CHAPTER SEVEN
Mila
Two weeks have passed since Liam last spoke to me, not one word at all. For whatever reason, I felt a little betrayed like he had used me, but I guess that was all a part of the agreement. I wasn’t sure what to expect but I never expected to just be ghosted. He told me this agreement would only last for a month, and already half of it is already gone.
Was that all he needed me for?
“You’ve been looking at your phone a lot.” Alyssa grumbled, her voice cold, “did that handsome man let you down? You should’ve known better. What kind of guy would want a girl like you?”
Her words were like a stab to the gut, but I didn’t let her see it, “no, I’m just waiting for an important phone call. Not everything is about a guy, Alyssa. Something you wouldn’t understand.”
Even though she was right about it, I wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction. I wasn’t trying to dwell on the fact that Liam has yet to say anything to me since I’ve yet to speak to him as well, but I didn’t want to seem too eager. I didn’t want to breach our agreement where he wouldn’t speak to me at all.
What could he be doing though?
“Mila.” I heard my name being called, breaking me out of my thoughts.
My head jerked up, seeing that Liam was standing in the doorway of the diner, dressed in a simple t-shirt and jeans. He looked as handsome as the last day I had seen him, but that’s when I saw the fading bruise on the side of his face, and his neck was bandaged slightly. Fear pumped through my veins, and I instinctively rushed over to him.
“Oh my god, Liam,” I whispered quickly, reaching out without even thinking about it to gently examine the bruise, “what the hell happened to you? Did you get into a fight?”
To my surprise, he slightly leaned into my touch, closing his eyes, “sort of… are you almost done?”
I had about thirty minutes left, but as he opened his eyes once more, I could see this sort of desperation there that I didn’t expect to see. I looked over at Alyssa who was watching us like a hawk, pleading with her with my eyes to let this go one time. It seemed to irritate her slightly, but she rolled her eyes in annoyance and motioned me to leave. I mouthed ‘thank you to her before I slipped my hand into Liam’s.
“I’m done now.” I told him, leading him out of the diner, “I was wondering when I was going to hear from you again. You didn’t seem like the type to just ghost someone for two weeks, especially when you had a job for me to do.”
I should’ve kept my mouth shut about our agreement since I wasn’t sure what all of this was about, but it was already said and done. Liam’s car was parked out front, a striking difference between the rest of them.
“What did you need to talk about?” I continued, wondering why he had yet to say anything to me, “I’m sure it must be important.”
His jaw clenched slightly, squeezing my hand, “come back to my house.”
I froze, turning to look at him like he was crazy, “what? Why?”
I thought he was just going to make up some kind of excuse, something stupid, but with his free hand, he reached up and gently cupped my cheek, gazing into my eyes with his weirdly softened ones, “I just need you to trust me, Mila. Trust your daddy, he knows what’s best for you.”
I know he had told me about his DDLG lifestyle - I had learned a little bit more about it during the past two weeks - but I didn’t think he would refer to himself as that since there was no one around he needed to pretend in front of. I frowned slightly, wondering if he was just playing around with me. I knew not to get my hopes up, but there’s no way this man was doing any of this without reason.
“Okay, I’ll trust you,” I promised him, letting him lead me to his car.
I should’ve run away that day.
Liam
I hated to have to throw Mila into this mess, but it was the only way I was going to be able to protect her. After leaving her that night after the Bridal party, I got a phone call about running to the club that was owned by our family, and it had been infiltrated by these thugs who thought they were hot stuff.
Well, one thing led to another and a fight broke out. Shots were fired and I was nicked on the neck by a bullet, but someone else wasn’t so lucky. The bastards fled the scene, but not before promising that they were going to bring our family to their knees.
Starting with our women.
And I would never allow any of them to put a finger on Mila.
“Wow, your house is gorgeous.” Mila gawked at my decent-sized miniature mansion that has been hidden in the woods where only myself and my family would ever find it, “what do you need such a big home for if you haven’t even started a family yet?”
Her words stung, but it wasn’t her fault since she didn’t know, “originally, I had this house built for someone… a woman that I truly cared about. I thought we were going to live happily ever after… I realized too late that happily ever afters is not meant for monsters like me.”
Those words left a bitter taste in my mouth, her words echoing in my mind. I couldn’t necessarily say I blamed her for what she did because of who I am, but it made me not want to ever think about love. To love is to feel pain, to have a weakness.