* * *
My sister tends to Luca as he mopes around in the hospital bed while I stare out the window. He hates being there, but he’s lucky he survived after catching Jill mid-fall.
All I can think about is Liam.
He’s out there, waiting for another shot to kill my sister.
Waiting for another chance … to take me.
I swallow, but it still feels like my throat is clamped up.
It’s only been two days since I found out Liam was still alive. Two days since we all found out Jill hadn’t actually killed him by accident. Two days, and my entire world feels like it’s been turned upside down.
I don’t think Liam came back just to get revenge.
I clutch the windowsill, tears welling up in my eyes as I remember the words he said on that hill.
“I won’t. But I won’t ever stop. Not until I have what I came for. You.”
The mere memory of his words makes my body explode in goose bumps.
Was I so blind to the truth all these years?
Or did he just say that to manipulate me?
I shake off the jitters.
I can’t let his words get to me. He was gone for three years and only came back to try to kill my sister. I turn my head to look at her as she gleefully accepts a demanding kiss from Luca, who is still the same oversexed guy even after almost dying.
And it almost makes me jealous.
Almost.
But love isn’t for me.
I’m the girl who’s supposed to take over my parents’ not-so-legal business.
Love has no place in this harsh world we belong to. At least not the gentle kind.
Sighing, I turn to look out the window again. I never thought any of this would ever happen. Or that it would affect me so deeply. My heart aches and I don’t know why.
But all I can think of are those soul-crushing eyes and that voice that’ll haunt me in my dreams.
I stare outside at the people walking across the pavement and the cars driving by until one of them stops near a red light. And a guy with pristine eyes peers up through the window from the back seat. Straight at me.
My lips part.
My breath hitches in my throat.
No, it can’t be true, can it?
Those eyes … I’d recognize them among a million others.
Liam.
Liam
* * *