time to be vague and cryptic. Whatever the hell you’re into, you’ve managed to rope me in it. So the least you can do is be honest with me.” I turn in my seat to face him.
He tightens his grip on the steering wheel before switching on the radio and turning up the volume. I reach out, shutting it back off, while peering at him. He hunches his shoulders and lets out a long, low sigh.
“I never lied about loving you.”
“But you lied about being married,” I snap. The blame doesn’t all fall on him. Yes, he should have told me about his wife, but I should have known. It was stupid of me not to pay attention. For six years, he loved me and brought me happiness all while being married to another.
“I’m sorry for the way this all turned out. I didn’t expect Serena to go so far, she shouldn’t have. But for some reason she wanted to send me a message by making sure you’d never work in Minneapolis again. She probably would have taken it further, but I convinced her to let it be. You’d already left at that point, and she’d done enough.”
“And now she wants to kill you? What a loving relationship.” I smirk in disgust.
Liam doesn’t continue, and we sit in silence for the rest of the ride. I don’t know why, but a part of me believes his apology is sincere. But nothing changes the fact that everything that’s happened, me being shamed and ran out of my town, to the dead men back in my apartment, is all because of him. With each passing moment, things get darker, and I’m beginning to feel like I may not be able to crawl out of it this time. I prop my foot up on the dashboard to rest my chin in the palm of my hand. Staring out the window, I try to force the thoughts out of my head. Tears pierce through, and I quickly wipe them away. I close my eyes and breathe through my nose, trying hard to relax my mind. It isn’t long before the sound of the tires on the pavement sways me into sleep.
When I wake, the car slows, and Liam cuts off the highway onto an unmarked dirt road. I check the time and realize we’ve been driving for nearly seven hours. It’s four in the morning, and nothing but darkness surrounds us. It makes me uneasy, not being able to see what’s in front of me, so I clutch my seat belt and sit up straight.
“Where are we?” I finally ask, but he doesn’t answer me.
A moment later, the shadow of a structure comes into view. He pulls up along the side and a motion sensor goes off, casting a very dim light. I glare up and out the window, taking in the grungy old house. The windows are boarded, and the siding is caked in dirt.
“Come on, let’s go inside.” He opens his door and climbs out.
I don't want to move. I have no idea where we are, and this…house looks condemned. “I’m not leaving the car.”
He opens the back door and reaches for the first-aid kit and my purse. “Constance. It’s okay, this is one of our safe houses,” he says and slams it shut.
“Doesn’t look very safe,” I mutter and tilt my neck to see up toward the top of the house.
He walks along the tail of the vehicle as I continue to stare at the run-down building. A low thud sounds off when he sits the items on the hood. A second later my door goes flying open. Liam holds a hand out to me, begging me to exit.