3. Liana
LIANA
I come to and instantly start to swing. I’m being attacked. They want my things or my car or something even worse and I have to fight.
I have to protect Sonny. Hands grab my wrists and I open my mouth to scream.
“Liana.” A firm, familiar deep voice makes the scream die in my throat.
“Wh-what? How do you know my name?” My words come out slightly slurred and I feel dizzy. I think I might have a concussion. Then my eyes focus and I see him. Fuck. “Dario? What the hell are you doing here?”
I wrench away from him, scooting back against my back tire. My knees are scraped and bleeding and my face aches. I look up at him, confused.
“What the hell are you doing here?” he asks harshly, standing up from where he’d been crouching.
I open my mouth to snap back but then it occurs to me that I don’t know where Sonny is.
“Sonny!” I scream, trying to get up, but the world tilts on its axis.
“Stop it. You’re going to fall and hurt yourself again. He’s okay. Miraculously he’s still asleep. He must sleep like I do.”
Panic tightens my throat. “He’s nothing like you,” I spit out.
Dario ignores that remark, his dark eyes unreadable. “Answer my question. What are you doing here?”
I flush, embarrassed. I can’t tell him that I’ve been living out of my car, that it’d been so cold that I was worried we’d freeze. That I can’t run the heater anymore because I’m almost out of gas.
It took me a few weeks to run through the money I’d saved, and I spent a few nights at my best friend Beth’s place, but.... honestly I didn't want to. Even though she probably hates Dario more than I do, she’s his cousin.
I really had no choice but to live in my car. Thank God it was paid for, even though the insurance had probably lapsed. It was in my father’s name.
“I was... traveling. Needed a nap so I pulled over.”
“Traveling, huh? With all your possessions in the car?” he asks incredulously, stepping closer to me.
I shrink back against the car, trembling. I’m wearing my thermal underwear and layers but it’s still cold.
Dario lets a breath out of his nostrils, his breath showing as he does.
“I heard about your father,” he says quietly. “I’m sorry.”
I hang my head because tears are pricking at the backs of my eyes and I don’t want him to see me cry.
“Yeah, well... thanks for helping me, I guess.”
I look around to see neither of the men are anywhere to be found.
“You’ve been living in your car,” he accuses.
“I told you. I was traveling—”
“Traveling where? You don’t have family outside the state. You don’t even have friends outside the state.”
“You don’t know that. We haven’t spoken in years.”
“Five.”
I blink, looking up at him. He’s kept count? Odd, since he’s the one who broke my heart.
“Yeah, well. Maybe I have friends out of state now.”
“You don’t,” he says flatly, and reaches out a hand to me.
I take it reluctantly, standing up with effort, still slightly dizzy.
I put a hand to my head.
He touches my face and I wince. “You’re hurt. Probably have a concussion. God knows what else. Plus it’s fucking freezing.”
“Sonny’s in his thermals,” I say almost defensively. I hadn’t wanted to use Dario’s apartment complex to park in, but it was the safest place I could think of for the night, and I still knew the code—his mother’s birth year.
Dario sighs. “You’re coming home with me. Both of you.”
I tremble. “But—”
“Not here. Get in the passenger side.”
“Listen, I’ll just get out of your hair—”
“Do you want your son to freeze to death?’
His words fall on me like a hammer. He’s right. I don’t have a choice, not when I’m injured like this, not without any money.
I take in a deep breath. “Alright. Fine.”
I get into the passenger side of the car, looking back at Sonny, who’s in fact, still dead asleep.
Dario has always slept like the dead, too, and Sonny inherited it.
I myself am a light sleeper, so it’s surprising that the two men snuck up on me.
I guess I’m just exhausted from barely sleeping.
It's not like this is a particularly safe city.
Dario squeezes into the car, grunting as he lets the seat way back for his long legs.
I rifle around for the keys, which are in the console, and when our hands touch and our eyes meet, a shock of something electric runs down my spine.
I swallow hard and look away.
Dario cranks up the car and starts to drive. I lean my head back against the headrest, touching my cheek.
“We’ll put some ice on it,” he says quietly.
“I’m not worried about it.”
“You should be. It isn’t safe to live in your car, Liana.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” I snap. “My stepmother and I don’t exactly get along.”
“You never did.”
I go silent. I hate that he knows me. I hate that we spent three unbelievable, sexy months together and that I let him in. I hate that he’s my only option to keep me and my son alive right now.
I hate him.
“You’re safe for tonight.” He glances in the rearview mirror. “You and the kid.”
“Thank you,” I say through gritted teeth.
“Yeah well, I don’t want to kill any more of my security guards.”
