“That’s what the initial money was for. That’s what the bonds were for, to set someone up as Thomas Molina. He would have to be roughly the right height and build, but other than that, plastic surgery can do wonders. But it can’t correct the color of a person’s eyes. He would need contacts if they didn’t match.”
“And then he could easily take over the company because he had no close ties to anyone. He wouldn’t even have to really answer uncomfortable questions.” So much of her life for the last six months had been one long lie. “I met Brian in a rehab facility. For my legs, not drug rehab. He was getting over an injury. He said he’d just come into a bunch of money. He died a couple of months after he introduced me to Thomas.” She shook her head, horrified at her own na?veté. “I was surprised that someone like Thomas would want an assistant with so little experience, and then Brian told me he liked to get them while they were still innocent. ‘All the better to corrupt them,’ he said. I thought he was joking, but he wasn’t was he?”
“Probably not. But it doesn’t matter now because you’re out of this and so am I. Though it makes me wonder exactly who Nelson got to do that little job for him. Who could have hated his life so much that he was willing to do anything to change it?” Liam paled, a tremble going through his body, but he shook it off. “Like I said, it doesn’t matter. Come on, love. I need that shower and some Scotch.”
He took her hand and led her to the trains. They huddled close, every moment of their time together playing through her head. She followed him, utterly numb. She was a zombie walking where Liam told her to go because she knew she was going to have to make a decision, and she wasn’t ready for that yet.
Twenty minutes later, he sat her down on her couch and passed her a couple of fingers of the Scotch he’d bought earlier in the week. “I won’t be long.” He gestured around the room as though to remind her that someone was listening in. “We need to leave in an hour. The show starts at seven thirty sharp. We can have dinner over in the West End. All right?”
She was supposed to be specific when they could hear her. “Yes. That sounds nice.”
He nodded and walked away, leaving her alone for the first time.
He was going to take her on the run. He would be protecting her twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week until the threat was over. There was no way she would be able to stay out of his arms. She would end up in bed with him again. She would submit to him again. She would fall in love with him again.
When would it end? Everything ended. When would Liam O’Donnell end, and why should she even try to take a chance? She’d lost everyone she’d loved. She would just lose him, too.
She shuffled through the apartment, her little London flat where everything had seemed ready to bloom. This was supposed to be her second act, but now she realized that everything before the day she’d met Liam had been a dress rehearsal. He was the real second act. He was her chance, but she wasn’t sure she dared to take it.
Tears blurred her eyes, but she couldn’t cry. They would hear her. She quietly opened drawers, gathering the few things she couldn’t leave behind. Her real passport. A change of clothes. Her medications.
A small book of photographs lay buried at the bottom of her drawer. Pictures of her parents, her husband, her baby. She’d buried it in here, tucking it all away like something that should be hoarded, something that she should hide.
Tears fell as she opened it. Her parents. So loving, so kind. They’d been taken far too soon, and she still missed them every day of her life. Brandon. Would they still be married? Had it really been love or had she been looking for a way out? She’d struggled for so long with questions that didn’t matter. He’d been good to her. He didn’t deserve to be hidden away.
And Maddie. Her little girl who hadn’t gotten to live.
She’d spent so much time worrying about forgiving the girl who had killed them that she’d never forgiven herself for surviving.
This was why she was ready to push away a man like Liam O’Donnell. She’d taught herself to walk, but she was still in that car. She could play at being alive, but she hadn’t been forced to really live. She hadn’t been forced to put her heart on the line and pray that everything worked out because life could be so hard and cruel. She hadn’t chosen between fear and hope yet.
She looked at her daughter, so small and sweet in her father’s hands. Brandon looked terrified, but he held Maddie close.
She’d asked what Stephanie owed her, but what did Avery owe these two precious people? What did she owe them? What did she owe herself?
A life. She owed them a life, and not the half-life she’d been living. She’d been a tourist. She’d fought to walk again and then all she was willing to do was watch as life passed her by. She’d spent all her time in museums and art galleries allowing no one to really touch her. It had been easier, but she couldn’t do it any longer. She owed everyone who had loved her a real life, with real risk.