With a heavy sigh, Liam briefs me on everything about his family, John’s mother, the fact that Courtney is the worst mother-bitch ever who seemingly disappeared for some reason. And then he finishes with the marriage contract bullshit he didn’t know about until the day I was abducted.
“Wait,” I whisper. “Aidan was your uncle?”
“Yup.”
Oh God. That explains some of the heaviness I could sense from Julian as he held me in his arms a few night ago. Then there was the guilt of what happened to me. I could hear it in his voice.
He’s been through so much but still held me as I cried in his arms. He took care of my need of wanting to connect and see if my body is still attractive. He paid attention to me through it all.
“And your mother—” I start but he cuts me off angrily.
“Her maternal rights have been revoked, please feel free to call her by her government name or better yet, la bitch.”
Well, then…
“So you mean to say Courtney didn’t tell you about the marriage contract?”
“No,” he clips out.
Then why on earth did Courtney tell me about the marriage crap and never told her own son?
And why did they keep the Bishop’s name under wraps? Obviously, Julian knew. He knew all along and then he has the audacity to tell me the marriage isn’t going to happen when I saw the signed contracts myself? The fuck!
“Well damn.”
“Fucking damn is more like it,” he says angrily, but when he looks at me, the livid expression fades into that handsome sexy that somehow eases my heart. “To be fair, a lot has happened over the past few weeks that’s not entirely all his fault and definitely not your fault either,” Liam says softly. “There were a lot of truths that came out and Julian, well, besides all the shit he kept to himself and ditching me to come rescue you by himself, with no regard to what might’ve happened to his own life, he really does fucking care about me. I know that. It’s just…”
“You’re not particularly mad about everything else as you are about this marriage contract with the Bishops.”
We stare at each other. The moment of truth.
“Precisely,” he bites out.
“You don’t want to tell me why, do you?”
Silence. Then, “I guess you don’t want to talk about whatever happened between you and J a few nights ago, do you?”
At my silence, he smiles.
“Yeah, so we’re not going to talk about it,” I mutter.
“Yes, but right now, you have to accept that the issue with that asshole Shane Matthews is mine to deal with alone and it has nothing to do with either you or my brother, or even Cole for that matter.”
I’m silent for a beat, studying his handsome face. Liam looks a lot like John in some ways, a bit of Courtney but he’s so much his own person with his wavy brown hair, long on top and buzzed short at the sides. He’d blend perfectly well in the cast of Peaky Blinders.
But this thing with Shane… what happened?
In that warehouse, I remember Kristine told me that Shane hates Liam with a passion. Obviously, there’s something more personal between the two, unlike with Sean who just had the biggest, ugliest ego trip that didn’t fit with his fucking idiotic, ugly and evil traits; raping pregnant girls and beating up tied down naked ones.
“Hey, are you all right?” Liam mutters, suddenly in front of me, with his hands on my upper arms. “You look so pale, fuck, what just ran through your mind, cupcake?”
“I’m okay.”
“Come on, Mia, I know you. You’re not okay. You need to talk.”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I mutter, shaking his hold off of me.
“Come on, Mia, if you’re not going to talk to me because of what I did, then at least talk to a professional.”
“No, thanks. I’m done with shrinks who just skirted over the subject of my trauma, partly because of my ‘amnesia’ and partly because I just pretended to be out of it.”
“Well then talk to me,” Liam says. “I’m here. I failed you and I’m sorry. I’ll probably spend the rest of my life making up for it because of that retribution look in your eyes, but I’ve got you, cupcake.”
I can see the sincerity in his eyes, and I know this is the rawest side of Liam I’ve ever seen, but I’m not ready.
“Thank you for your concern, Liam. I appreciate it,” I say sarcastically.
“It’s not for show,” he mumbles silently after a beat. “I really do mean it.”
God, I don’t want to deal with this right now.
“I know,” I whisper. “I didn’t mean to be so snarky, it’s just… maybe let’s not talk about that hell today.” I prefer a future date of never, but I’ll take small victories anyway I can get them.
“Okay then, that’s fair,” he says, moving back to the door. “Let’s continue with updating you with current affairs and all that shit before it gets pretty hard to breathe in here.”
“Yes please.” I breathe a sigh of relief. It was getting a bit dark and heavy in here with all that mess.
“Anyway, you asked about what people know. Dad and Julian managed to seal the records and blocked the use of your name in some shit.”
That one takes me by surprise. I wasn’t expecting that.
“What?”
“Yeah, well, the only report they have is about the fire and that someone was fucking roasted to death in there.”
“Wait, the cops said he was shot to death.”
“That part is true, but it was censored out.”
“What about me?”
“They’re speculating your involvement. I mean why else would those damn tabloids b e lurking trying to snap a picture of you, not that anyone can access thios floor.”
“Wait, what?”
“Oh you didn’t know that either?” Liam questions, surprised. “Julian made Dad clear all the rooms on this floor for your privacy, then private security was placed on this floor.”
You’ll never live in fucking fear of anyone ever again.
A shudder moves violently through me as Julian’s word echo in my head, my heart and even my soul.
“When did all this happen?”
“Well most of the shit was done on the low, to keep Nathan from suspecting Dad’s safety measures but yeah, if that asshole tried something, there were people ready to take him out.”
He’s not joking. I can see the truth of his words in his eyes. Julian and his father John were really prepared for anything.
“But then you woke up and flipped the script with that amnesia chip you cashed in. Fucking brilliant!”
He’s so proud that I don’t have the heart to tell him everything I said about Nathan was the truth, so I just whisper the only words I can manage right now at these revelations.
“But how?” I croak.
Liam laughs at that.
“You’re really asking me that? Have you met my brother? When he wants something, he gets it. And he wants you protected, and on his life, he’s going to do it.” I manage to just stare at him, blinking like a cartoon character. “Which is why you should’ve just let him take that bullet. Though he did walk through fire to atone for that. Hell, that sonofabitch made sure none of the flames touched you.”