Page 159 of Wicked Little Thief

She and Alexandra made fun of Parker and Liam’s bromance, but other than that and the good-natured jousting about opposing teams, everyone was on their best behavior.

Sharon, another volunteer at ARF, commented on it as they sat down at the table. “This has been such a relaxing Thanksgiving. My Uncle Frank would be drunk and insulting my grandparents by now.”

Randy, Alexandra’s assistant, although everyone from ARF called her Xandra, chimed in, “My Uncle Glen would be drunk and trying to talk politics.”

The group started rattling off examples of their horrible Thanksgivings with family. Utah noticed both she and Liam remained quiet, and she leaned over to whisper, “You don’t have any horror stories to tell?”

“No. My family is pretty great. I kinda feel left out.”

She giggled, “Me, too.”

He reached under the table and squeezed her hand.

“Okay,” Parker boomed from the head of the table. “One tradition that we’re going to keep is we’ll each say one thing we’re grateful for. I’ll start.” He turned to Alexandra and grabbed her hand, stared into her eyes, and said, “Mine’s easy. I’m so grateful you came into my life. My world was black and white before you and your menagerie burst into it and made it technicolor. I love you so much, princess.” He pulled a diamond ring from his pocket and presented it to her. “Will you marry me?”

Whoa—I did not see that coming.

She stole a glance at Liam, and judging by the look on his face, neither had he.

Alexandra was a blubbering mess as she nodded. “Of course I’ll marry you!” After Parker slid the ring on her finger, she wrapped her arms around his neck. The two seemingly lost in the moment made Utah feel like she was intruding, so she looked away to find Liam watching her with a small smile.

After a chorus of, “Congratulations!” and “This is so exciting!” the beaming couple sat back down and Liam stood, raising his glass as he did.

“A toast to our host and hostess. May you have a long and happy life together. Congratulations.”

Everyone at the table raised their glass and proclaimed, “Here, here!”

Instead of stating what she was grateful for, Alexandra proclaimed, “Oh my god, let’s eat before it all gets cold!”

Utah was a little disappointed. She was curious to know what Liam would have said.

****

Liam

The nice day was spoiled during dessert when he got a text from Steven Ericson, Boston General’s ER director.

After reading it, he tossed his napkin onto his plate and pushed away from the table to tell Parker and Utah, “Leo Thornton’s going into emergency surgery.”

“What?” Utah exclaimed with wide eyes. “What happened?”

“They’re not sure. A witness found him unconscious outside his apartment. He’d been beaten to a bloody pulp.”

Parker’s mouth formed a thin line; a far cry from the perma-grin he’d been sporting since he popped the question, and she said yes. Liam hated ruining his big day.

“Has anyone contacted his family?”

He stood as he replied, “I don’t know. I need to go to the hospital.”

Utah stood, too. “Can you drop me off at home?”

****

Utah

For the past week, Leo had been on Utah’s radar as being the one causing the breach. She’d been keeping close tabs on him, but he seemed to be doing his dirty work on an outside computer that she couldn’t monitor. Which made sense; if you’re going to damage your own company, you probably shouldn’t do it from your work computer.

Although, she wouldn’t have been surprised if he had. She’d seen firsthand how stupid people could be.

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