by Stacey Lynn
At first, I was in such shock I considered it only because I tried to hope my parents had believed it was best for me. But then I continued seeing the man Harrison really was beneath his stylish suits and perfectly groomed hair and slick smile.
Which was why I left for New York. Because screw them all. My parents had drilled into me the importance of propriety and class and living better than then the rest, remaining pure because it was important.
They’d never once said part of the agreement with the Williamsons was that their daughter be a virgin…because that was what Harrison wanted.
I hadn’t known of any of it until I sat in Edward’s office as we discussed my trust fund and losing my house.
He’d been shocked. Figuring my parents would have let me known all along.
Instead, I’d been angry. A few weeks later, I was on a plane.
Despite sending him the same two-word text that said, “We’re over,” repeatedly, he still insisted there were things to discuss. Things that would make me change my mind.
He was dead wrong.
But knowing he was coming to my family’s home, we’d be the last people inside this place before it went up for auction and everything picked apart piece by piece, filled me with a bravery I never knew I had until I saw Sophie earlier this morning.
She’d been through a living hell much worse than mine.
If she could be brave, fight through her past, I could do the same.
A flash of a black car through the stained glass windows around my front door flashed in my eye and I smoothed down the black dress I’d been wearing all day. My face felt greasy from recycled airplane air and my hair was oily and flat. The dress was wrinkly beyond all saving, and I’d kicked off my shoes.
Harrison had never seen me look such a mess and I couldn’t summon the energy to care.
I waited for him in the living room, which had a direct view to the front door. Cocky and arrogant and condescending as hell, Harrison walked right in like he owned the place. I hadn’t bothered locking the door since I’d told him to meet me here.
“Hello, Claudia.” Harrison wasn’t unattractive. Blond hair slick and nicely trimmed, he carried himself with the ease and arrogance of a boy who hadn’t had to work for much but had everything.
It didn’t hit me how much I’d changed since my parents’ deaths until I realized I used to be that same way.
I hated him even more.
“Harrison.”
“You know a man doesn’t enjoy it when his fiancée runs out on him days before their wedding.” His grin was slimy. Arrogant mixed with evil intent.
I stepped back but he continued coming closer.
“I’m not your fiancée anymore. I believe I made that clear.”
“You’ll change your mind.”
From behind his back, he pulled a stack of folded papers out and held them toward me. “Read this.”
Taking it would mean getting closer to him, within arm’s reach. He was tall and a man. He could probably grab me if he wanted to but I wasn’t about to make it easier for him.
“There’s nothing you have I could possibly want.”
His brown eyes flashed in anger and he shook the papers. “No? You’re not even curious?”
A part of me was. The stupid part that still hoped my dad hadn’t broken half a dozen laws before holding a gun to my mom’s head. The stupid part that still hoped good would come out of this.
The naive, disappearing part of me that still went to bed at night, crying, hoping like hell all of the last several months had been a horrific nightmare.
I hadn’t had those dreams since I stepped foot on Anguilla. Meeting Liam changed more than one thing about me.
And I knew it was partly because of him I finally grew a spine.
Still, I’d come for closure. To make it clear to Harrison he could shove my trust fund he managed up his ass. There was no way in hell I’d ever marry him. I’d never be his side-piece. I’d never step foot into another ball or gala on his arm even if women eventually ceased their gossiping. They’d shown me too much of who they were, who I used to be, and who I never wanted to be again.
“What is it?” I asked, crossing my arms in front of me. If he wanted me to know, he could read it out loud.
Instead, he came closer. Each slow step of his gave me the sensation of being a baby lion surrounded by a pack of hyenas.
Turning the paperwork toward me, he shook it out. All at once, in dark, large bold letters the words Real Estate Deed glared back at me, and beneath the words, my address.
“I don’t understand.” It was up for auction. All of it. The auction was set for two weeks.
“It’s mine,” he said. “Ours, actually. As trustee of your trust fund, I’m able to disperse funds into investments I deem worthy.”
“And you used it for this house?” I shook my head. This was too much. “Why?”
“Because it will be ours.”
“Haven’t you been listening?” I said, my voice rising and going trill. The man was delusional. This was what he thought it’d take for him to buy me? I never should have returned.
At once, I missed Liam and the way he’d protected and cared for me once we reached Kansas City. He was a man.
This weasel in front of me wouldn’t understand the definition if I spoke in small, simple words.
“I won’t marry you, Harrison. And I don’t give a crap about this place. You think I’d want to live here after my father and mother died in here? Are you insane?”
“No,” he growled, lips curling like a predator about to attack. I’d seen the same look in rabid dogs on television and I stepped back, closer to the kitchen. “I’m not insane. I own you, Claudia. Down to the very last dollar to your name and the remaining shreds of your reputation. And we will live here, in one of the best homes in Savannah. Together.”
I laughed. My God. I’d been so stupid. So absolutely ridiculously dumb to think I could come back here and have a civil conversation with this man so he would leave me alone.
Pressing my hands to my cheeks, I tried to cool myself. Then I moved farther into the kitchen.
If he did go ballistic, I wanted to have my hand on something sharp.
