Page 75 of Trouble

It was only when I pulled back to breathe some moments later that I noticed Louis watching us from the doorway, a look of dark regret clear on his so familiarfeatures.

When he saw me looking, he forced a smile and walked over to where they’d left our camping bags. “Ready to get stitched up, brother? Isaac left us with a lot todiscuss.”

36

Audrey

Istill feltqueasy from watching Louis stitch his twin up with the needle and thread they’d brought in the First Aid kit, but once the bleeding had stopped and Liam no longer looked like he was about to pass out, I did feel a lotbetter.

After dinner, he also no longer looked close to death like he had when he’d gotten out of the car. I’d been so terrified that he’d actually die onme.

I lifted the hand he still had wrapped around mine from while he was being sewn up and kissed his knuckles, grateful that we were all safe, at least for a little whilelonger.

The love in his eyes at my small gesture of affection made me smile, despite the severity of thesituation.

“You actually got Isaac to meet you?” Liam asked. He sounded impressed or surprised, I couldn’t quite tell which. Maybeboth.

“Your dad threatened him. If he’d allowed any of you in, or talked with you on the phone, he’d have killed Isaac’s girlfriend. Ellie.Gruesomely.”

“Ellie?” Liam’s face displayed clear surprise this time. “She’s his girlfriend? Yousure?”

I shrugged. “I mean, he didn’t call her that, but… I just assumed.Why?”

“She’s an old childhood friend of his and Jeremy’s. Used to come around back when mum was still alive. They stopped seeing each other right around when when Isaac turned eighteen,” Louis said. “Doesn’t matter, though—whatever the case, she’s safe, and Dad’s lost his hold over Isaac. So he spilled the beans on Dad’ssecrets.”

Liam arched both eyebrows at his twin. “Yeah? How bad isit?”

“He had Mum killed,” Louis said softly. “She was working with a cop to gather enough dirt on dad to take him down. So he murderedher.”

The expression of complete and utter grief that’d passed across Louis’ features when I’d first told him now mirrored on Liam’s face. He shook his head, his lips parting as if to speak, but no words cameout.

I squeezed his hand to offer him what comfort I could, like I had for Louis. “Isaac got a hold of the cop’s files without your dad knowing. He buried them in your mother’s grave. There might be enough evidence in there to threaten your father to back off on the… the assassins.” I wasn’t going to try to pronounce that foreign wordagain.

“But not enough to take him down, or that cop would have already done it,” Liam said, his voice raw with anger. “So we’re right back to where we started.Fuck!”

“Not necessarily.” I looked from him to Louis, my stomach tight from what I was about to suggest. “Isaac said Wesley is your dad’s right hand man. I assume that’s the Wesley we have tied upupstairs?”

Louis nodded, a small frown appearing between his brows. “What do you have inmind?”

“Does he have family? Someone he cares about?” I took a deep breath. “Someone he would consider betraying your father for to keepsafe?”

They both stared at me in complete silence, and with expressions so horrified you’d have thought I’d sproutedhorns.

“It’s the only logical option we have left, as far as I can see,” I said. “Do you have any other way of getting close enough to your dad to endit?”

“Do you know what you’re saying, love?” Liam asked, his voice soft. “What the outcome of your plan wouldbe?”

“He’d kill your dad,” I said, sounding much more certain than I felt. But this was the only outcome—or it was the only outcome that didn’t end with us dead, rather than the monster who’d tormented his family and forced us intohiding.

“That’s if things go according to plan. If they don’t… then we’ll have to start cutting slices off an innocent man whose only crime is loving the wrong guy. If Wesley refuses, we have to show him we’re serious,” Louis said. His voice was alsogentle.

“You both need to stop treating me like I’m this fragile china doll,” I said, simultaneously irritated and thankful for their obvious concern. “We need to make it out of this alive, and it’s time to stop being delicate about it. I might not have grown up in the mafia like you two, but what we need right now is a strategy. And that—that Icando. This is no different than a hostile business takeover.” Minus the need for actual murder and blackmail. “And as much as I don’t want to see an innocent man get hurt… I’d much rather risk a nameless person than one of us. Do you think your dad would have sparedme,had you not gotten me out of London before he could get to me? If you don’t step up and play the game as cunningly as he does, we’lllose.”

The twins were silent for a beat as they exchanged a long look, and I got the sense they were nonverbally communicating with one another. Finally, Liam looked at me, a small smirk lurking at the corner of his mouth. “You’re right. It’s a goodplan.”

“And to think we’ve tried to shield you from our world,” Louis continued. His lips were pulled up in a reflection of his twin’s smile. “You were bloody born for this, weren’tyou?”

“Our little mafia princess,” Liam said, his voice teasing—but there was also an undeniable measure ofrespect.

---