71. Chapter Seventy-One
Chapter seventy-one
Adair
I was fine the day after the twins’ birthday, but then, like clockwork, I remembered the date, and all hell broke loose. Nightmares had plagued me most of the night, and I wasn't sure if being awake was any better. I had barely woken up and my thoughts were already swirling out of control.
I'm fine. I'm safe. Nothing bad is happening.
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, hoping not to wake Peter. He was one of the best things that had happened to me after Derek and Lynette. Snuggling in a little closer, I listened to Peter’s heartbeat and tried to relax.
A kiss was pressed into the top of my head. “Everything okay?”
“No.”
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
I let out a deep sigh and shook my head. “I don’t know. I don’t want to leave this bed today.”
“Okay. Do you want me to stay?”
What? Fear and anxiety surged through me as I looked up at Peter.
Before I could answer, he kissed my forehead. “Never mind. I’m staying.” He reached for his phone, texted someone, and then put it back on the side table. “There. I’m here all day. It’s still pretty early. Do you want to try sleeping some more?”
“Sure.” It was likely a futile attempt, but when Peter wrapped his arms around me and held me tight, a little of my anxiety melted away and I eventually drifted off.
I was about to round the corner and head toward my office at Dad’s house when I heard Susan’s voice.
“Well, did you talk to her?”
I stopped dead in my tracks. What is Susan doing here?
Liam let out a deep sigh. “I did, and it went about as badly as I thought it was going to, if not worse.”
“What do you mean?”
As I peeked around the corner, he glanced around and pulled her closer to him, gently tucking a hair behind her ear. “She threatened to take our relationship to both our parents if I didn't break it off with you by the day of the engagement party.”
“What?” My sister’s voice went up a full octave before Liam clamped his hand over her mouth.
“Shh! The last thing we need is someone hearing you and asking why you’re shouting. You told me you talked to your cousin. Did he tell you anything helpful?”
She nodded. “He did, actually.”
A relieved smile filled Liam’s face, and my heart broke a little more. I turned to run, but I'd barely made it three steps when I was flipped around, pressed against the wall.
“Adair?”
Why is he calling me that? I swung at the faceless pursuer, hoping to punch them in the face. “Let me go!”
My arms were then pinned to my side.
“No!” I thrashed and kicked and did everything to get him off of me.
“Adair, please wake up.”
What?
Lips pressed to mine, and my body froze. “Hummingbird, I really need you to wake up. I promise you’re safe.”
My eyes fluttered open, and a very worried face was inches from mine. “Peter?”
“I’m right here.” He let out a relieved breath and kissed my forehead before rolling off me.
When I put together the fact that Liam hadn’t been the one fighting me and pinning me to the wall, but Peter holding me, likely trying not to get hurt, I rolled onto my side, buried my head in his chest, and burst into tears.
“It’s okay. I have you. You’re safe.”
Between the reassurance and the kiss on top of my head, I cried harder and let it all out.
Eventually, the tears slowed and then stopped.
I pressed my ear to his chest and let his heartbeat soothe me.
More time passed before I let out a tense breath and turned my head and kissed his chest. “Thank you for being here.”
“Of course. Do you want to talk about it?”
Do I? He deserves to know. “Today is the seven-year anniversary of the day they tried to kill me.”
He froze next to me. “Oh.”
“Yeah.” I picked up my head. “I want to tell you what happened that day. I need to.” A sigh came out. “Aside from Liam and Susan, Lynette and Derek are the only ones who know all of what happened. Avery knows some, but I’m not sure how much. I don’t know if I could tell the twins right now.”
Peter nodded. “Okay, but don't feel like you have to tell me just because I’m here with you. Remember what I said, everything is on your timetable.”
“I know.” I ran my fingers over the front of his t-shirt as I dove into the story.
“Susan and I had gone shopping for a dress for the big, formal engagement party our parents insisted on throwing, and she wanted to stop for a celebratory drink before we headed back.
But instead of stopping at a bar, she brought us to the house Liam and I were supposed to move into after the wedding.
Letting out a deep breath, I grabbed Peter’s hand as the memory washed over me.
My anxiety spiked up as I looked up at the two-story house. “Susan, why are we here?”
She smiled at me, though it was fake as the day was long. “I have a surprise for you and Liam, but I wanted to show you first.”
“What?” Warning alarms blared in my head, but I had no tangible reason to stay in the car without making a scene.
It wasn’t unlike Susan to make grand gestures, but with the sketchy conversation I'd overheard between Liam and Susan, I was beyond glad I had my knife on me.
I didn't think she would attack me, but I couldn't say for sure.
Should I tell Derek and Avery I'm in the area? How fast could they get here? Am I overreacting?
Susan opened the car door. “Come on. It will only take a couple minutes. We’ll be in and out before you know it.”
I let out a tense sigh. “Okay. Sure. A couple minutes.”
I waited until she was walking toward the house before trusting my gut and shooting off a quick text to Derek and Avery.
Tori:
“Victoria, what is taking you so long?”
Hearing my sister’s annoyed voice, I jammed my phone into my pocket and got out of the car. “I was checking if Liam texted me. We are supposed to meet up later. He mentioned something about Mrs. Agosti needing decisions for a few things in regard to the engagement party.”
She rolled her eyes at me. “Yeah, yeah. You and your precious party.”
Still bitter as fuck, I see.
Plastering a smile onto my face, I followed her into the house. Once I closed the front door behind me, I looked around the empty foyer. “So, what is it you wanted to show me?”
