“No doubt,” Liam replied simply, snapping his book shut.
“Fine,” I said slowly. I took in a deep breath. “Then I think we’ll—”
Ring ring!
I startled at the call. Was it Jeremy again?
I quickly flicked a glance at Liam before picking up the phone.
“Hello?”
“Sophia?”
My eyes widened as I gripped the phone tighter. “Ron Lawson?” I said, trying to keep my voice from rising unnaturally.
Liam immediately sprang away from the bookcase and leaned against the phone so he could hear the conversation.
“Sophia, I’d like to speak with you, if possible.” Ron sounded quite out of breath, as if he was whispering hurriedly.
“Well I have time right now, if you’d like,” I said, feeling just as breathless. What the fuck was the man doing, calling me? I was so confused.
“No, in person!” he said a little angrily, as if that was obvious.
“When?” I asked, feeling a sense of urgency.
“Today,” he said. “The sooner the better. Can you come into the city?”
“To your office?”
“Yes,” he said after a pause. “Yes, to the office. Can you be here by 3?”
“Yes,” I said. I took a moment before I asked, “Can I ask what this is in regards to?”
Ron took a slow breath. I heard it crackle over the line. “Everything,” he finally said. “It’s in regards to everything. See you at 3.”
And before I could reply, the line went dead.
Liam and I stared at each other in silence after I hung up the phone. “Should I go?” I asked.
Liam’s jaw tightened as he quietly thought over the situation. He finally nodded. “We’ll go,” he said, emphasizing what he had said earlier about my not going anywhere alone anymore. “It’s better to know where he is than where he isn’t. And if we’re with him…” he trailed off.
“We’ll know exactly where he is,” I finished for him.
I breathed in slowly. This was it. All signs were pointing to Lawson.
Today, I would meet my murderer.
***
“Are you coming inside with me?” I asked.
Liam tapped a finger on his thigh as he thought. “We’ll see,” he said. “Depending on what I see when we get there, it might be better that I remain outside.”
I nodded, realizing he was saying that an outside attack might happen. “Even though we’re at his office?” I tried to be discreet since our hired driver was essentially a stranger.
“Well, he’s proven to be quite bold already, hasn't he?” Liam said, also being discreet. “We have to go in with no expectations.”
I settled back into my seat as we watched the scenery fly by. Slowly but surely, huge skyscrapers and concrete roads filled our view. As the car wended its way into the financial district, I began to wonder what Lawson would want to talk about during this meeting.
I was so sure something was going to happen that I hadn’t even considered a meeting where we actually only just talked. Could he say anything that would change the burden of guilt? As far as I could see, that was nearly impossible.
His unusual anger at the Senator’s dinner, his van and the shooting at the house, the suspicious snooping around Madewell mines, and now this contract.
No, it was impossible to explain this away.
And yet…it was him who had called her. He could’ve easily stayed away but instead had not only contacted her but had also invited her to his office. His very public and large office in the financial district of New York City.
That was certainly puzzling.
“We’re here,” Liam said to me in a low aside as the car slowly pulled up to a busy sidewalk.
“We’re here,” the driver said a half second later, slightly turning his head back towards us. “Miss?”
“Thank you,” I said. Was there any kind of preparation one could do when meeting your murderer?
Liam stepped out and then turned around, reaching for me. Reminding myself to breathe, I took his hand and stepped out of the car.
As soon as I stepped out onto the sidewalk, I felt the buzz of New York under my feet. The city was so alive and vibrant. Liam gave instructions to the driver on where he should wait for them before shutting the door.
As the car drove off, Liam put his hand against the small of my back, ready to lead me towards Lawson’s office. Once again, I felt grateful I was not on this dark road alone.
We only got a few steps before I felt Liam’s arm tighten around my shoulders, holding me close while slowing me down as well. “What is it?” I asked looking up at him.
But his eyes were narrowed ahead.
I followed his gaze and saw a man in a tailored black suit walking quickly up the sidewalk, straight towards us. Most New Yorkers walked fast but this man was walking without breaking eye contact with us, at a noticeable speed.
As he got into hearing range, he asked clearly, “Are you Sophia Madewell?”
But before I could answer, two things happened simultaneously.
I felt Liam throw me behind him as the man reached into his suit jacket, pulling out a huge silver colt .45.
Just as I was thrown behind Liam, I heard a shot fire. People in the immediate vicinity began screaming and running in panic. Liam turned around and put his arm around me, pushing me behind a parked car. I quickly looked him over. He was whole. No blood. The shot had missed.
“Who is that?” I whispered, my pulse racing. My adrenaline was so high, I felt detached from my body.
