Page 66 of Montana Silence

When my breath calmed enough to hiccup and allow me a little extra air, I wrapped my arms around his neck and held him tighter. “I’m sorry.”

“Why?”

“It was such a nice night.”

His lips warmed my temple. “It’s still a nice night.”

“Even with this?”

“Even with this. Do you look back on dinner and think it was terrible now?”

I shook my head slowly.

“Dinner was amazing,” he said. “And getting to be there for you—hold you—when you need me to is no hardship.”

I clung to him a little harder.

“Tomorrow,” he said. “We’ll tell Daniel, Jude, and your lawyer about the box. Okay? They’ll find what they can, and hopefully it’s enough to prove he intimidated you and keep him in jail.”

Gently, he pulled me in and kissed me. “Let’s get what you need. I want to take you home and hold you where you can relax and sleep.”

That sounded nice.

It took me a few minutes before I could make myself let him go and stand. But Liam was with me every step of the way, just like he promised he would be.

Chapter20

Liam

I hitthe punching bag as hard as I could, letting loose every ounce of anger, frustration, and fear inside.

Mara was with Lena, and Jude was at the bakery as well. He’d seen the look on my face after we met with him and Daniel and had sent me here.

He was right.

Last night, I didn’t lie. Malcolm didn’t scare me, and I was fully in this with Mara. I wasn’t going anywhere. But that didn’t mean seeing and feeling Mara cry like the world was ending didn’t piss me the fuck off.

She’d done nothing wrong, and she was paying the price over and over again.

There were no new leads as of this morning, but they were digging deeper. Trying to see if the Phoenix Police had identified any suspects in my attack. Mara’s lawyer knew and was going to submit the photos we took of the box, flowers, fabric, and note to the court.

The look on Novic’s face when he’d seen me…

It still unsettled me.

I only spent ten minutes in the same room, and he gave me the creeps. Madness lived in that man’s eyes, plain for anyone to see.

The door opened, and Lucas walked in. I kept pounding the bag in front of me. He wasn’t dressed to work out, so he was here for me. And he could talk to me. I wasn’t sure I was in the mood to answer.

This dark, bleak feeling had to stay in the gym. Before I left here, I needed to be clear. Mara wasn’t going to feel any of this from me. She had enough going on in her head, and I was determined not to add to it.

The whisper of fear underneath those thoughts rose, and I shoved it away. Breathed it out. Mara wasn’t going to abandon me because I was scared for her. I knew it, but the terror of it had a grip on my lungs so tight I couldn’t shake it.

Lucas leaned against the nearby support pole and watched as I beat the bag into submission. If the bag happened to have Malcolm’s face, and the masked faces of my attackers, then so be it.

“You okay?”

I glanced at him. “Why wouldn’t I be okay?”

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