“The lengths I'll go to get what I want.”
As my attention snapped back to Susan, she pulled out a gun and pointed it at me. I froze in place, stunned. “What are you doing?”
She glared at me. “Giving you one last chance to do the right thing and call off this bullshit sham of a wedding and marriage with Liam.”
Eternally grateful I'd sent off that text, I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “You know we can’t just call it off. Liam and I have spent weeks looking over that contract. There’s nothing we can do unless you want to start a war.”
Susan rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on. You know Dad isn’t going to follow through with it.”
How many times am I going to have to say this? “But he would, Susan. He told us himself.”
“Who is this us, Victoria?”
“Me, my dad, and your sister.”
A familiar low voice echoed in the empty room and I looked to my left. “Liam? What are you doing here?”
He walked right up to me and took my hands in his. “I need you to see reason. I need you to understand there will never be anything between us other than friendship, at best. You know I love Susan, just like I know you love Derek.”
Why is he going over this again?
I cleared my throat. “We've already talked about this at length, Liam. I refuse to be the other woman in my own marriage. I’m giving up Derek, and you’re supposed to give up Susan. We both know it is going to take time to adjust, but that it’s what's best for our families.”
He glanced to his left, and a soft smile appeared on his face as he looked at my sister for a moment before returning his attention to me. “And what if it’s not what’s best for our families? What if our dads are wrong?”
“It doesn’t matter. You and I have read that contract a hundred times. Mr. Greene has, too. Breaking it means war. One neither family would walk away from without significant loss.”
Liam hummed and looked at my sister again. The love for her in his eyes was blinding. “She’s worth fighting a thousand wars for.”
I balled up my hands into tight fists. No longer able to contain my rage, I pulled my right arm back and punched him as hard as I could.
Liam wiped the blood from his lip where I split it, stepped away from me, and walked to Susan, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing the side of her neck. “Susan, love, it’s time. It’s clear your sister isn’t going to agree or go away quietly.”
A sinister grin appeared on my sister’s face. “I can't wait to be the oldest.”
What?
Just as I made sense of what she said, a car squealed into the driveway and several gunshots went off.
“Who in the hell is that?” Both Liam and Susan looked past me and out the front window.
As I reached for the knife in my bra, another gunshot went off, but this one was inside, making my ears ring as a hot, searing pain ripped through my side.
Susan’s eyes were wide as I stared at her. My own sister shot me. “What in the f--”
The door practically exploded open, cutting off my question.
“I got here as fast as I could, Tori. What the hell is going on?”
I nearly collapsed in relief at hearing Derek’s voice.
In a blur, he was in front of me, gun drawn and pointed at Liam, who stood in front of Susan. “Liam, you want to tell me why your fiance is bleeding, and why you’re protecting Susan instead of taking care of Victoria?”
The horrible excuse of a man had the audacity to shrug. “The ladies were having a little disagreement. I’m separating them.”
I couldn't help the pained, stunned laugh that came out as I leaned my head against Derek’s back. “Liam let my sister shoot me because I refuse to let her fuck him behind my back anymore.”
Derek’s entire back tensed up as he let out a low growl. “Are you fucking kidding me? Avery's going to have a field day when she gets here.”
“What? How does she know to come here?”
I actually grinned at the panic in Liam’s voice.
“The same way I knew to come flying in.”
Susan gasped and stepped out from behind Liam. “You weren’t reading a text from Liam at all, were you, Victoria? Answer me!”
A shriek pierced the air as another gunshot went off. I froze until Derek stepped away from me and lunged for Liam.
As I leaned against the wall for support, I not only clocked Susan clutching her shoulder, but also the red liquid quickly spreading around and over her fingers.
Well, at least we both got hit.
Derek and Liam were throwing punches and trying to knock each other to the ground. The pain and blood loss were making me dizzy, and it was all I could do to stay upright. I couldn't let my guard down or fall over. The second I did, I was as good as dead.
If I wasn't already on my way there.
A low chuckle came out of my sister, pulling my focus back to her once more.
Susan still had her gun in her hand, though it was shaking.
“This is perfect. I can say I took a bullet trying to save you from Derek, who was blind with rage about losing you.” She shook her head, grinning.
“God, this is even better than my original plan. Thanks, Sis.”
I pulled out the knife Derek had given me for my birthday and held it tight in my hand. I only had one chance to get this right. I didn’t want to kill her, but she had to be stopped.
Please forgive me.
I took as deep of a breath as my pain would allow, aimed, and threw my knife as hard as I could. The blood-curdling scream that echoed off the empty surfaces of the house should have brought me some kind of joy. But there was nothing. I was numb.
Why can’t I feel anything?
As my vision faded, someone rushed past me, screaming. The voice was familiar, but I couldn't place it. Is that Avery? They shouted angrily at Liam, but the words were lost. All I could focus on was the blood. My blood. It was everywhere.
“Tori!”
I tried to respond, but my body refused to cooperate.
I was so cold.
“Get her the fuck out of here!”
Derek’s face appeared in front of me. “Come on, beautiful.”
I blinked as he scooped me up and ran outside. Snow was falling now.
Is that why I'm cold?
It was the last thought I had before everything went dark.
I physically shivered, and the motion of Peter pulling my blanket tighter around me and holding me tight against his chest pulled me back to the present. Back into the arms of the man I trusted beyond reason… and maybe even loved.