Page 57 of The Tower

Her words stung, and even though he knew he wasn’t the cause of her pain—not that particular pain, at any rate—he felt the weight of it inside him. “After the hearing, you won’t be.”

He took her hand as the elevator doors opened. “Right now, I’m taking you back to the room.” He started to draw her toward him, but she stayed firmly in the corner. “What if I say no?”

He drew in a breath, then let it out slowly, willing himself not to lose his temper. She didn’t understand the danger. She was a kitten. New and scared. And until she was tame, he’d have to earn her trust over and over and over.

“If you say no,” he said in a low, steady voice, “then I walk away, and your father’s goons are on you in less than two minutes.”

“You won’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“Because my father killed your mother, didn’t he? That’s why you want to bring him down. To expose what he’s done to me. And to her.” The smile she flashed belonged to an innocent little girl, but her eyes were cold and calculating. “And you need me for all of that.”

“Do I? I have your blood. I’ll have Dr. Chen’s report soon. Release that to the press, and I think your father’s downfall is imminent.”

She said nothing, but he saw strength in her eyes. When this had first started, he’d expected her to be a frail little thing— the embodiment of the princess persona that was the hallmark of Reed Cosmetics. A woman who’d been so broken by her father that she was strong only in her own imagination but lacked the courage to find strength in the real world.

But she was so much more. Somewhere along the way, she’d become more than a lever. She’d become a partner, albeit a sometimes reluctant one. And for a man who’d lived his entire life completely alone despite a sea of brothers and staff, that was an uncomfortable and surprisingly pleasant realization.

Seventeen

Dangerous Liaisons

Liam stood by the bed, watching her sleep. He’d ended up carrying her the short distance from the elevator to the room. The fumes she’d been running on had faded, and she’d almost fallen asleep standing right there in the corner of the elevator.

He’d gently washed her feet again, then pulled off her tee and leggings, ignoring her soft protests and leaving her naked under the covers. And, yes, he’d been tempted to trail his lips and fingers all over her perfect form, but he’d tamped it down. He wanted her awake for those intimate caresses, but she’d barely been conscious, the exhaustion more than the result of an adrenaline drop. It was from the final, futile grasp of her father’s drugs trying to stay in her system. Silently begging her body to take more. Whispering that she would feel so much better. So much calmer.

So much more malleable.

Liam clenched a fist at his side. The woman had a way of driving him crazy, that was for sure. Still, he would never dream of pharmaceutically padlocking that sarcastic, snarky, bold woman. But Victor Reed wanted a controllable little princess, and so did men like him all over the world.

Liam’s hand ached, and he realized he’d clenched it into a fist as if he could will Victor into the room, then pummel his face until that prick atoned for his crimes.

Except there was no atonement possible for a man like Reed. Killing Rebecca? Killing his wife? Torturing and manipulating his daughter? Victor Reed was the devil, and Liam intended to make him dance for all the world to see. Then he’d kick his knees out and watch the bastard fall from his own goddamn tower. Hopefully, not metaphorically.

For years, he’d told himself that his pursuit of Reed wasn’t about Sasha. It was about his mother. About Victor Reed getting away with murder.

And that was true. But it was only part of the truth.

The whole truth was that Liam had hated himself for craving the woman now sleeping only a few feet away. A woman he’d been certain was nothing more than Victor Reed’s puppet, willingly and eagerly spreading her father’s lies.

The gloves had come off three years ago when she’d accused Elias of killing her mother at a press conference. As far as Liam was concerned, Elias Grimm was the devil himself, but the accusation didn’t make sense, and damned if Victor Reed’s beautiful and reclusive mouthpiece of a daughter was going to get away with lying about his family. Even a family that all but shunned him.

Maybe some part of him had wanted to prove himself worthy of being a Grimm, whatever that meant. He didn’t know. He didn’t care. But he’d cornered her after that press interview, then made sure she knew that he had her number. To him, she was nothing more than a lying little bitch—one who couldn’t think for herself and only followed her daddy’s lead, among a host of other horrible attributes.

Having laid out the verdict, he set out to prove it.

In the process, he’d learned a hell of a lot more than he’d expected, including that Victor Reed had killed both Sasha’s mother and his own. That the drugs were unapproved and untested. And that the man was only inches away from marketing them to a select group of wealthy individuals in transactions that would be virtually untraceable.

Too bad he hadn’t a whit of legitimate evidence he could take to the authorities, but Liam knew damn well every word was true. And he vowed to get the kind of proof that would not only take Reed down but would slam him behind bars for life.

And there was Sasha, trapped in the middle of it all. His heart twisted. Elias Grimm was a shitshow of a father and a vile human being. But he was Gandhi compared to Victor Reed.

Liam shuddered, telling himself he didn’t give a fuck about the man who fathered him. Who treated him like a wicked stepson, locked away in a basement.

Except, of course, he did care. And clearing Elias’s name by proving that Victor killed Lydia just might earn him the right to rise one rung on the family ladder.

And goddamn him to hell for wanting that.