Of course. Of course it’s not about me.
He just doesn’t want undesirables in his parking lot.
I huff out a breath. I guess that’s not fair. He doesn’t have to help me; he could have just let me leave.
We drive in silence the rest of the way, the only sound my son’s small snores.
When we arrive at his place, I’m not surprised to see that it’s more of a mansion than a house. My father’s house is pretty big, six bedrooms, but this place has wings it’s so big. But I already knew that his family had money, that his father was don where my father was only an enforcer.
There are levels to this life, and Dario has always been at the very top. Not that I have it hard or anything. I’m aware that I’ve been spoiled all of my life.
I’ve always been daddy’s little girl, and now that he’s gone...
I don’t know what I am.
I get dizzy when I stand, getting out of the car. Dario makes a distressed noise in the back of his throat when I go to open the back door.
“Stop. I’ll take him inside. You can barely stand.”
“No, I’ve got it,” I say stubbornly but he’s already scooping Sonny up in his arms. Panic rises in me again—what if he sees his nose, his mouth, what if he knows instantly?
But he just puts Sonny’s head on his shoulder. My son doesn’t even stir, just wraps his arms around Dario’s neck and settles into him. I relax slightly when Dario doesn’t react.
He unlocks the door with one hand, holding Sonny with the other, and I trail in behind him, looking around despite myself.
I’ve been to places this nice for meets, for parties, but I’ve certainly never stayed in one. The high ceilings have what appears to be intricate, crystal chandeliers, the lighting warm and inviting.
Dario instantly goes up the stairs and I start to follow, but he barks out my name and I freeze.
“Stay down here. I’m taking him to one of the guest rooms.”
I frown, hesitating, but in the end, I do as he says, feeling kind of out of it. Maybe due to the lack of sleep, the hunger, the concussion, the stress. Take your pick.
I’d been able to keep Sonny fed, but tonight was the last of our money even for food. I’d gotten him a quesadilla from a fast-food restaurant with my last ten bucks. My sweet boy all but forced me to eat a piece, but I made him eat the rest.
That’s all I’ve had to eat in two days.
Feeling dizzy again, I sit down on the bottom stair.
Dario comes back down and he frowns down at me when he reaches the bottom step.
“How are you feeling? I can call a medic—”
“No,” I say quickly. “I’m fine. I just got a little lightheaded.”
His frown deepens. “When’s the last time you slept well? Ate well?”
I go silent, not sure how to answer that, and he sighs heavily.
“Follow me,” he says flatly, as if he’s annoyed by the whole situation. I frown.
“Why are you helping me?” I ask, stubbornly refusing to get up even as he tugs at my hand.
He drops my hand, his dark eyes searching my face.
“Because I’m not a monster, Li.”
The nickname is a pang in my heart. He’s the only one to ever shorten my name that way.
I swallow hard and stand up, bracing myself on the railing.
Dario leads me into the kitchen and I sit down in a chair, still feeling dizzy.
He opens the freezer and takes out a frozen bag of peas, gently pressing it to my swollen face.
I hiss at the sudden cold and sting, but he doesn’t move it away and after a moment, the pain subsides and the ache dulls.
I slowly put my hand over his to take the frozen peas and his gaze snaps to mine, his pupils dilating slightly.
Is he as affected by my touch as I am by his? Still? After all this time?
But then he looks away, clearing his throat.
“I’ll make you something to eat.”
“You don’t have to—”
He cuts me off. “I know I don’t have to. But lucky for you, I’m full of sunshine and rainbows.”
I can’t help but crack a smile at that.
He’d always made me laugh with his dry sense of humor.
We spent three months together—nearly every day together. At first, it was just a fling, but I’d thought that had changed for both of us.
Until I caught him out with someone else.
I swallow hard, not wanting to think about it. It still makes me feel like there’s a pit in my stomach.
Dario turns away from me, digging in the fridge before pulling out a box of what appears to be Chinese leftovers. He pops the box in the microwave and the device beeps as he sets it.
He turns as the food heats up, leaning against the counter and crossing his arms over his chest.
“What I’d like to know is why your kid’s father isn’t helping,” he says in a low, almost dangerous tone.
My breath catches in my throat. “We aren’t... aren’t in touch.”
Dario scoffs. “Of course not. He turned tail and ran, didn’t he?”
“Something like that,” I mutter, my face feeling hot. I look away, hoping that he’ll let me go to bed soon. I’m dizzy and nauseous and I don’t want to talk about this.
I don’t even want to do this. I shouldn’t rely on him again. He’ll only hurt me again.
And I’ll be damned if I ever let that happen again.
Even if he did save me.