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She grips my hands and gives a gentle squeeze, and I let out a breath, knowing all too well what would have happened if she had stood against the Empire's wishes. She made the most of a fucked-up situation. I should be grateful for how she raised me. She really did offer me a safe and loving home.
Pulling my hand free, I wipe my eyes on the back of my hand, feeling as though I’m going to break. “You should have told me,” I whisper. “How could you let me go back to Faders Bay when all of that was waiting for me?”
“You have no idea how many times I wished to tell you everything,” she says, tears brimming in her familiar eyes. “But surely you must know that if I had known what was waiting for you there, I never would have let you go. Please, sweetheart. You must know that I would never intentionally let you walk into danger like that.”
I nod and let out a breath, having no reason to doubt her. You know, apart from my entire childhood being a lie, she’s always had my back. She was the one to hold me after my first heartbreak and teach me how to use a tampon. We may not share the same blood, but she’s still my only family . . . and after learning who my father really is, I can honestly say that Aunt Liv is the only real family I have.
“You’re right. I’m sorry,” I say, dropping to collect all the things from her spilled handbag as Liv hastily stoops down with me, trying to grab everything. “I’ve been questioning everything. The people I thought I could trust turned out to be the ones I needed to fear the most, and I feel so lost. I don’t know where to—”
I stop, my gaze shifting down as my hand closes around a familiar card—the black Empire calling card. The same one the assassins use before a hit.
My brows furrow, and I glance up at Liv. “Why . . . Why do you have this?”
Panic flares in her eyes, and I watch as she tries to come up with a good explanation for this. “I . . . I found it on the door as I came in. I thought maybe it was for me, but when I realized you were here . . .”
She lets her thoughts trail off, and I shake my head, not liking the hesitation in her eyes. There’s no pin hole, nothing sticky on the back, no evidence at all that it had been stuck anywhere. In fact, this one looks new. “You’re lying,” I challenge, keeping my gaze locked on hers as I stand. “It wasn’t on the door, Liv.”
I swallow hard, nervousness pounding through my veins as I hope to God that this isn’t what I think it is, that she wasn’t coming to deliver that herself.
Liv straightens and holds my stare, unease flashing in her eyes. “You can trust me, Oakley,” she says, hesitation in her tone as she creeps toward me. “I wouldn’t hurt you.”
“You had Empire’s calling card,” I say, inching away from her, my heart pounding.
“I . . . I told you. It was on the door. You’re not safe here. I was coming to tell you.”
I shake my head, not believing her for one second. After all, she’s always been one of them, always at their beck and call. When they told her to look after an orphaned child for thirteen long years, she was their yes-man, jumping right into action. Her loyalty is to them, not me—just like the boys.
“No,” I say, backing up faster, watching as her hand slips behind her, the same way Zade’s used to whenever he was reaching for his gun. “I don’t believe you.”
“Oakley,” she warns, watching me like a target and slowly stalking me down the hallway. “Don’t do anything stupid. I’m here to help you.”
“How did you know I was here?” I ask, my voice wavering as my hands begin to shake.
Liv doesn’t respond, and I watch as her hand begins to move out from behind her back. My gaze drops, waiting to see what’s going to happen, hoping I’m just being paranoid, but the second her lips twist into a wicked smirk, I know I need to get out of here.
Liv’s other hand lifts to her ear, and she presses something as she holds my stare. “I’ve been made,” she says into some kind of earpiece. “GO. GO. GO.”
Fuck.
My eyes widen, horror blasting through my chest, and I barely get a chance to turn on my heel and run before she aims her gun at my back. I race down the hall, my feet pounding against the old floorboards as terror and betrayal cripple me.
BANG!
“Shit,” I scream, feeling the whiz of the bullet as it sails straight past my head. I grip my door frame, using it to propel myself into my room faster, and I hastily grab the door and slam it behind me, quickly locking it and moving away in case she shoots right through it.
