30. Ava
30
AVA
L iam's voice echoes in my mind. Promise .
I clutch my mother's bracelet between my fingers, the cool metal grounding me as the warehouse looms in front of us. The night air is thick, charged with the kind of tension that makes your skin prickle, the kind that tells you everything is about to go straight to hell.
Dean stands at my side, arms crossed, his jaw clenched tight as he watches the building's entrance. Ryan is pacing—of course he's pacing—his hands flexing at his sides like he's itching for a fight. And Tyler… Tyler is in full-on strategist mode, phone in hand, eyes darting between us and the security feeds he hacked into minutes ago.
No one speaks.
We're waiting.
Waiting for Liam's signal. Waiting to move. Waiting to know whether this nightmare is finally going to end tonight or if Vanessa is going to find one last way to slip through our fingers.
Then…
Movement.
At first, it's just a flicker of shadow near the loading dock entrance. A ripple against the darkness. But then I see him—Cliff Reyes, stepping just outside the warehouse doors, his thick neck craning as he scans the lot.
Tyler stiffens beside me. "Shit."
Ryan stops pacing. "What?"
Tyler's voice is tight. "We've been made."
Everything happens in the space of a breath.
The warehouse doors burst open, and Vanessa's hired muscle spills out like a wave of violence. Two men, both built like battering rams, moving fast. The taller one—short, dark hair, bruised knuckles—spots us first and barks something unintelligible. The other one looks like he is pain, which, I suppose, is good for us.
Dean reacts instantly.
Before the guy can reach for whatever weapon he's carrying, Dean closes the distance and lands a punch to his ribs. The guy stumbles back, but he's quick. He recovers fast, swinging at Dean's jaw. Dean dodges, countering with a sharp elbow to the gut.
Ryan isn't far behind. The second thug rushes at him, but Ryan's already moving, sidestepping at the last second and slamming his knee into the guy's stomach. The man grunts, staggering back, but Ryan doesn't let up—he grabs the back of his head and drives it straight into his knee.
The guy drops like a stone.
Tyler, meanwhile, does what Tyler does best—he keeps his distance, phone steady in his hand, capturing every second of this disaster.
I'm frozen.
I knew this would happen, knew the second Cliff spotted us, things would explode. But I didn't expect it to be so immediate. So violent.
And Liam is still inside.
I grip the bracelet tighter, my pulse hammering.
Ryan throws a glance over his shoulder. "Ava, stay back."
I scowl. "Like hell."
Ryan turns back just in time to block another punch.
Inside, I hear a crash—metal against concrete, a grunt of pain.
That's it. I'm done doing nothing. I sprint toward the warehouse entrance, dodging past the chaos, my boots skidding against the gravel as I bolt for the open doors.
"Ava!" Dean's voice is sharp, but I don't stop.
I can't.
Not when I hear her voice.
"You son of a bitch."
I burst through the entrance just in time to see her swing a tire iron at Liam's head.
My breath lodges in my throat.
Liam ducks at the last second, the metal whistling past his ear before it slams into a stack of crates, sending splintered wood flying.
Vanessa doesn't hesitate. She swings again, this time aiming for his ribs.
Liam moves fast. He sidesteps, grabs her wrist, and wrenches the weapon from her grip. The tire iron clatters to the ground.
For a second, she just stands there, her chest heaving, her eyes wild with fury.
Then she lunges.
She doesn't care that she's unarmed. Doesn't care that she's outmatched. She throws herself at him, nails clawing, teeth bared, a furious, unhinged snarl ripping from her throat.
Liam catches her wrists, holding her back, his expression a mixture of exhaustion and something darker.
"You lost, Vanessa." His voice is low, firm. Final.
Her eyes flash, venomous. "Not yet."
She twists, kicking at his knee. It's a cheap shot, but effective. Liam falters just enough for her to yank free.
And then she runs.
Straight for the side exit.
Oh, hell no.
She's fast, but I have adrenaline and fury on my side. My boots pound against the concrete as I sprint after her, my breath burning in my chest.
Vanessa yanks the door open, but I'm right there, grabbing the back of her coat, yanking hard.
She stumbles, whipping around, her eyes flashing with pure hatred.
"This is over," I breathe.
She snarls. "You think you've won?"
A screech of tires outside. Police sirens. The cavalry is here.
Vanessa hears it, too.
And for the first time, she looks scared.
Liam steps up beside me, breathing hard. "It's over, Vanessa."
The sirens outside are getting louder, flashing red and blue lights bouncing off the steel walls of the warehouse, the steady thud of approaching boots growing closer.
She turns to run—one last, desperate move—but she doesn't make it two steps before Liam grabs her by the wrist and wrenches her back. She struggles, but she's exhausted. Beaten. Done.
A second later, the warehouse doors burst open, and officers flood the space.
"Down on the ground!" someone shouts, the command sharp and cutting.
Vanessa stiffens, her lips curling into something like disgust, but she doesn't fight as two officers move in, grabbing her by the arms and yanking them behind her back. The unmistakable click of handcuffs echoes against the concrete.
