The man’s lip wobbled. Liam thrust the knife into the man’s neck and twisted.
“We haven’t got all of our information yet,” he said, angry that Liam would fucking strike now.
Liam stepped back.
The other man was dying slowly.
“I know what we’re up against, and it’s not pretty. I dealt with the Smirnov over twenty years ago, Roman. This is … I need to speak with your father, and I think it will be best if Alex comes back home.”
“What the fuck?” Roman asked.
“It’s not like you respect my daughter,” Liam said. “For all I know, you could be working with them to hurt my little girl.”
“You insult me. I would never work with anyone but Greco.” He slapped a hand on his chest. “Alex is not in danger from me, and she is my wife.”
Liam stepped close to her. “Prove it. Do you think I’m a fool, Roman?”
He glared at Liam but remained silent. This was a trap, and he refused to fall into it.
“Do you think I don’t know that my daughter is still a virgin?” Liam asked. “That you have not conducted your part of the agreement? I know for a fact that I can call for it to be annulled.”
Roman chuckled. “Alex would have to conduct the virginity test. I would demand it.”
“To get away from you, Roman, my daughter would do it.”
He didn’t like this, and this time, Liam smiled. “Do you really think Alex wanted to be married to you?” Liam slapped him on the shoulder.
“Sir, Lucas Greco has arrived,” Bill said.
“Good. Clean up the mess for me, Bill.”
“I am so sorry, sir.”
“Please, do not worry about it. We will talk later,” Liam said.
Roman saw the fear in Bill’s gaze, and he wasn’t quite sure why, but he also didn’t ask.
They walked out of the basement, and sure enough, his father was there, along with his friend Antonio and several of his guards and men. Liam shook hands with Lucas, and then they made their way upstairs, toward the bedroom where he’d put Alex.
Roman didn’t want to look at his wife at that moment. He had assumed that Alex loved the idea of being married to him, of wanting to be connected in any way possible to the Greco line.
Liam didn’t even knock as they stepped into the room. Roman didn’t know what he expected to find, but it certainly wasn’t Alex pacing the room. Staring at her now, in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, she looked so … composed.
“Dad?” Alex asked, and she rushed forward.
This was an embarrassment. His wife didn’t speak to him. She didn’t even look to him for comfort, and with one glance at his father, he knew this wasn’t good for the Greco name. All his life, he’d done what was required of him, fulfilled his part of the agreement when it came to his father.
“Did Roman tell you what happened?” Alex asked.
“Of course.”
“I don’t know what was going on. One moment we were, like, I don’t know exactly what we were doing, and then bam.”
What Alex said didn’t make any sense to him. She didn’t tell her father that he dragged her off campus, or that he yelled at her.
Who was Alex Smith? Why was her father so convinced of her innocence? How did he know that they hadn’t consummated their marriage?
The only way Liam would know this was if Alex told him. She had to have.
Roman didn’t buy this act. Women were always after something. All he had to do was find out what Alex was after, and once he did, he’d be able to deal with her.
“Those men were after you,” Liam said. “You are in danger, and I think it’s time you came back home.”