Chapter 16 #2
And just like that, some of what had been suffocating him since Christiana’s death released a little.
God and he still had work to do, but today the weight was lighter.
Today there was more hope than fear. More joy than anger.
Today he remembered that God wouldn’t leave him, and He wouldn’t leave Nimue.
Luke squeezed his shoulder. “Now get out of here, will you?” He let him go. “We’ve got a plane to catch.”
Liam laughed and Logan got up, hugged him.
When he stepped back, Logan wore a frown. He turned his back to the airport activity. “Those Bratva guys you mentioned. How lethal are we talking?”
“Why?” Liam stilled.
“Guy in the dark jacket, standing by the stairs. Been watching you for ten minutes.”
Liam glanced at him.
“Don’t look—for cryin’ out loud,” Luke said.
“Why would they be here?” Logan said.
“I don’t know. But I need to get back to Nimue.”
His brothers exchanged one of those wordless looks that came from sharing DNA.
“You and Luke could pass for twins in bad lighting.” Logan leaned closer. “Clothes swap. Luke and I’ll wander toward the food court, see if Shadow Boy follows. You slip out the back.”
Liam tugged at his sweat-stained shirt. “Fair warning—these clothes have seen better decades.”
Luke’s mouth quirked. “What’s family for? Though I feel sorry for whoever sits next to me on the plane.”
The restroom swap took five minutes. Liam emerged in Luke’s clean jeans and hoodie—foreign feeling after days in the canyon. In Liam’s borrowed gear, Luke looked like he’d been wrestling bears.
Liam’s brothers strolled toward a restaurant, casual as tourists. The shadow hesitated, then followed their retreat into the crowd.
Liam grabbed Luke’s bag and bolted for the exit.
The glass doors whooshed open, spitting him into Vegas heat. He’d bought time—maybe. But Nimue was still in that hospital bed, machines monitoring every heartbeat.
Time to stop running and start fighting.
The plan was falling apart.
Steinbeck should’ve intercepted Teresa by now—he was out in the hallway with the Caleb Group operators, hiding, waiting…
But her hospital door stayed shut. Not even a knock.
No Teresa. Someone had tipped her off.
Nimue twisted the scratchy hospital blanket between her fingers, fabric bunching and pulling as monitors beeped their even rhythm. Her body felt foreign—tubes snaking from her arms, wires tracking every heartbeat, every breath.
She felt like she’d been hacked.
“She won’t get far.” Emberly’s voice cut through room.
Nimue’s sister stood sentinel by the window, arms folded. She’d let the team handle this, refusing to leave Nimue’s side.
I don’t need a weapon to kill someone. You should know that.
The memory sliced through Nimue’s thoughts, Teresa’s voice chilling her.
“Maybe Liam’s already airborne.” The words scraped her throat. “Flying wherever he could get the cheapest ticket to.”
Emberly pivoted, shoes squeaking against linoleum. Arms crossed. Eyes narrowed. “That what you’re hoping for?”
“I want him safe.” Nimue’s knuckles went white against the blanket. “Everyone leaves eventually. Maybe it’s better if he goes now.”
“That’s not—”
“You left.”
The accusation hung between them like smoke. Emberly froze.
“I was lost, Nim. And the Black Swans gave me a future I needed—”
“You needed.” The words came out harsher than she intended, sharp enough to make Emberly flinch, her hand pausing mid-gesture. “We were supposed to be a team. I woke up and you were gone. Just a note saying goodbye. I was devastated.”
The chair creaked as Emberly sank down, hands folding over her knees.
“That was a long, long time ago. You had Boz, had a real family for the first time. I thought…Well, I didn’t belong.
Or I thought so. I was running from my own fears.
I knew the best thing for me was to leave—and the best thing for you was to stay.
” She put her hand on Nim’s arm. “But I came back. And we found each other again. And you shouldn’t apply one stupid sister’s behavior to everyone you meet. ”
“What about Mom?”
“Mom was a wreck, and we both know it. She doesn’t get to mess with our heads anymore.”
“I hope she was happy, in the end.”
“She had money, security. I think that’s all she ever wanted.”
Nimue shook her head. “No. She wanted love.”
A beat, then, “Don’t we all.”
“Tell me you don’t see a pattern. Every time I love someone…” Nimue’s voice trailed off, her fingers loosening on the blanket, her gaze drifting to the window, where the night pressed against the glass, the bright city lights lighting the night sky.
“But in all of those cases, they weren’t leaving you.
” Emberly reached for her hand and squeezed it.
“I was running scared. Mom was broken. And Dad? Dad would never have left you if he’d had the choice.