The hired muscle—what's left of them—don't fare much better. One of them is already half-unconscious, groaning on the floor from whatever damage Dean and Ryan did to him outside. But Cliff?
Cliff talks.
The second two officers grab him, he practically folds in half, his mouth running faster than his brain, words spilling out in a frantic, desperate attempt to save himself.
"Wait, wait, wait, I'll tell you everything!" he gasps, hands shaking as they tighten the cuffs. "Vanessa… she–she set this whole thing up! I was just hired security! I didn't—" He sucks in a breath, his eyes darting to Vanessa, wild with panic. "She made me do it! She threatened me, too!"
Vanessa's expression twists into something venomous. "Shut up, Cliff."
But Cliff is too far gone to listen. He looks at the nearest officer, eyes wide, practically begging. "Look, I can prove it! She faked everything! The evidence, the financials, the offshore accounts—she made it all look like Carter Holdings was corrupt, but it was her! She buried money in his projects just so it would lead back to him."
Liam goes still beside me.
Cliff keeps going, his words tumbling over themselves, a man desperate to dig himself out of the hole he willingly jumped into.
"She's been laundering money for years, doctoring contracts, manipulating clients—hell, she even bribed a judge to get one of her fake lawsuits pushed through." He shakes his head frantically. "The whole thing—everything she did to Carter Holdings? The bad press? The investors pulling out? She orchestrated it all."
I glance at Liam, whose expression is carved from stone. His jaw is locked, his fists clenched, but his eyes… his eyes are burning with something cold, something sharp, something that looks an awful lot like vindication.
Vanessa, however, is still trying to claw her way out.
She scoffs, tilting her chin up, an almost amused smirk curling at her lips. "Oh, please. You're really going to take his word for it?" She jerks her chin toward Cliff, voice dripping with disdain. "The man who just admitted to taking dirty money? You think he's credible?"
An officer steps forward, his expression unreadable as he tilts his head at Cliff. "You willing to sign a sworn statement?"
Cliff nods so fast I think his neck might snap. "Yes. Yes. I have records, too. Copies of her transactions. A list of people she's blackmailed. She's been paying off journalists, planting fake reports, funneling money through shell companies under Liam's name."
I inhale sharply.
Liam doesn't move. Doesn't say a word.
Vanessa finally loses her smirk. "You shut your mouth or else?—"
"No, I'm done." Cliff looks agonized. "She threatened to rat me out to my family, said she'd hurt my kids. I didn't have a choice."
And neither did Andrew, until confronted by the law. The tide is finally turning.
One of the officers glances between them, then signals to a second officer, who immediately pulls out a tablet. "Let's get this on record."
Vanessa lunges.
Or, at least, she tries to.
She barely makes it an inch before the officers yank her back, pinning her arms, forcing her into submission.
"You ungrateful—" Her voice breaks, but she swallows it down, eyes flashing as she whips her head toward Cliff. "You think they'll cut you a deal? You think you'll walk away from this clean? You're just as guilty as I am!"
Cliff flinches, but the damage is done.
Vanessa's mask has cracked.
And she knows it.
One of the officers tightens the cuffs, speaking calmly. "Vanessa Chase, you're under arrest for fraud, conspiracy, blackmail, and a whole list of other things I'm sure your lawyers will cry about in the morning. You have the right to remain silent."
I tune out the rest.
Because Liam…
Liam exhales, just once, his shoulders slumping ever so slightly, his fists finally unclenching.
And before I even realize what I'm doing, I'm moving.
Straight into his arms.
His breath leaves him in a rush as I slam into his chest, my arms wrapping around his waist, my fingers gripping his shirt like if I let go, I might fall apart completely.
Liam catches me without hesitation, his arms locking tight around me, his heartbeat thunderous beneath my cheek.
I don't say anything.
I don't need to.
His hand slides up my back, fingers pressing into my spine, and I know—he needed this, too.
I don't know how long we stay like that, but eventually, footsteps approach.
I pull back slightly, just enough to see my brothers standing a few feet away.
Ryan is still breathing hard, his knuckles bruised from the fight, his expression caught somewhere between relief and grudging acceptance. Dean looks exhausted, hands on his hips, nodding slowly as he takes everything in. And Nate… Nate just watches, expression unreadable.
Liam tenses but doesn't let go of me.
For a long moment, none of them speak.
Then Dean exhales, rubbing a hand over his jaw. "Guess we owe you one."
Liam huffs a quiet, almost disbelieving laugh. "I'll frame that."
Ryan rolls his eyes, muttering something under his breath, but there's no heat to it.
Dean just shakes his head, then meets Liam's gaze, serious now. "You kept Ava safe." He crosses his arms. "That counts for something."
Liam nods as an unspoken understanding passes between them.
Nate just grins, tipping an imaginary hat. "And here I thought you were all bad decisions."
Liam chuckles. "I have layers."
Ryan groans. "I hate this."
I finally laugh, breathless, as the weight of the night starts to lift.
Vanessa is gone.