Page 96 of Sweet Surrender
“Yes, it was. And Liam would have known that if he had read thecontract instead of just signing it. He also would have seen the secondstipulation that said for every day that passed, and he hadn’t repaid the money, he would incur interest at 30% on top of the amount owed.”
She gaped at me, her eyes wide, as she tried to calculate just howmuch money Liam would have had to pay back.
“What happened when the two months were up and he couldn’t pay itback?” she said after almost a minute of silence.
I twisted in my seat to look at Liam, smiling when I found him beingheld up by Fox, blood caking his nose, and Fox’s hand covering his mouth. “Do you want to tell her this part, or shall I?”
“Fuck you,” Liam spat when Fox moved his hand away.
“Truth hurts doesn’t it, Liam? Tell me, what did you think you’d achieveby telling Savannah your bullshit?”
He muttered a curse, but it was incoherent seeing as Fox hadreplaced his hand over his mouth. Standing from the chair, I crossed the small room to stand in front of the prick. “Did you think you would somehow weasel more money from me? Five million not enough to satisfy your greed?”
“Five million?” Savannah said, her voice going up an octave. I turnedback to her, finding confusion etched deep on her face.
“Yeah, sweetheart,” I said, turning to face her. “See when Liam didn’tdeliver the money at the end of his two-month agreed period, I had him brought to me. That was the day he went missing from your condo.”
She looked from me to him, her cheeks growing redder with anger asthe truth of Liam’s betrayal began to hit home.
“When he told me he couldn’t pay the money back, I reminded himthat the debt would fall to the guarantor. And you know what he said?” She shook her head, the angry red flush on her cheeks now making its way to her chest as she glared at Liam. “The man who claimed to love you since you were kids said it wasn’t his problem. He said that he didn’t care, and you would find a way to pay the debt off.”
Hurt flashed across her face, and when a lone tear slid down hercheek, I crossed back to her, ignoring the chair. Bending down in front of her, I swiped the tear away, sucking my thumb into my mouth and tasting her. I hated that she was hurting, but I fucking loved knowing that when the truth was revealed, Liam would be out of her heart and mind for good.
“He never deserved you, sweetheart. He took advantage of you when you were grieving for your mom. He doesn’t deserve these tears for what he did to you.”I swiped away another tear. Savannah’s eyes flashed over myshoulder to where Liam was standing, and they hardened with determination.
“What happened next?” she said through gritted teeth. A wave ofpride rushed through me. Even though she was hurting, she knew she was strong enough to hear the rest.
“I gave him a choice, just like I gave you a choice.”
Before I could continue, commotion rang out again from behindme. I twisted, watching in amusement as Liam tried to wriggle out of Fox’s grasp. He must have bit Fox’s hand because Fox cursed, and his hand slipped away from Liam’s mouth.
“Fuck you, Carson! You’re a lying scumbag who-” Liam screechedbefore Fox cut him off, managing to grip him again. He wrestled Liam onto the bed, holding him face down so his words were muffled by the bedcovers.
Savannah returned her gaze to me. “What were the choices?”
I cupped her chin between my fingers to make sure she was lookingat only me. “I told him he could walk away with a three-month grace period. That his guarantor wouldn’t need to pay, and I wouldn’t add any interest to the debt he owed me. But at the end of the three months, if he didn’t pay, there would be consequences. Or,” I paused, wanting to give Savannah a second to prepare for the blow I was about to deliver.
“Or?”
“Or, I would clear all of his debts, and I would give him five milliondollars. But if he took that option, you would be mine to do with as I pleased. I told him I would own you, that if I wanted to, I would beat you. I would rape you. I would share you with all of my friends if I saw fit.”
A barely audible gasp left her mouth as she stared at me with wide,disbelieving eyes.
“You…you didn’t mean it,” she stated confidently when she’dcomposed herself.
I smiled warmly at her, freeing her chin. “Of course I didn’t mean it,sweetheart. By that point, I was head over heels in love with you. The thought of anyone hurting you makes me murderous. I could never hurt you, and as I’ve told you before, I wouldnevershare you with anyone. But Liam didn’t know that. I was testing him, I wanted to know for sure that he didn’t deserve you before I split you up. The sad part was that he didn’t even hesitate to give me his answer.”
“He took the five million,” she said stoically.
I nodded my response, giving her a minute to digest everything she’djust learned. I knew she’d just been hit with a tsunami of feelings, and it was going to take her time to process everything.
This was the reason I hadn’t told her the truth before. If Liam hadstuck to his side of the deal and kept well away from her, she never would have needed to learn the truth. But then, that was what made Liam and I different. I would have done everything in my power to keep her from hurting, whereas Liam had no qualms in breaking her heart.
I turned my attention to Liam, wanting to deal with him once and forall. He was still pinned down by Fox, feebly trying to free himself from the man mountain.
“Stand him up,” I said, nodding to Fox.
Fox obliged, roughly yanking Liam to his feet, and spinning himaround to face me.
