Page 91 of Beautiful Liar

There was fucked. And there wasfucked.I wasfucked.

After Kieran left, I couldn’t stay in that room, and I hadn’t seen the fucker at my back until it was too late. I’d been tagged and bagged, like cattle to the slaughter.

They didn’t remove the bag until I entered a dark room where they left me until Liam came for me. Liam glared at Jacob. Unlike Maddox and Tristan, Liam wasn’t imposing. He stood about six feet, lean with a swimmer’s build. He had a tussle of blond hair and his eyes touched more bluer than green. He looked almost delicate. “You were supposed to be gentle,” Liam said, eyeing my wounds.

“He’s still breathing,” Jacob said.

Jacob, too, wasn’t as built like Maddox. But the fucker was solid. Brown eyes, tanned skin, brown hair, he looked like he could’ve once run with street gangs before running with the upper echelon. There was a certain rawness to him. He reminded me of Daniel.

Liam shook his head. “Bring him.”

With that, I was shoved onto my feet and pushed into an office with Kieran and Tristan.

I’d met Tristan Brennan once, after Cillian kidnapped me and Maddox had taken me to his penthouse. I hadn’t really paid attention to the older Brennan, the one Maddox chose over me, at least until now. The guy looked like how I imagined Kieran to look twenty years from now.

“Thank you for joining us,” Tristan said.

“Not like I had a choice,” I shot back.

“No. And it’s a good first lesson for you. When I call, you answer. It isn’t a choice.”

I glared at him and dragged that glare to his carbon copywho looked like he wanted to shut me up too. The shocked look on Kieran’s face made me feel better. He hadn’t betrayed me. He’d never betray me.

“We were just having a conversation we want you to clear up,” Tristan said in way of explanation.

“I don’t know,” I said. The smart ass that I was could never shut up. “My fucking face hurts. I think things got rattled inside a bit. May not be able to help there.”

Anger flashed in Kieran’s eyes.Shut the fuck up.

The thing of it was, I was never really smart. My boyfriend should’ve known that.

Jacob snorted. “I can rattle it some more if you’d like.”

“Big and bad when I’m tied up,asshole.”

Jacob started to move but Tristan held him back with a hand. “Sorry about that. Jacob was supposed to go gentle.”

I couldn’t help but to feel prickly that this was the family Maddox chose over me. His brothers. Not mine. That wedge in my throat made an appearance and I swallowed the shit down.

“Not sure what you expected when you kidnap people.”

“Nothing less,” Tristan said, amused. I did think about punching that amusement off his face, though. My face did hurt. “I recently learned of you and Maddox’s blood relation. I am sorry about what life tossed your way, kid. Maddox is a good man.”

I snorted. “Sorry if I’m a bit prickly on the topic. Being his fucking whipping boy and all. He’d kill this half of the family for you all, so don’t fucking tell me he’s a good man. I hope Alessandro broke his fucking heart, if he even has one. If he even cared about what the fucker did to me.” Yes, I rambled on. But I stopped there, clamped my mouth shut when Tristan narrowed his eyes and shifted uncomfortably.

“What the fuck did Alessandro do toyou?”

For the first time since I got here, I read the room.Maddox was missing. Dr. Casera had given Maddox the video and Maddox wasn’t there.

“Casera gave Maddox the video and Maddox is missing,” Kieran echoed my thoughts.

“You didn’t—”tell him?

“It’s not my place to tell anyone anything,” Kieran responded.

God, I loved the guy and he was mine.Mine.

It didn’t hurt any less telling the story again. But it started to feel as if it happened to someone else. I told Tristan about my mom selling me. About Alessandro protecting me at first. Then what happened when Maddox had agreed to marry Dr. Casera. I even added the bit about Lina.

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