And then reality came crashing down.
There was a knock at the door, the sound hard and insistent, as if whoever it was—and Liam was fairly certain it was Aiden—was more giving warning of impending entry than asking permission for it. The knock sounded again, and Liam stepped away from the door he’d been blocking just in time to see the handle turn.
The door opened. Aiden strode in.
Closing the door with one hand, Aiden weighed up Liam with his gaze. “For what it’s worth, you did the right thing, mate.”
“I don’t remember asking for opinions.”
“You keep me around because you don’t have to ask.”
Liam walked to the window that overlooked the bustle of the Denton Valley downtown that sprawled below. The dense cloud that had been gathering minutes ago now aggregated into a downpour, and the air felt charged even from indoors. “I need a work-up on Lucius, the colonel in charge of Obsidian’s New Jersey center. Personal skeletons. Weaknesses. If his mama missed her weekly church service recently, I want to know. Cross the line.”
“Aye.” Aiden didn’t sound surprised. “Are you armed for war, then?”
“More of a scalpel insurgency.” Liam broke off as someone knocked on his office door again, though, unlike Aiden’s signal, this one was fast and furious. Before the pounding escalated to a full drumbeat, the door handle turned, and the last person Liam had expected to see in his office strode inside, her hands on her hips.
“Tell me, Liam—because I’m extremely curious—did you just wake up one morning and decide to ruin my life, or was it more of a planned operation?” she demanded.
“Is there something I can help you with, ma’am?” Aiden edged his body between Liam and the woman.
Liam had a sense that getting rid of this particular visitor would not be quite so easy. Pulling himself together with herculean effort, Liam swallowed his emotions behind a stoic mask. “Aiden, allow me to introduce Lisa Rowen, my sister. Lisa, this is Aiden, my second-in-command.”
“Should I be impressed?” Lisa asked. She looked much as she did on the Zoom screen. Too-tight designer clothes, slightly unkempt brown hair, and a sour expression.
“That’s entirely up to you,” said Liam.
Aiden gave him a mock salute and let himself out of the office. Right.
Pulling out a chair, Liam settled behind his desk, glad to have an extra barrier between himself and his sibling. “Lisa, this really isn’t a good time for a visit.”
“Yes, well, it’s never really a good time for you, is it?”
That was fair. “No. I guess it never really is. But this time, I’m serious. Something’s happened, and I need to attend to it.”
“I know the song and dance, Liam. Something’s always just happened for you. Conveniently enough, that something always seems to morph into you amassing more and more while Mom and I have less and less.” She looked around Liam’s office with an assessing gaze. “This is a nice building. What’s it worth? A million dollars? Two? Three?”
Trident Rescue and Security was worth a great deal more than three million. Hell, the equipment alone was worth more than that, without even starting to consider the professionals working within the company’s walls. “What does my business have to do with anything?” Liam asked. “Are you looking for a job?”
“You’d love that, wouldn’t you? Maybe you can arrange for me to scrub floors on my hands and knees, just so that you could walk by me every day on the way to your penthouse suite and feel superior. You think your rich, educated ass is so much better than mine, but the reality is that you’re the same poor trash you’ve always been. You just happen to be poor trash with money now.”
Liam looked at his watch, wondering how long this was going to take before Lisa got to whatever point brought her here. Which was probably money. He wondered if he could just give her his checkbook and call it a day. Unlike Jaz, Lisa would take it.
“Can we skip to the part where you tell me why you’re here?” Liam asked. “And please, tell me that picking up Mom is at least part of this quest.”
“I knew you’d say that. Anything to get your embarrassing little family back into their dark cupboard.”
“I thought you liked Ann Arbor.”
“You sent me and Mom into exile, with just enough money to ensure we don’t starve. A monthly drip to keep us appeased while ensuring we never get ahead and become a threat. I accepted it from you, all the petty humiliations, but this last straw is too much. If you think I’m going to stand by and quietly watch you give away my fair share to some cunt, you’ve got another think coming.”
It took most of his energy reserves to realize Lisa was referring to Jaz, and then the rest to keep from bodily throwing the woman out of his office.
“This thing you have with the Keasley slut, it’s not going to last. I’m sorry to be brutal, Liam, I really am, but someone needs to lay the truth out for you before she takes you for every penny you have.”
“Let me see if I have this right,” he said slowly. “I’m in a relationship with a woman you’ve never met, but now she’s in it for the money?”
On any other day, he would have caught on to Lisa’s direction earlier, but today, with his mind and heart in knots, it took too long. As the full picture of Lisa’s assault finally settled in, he didn’t know whether—given the events of the past hour—he found her description simply twisted or morosely hilarious.
“Of course she’s in it for the money,” Lisa said. “What else would she be in it for? You and I both know you have the emotional range of a carrier pigeon and can’t care less for anyone without a dick, M16, and military insignia. The only long-term relationships you have are the ones you pay for.” She swept her hand over the office, presumably indicating Liam’s employees. “It’s not your fault. You were born this way. Why do you think Mom had to send you away? But you’re an adult now, and I can’t let you get tangled up with this girl and leave us with nothing.”
Yeah. Lisa was still Lisa, and this was par for the course with her. She had her priorities, and most days, Liam could roll with the punches. But today,…today she’d pulled Jaz into it, and that made blood rush through his veins, his face heating with fury he had no strength to contain.
“Do not ever, ever speak of Jaz.” The words pushed between Liam’s clenched teeth. “And for your information, she and I aren’t together anymore.”
Relief washed over Lisa’s face.
Liam’s gut twisted. Standing, he braced his hands on the tabletop and leaned in toward her. “But you know what I did before she walked out? I offered her a blank check. Told her she could take anything.”
Lisa’s relaxing features twisted into something so venomous that her skin seemed to take on a greenish hue. Swinging back her arm, she cracked it hard over Liam’s cheek, the sound echoing through the room. “You fucking asshole.”
Liam caught her wrist, holding it in a tight grip. “She threw it back in my face.”
Jaz’s expression drew itself in Liam’s mind, her eyes flashing with utter betrayal at the offer of money. Now, holding Lisa’s wrist in his grip, Liam tried to understand why his sister was so different. Where was her pride, her drive, her passion? And for that matter, where was the appropriate reaction to light in her pupils?