You were Dad’s water fairy, the Lady of the Lake.
He always said he named you after the enchantress because he fell in love with you at first sight.
You have so much love to give, Nimue. Don’t close it off from Liam because you are afraid. ”
“What if he doesn’t love me?” Nimue’s throat closed around the words. “He had a ticket, Em. Was through security.”
“Trust me.” Emberly’s knuckles went tight, voice barely audible over the monitors’ beeping. “I saw his face when they said you’d made it through surgery. That man’s coming back.”
“I kept everything from him.” Nimue’s fingers found the bed rail, metal cold against her palm. “The money, Teresa’s threats, the gold. I thought I was protecting him, but—”
“I’m not going to say that isn’t a big deal.
Love isn’t only about shielding someone from danger—it’s about facing it together.
” Emberly’s eyes fixed on her. “I learned that with Steinbeck. But now God has made us a team, and we’re stronger together.
I have to trust that. Trust that God is there for him.
But Liam loves you, trust me.” She leaned back, her chair creaking again, her gaze unwavering.
A phone’s shrill ring sliced through their conversation. Emberly snatched it up.
“Stein?” She paced to the window. “It’s over?” Her expression gave nothing away, but then she spun back to face Nimue. “Liam’s where?” Pause.
Nimue’s world contracted to pinpoints of light.
“Is he okay?”
Everything stopped. The monitors, her breathing, her heart. Teresa had him. Game over. She’d lost—
Emberly’s mouth twitched. Almost a smile. “Send him up.”
Emberly turned, shoulders dropping half an inch. “Teresa’s in custody. But Liam walked into the middle of the takedown and—well, the Caleb Group doesn’t take chances. They thought he was one of her men and took him down before Steinbeck could stop them.”
“They hurt him?” Nimue tried to surge upright, pain lancing through her ribs like lightning. Her fingers clutched the bed rail, knuckles screaming.
“He’s fine. A little roughed up, but fine.” Emberly’s palms came up, surrender position. “On his way up now.”
The door whispered open.
And there he stood—filling the doorway like he owned it, bottom lip swollen, hoodie torn at the shoulder. Battle-worn but breathing.
And those eyes. Those heartbreaking blue eyes just landed on hers, so much in them that she might lose her breath, again. “Liam.”
“Your security team packs a punch.” His voice carried that familiar rumble that tunneled right under her skin, all the way to her bones.
Nimue’s heart monitor picked up tempo. “You came back.”
“I should’ve never left.” His fingers found hers—warm, steady, real. “Biggest mistake of my life.”
“Where were you flying to?” She had to know. Had to understand.
Confusion flickered across his features. “Flying?”
“Teresa showed me footage. You at the airport, through security—”
He was already shaking his head. “I went to see my brothers. Bought the cheapest ticket they had just to get past the checkpoint.” His face went serious. “I won’t lie—part of me wanted to get on that plane. Run like I did after Switzerland.”
Her breath caught.
“Last night when you were dying and I couldn’t—” His voice broke. “I was helpless. Nimue, losing you would have destroyed me. But that’s the risk, right? Loving someone means you might lose them. I’m done running from that.”
“You love me?”
His thumb traced gentle circles over her knuckles. “Less than three weeks and you’ve turned my world upside down. I don’t know what tomorrow looks like, but I know I want you with me.” His eyes searched hers. “Unless you want me to go—”
“No.” The word came out fierce, desperate. Her fingers tightened around his. “Stay. Please.”
“I want to kiss you.” His gaze dropped to her lips, then tracked the maze of tubes and wires. “But I’m thinking logistics might be an issue.”
“And you’re still bleeding.”
His hand went to his lip. “Oops.”
Heat flushed her cheeks. “Rain check?”
“I bought you something.” He set a dented tin on the table in front of her. “I think most of them are broken now. Your bodyguards thought it was a weapon.”
Nimue pried open the lid. Colored pencils lay inside—or what used to be colored pencils. Now they looked like confetti. Forty pieces of broken rainbow.
“I’ll buy new ones—”
Her hand covered his, stopping his reach. “They’re perfect.”
His smile could’ve powered the entire hospital. He leaned down, lips brushing hers with whisper softness. A promise more than a kiss.
Exhaustion tugged at her eyelids. Oh, she was sleeping way too much. “I don’t want to sleep. I want to talk to you.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” He settled into the chair beside her bed, fingers never leaving hers. “I’ll be here when you wake up. And every moment after that.”
The monitors kept their steady rhythm as sleep pulled her under.
But his hand stayed warm in hers.
Solid. Real.
Here.