Page 62 of The Savior

“Shit,” he offered. “Sorry.”

She eased onto the couch and laid a hand on his forearm. “Are you okay?”

Why did she ask that? “Juliadiedbecause of me.”

Chelsea bit her lip, studying.

“Why aren’t you yelling?” he demanded. “Cursing—or whatever it is that you do.”

She rubbed his forearm as if to promise one day he wouldn’t hurt. It made him angrier. Liam snagged his arm away.

“I’m so sorry,” she said.

“What? Stop that,” he snapped. “Why the hell—”

“Neither of you deserves that—”

“No shit. But I’m to blame!”

Chelsea wrapped her arm around his shoulders, holding tight when he yanked back. Her other arm locked around his chest. He couldn’t breathe. Heshouldn’tbreathe. If someone had to die because of Red Gold, he should have been the one.

His molars gnashed. He’d come to Chelsea to ask for help, to tell her the truth, not for her to comfort and console him.

She let him go, and Liam hated how cold the room grew without her close as much as he hated her pity. “I’m not here to feel better.”

She held his gaze. “Consider it an added bonus.”

“Chelsea,I caused her death. What don’t you understand?”

“You’ll never be able to move forward until you realize you aren’t to blame.”

Who said he wanted to? Liam didn’t know right from wrong, up from down. He sure as hell didn’t know what moving forward even meant. But he knew Chelsea wanted him to feel better. “Fine. I’m not to blame.”

Chelsea’s pink lips thinned into a stubborn line. “I was trying to help.”

They’d spiraled away from the point, and he had to focus. Otherwise, who knew where they would end up.Like her bed.Shit, what was wrong with him? He cleared his throat. “I’m worried about Linda and Frank.”

Her eyes flashed. “Wait—are they in danger?”

“I think so, yeah.” He couldn’t lie as worry clouded her face, and admitted, “Yes, they are.”

“What are you doing about it?” she asked incredulously.

“Talking to you.”

Chelsea’s brow pinched. “Liam—”

“This is a thousand layers of complicated and classified.”

“So?”

“I have orders.”

“To what?”

“To stand down.”

Her jaw fell. “Why?”

Her reaction mirrored his initial one. “If I said, I think you’d be in danger.”

“That’shorseshit,” she snapped.

Liam froze.

“Don’t look at me like that. Tell me why.”

Chelsea could curse. That was a level of pissed he didn’t know existed, but her rage didn’t change the situation. “There’s a level of government interest and involvement that I can’t understand. The kind where if you know too much, if I share too much, if we get caught doing what I’m about to ask you to do, we’ll end up in some unmarked dungeon at a nonexistent black site.”

“Liam,” she finally whispered, “what have you gotten yourself into?”

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