AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Aidan
Theentirerugand the air above it erupts into flames.
Liam must’ve poured gasoline all over it before I showed up. I recoil from the inferno, and Liam does the same, but in the opposite direction, toward the door. He disappears into the hallway. There’s no time to chase after him with the fire blazing, eating at the rug inching closer to Grace.
Smoke thickens the air. I rise, pushing through the pain in my ribs, and make my way over to Grace. She’s jumped on the bed, but that’s about as far as she can go while trapped in the cuffs. I tuck the gun into my waistband and disengage the metal hook.
“It’s going to be okay.” I guide her off the bed and over to the window.
As she works to peel the tape off her mouth, I open the window and kick out the screen. We’re two stories up, but I’m hoping I can drop her close enough to the ground that she won’t be hurt badly.
“I’m going to lower you down,” I tell her.
She coughs into her arm. “What about you?”
“I’ll jump down after.”
She glances down at the ground, her gaze uncertain. She nods. I wish I could get the cuffs off her first, but my bolt cutters are in a drawer in a dresser on the other side of the fire. I help her onto the windowsill.
“I’ve got you, Grace.” I kiss her hard and fast and then grasp her forearms tightly, easing her down the side of the house. The fire burns hot against my back. She glances at the ground, her fingers grappling for a hold on my wrists.
“Grace, look at me,” I tell her. “Just keep looking at me.”
My ribs ache as I lean against the windowsill. I struggle to keep my feet on the floor while stretching my arms and upper body out the window.
Grace’s eyes go wide. “Aidan, look out—”
Pain explodes at the back of my head like a bomb. Disoriented, I feel Grace slip from my fingers. She screams. Her voice sounds distant, like she’s at the far end of a tunnel. I stumble backward into the bedroom.
“Where do you think you’re going, Dad?” Liam shouts.
The air is dense with smoke, but I can see that he’s holding one of my bamboo canes—as well as the gun. He must’ve grabbed it from my waistband.
He aims it at my chest. The rage I’ve been holding back detonates, granting me strength.
I tackle his waist, driving him onto the bed, just as the gun goes off.
Pain bursts across my thigh. I clench my jaw and force myself to fight through it.
“Give me the fucking gun,” I yell, “or neither of us is making it out of here.”
Flames lick the bottom edge of the mattress. I struggle to pry the gun from Liam’s hand while keeping it aimed away from me. He knees me in the stomach, striking my ribs hard enough to make me nauseous. I let him roll us toward the headboard, away from the encroaching flames, keeping my focus on the location of the gun.
He bares his pink teeth at me, looking like some kind of demon.
“I don’t care if I burn alive,” he rasps, “as long as you burn with me.”
The pure, undiluted hate in his gaze is sharp enough to pierce through the thickening smoke. He may have come here under the impression that this was about his inheritance, but beneath the petty bitterness, is a drive stronger and more sinister than greed.
Liam is out for revenge. One of us has to die tonight if the other hopes to live.
And I’m not willing to die for him. Not while there’s a girl out there who needs me.
As long as Liam is breathing, Grace will always be in danger, because he won’t be satisfied until he’s destroyed everything I love. I’m still Grace’s guardian, her protector, her lover, and her Dom. I need her as much as she needs me, and I’m not willing to sacrifice her safety or her happiness to vindicate the twisted fuck I thought was my son.
Mustering all of my remaining strength, I heave Liam off the side of the bed—
The gun goes off.
