Endless Love by Bianca Borell
Chapter Twenty-Five
BRIA
The lights flicker dimly along the long corridor, the smell of a damp basement lingering in the air. We stop at the only door in sight at the end. Liam opens it and lets me in. I sink into the brown leather couch and try to collect myself. Small golden-washed lamps cover every one of the four walls and shed light on the matte green wallpaper, and an enormous mahogany desk divides the room. There’s another room where he just disappeared, but I remain still and wait for his return. I will take the medicine, ask a few questions, and rush back upstairs. Damien must be fidgety by now.
He returns with a glass of water and two yellow, transparent medication bottles. I study them and swallow one of each and place the glass on the oval table beside me.
“Are we even allowed to be in here?” I ask as I look around the room.
“I am.”
A few minutes later, the medication settles in and I breathe, relieved. Liam leans against the desk, his eyes lost in deep thoughts, as one finger taps to an unknown beat over his lip.
Is he nervous or rather impatient? The silence becomes too loud to be acceptable for strangers as we stare at each other with too many questions and too little time.
“Thank you.”
“You should always have at least one with you. You might be better, but you still have a heart condition.”
His words end in a chastising tone. He’s right, but it doesn’t sit well with me.
“You don’t know me, Liam, except perhaps my name, what I do, how I look, but that’s it.” He scoffs and arches a brow in contradiction, challenging me to retract my words. It’s the arrogance of a man who has seen and experienced a lot. I’m certain most of it always on the edge between right and wrong, legal and illegal.
“It’s your life. It must be hard to prepare for years for a death that never came. And I know you like I know you see what no one else sees in me.” I sit straighter, and I lift my gaze to him.
“It seems we already know too much about the other for this conversation to be between strangers. So, you believe you know all about me, then I need to know all about you. It’s only fair.” I’m genuinely curious, although I’m aware I’ll never get my answer. There are invisible walls stacked around him, an unconquerable fortress.
He stands, walks toward me, and sits on the other end of the couch. He cocks his head in my direction, his eyes fixed on me.
“Straight forward, but by social norms, isn’t it rude to be this direct?” I roll my eyes at him. “What is it you want to know?”
“Liam, I’m sure you can overlook my lack of manners. I get that you’re dangerous, but under this perfectly put together mask lies something more.” He crosses one ankle over his knee and leans forward.
“You altered my life, Bria, without knowing. I just wanted to meet you.”
“I don’t know if you’re trying to protect me or threaten me?” I question, and he leans on the armrest.
“Neither, you have your fiancé, Damien, and Alex. Those two would die for you, one has your heart, and the other has your loyalty.” With my heart calming in my chest, I relax further, the need to find out his story encouraging me to continue to sit here.
He angles his head and stares at one lamp as he taps the armrest, pursing his lips.
“I have had enough of people thinking of me as the one who stole something from them. Whatever happened, he made a choice like I guess you made yours,” I say.
“I’m not accusing you of anything, and who said it’s a him I refer to?
“Who else then?” I have never had an odder conversation in my entire life. Who can it be? At first, he piqued my curiosity, now he has also my attention.
“You set something in motion.”
“How could I, Liam? I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I answer, tired of his secrecy, a sigh parting my lips, and I raise my hands in question.
“I’d do anything for her.” His confession startles me. I ponder the right answer for a moment.
“Why are you telling me this?”
He drags a hand down his face, and it’s now I detect the tiredness in his eyes and the bags under them. Love can do that too.
“If someone could love you with this intensity of yours, then you were a fool to let her go.”
“Who said I have?” His boyish smile brightens his entire face. If he smiles like this all the time, she doesn’t stand a chance.
“You’re in danger, Bria.”
“You must know about my cousin then. But why do you care?”
“You owe me,” he deadpans.
I freeze and murmur, “What?”
“Think of everything that should have stayed buried.”
“You found the video of my set up?” I gulp and try to make sense of this intricate web that links him to me.
“Yes, and something else. Nowadays, no one has the privilege of anonymity.”
He gestures for me to burrow deeper into my mind. My eyes widen, and my mouth hangs. “And you made sure I couldn’t be found when I had my last surgery.” I am baffled, and my mouth opens, but nothing comes out.
“Call it a distorted form of loyalty to the person I’ll take something from because I’m not the good guy. You will soon be the sole link to the only family he has ever known. He will need you. You will both need each other.”
“What are you talking about?” I ask, panic bubbling inside me.
“I monitor one person and all the people related to that person.”
“He and I, we’re family. And he has found another person to let in too.” His knuckles turn white as he presses them into the armrest, and then he shakes himself of the secondary paralysis.
“Sophia, hmm, we’ll see.” His eyes find me once again, just a trace of the storm brewing flash in them, and he continues, “One thing that will never change, he needs you, but the only one in danger right now is you.”
“You seem like a busy person. It must be exhausting trying to protect me. It’s a full-time job. Both my fiancé and Alex would agree with me on this topic.”
“I am aware. You can either bury your head in the sand and believe you’re unreachable or . . .” He says, letting me draw a picture of a hundred outcomes.
“Or what? Let me guess, allow you to do exactly what? No, don’t even bother to answer.”
“When the time comes, I hope you make the right decision.”
He stares at me, disappointment flickering in them and a hint of annoyance. She might be a threat, but I’ve faced worse. My phone vibrates, and I know I’m in trouble as I answer.
“Hi, baby,” I say, my voice too sweet.
The change in his breathing shows he’s aware I did something he won’t like, and he asks in a fake calm tone, “Where are you? Because I just stormed the ladies’ room.”
“I’m not there,” I murmur, chewing on my bottom lip.
“Yes, I found that out on my own. Bria, where are you?”
“Downstairs, but I’ll come up in a minute.”
He hangs up, a clear indicator he’s furious.
“I guess you’re in trouble.” He smirks, and I pierce him with a look, massaging my temples.
“It’s not funny.”
I rise to my feet and say, “I guess this is hello and goodbye at the same time.”
“Maybe, maybe not. I’ll be around.”
“In a way, I can’t even try to understand why, it’s comforting.” He stands up, approaches me and squeezes my shoulder.
“Be safe, Bria.”
I know nothing about this man and still we have a connection already. Why? I have no idea. I stop at the door and say over my shoulder, “Liam, staying on the outside is easy, it’s comfortable, and it envelops you whole. There’s no pain, but there is also no life. Don’t mistake it for one.”
“Should I let myself be loved, then?” He grins before he plops down on the coach. I shake my head at him and half smile. It’s a rhetorical question, he already decided.
“You’re not as bad as you’d like to think. She must be some kind of woman.” He offers a nod, his eyes seeking mine as if to make me understand how serious he is.
“She is.”
