Page 184 of Push

Liam paused, the glass hovering at his lips. “She’s been here.”

“Pardon.”

Liam’s smirk curled around the rim of the glass. “Very little business is done in an office.”

“Are you kidding me?” I was already launching out of the seat and across the table. “You made mywifecome here?” I’d latchedroughly on the collar of his white shirt when unknown hands yanked me back and shoved me down on the chair.

Liam didn’t blink. He didn’t even move. “No touching.” His expression remained blank as I shrugged off his goons. “My…friends…don’t like it.”

“You wish you had friends,” I grumbled, straightening my shirt and avoiding looking anywhere but at him. “If Gwen’s been here before, why couldn’t she come?”

Liam lifted his drink, jiggling the glass, amber liquid sloshing up the sides. “Our darling mother was an alcoholic. Gwen can’t see me. Not…not like…this.”

My gaze dropped to the table.Oh. That was strangely thoughtful. Was that why he hid upstairs at Cat’s, too? “Maybe you should drink less.” I shrugged. It seemed like a simple solution.

“We all have our coping mechanisms, Dr. Sullivan. I drink. Eli hides in his spreadsheets. You make jokes and play the fool. Sometimes, you seek validation from a woman other than your wife.” He smiled. “Just like your daddy.”

My jaw clenched so tight I could feel the tension pull down my neck. He was lucky those guys were behind me. I wanted to plant my fist in his face. I’d made terrible decisions, but I was nothing like my father.

“Do you like this place?” Liam asked, leaning back, waiting for my response. He didn’t get one. I just glared at him. “No? I think there’s a certain charm to it. An air of macabre capitalist desperation. Do you think that’s why your daddy bought it?”

My mouth dropped open. “Thisplace?” I thought my father owned hotels, apartments, and stocks…and… Well, I didn’t know much about his business. My eyes widened. Did my mother know about this? Or did she ignore it like she did his affairs?

“You seem surprised. You shouldn’t be. Your daddy was a very bad man.” Liam tipped back the rest of his drink and then waved like he was signaling for another. “But despite his many flaws, he was a wonderful teacher. Violence is always more satisfying, but I learned early on from watching him that true power comes from knowing how to manipulate people…use them…flatter them to get what I want.”

My mind already overloaded, I rubbed sweaty palms down the legs of my trousers. “Did you work for him?”

Liam shook his head. “We had a mutual acquaintance of sorts.” He smiled. “Marcello Morelli.”

My eyebrows shot up. That was a name I knew. “Thedrugs guy?” That was the case Gwen had been working on before she got fired. She’d talked about it with the cop at the police station. Missing witnesses. Missing evidence. Nothing but a big mess.

“Signor Morelli is more than adrugs guy, sweetheart,” Liam said. “He’s the head of a very powerful family. A verydangerousfamily.”

“The mafia. Yeah, duh.” I rolled my eyes, but then the rest of what Liam said hit me. “Wait…wait.” I held up my palm. “Myfatherwas involved with those guys?”

Liam nodded, amusement twitching the corner of his lips.

“And you’re involved with those guys?”

“No.”

“But you said—”

“I run a hedge fund, sweetheart. I can’t very well be a criminal, can I? That pesky regulator would revoke my trading license.” He smiled sweetly. “Your daddy, however, was a kingmaker in Morelli’s operations. He had enviable skills at laundering drug money. Too bad Morelli started doubting his loyalty, and, well, you know what happened to your daddy after that…” His smile was chilling when he sliced his finger across his throat.

I blinked at him. Was he suggesting my fatherdidn’tdie of a heart attack? That he wasmurdered?I gulped. “Wh-what did he do to get them offside?” I had to be wrong. There was no investigation. No cops. He just…died. I was overcomplicating it. Ihadto be.

“The story I heard was that about three years ago, your daddy made a very large sum of money disappear so well that no one could find it. Not even him. Profits from fifteen kilos of cocaine went poof. Do you know the street value of that much coke?” Liam’s pale eyebrow arched, but I shook my head. As if I had any clue. “About six million, give or take. Gone. In the end, he supposedly covered the loss out of his own pocket, but Morelli took it personally.”

“If you have no connections to them, how do you know all this?”

A slow smile crept across Liam’s face. “Your daddy told me. That’s how desperate he was in the end. He came to me. I’d waited thirteen years for him to beg me for my help… After what he’d done…” Closing his eyes, he sighed. “Thatwasa good day.”

I took a deep breath, but my words still came out uncertain. “And wh–what did he do to makeyouhate him s–so much?” My gaze locked on the hands I couldn’t stop rubbing on my knees. I wasn’t sure I was ready to hear his answer.

“Ah, storytime!” Liam clapped his hands, and he leaned closer, his voice lowering. “When I was seventeen, I decided honest jobs no longer held much interest for me. I had a clever little sister languishing on government handouts and whatever pitiful amount our father flung our way when he could be bothered. I much preferred working here. Jobs for important men paid very well indeed.”

“Wha-what kind of jobs?”

---