Page 104 of Stolen Rebel

“Rowan, you’ve been kidnapped, had the fucking scare of your life, and you’re exhausted. I’m only thinking of you.”

She shakes her head violently. “I’m coming. And if you ever want me to speak to you again, let alone get your dick touched in any way, shape, or form, you will not argue with me. Do I make myself clear?”

While she sobbed in my arms, for one horrible moment, I thought Erin had made a comeback. I’ve never been so happy to be wrong about something in my entire life.

“It could get bloody.”

“It better had. That man deserves to suffer.”

I flash a grin and smash a hard kiss to her lips. “Then let’s go and get some answers.”

Chapter 46

ROWAN

The warehouse smells like oil, rust, and something metallic that shouldn’t be there. Blood, probably, if the stains on the floor are anything to go by. It’s not the same as the one Liam took me to a few days ago. The one where he killed that man.

I fight a shudder as we step inside and pull my coat closer around me. Thank goodness Liam thought to bring me warm clothes and boots. The roller door screeches as it closes behind us, sealing the night out. The echo of metal on metal vibrates through my bones. Darragh stands near a steel table, sleeves already rolled up to his elbows. Liam walks beside me rather than ahead of me like I’d expected him to. It’s the smallest and most ridiculous thing to notice given the fact I‘m pretty sure I’m about to watch a man getting tortured, but something about how his warm body keeps pace with mine brings me comfort.

Brian is on display, tied to a chair in the center of the floor. Someone has patched up the cut to his neck with white gauze. His mouth curves when he sees me. The same smirk from the last five years. It’s as though he thinks he’s won something or got the upper hand on something I haven’t realized yet. I don’t fight the tremor that rolls through me, and I hope my face conveys just how repulsed by him I am.

“You never could stay away.”

The words slide over my skin like sandpaper.

Liam shifts beside me. Tension rolls off him in forceful waves. It’s coiled, his violence lingering below the surface, waiting for permission to unleash. The more this fucker talks, the more I’m inclined to encourage Liam’s violence to come out and have a field day.

“Stop looking at me like that.” My voice is quiet, shaky, and feels a little pathetic. My cheeks burn, but I don’t give Brian the satisfaction of taking my eyes off him.

“Like what?” He tips his head to the side, taunting smirk still in place.

“Like I’m going to shatter.”

Silence stretches between everyone in the warehouse. And to Liam’s credit—and Darragh and Jeff standing a few feet away—no one rushes me. In fact, no one even looks impatient.

It’s like this is their entire purpose for the here and now. No one’s got anywhere else to be. Something about that makes my spine straighten a little.

I step forward on my own. Up close, Brian looks older, weaker, not as untouchable as he thought he was when he dragged me out of my life and locked me into his.

“You stole five years.” My voice is still quiet and shaky, but something hot and fierce surges through my blood. I resist the urge to look at Liam, for stability, comfort, or strength. This is something I need to face by myself.

His jaw flexes. “I saved you.” He sounds bored as he rolls his eyes.

A laugh bubbles out of me before I can stop it. It doesn’t sound like me, and yet, it feels like the me I’m maybe supposed to be. The me I would have been were it not for him stealing a massive chunk of my life.

“Saved me?” I glance back at Liam, who’s watching with intense fury burning in his eyes as he tongues the inside of his scarred cheek. “He thinks he saved me, mo rún.”

Take that, Brian you fucker. We’ve picked up right where we left off. Your plan didn’t work. Our love defies the fucking ages, arsehole.

Brian’s eyes flicker between us, always assessing. A slow, almost pitying smile spreads across his face. “Look at her, Liam.”

My stomach drops.

“I gave her five years of peace. Of safety.” Brian’s gaze drags over me. “Erin never would have stepped into a place like this.”

Liam goes still beside me, tension holding every one of his muscles hostage.

“But two weeks back with you?” Brian huffs a broken laugh. “And she’s standing in a warehouse, where you’ve carved men apart if these blood stains are any indication.” His eyes snap to mine. “I didn’t just hide you.” His voice sharpens, laced with glee and superiority. “I proved that he’s the poison. Until he came along, you were a good girl. And now look at where you are. You were wasting yourself with him, Erin. You never did belong in his world.”