Page 180 of Creep

He shook his head. “She didn’t seem to be feeling anything.”

I thought I would have preferred it if she had been crying. Not reacting and keeping that shit inside wasn’t good. I patted Theo’s shoulder. “Thanks for taking care of my girl. I got it from here. You can go home.”

He nodded and headed toward the elevator without saying anything. I came up to the bedroom door, hesitating a bit. It wasn't like me to hesitate, but fuck if I knew what to do or say to make her feel better. I didn’t know the first thing about comforting anyone, much less someone I loved.

I turned the knob and pushed the door open. Lia was lying in the middle of the bed, staring up at the ceiling. She didn't seem to be thinking about anything, but I knew better. I kicked off my boots and climbed into the bed with her. She didn't react much when I pulled her into my arms. I sighed and pressed a small kiss on the top of her head.

We didn’t say anything for a while. I knew there were about a million things I could be doing right now, but they didn’t seem important. I just didn’t want Lia to get hurt anymore, yet it felt impossible.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“What’s there to talk about?” she asked softly. “Leo hired Victoria to keep an eye on me. I’ve told her so many things about my life, things I’m sure she had relayed back to Leo.” I felt her shaking her head. “I mean, it wasn’t like I had any deep, dark secrets, but I had told her things that I wouldn’t have told anyone else who wasn’t my friend, and now…” She trailed off. I tightened my arms around her a fraction.

“Victoria said something that got me thinking,” she continued. “She asked me why Leo was so obsessed with me. But is he?”

I had thought so. He wouldn’t have hired those men to keep an eye on her if that wasn’t the case. Though he hadn’t texted those men to get updates on her, nor had he texted me in a while as the hitman he hired to take out Luckas. It made me wonder if he had figured out something.

It didn’t fucking matter if he did. There wasn’t anything he could do at this point. I shook my head. There was one thing he could do. He and Luckas. They could go into hiding, which seemed to be that way since there hadn’t been any sightings of them since that day Lia went to her father’s house. And I didn’t fucking know where they were.

“I don’t know what to tell you. Not that I can blame the fucker for being obsessed with you. After all, I fell at first sight.”

She tilted her head back and scrunched her nose at me. Fucking adorable. “Please don’t compare yourself to Leo.”

I let out a light chuckle. “Fair enough.”

“I think it just hurts because I thought she genuinely cared about me. But it turned out to all be a lie.”

My fist clenched as anger squeezed at my heart from the hurt in her voice. “I can make her suffer.”

She shook her head. “No way. I don’t want you to do anything to Victoria.”

I didn’t respond. Fuck, but had she been anyone else, I would’ve killed her. But no matter what Lia said, I knew she still cared about the girl.

“Mael, I’m serious.”

“I’m not going to hurt her if that’s what you’re worried about.”

There were plenty of other ways to make a person suffer that didn’t include physical pain. It wasn’t my usual style, but I’d adjust. And I was nothing if not adaptable.

She opened her mouth as if to argue but closed it at the last moment. “No, I don’t want that. I just want to move on from this, okay?”

I let out a small sigh, not wanting to voice my frustration. It was the last thing she needed from me.

“Do you think my dad knows? He’s met Victoria. He always liked her, but I thought it was because he wanted me to be more like her.”

“Why the fuck would he want that?” I asked. Lia was perfect, and you just didn’t fucking mess with perfection.

She shot me a small appreciative smile as if she didn’t agree with my sentiment.

“She had everything figured out. Even when we were in school, she had this plan, and she followed through on it. Dad had wanted me to be the same. Only, it wasn’t my plan he wanted me to follow, but his. I refused. At this point, I’m not even sure why he was adamant about that when he didn’t care about me. And perhaps he liked Victoria, not because of who she is, but because Leo had hired her.” She made a small sound in the back of her throat. “I hate that I’m nitpicking at every little thing now, trying to separate the lies from the truth.”

“So don’t,” I said.

She pressed her hands down on my chest and pushed herself up a little to look at me fully. “What?”

“Don’t nitpick. Don’t overthink. Fuck ’em all. It's just you and me, and that should be all that matters.”

A small smile touched her lips. “Just you and me?”

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