AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“We are still dancing around the issue here, Liam. I’m still waiting for clarification on how my father got mixed up in this twisted, diabolical Dexter game.”
“I don’t know the details, T. This whole convoluted plan did not involve me, so they didn’t clue me in, but my guess is, your father stumbled onto a deep-seated family secret or something . . . something my father was not comfortable knowing that it was floating out there, so your father had to die.
“I don’t know for sure, Tony, but I one day overheard something that gave me pause. I wasn’t 100% sure what I heard, as I just caught snippets of conversation between my dad and Noah. I gathered enough information to know that your father was in danger, but I didn’t know what that danger entailed.
“I wanted to warn him . . . tell him to take his family and run as far away from here as possible, but each time I tried, I chickened out. I didn’t have enough information to compellingly convince a man with a family of six to uproot his life and go—where?
“How could he even afford it? I tried to warn him, Tony. On three occasions, I came so close but chickened out at the lastminute. I needed more information . . . I needed more time. Your father ran out of time while I waited for an opportune moment. That was my fault.
“Had I had the balls to just tell him . . . maybe he’d be alive today. I failed him, Tony. I failed you. You were the only thing that grounded me in that family, even then . . . but in the end, I failed you.”
“Ahhhh. The man in my father’s journal. That was you.Uuurrrgh.” I let out an anguished cry, a sound that would wake up the dead. “Oh, Liam, Oh, Liam . . .”
“It’s ok, Tony. I know it’s a lot to take in.”
His hand reaches toward me, tentative at first, hovering in the space between us until my own fingers twitch, involuntarily bridging the gap. His touch is light, a question asked without words, and my shoulders ease, dropping their tension as if to whisper an unspoken consent, whispered through body language.
Liam pulls me in close, and I tuck myself into his embrace—two pieces of a puzzle that should never fit together, yet here we are, clinging to the edges of a truth too heavy to bear; a past too dark and twisted to comprehend.
The living room feels like a sanctuary and a prison, all rolled in one, the fire crackling in the hearth casting long shadows over the furniture around us and us.
I have never felt this comfortable; this secure, in another man’s embrace as I do now, nestled in Liam’s arms, but a myriad of questions still linger.
We have fifteen years of ground to cover, and we have just scratched the surface. I need more . . . more revelations, moreclarity, more illumination. I sense the plush carpet under my feet, the antique clock ticking away time on the mantelpiece, and Liam’s maddening aftershave, but these are distant echoes of my swirling thoughts and overwhelming emotions. My attention is all on Liam—and the way his hand rests lightly on my back, the hesitant brush of his thumb against mine, and the unspoken connection weaving between us.
Concentrate, woman. Don’t let the warmth from the fireplace go to your head . . . or is it body heat?
"I still don’t understand, Liam. Where doyoufit into all this?" I ask, pulling away to look him in the eye. “You played a role in all this. I just don’t know how and why. Why did you go to prison for twelve years if Noah is the one who killed my Dad?
“Tony, I can’t tell you that . . . I can’t divulge any details.”
“Why.”
“I signed an NDA.”
“Fuck the NDA, Liam, talk to me. This is my father’s death we are talking about. Tell me.”
“Okay,” Liam concedes reluctantly,
“At the time all this was going down, Dad and Noah were steeped deep in talks of merging our family with the Knightleighs whom Dad was already doing business with. It was decided that Noah was to marry Beverly.
“The whole thing was more a business arrangement than a matrimonial union, one that had billions of dollars riding on it for Dad. Noah could not go to prison. . . He was a major company asset. I became the chosen one.
“It’s not as if they gave me a choice—but they sweetened the pot with six million dollars for every year I spent in prison. I agreed because I finally realized that I could break free from this maniacal family, maybe even change my name.
“Seventy-two million dollars is not much money if you want to maintain my kind of lifestyle here in America, but it is not exactly peanuts.
“Seventy-two million dollars in some countries with a low GDP and cost of living will take you very far.
They gave me the ultimatum, and it quickly dawned on me that this could be my ticket to freedom . . . I agreed to this madness, Tony, to break free.”
“Oh, Liam,” I say, quickly reclaiming that spot next to his side, a tear sliding down my face.
“I know . . . and now, I think they want to kill me too. I have stepped on my father’s toes, messing with his empire, and he has decided to put an end to it by putting an end to me.”
A person can only take so much pain. These last few months, it’s just been one pain after another, with no break. My dam has broken, and I let it flow. What’s the point of trying . . . who am I trying to impress by pretending to be this brave? I let the sobs wrack my body.
"Tony . . .” Liam’s voice is tender and kind, filled with emotion yet to be fulfilled.