Liam was hunched beside me, covering me slightly, as he looked around the side of the car. People were still in hysterics and the crowd was inadvertently helping us in providing cover.
“I don’t know,” Liam said, his eyes out on the sidewalk. “I don’t think—”
Another shot was fired.
But our heads snapped to our right. This shot was from a different side. I looked at Liam. There was more than one gunman.
“Stay down,” Liam said putting an arm over my back, forcing me into a low, hunched position. “We’re going to move down towards the bridge.”
Trying use the screaming crowds to our advantage, Liam moved me along, never stepping for a moment without his body pressed against mine, shielding me as much as he could.
But the crowds got thicker as panic truly set in. Another shot was fired off. This time, I was sure it was from behind us. How many men were there?
A woman to my right screamed, “Terrorist! Terrorist attack! Lord, it’s a terrorist attack!”
I was quite sure terrorists did not wear fitted black suits before they killed but before I could think any further on that the woman screamed again and then bumped straight into me.
“Sophia!” I heard Liam call out, his voice strong like a fist.
But the crowds at that moment were stronger. As I stumbled from the woman’s bump, I got swept further into the frenzy. I tried to push back but I kept getting jostled before I could regain my balance, leaving me feeling even more confused.
My heart was in my throat. I pushed against the screaming people, only focused on trying to find Liam again. God, who would be shooting in the middle of the street in the heart of the financial district? It was insanity! This was going to be so highly publicized. What kind of murderer would want his murders to be witnessed by so many people?
But quite suddenly, I felt the crowd around me all disperse. In an eerie, almost synchronized manner, I found myself exposed out on the middle of the street. I looked up towards uptown and saw a man in a black suit, different from the first man I saw, standing directly opposite me on the street.
And before I could even think to jump to take cover, the man aimed his gun and fired.
“Sophia!”
Screams echoed in my ears as I felt myself stumble backwards. Initially, I breathed a sigh of relief. He had missed. Thank god.
But then I felt myself falling. Falling.
I looked up, not realizing I had even closed my eyes, and saw Liam above me, holding me in his arms.
And then, it hit me. A hissing, burning pain that radiated from my left side. “Oh fuck!” I gasped as my shaky hands reached towards my middle. I felt something warm and wet.
Looking down, I saw my hands covered in dark red blood.
I had been shot. I was dying.
“Liam,” I said, already feeling the chill of death. My body shook and my muscles twitched and tightened in its death throes. “Liam.”
Liam looked down at the wound. His jaw tightened as he saw the blood pouring over my hands, completely soaking the dress I wore. I could even feel the wetness on my back as the blood completely soaked the fabric of my dress.
Holding me with an arm around my back and a hand on my head, he gently lowered me to the ground. My vision was already beginning to spot. God, I was going fast. But even in the spotty vision, I saw the two black suited men walking up behind Liam, guns drawn. They were coming to finish the job.
“Liam,” I gasped, trying to warn him.
As soon as he laid me down, he looked up.
If my heart weren’t already erratically beating, it would’ve once I looked upon his face.
This was no longer Liam. Possibly no longer human.
His jaw was rigid and clenched tight. His expression visibly darkening, an aura of blackness growing around him like a cloak. His green eyes burned like fiery emeralds, the fury and power within them clear and potent.
His shoulders, still hunched over me, tightened and seemed to broaden. His whole body seemed larger and more terrifying in its strength and promise of destruction.
“Stay here,” he said, his voice nearly a growl.
“Liam,” I breathed, trying to warn him about the gunmen but not able to get enough air into my lungs. “Don’t.”
He put a hand on my forehead. His hand was so large, it could easily palm my entire head. “Stay,” he said again.
I squinted to keep my vision from blurring. I watched as he slowly rose and turned around.
The two men lifted their guns and fired. I cringed on instinct. But when I opened my eyes, Liam was still walking towards the men, straight and broad and whole as ever.
Even through my tunneling vision, I could see the surprised and unnerved looks on both men.
Then with incredible, nearly supernatural speed, Liam shot forward, his fist kept low and tight to his side. He punched the man to the right. The man doubled over on Liam’s fist, his eyes bulging so wide I thought they would pop out their sockets.
Then with a heaving gasp, the man spit up blood. Eyes rolled back and as the man slumped to the ground, I saw Liam’s large first covered in blood.
He had punched the man right through his gut.
Liam straightened up. He turned his head to the second man who couldn’t take his eyes off his comrade.
He raised his gun towards Liam but before he could even properly aim it, Liam grabbed his arm with one hand and snapped it in two. Then swinging his hand back, he let go a furious smack across the man’s head.
