Page 70 of Trouble

“Liam?”

I blinked at the voice coming through the scratchy reception. It wasn’t Blaine on the other end—it was Marcus. I hadn’t heard from him in months, not since he fled to America with his wife, and hearing his voice made an unexpected jolt of happiness shoot through me. He may have been crazy as fuck, but I’d kind of missed his loomingpresence.

“Yeah, it’s me. Louis is here too. Are you and Evelyn all right? And Blaine and hisfamily?”

“Yes.”

Relief flooded through me at the confirmation and I opened my mouth to ask specifics, but was cut off before I had thechance.

“We don’t have much time. Listen and be quiet.”So his phone manners hadn’t improved much. I grimaced, but didn’targue.

“You need to get to Isaac. Tell him the bird’s safe. Tell him he has to give you what he’s got or we’re all fucked, gotit?”

“What do you mean we’re fucked—do you have intel onDad?”

“Liam, do you understand?”my brother snapped into thephone.

“Fucking calm down,” I growled. “Yeah, I get it, but how are we supposed to get to him? He’s been refusing visitors from dayone.”

“Figure it out. And do it now—if you’re not in and out of there by midday tomorrow, we’redone.”

“Marcus, what the hell is going on?” Sure, I knew shit was already on fire, but the urgency in my older brother’s voice was a distinctly next level. “We need to know what the hell we’re dealingwith.”

“He’s hiring the??????.If we don’t stop him before he drops off the payment tomorrow at noon, we’re alldead.”

34

Audrey

The rideback to London was as tense as our escape had been three weeks prior. The only difference was that this time, I actually knew what washappening.

They’d tried to keep it from me, to tell me that everything was going to be okay and not to worry, but I’d been through too much to take it thistime.

So they’d told me. About getting their brother Isaac to talk being the only thing that might save them from certain death, about the futility in trying to run from a death sentence placed on you by thisSmertsgang their brother hadmentioned.

Perhaps in another life, if my heel hadn’t broken that day in the park, I would have watched the news one evening while eating my takeaway dinner and shuddered in relief at the announcement of London becoming a bit safer now that two made men weredead.

But as I sat on the backseat of the inconspicuous car they’d used to throw their father off their trail, I knew I would never, ever, let anyone hurt thetwins.

It’d all become so painfully clear, somewhere in the tangle of limbs and multiple orgasms. I loved them. Both of them. I hadn’t been able to figure out who I’d fallen for, because it wasn’t one or the other—it was both ofthem.

My heart ached as I watched them quietly discuss their options in the dim light of the oncoming vehicles while Liam drove us closer and closer to the city we’d only narrowly escaped from. We’d had a careful truce, after our debauched afternoon of pleasure. It hadn’t been said in words, but we all knew that in that hut in the Welsh mountains we got to pretend like everything was going to be okay. It didn’t matter that they were mafia sons and that their father was looking to kill us all—and it didn’t matter that they’d both fallen in love with the same girl, who would never be able to choose between them. We’d just been. The three ofus.

I’d never thought I’d miss that damn hut or the uncomfortable tarp and claustrophobia-inducing sleeping bags, but as I saw the countryside slowly give way to buildings, I wished with every fiber of my being that we’d had just one more nighttogether.

Because even if we made it out of this alive… there would still never be a happy ending forus.

I wiped the tears sliding down my cheeks as discreetly as I could and took a deep breath. I had the rest of my life to mourn the loss of the two men who had finally shown me what it felt like to truly be alive. Right now, we had more pressing matters to focuson.

“I shouldgo.”

Louis looked at me over his shoulder, a frown creasing his forehead. “Go?”

“To see your brother. You two need to keep a lowprofile.”

“Absolutely not!” Liam spat at the same time as Louis hissed, “Are youmad?”

“You say he’s rejected visits from your entire family since he was sentenced. Maybe he won’t refuse a stranger who says she has news about hisgirl.”

---