“Harrison, listen. This is absurd. I’m not the girl you buy with money and owning.” And oh, the irony of that statement. I didn’t think of Liam. I’d finish this, get out, and go find him. Explain everything. “You don’t even care about me. The very fact you think you can buy me with this house I don’t want anything to do with, proves it.”
He didn’t look confused, but his anger deepened. Cheeks turning hot, they clashed with his light purple polo and gray sports coat. In my old life, I would have found him attractive.
That was before Liam.
“You little bitch,” he growled.
I laughed. Good grief. “I don’t even need the money anymore.” I hoped I didn’t, anyway. But at least I had the security of Infidelity. And Karen. She’d proven able to care for me.
“Listen here,” he said again and tossed the paperwork on the counter. He lunged at me and before I could jump out of his way, his hand was around my throat and he shoved me into the refrigerator. The steel metal was cold at my back and I fought a shiver, clawing helplessly at his hands.
His hand pressed in, his body followed. An arrogant psychopath surrounded me, but I refused to give up. “I can’t breathe,” I gasped and dug my fingers into his forearms.
“You were promised to me. Your father. My father. It’s a signed contract. I take your house, I take your money, and I can fucking destroy you, Claudia, you little cunt.”
Oh shit. I hadn’t even considered. Another lawsuit for a broken contract, this one selling his daughter? My father’s crap would resurface all over again.
“I don’t care. Do it, you pig. Then everyone will know how pathetic you are.” I spit the words out, gasping for breath. His hand at my throat shoved me harder into the fridge. My head hit it and I shook off the pain
. Black spots speckled my vision but I focused on the area between his eyes. “You wouldn’t sue. Then everyone would know you couldn’t find your own woman to fuck, you had to buy one like a cheap prostitute.”
Again. The irony, but if that’s what I’d become with Infidelity, I certainly wasn’t cheap.
The idea almost made me laugh. Good grief. The lack of air supply was killing me. Literally.
“Then I’ll take what I want from you until you see sense.”
His free hand dropped between us and he shoved up my black dress. I kicked and flailed. For being on the thinner side, he was strong.
“Don’t.” I thrashed against him and he slapped my thigh. The stinging pain made me cry out and he was able to wedge his hand beneath my dress.
Between my thighs.
My God. Was this what Sophie felt like? So helpless? I could barely breathe, much less fight. The black spots grew larger until unbidden tears swam in my eyes.
“Fuck you.” I spit at him and he didn’t seem to notice. His dark brown eyes. Evil and wicked glared at me, lips twisted in victory.
“I plan to. Tell me, my little cunt, Claudia. Did you keep yourself pure for your husband to be? Or are you now a worthless whore?”
“Neither,” another voice said and if I could have, I would have sighed with relief. “She’s not a whore, but I’ve had her pussy wrapped so tight around my dick it’s the most amazing sensation in the world.”
My eyes flashed to our side and I cried. “Liam.”
My God. He was here. Tendons and veins I had never seen before bulged at the side of his neck.
“Take your fucking hands off her, before I break them.”
He’d do it, too. But he couldn’t. Not after this morning. Not after I’d already scoured gossip sites on the plane ride. People were loving him. All of them.
“Don’t,” I gasped. Harrison’s hold went tighter and he tugged me toward him. It freed his hand from between my thighs but he spun us so my back was to his chest.
“Yeah? Who the fuck are you? You get all that ink in prison?”
Liam flashed me a shocked look, as if someone had the audacity not to know who he was. Then they went to concerned. Back to white hot rage. It all happened in a moment but relief was still replacing fear.
He’d take care of me. I knew he would.
“Doesn’t fucking matter who I am,” he said, prowling closer. This was the kind of predator I liked. Evil only against evil.
I tried to call out to him, to plea for him to be careful, but my lids were drooping. It was hard to breathe, harder to stay on my feet.
I forced myself to focus. On Liam. His fists. The word LOVE inked and popped in his knuckles.
LOVE.
I could stay strong for him.
His size was no comparison to Harrison. His arm was beginning to tremble, either weakening from choking me for so long or from fear.
“Get the fuck out of our house,” he said. “And if I find out you did fuck my fiancée, I’ll kill you.”
“Fiancée?” Liam asked. Pain lashed his features before he stepped closer.
“No,” I gasped.
“Shut the fuck up, cunt,” Harrison snapped. He jerked me against me and I cried out from the pain. Goddamn, he was strong.
“Seems the woman disagrees,” Liam said. He stalked closer. Almost touching distance to me. His gaze scanned the room before returning to Harrison and he smirked. “But I gotta tell you, when my fingers were in her pussy and then my mouth tasted her, the only thing she was screaming was my name.”
“Fucker,” Harrison growled. Liam was drawing him into a rage. I could sense it as his limbs trembled.
For a brief moment, his hold on me loosened. I jerked against him, shoving him into the kitchen counter.
It was enough to make him stumble as his back slammed against the granite.
“Fuck!” He yanked me, but it didn’t matter.
Liam grabbed one of my hands and pulled me toward him then past him. I stumbled, arms flying to gain balance but I crashed to my knees.
