“Hiding me?” I echo in bafflement. “Why, Liam? Tell me what the hell is going on!”

He pivots to face me, one leg coming onto the bed. A rare show of temper flashes in his eyes. “I will, goddamnit. I’m trying to find the words. Jesus H. Christ, Eden, this isn’t exactly easy for me.”

Sheets bunch in my fingers. “Easy for you? Asshole!” Unhinged by rage, I launch myself at him, raining punches on his chest and arms. He doesn’t try to stop me, sitting immobile beneath my abuse.

When I’ve exhausted my meager energy reserves, I collapse sobbing against him. Only then does he move, encasing me in his strong arms.

“I’m sorry, dove.”

“Don’t call me that,” I say without bite. Lifting my tearstained face, I search his eyes. Looking for answers. Finding only mysteries. “Why?”

“The simple answer is I don’t want him to have you.”

“And the complicated one?”

“He thinks you know where your mother is. From what I gather, her disappearance with you was unexpected.” Before I can ask what the fuck he means, he continues, “I don’t know why he wants to find her, but I can guess it isn’t for a happy reunion.”

“But I don’t know my mother,” I protest. “I was adopted when I was a year old—”

“I know, but Maddoc believes otherwise.”

I shudder and he holds me tighter. “You haven’t told him? About me?”

“I didn’t tell him, but he knows. He’s got rats in every gutter in this city.” He pauses. “Let’s just say we’re at an impasse in our negotiations. He isn’t allowed to come near you unless it’s on my terms.”

Fear runs like ice in my veins but despite it, I don’t pull away. “Who are you, Liam?” I whisper into his shoulder.

“Someone who wants to protect you,” he murmurs. “Who’s willing to go to great lengths to keep you safe. Trust me, you don’t want the life your sister has.”

The word sister blows every other thought from my mind. My head whips up, narrowly avoiding his chin. “Tell me where she is.”

“I’ll tell you—with conditions.”

The trap is set, and regardless of knowing how much it will hurt, I walk willingly into it.

“What are they?”

“The first one is that you stay.”

* * *

Liam presents his terms in a voice that brooks no argument. Sitting a safe three feet from him on the bed, I listen, my heart shriveling a little more with each pronouncement.

I move in with him immediately and for the foreseeable future.

I tell my parents I’ve decided to postpone medical school for a year.

I tell Karina and Raul nothing. Or anyone else, for that matter.

I quit my jobs.

I allow him to track my phone and car.

“You want me to be your prisoner.”

“I want to keep you safe.”

We’ve been going in the same circle for more than fifteen minutes. Either he can’t understand my perspective, or he simply doesn’t care.

“Safe from who? Maddoc Donnelly? Do you think he wants to hurt me?”

“I doubt it,” he says. “But there are worse fates. Once he has you, he won’t let you go.”

My eyes narrow. “How is that any different from what you’re doing to me?”

Liam throws up his hands. “You’re impossible to reason with.”

I stand and pace to the bedroom doorway and back. When I stop, I square my shoulders with newfound conviction. “I’ll disappear. I’ll get in my car and drive out of town, and neither of you will ever see me again.”

“This isn’t the bloody movies, Eden,” he growls. “There’s no escape from men like your father.”

“You mean men like you!”

He’s unaffected by my accusation. “And you’d leave your sister behind? Your parents? What would you do when you run out of money? Because you will, and I’m sure as fuck not giving you any. Will you sell that sweet pussy on the streets?”

As I weigh the odds of whether or not I can strangle him, he leaps from the bed. Faster, stronger, so controlled, he pushes me backward with one hand cupping my shoulder and a forearm on my neck.

My spine meets the wall beside the bedroom door. Chest heaving against his, I dig fingernails into his forearm. He doesn’t even flinch. Once again, he’s not cutting off my air, just subduing me.

An image pops into my mind of a cat being immobilized by the scruff of their neck.

I laugh. Hysterically. Then I spit in his face.

A grievous error.

Seconds later, I’m flat on my back on the bed with him on top of me. My legs are wrenched apart, my wrists captured in one hand and held against the headboard.

I scream and writhe beneath him, shouting profanities and trying to slam my head against his. When my thrashing heels find one of his kidneys, he sucks in a sharp breath of pain.

“God forgive me,” he says right before slapping me across the face. Fiery pain blooms in my cheek and jaw, the shock of it stunning me silent and still. Tears of rage and helplessness cloud my eyes.

“I hate you,” I sob.

His forehead drops to mine, his panting breaths warm on my stinging cheek. “If only that were true, dove. You might stand a chance in this world.”

“Let me go,” I beg him. “Please, don’t do this to me.”

He’s gone a moment later, striding to the door and pausing briefly on the threshold.

“You have twenty-four hours to decide. Option A, you let me keep you safe. Option B, you run. If you decide on the latter, you have my word that I won’t try to stop you. But you’d better hope I find you before Maddoc does. Choose wisely.”

The door closes.

When I finally muster the courage to venture from the bedroom, the house is quiet and Liam’s car is missing from the driveway. I don’t hesitate, grabbing my keys from the floor just inside the front door and racing to my car. For all I know, there’s already a tracking device on it, but I don’t give a shit if he knows where I’m going.

Fifteen minutes later, I pull into the parking lot of the nearest police precinct.