“We can’t linger on that anymore.” I lay a gentle hand on his shoulder. The motion feels natural, and he doesn’t pull away. “What we need to focus on is taking down Christian and whoever is pulling his psychotic puppet strings.”
Liam stares down at me, our twin-colored eyes meeting in silent acceptance, before shifting his gaze away.
“Okay, little one.” He takes a long breath in, letting it out slowly. “What’s your plan?”
“We hit him where it hurts, and we use his own family against him,” I tell my biological father. “He’ll never see it coming.”
The men at the table nod as they scoot closer to hear to the plan I’ve been putting in motion since the funeral.
I realized something in that small, dank cell Christian kept me in. My entire life has always been chosen for me. I’ve always been someone’s pawn. Elias’s. Christian’s…Matthias’s.
No more.
It is time I take what I’ve never had before.
It is time to become the avenging angel I’m meant to be, and fuck anyone who gets in my way.
ten
I wring my hands nervously as the phone on the table taunts me.
Coward,it seems to say.Pussy.It isn’t wrong. The plan I’ve come up with and refined with Liam to perfection hinges on his cooperations. His willingness to help take down Christian and his puppeteer.
What if he doesn’t want to?
He thinks I betrayed him. That is why hasn’t come for me. The man I’ve fallen for who can never love me back. He is a fortress of darkness with an ice-cold heart.
“You’re going to have to do it sooner or later, lass.” Liam leans against the bar on the opposite side, arms crossed against his chest as he fixes me with a knowing look. “Might as well get it over with.”
“You don’t sound too thrilled about it.” I pick up the shiny black iPhone, running my fingers along the edges, marveling at how light it is. I’ve never had a phone of my own before. Not even Matthias gave me one. I thought it was because he didn’t trust me, even after everything I did to show him my loyalty. It wasnever about trust, however. It was about control. Like everything else when it comes to him.
Liam snorts. “Am I thrilled at the fact that my daughter, who, for the last twenty-four years, I didn’t know existed, was forcibly married to one of the strongest BratvaPakhansin the nation?” he chuckled mirthlessly. “No. but I learned a long time ago there is no changing things that happened in the past that were out of my control. The only thing you can do is be in the present and control the things you can. Like making that phone call.”
Without another word, he withdraws, leaving me stunned as I watch him walk away. My biological father is the fucking Irish version of Ghandi.
Christ.
But he is right. I am running scared. Afraid I’ll fall back on old habits. It is too easy to slide into the docile submissive I’ve mostly always been. Too easy to let him take control.
It is my turn to captain my life.
Sighing, I unlock the phone, dialing the one number I know by heart.
It rings. Once. Twice. Then the telltale sign of someone picking up pitches through the speaker.
“You have a lot of nerve calling here, Avaleigh.”
The use of my full name causes me to wince. He rarely used it unless he was upset.
“Some people call it initiative, Matthias,” I snark. “And why give me a number you never wanted me to call?”
“That was before you betrayed me,” he growls into the phone The conviction his words hold shatter my heart. He honestly believes that I sold him out.
“I never betrayed you,” I whisper sadly. “Not intentionally.”
Matthias’s laugh might as well be a stake of ice through my chest, it is that cold.
“You honestly expect me to believe that?” he questions. “In what world do you think I am that naïve, Avaleigh, that I’d believe anything you’d say. You want to tell me that you weren’t working with that FBI agent?”
