Page 69 of Captivated

Joe could tell by the tension in Liliana’s shoulders, and the way her fists were balled at her sides that she wasn’t comfortable with the man—whoever in the hell he was. Moving closer, at least enough to hear their conversation, Joe was careful about not drawing their attention to him.

“What do you want?” Liliana asked.

“Don’t be like that, Lilibet.”

Joe stiffened on the spot.

She hated that name.

Rich had called her that name, too.

Before Liliana could even respond, the man went on to say, “Rich misses you, that’s all. He knew I was going to be here tonight, and thought I could pass along a message.”

“Or did he send you, Trevor?” Liliana asked, venom coating her every word. “This isn’t exactly your scene, is it? You don’t have deep enough pockets to be on the guest list.”

“Ouch,” Trevor murmured, “shoot me right in the heart.”

“I might be more polite, except I’m not stupid. I know why you came.”

“He’d like to see you.”

“Nope,” Liliana said.

Joe didn’t miss the clenching of her jaw when she said that, or the way she swallowed hard, too. All signs of fear, even through her anger.

“You could—at the very least—see him for dinner, or something,” Trevor offered.

“Okay, that’s enough.” Liliana picked up the skirt of her dress, and turned to walk away from the man. “The least I could have done for him, Trevor, I did. It’s Rich who can’t say the same for me. Considering what he did—”

Before Liliana could even walk away, Trevor grabbed her by the back of her arm. A hard enough grip that even from ten feet away, Joe could plainly see the way the man’s fingers dug into her arm hard enough to redden her skin.

Joe’s anger burned hotter.

His rage spilled over.

For a second, he forgot what his purpose was being here at this event. He forgot that he wasn’t supposed to be noticed, or draw attention to himself.

He forgot … because the man put his hands on Liliana. Trevor touched her, and Joe blew his fucking top.

It certainly didn’t help to soothe Joe’s rage when Trevor yanked Liliana back, and caused her to stumble over her dress. It was her quiet cry of surprise that sent Joe ramming forward through the crowd.

It was amazing to him how easily—considering his size—that he could blend into a crowd. And then just as fast, how his size could fucking part it, too.

Liliana saw Joe coming first.

Widened eyes.

Confusion.

Concern.

All that stared back at him, but he wasn’t really paying attention. His gaze was laser focused on the foolish fucker with his fingers still wrapped too tightly around Liliana’s arm. He had exactly one-point-two seconds to let her go before Joe made him do it.

Trevor saw Joe, then, too. He didn’t recognize him if the expression on his face was any indication. Joe was going to consider that a win for the whole staying-under-the-radar thing.

That one-point-two seconds was up.

Joe’s fist reared back, and then slammed into the man’s face. All at once, several things happened. Trevor bled from the busted mouth he now sported—he’d be lucky if Joe hadn’t broken out his front teeth from the force of the punch—and Liliana fell from the man’s hold as he dropped to the ground to clutch his broken face.