Page 63 of Southie
Roland is my idol, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to work with him, but if he did this, I won’t hesitate to fuck him up and put a bullet in his head.
She placed her palm against my chest. “Calm down. My father wouldn’t do something like that, Liam. No matter the problems we have, he’d never lay a hand on me.”
I nodded. That was good to hear. I would hate to have to kill him. She would never forgive me, but that was what I would do for her.
“Anyway, I convinced him you were asking about having photos done of you and your fiancée before your wedding.”
I laughed. “What the hell, Camilla?”
She joined in laughing at the lie she had constructed to keep our secret. “I know. I know, but it was the only thing I could quickly come up with to throw him off the trail.”
“Well, I guess we have a good back up story. It’ll help explain to your father why we’re spending so much time together.”
She nodded in agreement, but what I wanted to know was why she had a bruise on her wrist that wasn’t there before I left.
“Damian caught me in Daddy’s office again while I was packing. We exchanged words, and when I tried to leave, he grabbed me by my wrist and wouldn’t let me go.”
I’m going to kill him.
“Liam.”
I’m going to beat the shit out of him and kill him.
“Liam, I’m fine. You don’t need to kick his ass, okay?”
“I can’t guarantee that, Camilla. He should’ve never put his fucking hands on you. I don’t care how angry he is.”
“Liam, he’s not worth it. I had no intention of ever going out with him, and he’s used to getting his way with women. He’ll let go of the idea of us being together. What he did, you need to let that go, too.”
She was right. He wasn’t worth it, but it would be hard not putting my hands on him when I saw him. “All right. I’ll try my best not to beat his ass when I see him.”
Her laughter filled the space in my home.Our home.And I welcomed it. I missed her so much when she wasn’t around, but it was time to get down to the dirty details.
I raked my hand through my hair. “You ready?”
Her head shook. “No, but we have to.” She sucked in a deep breath and exhaled it. “I’ll start. First, I’d like to apologize for shutting down on you that day.”
She paused, trying to gather her thoughts.
“It’s time to be honest, Camilla.”
“I know. I shouldn’t have walked out on you because I wasn’t mad at what you do. Call me crazy or whatever. I was pissed you were going after my father, yes, but...” She rubbed her temples and I planted a kiss on her head to encourage her to keep going when she peeked up at me.
Many emotions shuffled through her eyes, but I’d remain silent so she’d tell me what she was thinking.
A deep sigh sounded, and her eyes dropped from mine. “I took it out on you, but I was mad at myself. There. I said it.”
“But why were you mad at yourself?” I asked, feigning ignorance.
Gerald had suspected her anger at me wasn’t about what I did because my involvement was saving my family and she knew that. Her anger stemmed from the fact that she still wanted to be with me despite what I did and for going after her father. At the time I’d dismissed the idea, but the longer we spent apart and picking apart our time together over in my mind, I believed Gerald. Camilla had felt the same things for me I felt for her. I hadn’t imagined our connection. Now that she had confessed it, I wasn’t as nervous about going into details about my job if she wanted to hear them.
“I was mad because I still wanted you… stillwantyou, regardless of you killing people and that you were going to kill my father. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like what you do, but my reaction scared me.”
I tightened my hold. “But you know what I do is out of necessity.”
“Yes. If I’d been put in the same predicament, I hope I’d have enough courage to protect my family.”
“I won’t lie to you. It’s hardened me some, but I’d never harm you, Camilla. I’m not a killer by choice.”