I heard a very distinct, singular sound of vertebrae snapping.
The men fell into a boneless heap.
The blackness edged further and further into my vision.
I stared at Liam. My stepbrother. My demon.
I saw the dark aura around him pulsing as his body tried to keep his rage and power in check. His back was towards me but even through his jacket, I felt like I could see ever sinew, every muscle of his throbbing and twitching with the need for more violence.
He suddenly turned around. His darkened face, harsh with need for violence, stared at me. His green eyes, glowing with an eeriness that now was beginning to feel familiar, pierced my heart.
I closed my eyes and let the darkness take me.
Chapter Thirteen
All I could hear and feel was the rushing. Every time I would close then open my eyes, it was a different type of hurried rushing.
“She’s lost a lot of blood. We’ll need a transfusion, stat!” a woman’s voice echoed. I looked up only to see a wall of blinding white above me as a woman and her saturated blue scrubs buzzed into my view.
I heard “surgery” and “bullet” floated above me. So if I was going into surgery, that meant I wasn’t dead, right? I couldn’t be dead. I hadn’t gotten my revenge yet. Liam would never let me die before getting revenge.
Liam.
Where was Liam in all of this?
I close my eyes and open them in a small room with a gaggle of masked doctors looking over me. I opened my mouth to ask where Liam was but instead I felt someone push a plastic tube down my throat, intubating me.
I felt a mist of hazy calm steal over me as I slowly closed my eyes again. Well this is new, I thought. I’ve never survived a murder attempt before. And then I wanted to giggle at the ridiculousness of the thought. But before I could draw in enough breath to laugh, my lids dropped and the world closed around me.
When I opened my eyes again, I heard another woman’s voice above me. All the voices sounded so far away, as if they were at the end of a tunnel.
“Sir, she needs rest. She’s just gotten out of surgery!” the woman protested.
“I am her stepbrother and next of kin,” a deep voice said calmly but not without a hint of steel. Liam! “As such, I want my sister discharged right now.”
“But, sir! Can’t you see that she’s still quite—”
“Discharge her now, nurse.”
I heard silence before the huffy retreating steps of a slightly terrified nurse. I smiled, or at least thought I smiled, to myself. I could’ve told you, nurse, I thought hazily. Don’t mess with the demon.
And then it was all dark.
But then hours, days, years, later I woke up gasping.
“Oh god!” I cried out, everything sheeting white about me as pain ripped through me.
As my vision cleared, I saw Liam above me, holding me tight in his arms. The very position of being curled up in his arms made my body shiver uncontrollably in pain. Sweat immediately burst out across my forehead. “Oh my god,” I gasped, my arm gripping Liam’s shoulders.
“Just hold on for a few more minutes,” Liam said hurriedly as he nearly sprinted up the stairs of the house, causing me immeasurable agony.
I looked around blearily. “We…We’re home,” I whispered, hoping to god I would just pass out so I wouldn’t have to endure this pain for much longer.
“Took forever to get you out of that stinking hospital,” Liam muttered under his breath as he reached the second floor. He didn’t even seem winded from carrying another person as he nearly ran up a flight of stairs.
“Stinking?” I whispered, closing my eyes, urging my body to pass out. Pain rolled through me like waves of glass shards.
“Stinking,” Liam confirmed as he pushed open the door to my bedroom with his shoulder. “I can smell the death in there and the souls that are leaving the earthly realm. It stinks.”
I cried out, unable to help myself, as Liam gently laid me on my bed. Feeling the soft mattress below me and my body finally still from motion, I panted in relief as I tried to swallow the nausea I felt.
“Why…did you take me out of…the hospital?” I gasped, trying to draw breath in between razor sharp stabs of pain. I wanted to press my hands against my lower abdomen, to stop the pain. But I knew better and instead pressed my shaking hands into fists.
Liam shrugged out of his jacket, stained with blood. He rolled up the sleeves of his shirt which was also stained with blood. Remembering the shooting and Liam’s reaction to the gunmen, I was quite sure not all of the blood on his shirt was mine.
“So I can heal you,” Liam said as if that were obvious. “I could’ve done it sooner if the hospital staff hadn’t dragged their feet about discharging you.”
Liam sat at the edge of my bed. The shift of the bed from his mere weight made me gasp again in pain. “Well,” I said, my voi
ce tight with agony, “they might’ve had a point.”
Looking down at the white hospital gown I still wore, I could see redness seeping through. I didn’t need to open the bandaging to know my wound had torn open again from all this jostling.
Devilish - A Demon Stepbrother Romance Page 8