Page 101 of Liam
The grimace on Violet’s face turned into a laugh that sounded all wrong. “You gonna shoot me, Nylah?”
“I should. You deserve to die for everything you’ve done.”
“No. I’m rising up, from victim to savior. I should berewardedfor my strength and courage. Those men are abominations who shouldn’t be alive! You don’t see the threat they pose and the damage they could cause if they choose to, because they haven’t turned on you yet.”
“That’s the key, though. If theychoose. But these men have something Carter didn’t—integrity. Something your own father recognized after working with them. They would never hurt good people. Theysavepeople.”
“Until they choose differently.”
At a small sound from the entrance, Nylah’s focus shifted only for a second, but it was enough for Violet to flip them and smash Nylah’s wrist to the floor with one hand while grabbing the gun with the other.
Suddenly, she was dragged to her feet by her hair, and the pistol was held to her head this time.
Liam stood in the doorway, radiating fury and danger as he aimed his Glock at her and Violet.
CHAPTER29
Liam’s feet pounded the pavement. The second he’d stepped inside The Grind to see Nylah wasn’t there, the blood in his veins had iced. A man lay unconscious on the floor, possibly the man in Nylah’s sketch, but he’d been beaten too bloody for Liam to be sure.
Cody knelt on the floor, trying to save Eleanor from an obvious gunshot wound. Liam had barely taken in the scene when Cody yelled at him to find Nylah.
The second her text came through, his heart damn near stopped in his chest. She was hiding from a woman trying to kill her…and he wasn’t there to protect her.
When he finally reached the museum, he stepped inside to find Ned on the floor, bullet wound to his gut.
Fuck.
He stepped closer, hearing the man’s faint heartbeat. He pulled out his phone and dialed nine-one-one, speaking quietly and quickly to the operator. “I need an ambulance at the Cradle Mountain Museum. Man with a GSW to the abdomen.”
He hung up before they could respond. Then he stopped and listened. When he heard movement in one of the farthest galleries, he took off toward it, only stopping when he reached the train room. What he saw made anger rush through his veins like wildfire.
Nylah, held against Violet’s front, gun to her head.
“What the fuck are you doing alive?” Violet cursed. “We blew you up!”
The two women were the same height and similar in size, so he could barely see Violet. He couldn’t take the risk of shooting.
Instead, Liam took a small, measured step forward. “We found the online hate group you’ve been recruiting from. The assholes gave us a two-minute warning before the bomb detonated. That was all we needed. Everyone’s alive.”
“No.” Disbelief coated that single word, and Violet visibly pushed the muzzle of the gun harder against Nylah’s skull, causing her to cringe. “That can’t be true. I need everyone like you dead! Just like Carter!”
“Carter?”
“From Project Arma,” Nylah said through gritted teeth. “They were together.”
The muscles in Liam’s body tightened.
“He was amonster,” Violet growled. “And he showed me exactly how immoral you are. The danger in any man possessing so much strength and speed and power.”
The man was a fucking animal. But that didn’t mean they all were. “Violet—”
“You’ve decimated every opponent with ease. That’s proof enough!” She took a step back, forcing Nylah to move with her. “There’s only so much time before all that power goes to your heads. And just imagine if you collectively decide you want to kill innocent people. Seize control of our government.”
“That wouldn’t happen,” Liam said quietly, slowly closing the distance.
“Itcould!”
Footsteps sounded from the entrance. Paramedics?
