Page 79 of Trouble

Slowly, with one final, lingering look, Liam nodded. Then he turned his gaze to our father. “I will follow your leadership, now and forevermore. If you let Louis give… give his life for Audrey’s and my own, I will be by your side and under your rule until I take my lastbreath.”

38

Liam

“There isnothing we can do, love. He won.” I didn’t have the strength to look up from where I was sitting on the couch in the flat I’d shared with Louis, my head in my hands. Everything inside me was still numb. It’d been just over half an hour since my father’s men had escorted us here and taken up guard outside the building. Nothing’d been said, but I figured they’d be staying there until Louis wasdead.

Louis.A pang of raw pain made it through the numbness, but I viciously pressed it down. If I allowed myself to think his name, if I thought about what was going to happen, I’d never survive it. And I had to. Forher.

“Bullshit!” Audrey hissed. She’d been pacing back and forth in the living room like a caged lioness since we’d gotten home. “There has to be something, Liam. Therehasto be! We can’t just let him…” Her angry voice died down to a broken sob, and she collapsed onto the sofa next to me. “We can’t let him die. We justcan’t.”

I didn’t respond, because what was there to say? We haveto?

“Liam. Look at me.” Gently, she wrapped her hand around my arm, squeezing. “Look at me. Rightnow.”

Slowly I lifted my gaze to hers. Her beautiful eyes were red-rimmed and panicked, but there was also a fire in them that I knew no longer existed inmine.

“We cannot let him die. We won’t. You hear me? We’ll find away.”

“What way, Audrey? We won’t be able to leave the flat, we don’t even know where he’s taken him. We have no way of getting in touch with my brothers. And I have to protectyou.”

Her face twisted with renewed anger. “Protectme?No! This is bullshit, and we promised each other no bullshit. I’m not just going to sit here and let him die because I need to be protected from your world. I’ve had a gun aimed at my head, visited your brother in jail, and been chased through a cemetery by a hitman. Protecting me isn’t an option here. Not when his life is on theline!”

“I can’t lose you, too!” I hadn’t meant to shout, but it came out like a roar. “You’re all I have left! I can’t—Iwon’tlose you aswell!”

Audrey cupped my face. She looked into my eyes, and in hers, I saw my own sorrow mirrored. “You won’t. I promise you, I won’t let your father take me from you. But we’re going to get him back, Liam. Tell me you’re withme.”

I placed my hand atop hers, savoring the sensation of her palms against my skin. “I am with you always, my love,” I whispered, my voice breaking under the weight of too much emotion. “And if there was a way to save my twin without losing you, too, I would do it in a heartbeat. But if I get you killed, his sacrifice will meannothing.”

“You won’t.” Determination set in on her pretty features, and she stood back up to begin pacing once more. “Tell me about the…Smerts.”

I blinked. “The ??????s? They’re Russian assassins. They have no loyalty but to the person who pays them, and once you’ve been marked, they will end your life. There’s nothing anyone can do to stop them. If one fails, another will take his place until the job isdone.”

“How much do theycost?”

“Audrey, no. We do not get involved with them. Ever. They’re too dangerous. If something goes wrong, they will turn on you like it’s nothing. And they will kill every man, woman, and child in a family. Entire bloodlines have been erased from history because some foolish man who thought he could get rid of his enemies stiffed them on payment or insulted their honor.” I got to my feet, too, the mere thought of bringing the ?????? taint into my family—and hers—causing icy tendrils to creep up my spine. “You hire them once, they will always be a shadow hanging over your family name. For generations upongenerations.”

She turned to look at me, and I saw steel in her eyes. “Then we don’t insult them, and we pay them what we owe. I don’t give a shit about either of our families’ names, Liam. What I care about is saving your brother. And you. You think either of us will ever get over losing Louis like this? And what will happen once he’s gone and you’re supposed to come to heel by your father’s side? The man who murdered your twin? I ask you again—how much do these assassinscost?”

Slowly, I exhaled and I looked at the woman in front of me. She was undeniably still the same woman I’d been so attracted to the first time I saw her, with her lush curves and pretty face. Even the fire in her gaze I’d recognized that first time she’d let me in between her thighs, but it’d been nearly hidden—muted embers smothered by her upbringing and attempts to live by society’srules.

“You’ve changed, love,” I said softly, though I wasn’t able to keep the pride out of myvoice.

“I have,” she said. “I’m no longer scared of what people think of me, because it doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is whatIthink of me. You taught me that. You and your brother. AndIwould not be able to live with myself if I sat idly by while the man I love dies for me. And neither would you—I know thatmuch.”

Slowly, I nodded, because she was right. In the end, I would do anything for the people I loved the most. And that was her. AndLouis.

Even call down the ??????taint.

“You’re right. I’ll callthem.”

* * *

The Russian onmy doorstep was as tall as me and as wide as my brother Marcus. His icy blue eyes were devoid of emotion, and when they flicked to my side, I had to quell the urge to step to the left and shield Audrey from hissight.

“Mr. Steel,” he said, a hint of accent in his deep voice. “Mrs.Steel?”

“No, no, we’re not married.” Audrey sounded a bit flustered, but she quickly gathered herself. “Please. Comeinside.”

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