15. Liam
“Come in.” Conor’s muffled voice sounds from the other side of his study’s door. Turning the knob, I push it open and step inside.
Conor sits behind his desk with a cigar in his mouth. His blue eyes assess me from head to toe.
“I wondered when you’d muster up the balls to speak to me.”
“Sir?”
His smile is anything but friendly. He takes a long drag of his cigar before blowing the smoke upward. His eyes never straying from mine.
“I know about you and Emily.” His face darkens.
“Sir, I love her.” I raise my chin and straighten my spine.
He slams his hand against the surface of his desk when he stands.
“You were both told that you cannot be together and yet, you deliberately disobeyed me.” He growls.
He straightens his grey suit jacket and then sits back down. Leaning against the back of the chair, a smile plays on his lips.
Pulling another drag from his cigar, he crosses an ankle across the opposite knee.
“I’ll admit, you both did a fine job keeping what you had a secret. But of course, you, being a stupid fuck, had to go and defile her in the garden. Did you truly think that would go unnoticed?”
I fecking knew that would come back to bite me in the arse.
I clench and unclench my fists on my sides. Though I’m feeling nauseated, I maintain eye contact with him.
“I love Emily and I’m not goin’ to let you take her from me.”
Untamed rage fills his face, and he circles the desk. He storms over to me. Before I have a chance to react, he lands a swift and strong punch to my gut.
With a grunt, I grip my stomach and hunch over.
The hard, cold metal of his pistol is pressed against the back of my head, and he lowers his mouth to my ear.
“Listen and listen well fíochmhar , you work for me. When I tell you to jump, you don’t ask me how high, you jump. You don’t question me or defy me. I fucking own you.” He seethes.
Blood fills my mouth from how hard I bite down on my tongue. The gun is pressed harder into my head, and I grunt.
“This marriage is happening whether you want it to or not. I won’t hesitate to order Declan to skin you alive if you continue this. You’re a good shot, Liam but your value is easily replaceable.”
I know Conor loves his daughter. I know how gentle he is with her, but I also know he does not make idle threats. He will teach Emily a lesson through me. He’ll break her… because of me.
“Don’t think that I won’t make an example out of you because of Emily. Don’t mistake my love for her as me being soft. I will kill you and make her watch if I have to.” His spit lands on the side of my face with each word he growls. “Have I made myself clear?”
I swallow tightly and then nod. He pushes the gun harder into my head before stepping away. I stand upright with my hands at my sides.
“Emily is moving to the penthouse – but I’m sure she’s already told you – you are not to go there under any circumstances.” He levels me with a glare. “You are going to break her heart. Make her hate you. I don’t give a shit. She is going to marry Ryan and you are going to make sure she has no lingering feelings for you.”
My chest feels like it’s caving in on itself.
How can I do that when she means everything to me?
“And if she refuses?”
“She doesn’t have a choice.”
I stare at Conor. Truly stare at him. He would really force his daughter to marry someone for power? He was always known as the one to put his family above all else.
But this? Why this?
“You’re filth. Nothing but a replaceable pawn in my family’s empire. Even if Ryan wasn’t in the picture, you are not worthy of my daughter.”
There it is.
He’d rather hurt Emily than allow me to be with her.
“The only reason I haven’t already killed you is because of Emily. But mark my words, Liam. You disobey me again and I will make sure your death is slow and painful.”
I stare at the wall, refusing to meet his eyes. His glare burns into me.
My body vibrates with anger, resentment, and grief. What I have is being ripped away from me and I can’t do anything about it.
“Get the fuck out.” He growls.
I walk solemnly toward the garden. Conor’s words replay in my mind in a continuous loop. As much as I’d like to deny it, it’s true. I’m replaceable in this world.
There will always be another grunt who can do his dirty work. There will always be someone who can shoot a gun with accuracy such as mine. If I die, someone new will take my place as if I wasn’t even in it to begin with.
Emily deserves more than I can give her.
