Clearing my throat, I refocus on Attorney Snow, who waits patiently. “Nothing was unusual for quite a while. A few months. We became romantically involved.”
Liam’s hand tightens on my shoulder, but I know it isn’t because he’s angry or jealous about me being with someone else; it’s because he knows where this story ends.
His distress is mine.
His frustration tied to the fact that he can’t do a thing to the man who hurt me so badly.
Attorney Snow jots down a few more notes, then raises a brow again. “When did things become ‘unusual,’ as you put it?”
Shifting restlessly under his assessment, I think back on those days I’ve tried so hard to forget to ensure I get it right. “When he started hanging around more and more at the store I was working at. It was right along a very busy street, across from a bank.”
“What bank?”
“Colombia Savings and Loan.”
He keeps writing, expecting me to proceed with the story.
And I have to, no matter how painful it is to recount being blindsided so badly by someone I had trusted.
“I thought he just wanted to spend time with me.” I shrug. “We weren’t super busy most of the time, so he could hang out while I worked, and we would chat.”
Though, it was never anything important.
Superficial, at best.
Nothing like the long, deep conversations I have had with Liam about my life, my past, my fears, and his own.
Because deep down, I knew there was something off about Brad.
“He started asking me questions about the bank hours and what time I brought over the deposits. He said he was worried about me doing it alone at night in the dark, and he insisted he wanted to start coming with me. I didn’t think anything of it.” I release a little sigh at my own ignorance. “I thought it was kind of sweet.” My throat tightens at how naïve I was, at how easily I fell for the act. “I’d never met a guy who was like that before. I never had anyone want to protect me like that.”
Liam’s hand shifts to the back of my neck, and he lightly brushes his thumb across the skin there, settling me as I reach the part of the story where it all went to shit.
“He started coming with me when I made deposits, and it became a daily thing.”
Attorney Snow nods. “How long did this go on?”
“Maybe six weeks?” I shrug, the timeline melting together. “Eight weeks?”
Intense dark eyes watch me expectantly. “And then what happened?”
“And then I helped him rob the bank.”
LIAM
I don’t know why I believed hearing this for the second time would make it easier somehow. It was delusional to think knowing everything Lucky went through might make standing here as she relays it again—to a total stranger who might be her only chance of getting her life back—break me less.
The pain definitely isn’t any better.
If anything, the second go-around is worse, like having acid thrown into an already open, gaping wound that was created the day Lucky revealed the truth.
It takes all my will power to retain a neutral expression as Attorney Snow’s eyes narrow on her with her confession.
My gaze flicks up to meet Killian and Connor’s. While they’ve both heard the story from me so we could prepare a game plan, having Lucky tell it in her own words is rough for them, too.
They’re both always so stoic, internalizing their emotions and only letting them out when they’ve been contained so long that they finally have to explode.
And now, they’re both tense.
