Chapter 33 – Liam
I approached the location where Molly’s earbuds had last registered. The dust cloud I’d made while driving surrounded me as I hopped out of my Jeep. Holding my gun out in front of me, I ran toward the empty warehouse.
There were no cars out front. What if she wasn’t here and I was wasting my time?
I couldn’t afford to think like that. I had to search this building, and if she wasn’t here, I’d get the hell out. Until then, I had to believe she was.
I slipped through one of the side doors, moving as quietly as possible in case someone was on the other side. The door opened into a long hallway with doors lining both sides all the way down. Fuck—this place was going to take forever to search.
After checking three doors, I found one that led toward the center of the building. I crept down the connecting hallway. A few steps in, distant voices drifted toward me.
“News flash, dipshit, Liam isn’t filthy rich like you are.”
Molly’s voice.
She was still alive.
Then another voice cut through the air—one that changed my life forever.
My dad.
He explained why he’d hired someone to stalk and kidnap her. Each word stripped away any remaining doubt.
He wanted her dead. No one was touching his precious money.
I stayed on the other side of the door, mapping their positions by sound. I’d have to be fast. Precise. If I was lucky, Jace and Colt were right behind me—I just didn’t know it yet.
I kicked the door in on the first try. The old wood tore from its hinges and crashed to the floor.
I fired, dropping the two men flanking my dad and Molly. They hit the ground instantly.
“Let her go, or I shoot.” I kept my gun trained on my dad’s chest as I advanced.
“You wouldn’t shoot your own father.” He sounded like he actually believed it.
“You’ve got a gun to the head of the mother of my child.” I stopped a few feet away. “Try me. I heard everything, Dad. Let her go.”
“This is what’s best for you, Liam. If I don’t get rid of her now, she’ll take you for everything you have.”
“I don’t give a fuck about money. It doesn’t consume me like it does you. All it does it turn people into cold-hearted pieces of shit.” My finger tightened on the trigger. “If it wasn’t for you and your greed, Noah would still be alive.”
“When are you going to get over your brother? Nobody gives a fuck about that anymore, Liam. You shouldn’t either. He was a coward—just like your mother. Serving me divorce papers at work and then bolting. She couldn’t even confront me herself. She’s just like him. A waste of breath.”
“Shut up.” My grip on the gun tightened. Molly stood beside him, terror written across her face.
“Fine. If you won’t see things my way, I’ll get rid of both of you.” He swung the gun away from Molly and aimed at me.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
Molly
I squeezed my eyes shut as the gunshots erupted and dropped to the floor. When the shots stopped, I couldn’t make myself open them. I curled around my belly, ears ringing from the blasts.
Arms scooped me up.
“Molly, are you okay? Did he hurt you?”
Liam.
I clutched his arms. Air rushed back into my lungs as it hit me—he was alive. I was alive.
“I’m okay, Liam. I’m okay. Did he shoot you?” My gaze swept over him the same way he’d just checked me.
He pulled me tight against his chest. “I’m okay, baby. It’s over. It’s finally all over.” He released a shaky breath.
I started to turn toward the bodies on the floor, but Liam framed my face before I could. “Don’t look at them, Molls. They’re dead—you have to trust me. You don’t want to see them.”
He turned me away and guided me out a side door to his Jeep. Down the road, Jace’s truck barreled toward us.
“How did you guys find me? He crushed my phone before we even pulled away from the restaurant.”
“We tracked your location from your earbuds in your purse,” Liam said. “I went to the bathroom and realized you were gone. I checked the restaurant cameras—that’s how I saw him take you out the back.”
Jace and Colt jumped out of the truck and ran toward us.
“You found her.” Jace pulled me into a hug.
“It was my dad,” Liam said, hanging back a step. “He was the one targeting Molly. He didn’t want her getting the secret trust fund I apparently have. That’s why he had her kidnapped. He was going to kill her. I shot him before he could. He’s dead—and so are the idiots he hired.”
Colt and Jace looked around in disbelief. This had started as stalking, but it ended in full-blown attempted murder. Too bad the man behind it would never stand trial. Hell was a better place for him anyway.
Something warm trickled down my leg, dragging my attention from the guys as they pieced everything together.
My leggings were soaked. For one terrifying second, I thought I’d been shot. Then more liquid spilled down my thighs, and I knew.
“Liam.” I cut through the conversation. “My water just broke.”