The truth is a slap to the face. Emily does deserve more than I can give her. We’ve both known that. We’ve just been running from the inevitable.
Ryan is a wealthy man who is going to run an empire of his own. He can provide her with the life she desires. I can’t.
Emily sits atop a white throw blanket in the center of her wildflowers. She’s writing in her journal with pursed lips and lowered brows. Strands of her red hair, brush over her cheeks with the soft breeze.
Sadness fills my heart.
I have to do this. I have to let her go.
The weight on my chest increases with each step I take.
Consequences be damned? Fecking Liar.
This is different. I can’t stake my claim knowing she can and will have a better future with someone else. I can’t allow my insignificance to burden her.
Emily spins around to face me when she hears the soft thump of my boots on the grass.
She smiles and her eyes are warm. It guts me.
Shutting her journal, she sets it aside and rises to her feet. I stop just a few feet away and her brows pull inward.
“Are you okay?” She asks, flicking her eyes from me, the space between us, and back.
"We need to talk." I swallow the lump forming.
What a fucking cliché.
When she takes a step toward me, I take one back. Confusion covers her face, followed by wariness.
“What’s going on, Liam? Did you speak with my dad?”
“What has been going on between us is over.” I try my damned hardest to keep my voice level but it’s fucking hard.
She jerks her head back. “What?”
“We’re over, Emily.”
Her head starts to slowly shake, and sadness fills her eyes.
“What happened with my dad, Liam?” her voice cracks.
“We both knew we were on borrowed time, Em. You’re going to be married soon. This needs to stop.”
“What… What happened to ‘staking my claim’? What happened to that?”
Make her hate you.
“I didn’t mean it. You’re not mine to claim.”
She flinches like I’ve struck her and my heart breaks. It’s hard to fucking breathe.
“You don’t mean that. You can’t mean that.” She whimpers, the tears gathering in her eyes before falling down her freckled cheeks.
I turn my gaze toward the wildflowers to avoid watching her heartbreak. I watch as a butterfly lands on a bright yellow flower. Its wings are a light orange that darkens on the outer edges. It sways with the breeze for a moment before flying off.
“Emily…” I return my eyes to hers. She watches me with pained blue eyes.
The words are trapped in my throat and refuse to come out.
She deserves more. She will get more with someone else.
“We both knew this relationship wasn’t goin’ to lead to a happy endin’. Conor refused to let us be together from day one. Let’s just accept it for what it is and move on.”
Anger flares in her eyes and she balls her hands into tight fists.
“You’re a coward. You’re not even going to fight for us? What was the point of being with me in the first place?” she says through gritted teeth.
“There is no reason to fight for somethin’ that isn’t even worth it.”
Each word tastes like acid. None of this is true. Emily is worth everything, which is exactly why I need to let her go. She deserves the world, and I can’t give it to her.
“Not worth it?! Are you serious, Liam?” She shouts, her voice echoing.
Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath in through my nose and exhale through my mouth. The world feels like it’s spinning from the force of my blood pumping.
Make her hate you.
“I don’t want you, Emily. You were just a way to pass the time.” My voice is void of emotion.
She presses a palm to her chest as if she’s in physical pain, and I struggle to remain unmoving. Every fiber in my being screams for me to comfort her and beg for forgiveness.
“Liam… I – please...” she stutters.
I gently shake my head, peering at her through pleading eyes to understand that this is for the best.
“Don’t make this harder than it needs to be, Emily.”
“Whatever my dad told you, whatever he threatened, fight it. Fight for me. Pl – please, Liam. Fight for us.” She sobs, her face streaked with her makeup.
“No.” My teeth are seconds from shattering as I clench my jaw. I open and close my fists.
“Why are you doing this?!” she shrieks. “Why?!”
“Emily… Stop. This thing between us is over. Accept it. Move on. Marry Ryan. I. Don’t. Want. You.”
With those parting words, I walk away from the best thing to ever happen to me.