Page 136 of Fighting With Light
After that I look behind each picture on the wall. One of the safes is behind the picture, but I know it’s not an option.
As I set the picture exactly back where it was I hear a thump and freeze. Then it’s quiet again, it wouldn’t surprise me if one of my brothers, likely Alfie, has a woman over.
Feeling safe enough to keep looking, I check under the couch against the wall and the seats that sit in front of the desk—still nothing. The last place to look isthe desk. He’s got to have something there. I start on the right and check all the drawers, which have mostly junk, some handcuffs, pens, blank paper, and loose bullets scattered throughout.
Next is the center drawer. I pull it out slowly and it creaks. I freeze and listen; maybe it wasn’t as loud as I thought it was. There was a notepad and some pens sitting in here, but that’s it. I pull those out and then skim my hand over every inch of the drawer. My finger catches on a little dip in the wood with a small hole only big enough to fit your finger in it.
I curl my finger gingerly, lifting the corner, hoping it’s not broken and there is something to find. I wiggle it a little, and the bottom pops out.
Using my iPad to give me more light, I shine it on a stack of five papers and a few large blown-up photographs. There’s even some tape that looks like fingerprints were lifted from something. That’s…interesting.
Carefully pulling the papers out of the drawer I read what’s on them and almost drop the iPad.I found it.
49
Liam
After watching Aelia driveaway, a nasty feeling came over me. I should have known this would not be as simple as she seemed to think.
Every part of my being screamed not to let her go. I didn’t want her to go, she needed to stay with me, where she’s safer. But I had to. She would have gone whether I wanted her to or not.
After I called the family, Emerson brought Ben so he and Aelia could drive to Las Vegas.
It’s been twelve hours since then, and I haven’t heard a peep from her. All I know is she got to Boston and got in the car with her brother because I hacked the airport cameras. Her father’s property doesn’t have surveillance, they don’t even have a hardline computer. They have Wi-Fi that they turn off and on as needed. There is no way for me to hack into anything to see if she’s okay and I hate it. I tried to use Aelia’s phone as a means to get in, but I couldn’t pick up the signal which could mean a few things, it died, it was taken, or maybe she broke it. I’m more willing to bet that it was taken. She wouldn’t have left me hanging. God only knows what she was walking into because Marco Costa is an unpredictable bastard.
The longer the minutes tick by, the more nervous I get.
“Dude, you have got to chill out. I’m sure she’s fine,” Kai says, leaning back on the sofa. Our family home is large, but not overly ostentatious. The living room has floor-to-ceiling windows that look out across the pool, with the pool house that sits in the back. Behind all of that is the sprawling mountain range where we did a lot of survival training. I pace the living room looking at the mountains, hoping, praying that she is okay.
The basement is where we take ourspecialguests, and we don’t have anyone down there right now for me to take my anxiety out on. It’s quiet, too quiet.
Mom called the chef in and we ate together which was nice, but it did nothing to calm my nerves. Cordelia and Theo are upstairs asleep. My brothers said they would stay up with me just in case. My bag is packed, and I have the jet on standby, ready to come for her if she needs me.
Something is wrong, and I know it. But I know my girl. She’s smart, she’s tough, and if she says she’s going to do something, then she will. Before she left, she asked me to give her forty-eight hours before I came for her. Well, she has thirty-six hours to come home or contact me. Otherwise, I’m going to get her, and nothing will stop me.
“Liam, darling, you need to tell us everything, it’s time,” Mom says.
I sigh and flop back onto the chaise lounge. I don’t even know where to begin. Emerson sits unmoving in one of the comfortable chairs and stares at me. I think I’d rather him break my nose again. I’ve broken it twice, one was from his fist when we were angry teens, the other was because I caught myself with it rock climbing. So it’s forever crooked, but Aelia likes it crooked.
“Just start from the beginning, Three,” Kai says.
“Fine, but you have to promise to let me finish. Don’t get mad at me before you hear it all.”
“I don’t know if I like the sound of that,” Emerson grumbles.
“Well those are my stipulations, Emmy.”
He glares at me and I send a silent prayer up to the Big Man upstairs and start from the beginning. I explain how we ran into each other and how we got…close. I abbreviate the whole handcuffing and drugging section. Emerson looked at me funny for that one, but they could see she clearly forgave me for it. I’ve barely been able to forgive myself for it. I didn’t want to do it, but I had to, at least she understood that, maybe a little too well.
After I finish, they all sit there quietly, likely absorbing the information and trying not to be mad at me. I check my phone again and still nothing. I stare at the picture of Aelia that’s my background. She was asleep in bed while we were in El Salvador. She was lying on her stomach with her arms under the pillow,and the corner of her mouth was tipped up in a smile. I wanted to remember those moments with her every time I picked up my phone to check it.
We both felt at peace there, I never wanted to leave.
“Liam,” Mom whispers, “do you really love her?”
I nod and glance at my phone again.
“She’ll be okay, brother, I saw her in action in Colombia, she can handle herself. It’s like you guys are Mr. and Mrs. Smith.”
