Page 106 of Waiting For A Girl Like You
“Where’s Emily?”
“Ah, but where is our Emily?” he purred. “Emily’s a good girl. Beautiful, but not like you and Claudia. No, with you two, your beauty runs hot and can burn a man alive. Am I right, Liam?”
Remaining utterly still, Liam didn’t acknowledge the question, too intent on listening.
“Emily’s beauty is cold,” Michael went on. “Lethal. An ice queen with a frozen heart.”
Holden chose that moment to enter the closet, the three of them cringing when Evie shouted his name and demanded to know what was happening.
“What the hell is going on?” Evie yelled, and as the door to the closet started to close again, Jamison shook her head, trying to communicate to her sister to stay out. “Oh, hell no. You guys better tell me what you’re doing in there.”
With the door closed once more, Holden held up a sticky note that had one word written on it.
Arkansas.
Goosebumps prickled along Jamison’s arms. Rowan was making progress.
Liam caught her gaze. She had to keep going.
“What are you doing with Emily?”
“Me? Nothing,” Michael replied. “She’s not mine.”
“Yours?” Her stomach turned. “What the hell does that mean?”
A faint sound echoed through the phone. It was a bird crooning or cawing or making whatever the hell noise birds make. Liam heard it, as did Holden, who leaned in.
“Emily belongs to Emmett. You remember him, right?”
The bird called out again, louder and longer than before, but Jamison was too disgusted over the thought of Emmett Watson touching her cousin to pay attention. “You son of a bitch.”
“It was love at first sight and—” Michael paused. “What is it, Madison?”
Madison's cries could be heard through the speaker. “I fell down on the rocks.”
“Come here, sweetie.” Fabric rustled against the phone. “It’s just a scratch. Let’s go back to the house and get it fixed up, okay?”
“Okay,” Madison whimpered. “I want my mommy.”
Madison’s plea for her mother had Liam yanking the phone close to him. “If you touch them, if you hurt them, I swear I’ll put a bullet in your head.”
“There he is,” Michael said. “Remember, you’ve got to catch me first, Cohen.”
“Catch you? By the time I’m done, you’ll be crawling to me.” Taking the phone from her completely, Liam seethed in his rage, letting theweeks of exhaustion out in a string of venomous threats. “You love your family, and if any of our people are hurt, I’m going to make them pay for your crimes. Those grandparents in assisted living? Consider them homeless. Mom and Dad and their insurance firm? Consider them bankrupt. The baby brother? I hear he’s doing well in both his professional and personal life. New wife, new house, new baby. Consider them gone, gone, gone.”
“Empty threats.”
“Where’s your sister, Sinclair? Do you know? Have you learned her fate?” Liam snarled. “No? Well, let me tell you. When she was arrested, it was on the Florida border, and we dragged her across the state line into Alabama so local officials could handle the initial arrest. Do you know what that means? It means she’s eligible for Wetumpka. Wetumpka, Sinclair. I know you know what that is. Oh, and your nephew? When we find him, that little boy is on the line to be sent to Holman. You’ve sentenced them to the worst prisons in the country, you piece of shit.”
There was a pause on Michael’s side. “You don’t want to back me into a corner.”
“I already did, so what will it be now? Send more murderous lackeys to the house to kill us—”
“You think that’s the worst I can do?” Michael snapped. “That was just a preview.”
Liam laughed, and Jamison’s heart stuttered. She’d never seen him like this. Never. Not even when he confronted her at the townhouse.
“You know, you’re quite the adversary, Sinclair. I’ll give you that. Being a coward, you’ve learned how to hide and do it well, but I think my time hunting you has ended,” Liam said loud and clear into the phone. “And since I can’t have you, I’m going for the next best thing. Your family. From here on out, all the effort and money we’re investing in a manhunt for you will be redirected to them. Every fucking move I make will be to drag them down.”