“Liam!” I shouted as I turned to look back. His fist was raised, blood already on his knuckles. He was bent over Harrison.
He punched him and blood flew into the air. From Harrison, from Liam, I couldn’t tell.
I got up and ran to him, pulling him back, grasping for his shirt. “Stop. Please. You can’t.”
He threw his arm down once more and the sickening crunch of bone on bone breaking echoed in the air.
“Damn it!” he shouted. “Fuck him.”
“I know. Please.” I tugged on his shirt and he stepped back.
Harrison fell to the floor, crumbling into a pile. Blood was smeared all over his listless expression. He was out. His nose nastily crooked.
I couldn’t find it inside myself to care, except that he looked gross.
“Liam,” I gasped. My throat stung. My voice was scratchy. I still could barely breathe or talk, but then strong arms were around me, lifting me.
Liam cradled me, carried me to a couch and held me.
“Holy shit. Are you okay? I’m so sorry, sweetheart. So damn sorry.”
“You’re here.” I clung to him. My face shoved into his shoulder I couldn’t find my grip. Couldn’t burrow close enough.
“Shhh. Rest your voice. I’ve got you. You’re safe.”
He held me tightly to him.
“We need to get out of here.”
“We will. Rest. Calm down. Take as much time as you need. When you’re ready, we’ll go.”
I did as I was told, for once not caring about being bossed around.
I trusted Liam. He’d saved me. As I closed my eyes, the last thought I remembered thinking, before sleep and adrenaline crash took me down was how much I loved him.
How much I never wanted to leave him.
“I don’t want you to leave me ever again, either,” he whispered, lips at my ear.
I shivered from his voice, his touch, his comfort. And then I fell asleep.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-THREE
LIAM
I held her in my arms, unable to take my eyes off the man I’d beaten the shit out of who was now unconscious on her floor. He was too much like the assholes who had raped Sophie. Arrogant, egotistical. I was willing to bet small-dicked as well. And just like those assholes, the one on her kitchen floor had gone down way, way too damn easy.
At least if he fought back I could have expelled a decent amount of rage and fury that had laced my blood as soon as I heard her cry out in pain when I’d stepped into her house. I’d needed the fight. Needed the battle. Instead, I still had too much adrenaline racing through my system, a woman passed out and shivering in my arms, and a prick on the floor I wanted to crush with my boot.
I closed my eyes and released a deep, long and shaky breath. The asshole on the floor didn’t matter.
All that mattered was Claudia. It hadn’t taken long to find her home address and since that was what her text had said, I’d come straight here with a car Anne had waiting for me at the private airstrip.
I’d barely made it. If I would have been five minutes…two minutes…thirty seconds later…
I ground my teeth together and slammed the door on that thought.
Claudia was safe. Sleeping. Her throat would be bruised because that fucker had gripped her hard, but she hadn’t been violated.
I needed to get out there. Her weight settled into my lap and her fingers curled into my shirt.
She’d told me she loved me.
I couldn’t even process it. Doubt she realized she said it out loud.
Yet, the asshole who had tried choking her to death said he was her fiancé.
We had a lot of talk about. Another mess to clean up.
I had questions but the answers didn’t matter. She was mine. She would always be mine. After seeing what I’d walked in on, no way in hell was she ever leaving me again.
Fuck that.
I stood, fixing my
hold on Claudia but she didn’t stir. She needed the sleep and I needed her to see a doctor. First things first, we needed to get home.
Wherever the hell that was, it didn’t matter. We’d pick a place and make it ours together.
Scanning the kitchen to see if Claudia left anything she’d need, I swiped up the papers scattered on the island. Real Estate Deed jumped out at me, but I tossed them on Claudia’s lap as I held her in my arms and moved toward the door.
After I had her settled in the front seat, papers folded in her lap, I went back inside and grabbed her keys, purse, and shoes. She wouldn’t need any of that shit again, but I didn’t want evidence we were there. Eventually, that dick was going to wake up and I wanted to be in the air again.
She stirred in the passenger seat when I was minutes from the airstrip I’d left just over an hour ago. Felt like days. The entire car ride, I’d kept glancing at her, concern bubbling beneath the surface of my skin.
I drove one-handed, one hand on the wheel, one on her thigh, brushing her warm and soft skin, hoping to rouse her.
As she opened her eyes as I slowed to a stop at a light that would take us to the private airport, they immediately flew wide and her hand clasped to her throat.
“Don’t talk,” I said, my hand on her thigh tightening as she grimaced. “You’ll be sore. Just rest until I can get you some water.”
“Okay,” she croaked.
The light turned green and I turned, struggling to peel my eyes off her or the way her eyes filled with tears.
She was still rubbing her neck as I pulled to a stop near the hangar and I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the plane was still there. Anne had thought of everything earlier, securing me not only a private jet but paying for my use for the next two days, not knowing when I’d be able to get out of Savannah.
It’d take hours to file a new flight plan, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to get her on the plane, in the bed, and hold her until she stopped crying and shivering.
“Liam,” she groaned as another sob hit her and she fell forward.
I yanked off our seat belts and pulled her into my arms as close as I could get to her with the console between us. “Shhh…you’re safe.”
