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“Busy. You do recall we met on a whim.”
“Good point.” I rub my face. “This is all so messed up.”
“I’m sure it seems that way from your perspective. From where I’m standing, this is just another job.” He moves to the bedroom door. “You have an hour. We’re meeting your father at a cafe in the middle of downtown.”
“Where are you going?”
“To scout out the location and start hiring more muscle. We have the Crowley family backing us now, my pretty little wife. It’s time to start tearing this city to pieces.”
He leaves me standing alone in the bedroom. I cross my arms around myself, looking away. “Dramatic,” I mutter, but chew on my lip.
My emotions are still frayed and seeing my father won’t make anything better, but Liam’s right. We need to know the situation, and if there’s anyone involved in this city that might possibly be willing to help, Papa’s still our best shot. And even if he’s not interested, I suspect Liam can get what he wants out of him, and there’s a part of me that wants to see it happen.
“Now, to make this place look less like a haunted prison and more like a home,” I say with a sigh, and start on that list.
Chapter 13
Alisa
I keep jostling my knee on the car ride to the cafe.
Liam notices, but doesn’t say anything. If he cares that I’m nervous and afraid, he makes no outward sign of it. Not that I expected anything—the man’s about as emotionally in-tune as a ripe potato.
Still, this is my husband, at least for a while. I don’t know how long this thing with Rustik’s going to last—it would be a few days, or it could be a few years. Either way, I’m stuck with Liam, and it’d be nice if he could at least acknowledge my discomfort.
It’s probably better this way. He’d make some comment, some cocky innuendo, and it would only make things worse.
I rub my forehead, trying to get it under control. I shouldn’t start getting annoyed with Liam for something he hasn’t even done yet—I’m just on edge.
I don’t know what’s going to happen. Last I heard, my father wants me to return to Rustik—and if I don’t, he’s going to kill me with his own bare hands.
Maybe he said that in the heat of the moment, maybe he’s under some serious stress too, but threatening to murder his own daughter is too far, even for him.
Worst of all, I don’t know what I want from him.
I don’t know if I want him to beg me for forgiveness, or at least an apology, or maybe just an admission that he never should have married Liliya to Rustik in the first place, and never shouldn’t tried to do the same thing to me.
Only I doubt he regrets it. Papa’s many things, but he isn’t sentimental. I may be his favorite daughter, but I’m also his only daughter now, and I betrayed him. To my father, that’s worse than anything else.
“Let me take the lead,” Liam says as we’re dropped off in front of a modern-looking cafe called Beyond Downtown. The interior looks like a dozen other similar places all over the city: lots of wood, metal, and copper.
“Why am I even here again?” I look back at the car, tempted to get inside, but I’m being a coward. I wish I could tap into my anger, but instead I feel like a child all over again.
“To make your father uncomfortable enough to make a mistake.”
My eyes widen as he lingers on the threshold. “You’re joking, right? You brought me as a prop?”
“A very beautiful prop.” His eyes scan the room until he spots Papa sitting in the back corner at a table all alone.
My jaw tightens. Fucking Liam. I’m tempted to turn and walk out of here, but who knows what’s waiting for us outside. If Papa told Rustik about this meeting, there could be half-a-dozen Aslan soldiers waiting to ambush us.
Except as I walk over, I can see the fear in Papa’s eye, and I doubt he brought backup.
“Alisa,” he says with some minor relief in his tone. I didn’t expect that. “You disappeared, and I was afraid—”
“Ignore her,” Liam says, leaning forward to block my father’s view. Papa jerks back with surprise and some trepidation. “Pretend as though your daughter isn’t here. You’re dealing with me now.”
“But, Alisa, she’s safe?”
“She’s a Crowley wife now. She’s the safest woman in the world.”
Papa relaxes somewhat. Which surprises me—why would he care if I was safe? Didn’t he just get done threatening to kill me?
“When you two got on a plane and flew away, I was worried—” He stops and clears his throat.
“Worried what?” Liam prompts.
“Worried you might not come back.” Papa gives me a meaningful look.
“If you’re implying that I’d hurt my wife, you should rethink that position. That was your other daughter’s husband.”
