9. Liam

CHAPTER 9

LIAM

T he city speeds by in a blur of neon and shadow as I weave through the late-night traffic, my hands white-knuckled on the wheel. In the passenger seat, Asher is a silent, watchful presence, his face set in lines of grim determination.

I hate this. Hate every fucking part of it, from the danger I'm leading him into to the cold, calculating part of me that knows it's necessary. Because he was right, back at the safehouse - Declan's obsession with Asher is the chink in his armor, the one thing that might make him sloppy.

And we need him sloppy. Need him reckless and overconfident, too blinded by his own arrogance to see the trap snapping shut around him.

But God, the thought of using Asher as bait, of dangling him out there like a worm on a hook for my psychotic brother... it makes bile rise in my throat, makes my heart pound with a terror I've never known.

I've spent my whole life armored in violence and apathy, in the cold certainty that caring was a weakness I couldn't afford. But Asher... he slipped past all my defenses like sunshine through a crack in a wall, illuminating all the dark, hungry places I'd thought long dead.

He makes me want things I never thought I could have. A future, a home. A love that isn't measured in blood and bruises.

And the idea of losing him now, of watching Declan snuff out that precious light... it's unthinkable. Unbearable.

As if sensing the dark turn of my thoughts, Asher reaches over and lays his hand on my thigh, his touch warm and grounding even through the denim of my jeans.

"Hey," he says softly, his voice a balm to my fractured nerves. "It's going to be okay, Liam. We've got this, remember? You and me, against the fucking world."

A shudder ripples through me, my throat tightening with a swell of emotion so profound it steals my breath. I take one hand off the wheel, covering his fingers with my own, holding on like he's my only anchor in a raging sea.

"I love you," I rasp, the words raw and honest as a wound. "Asher, if something happens to you tonight..."

"Nothing's going to happen to me," he cuts in, fierce and absolute. "Because you'll be there, watching my back. And I'll be watching yours. We're a team, Liam. In this and everything else."

I bring his hand to my lips, pressing a hard, desperate kiss to his knuckles. I want to argue, to snarl that there are no guarantees in this life, that bullets don't give a fuck about love or loyalty.

But one look at his face, at the steel and fire in his eyes, tells me it would be futile. He's made up his mind, my beautiful, brave boy. Made his choice to stand and fight at my side, come what may.

And God help me, but I love him for it. Love him with a ferocity that borders on madness, that eclipses every instinct for self-preservation and sanity.

We pull up to the warehouse that serves as Declan's base of operations, the hulking building looming against the starless sky. I cut the engine, the sudden silence pressing in like a physical weight.

For a moment, we just sit there, staring out the windshield, our hands clasped between us like a lifeline. Then Asher takes a deep breath, squares his shoulders, and reaches for the door handle.

"Showtime," he says, with a lightness I know he doesn't feel. "Let's go introduce Declan to the concept of fucking around and finding out, shall we?"

Pride and terror war in my chest, a hot, prickling tightness behind my ribs. I lean across the console and capture his mouth in a hard, hungry kiss, pouring everything I can't say into the press of my lips, the sweep of my tongue. He makes a soft, needy sound against my mouth, his fingers curling in the front of my shirt, holding on tight.

"If you die on me, sunshine, I'll fucking kill you," I pant when we break apart, my voice cracking with the effort of holding back the scream building in my throat. "Come back to me, you hear? No matter what goes down in there, you fucking come back to me."

He rests his forehead against mine, his breath warm and sweet on my face. "Always," he whispers, the word a vow, an oath sealed in flesh and blood. "I'll always come back to you, Liam. In this life and the next."

One more fierce, desperate kiss, and then we're moving, out of the car and across the cracked asphalt. I force my mind to clear, my focus to narrow to the mission, the plan we've drilled a thousand times.

Get in. Get Declan. Get out. No hesitation, no mercy. Just cold, brutal efficiency, the only language my brother understands.

But even as I slip into the icy headspace of the Enforcer, the ghost of Asher's touch lingers on my skin, his taste on my tongue. A reminder of what I'm fighting for, of the precious, impossible dream waiting on the other side of this nightmare.

We slip into the warehouse through a side door, the lock giving way under my practiced hands. The space is cavernous and dim, the air thick with the tang of motor oil and stale cigarettes. I move through the shadows like a wraith, Asher a silent presence at my heels.

We're halfway across the floor when the overhead lights flare to life, blinding in their intensity. I throw up a hand to shield my eyes, my other already going for my gun, my heart slamming against my ribs.

"Well, well, well." Declan's voice, cold and mocking, echoes through the vast space. "If it isn't my wayward baby brother, come to call. And look, he brought his pretty little boy-toy with him. Isn't that just precious?"

I blink away the spots dancing in my vision, rage and fear a sick swoop in my gut. Declan stands on the catwalk above us, flanked by a dozen heavily armed men. He's smiling, but there's no humor in it, no warmth. Just a cruel, anticipatory hunger, the look of a predator scenting blood.

"It's over, Declan," I snarl, my voice ringing with a conviction I pray isn't false. "We've got evidence of all your dealings, names and dates and offshore accounts. Enough to put you and your top brass away for a dozen lifetimes. Walk away now, and I'll consider letting you live out your days in a cage instead of a casket."

Declan throws his head back and laughs, the sound as hollow and ugly as the rest of him. "Oh, Liam," he sighs, shaking his head in mock sorrow. "You always were a stupid, sentimental fuck. You really think I'd let you get this close if I didn't have an ace up my sleeve? If I wasn't ten steps ahead of you and your merry little band of traitors?"

Ice slides down my spine, my finger tightening on the trigger of my gun. "The fuck are you talking about?"

Declan smiles, a razor's edge in the dark. "I'm talking about loyalty, little brother. The kind that can't be bought or bargained for. The kind that would follow me into the jaws of Hell, if I asked it."

He snaps his fingers, and the shadows behind him shift and writhe. A figure steps forward, and the breath leaves my lungs in a rush, my blood turning to ice water in my veins.

Finn. My best friend, my brother in arms. The man I trusted above all others, bound to me by blood and battle and the unshakable code of our world.

And he's standing at Declan's side, a gun in his hand and a sorrowful, resigned look on his face.

"I'm sorry, Liam," he says, quiet and wretched. "I didn't want it to come to this. But Declan... he's the head of the family. The king. And you don't betray the king and live to tell the tale."

Betrayal and rage rise like bile in my throat, hot and choking. I raise my gun, aiming it square at Finn's chest, my hand shaking with the force of my fury.

"You fucking Judas," I spit, tears stinging my eyes, blurring my vision. "I trusted you. I loved you like a brother, and this is how you repay me? By siding with this sadistic fuck over your own flesh and blood?"

Finn flinches, regret and self-loathing etched into every line of his face. "It's not personal, Liam," he says, pleading. "It's just... it's the way things are. The way they've always been. I can't change that, no matter how much I might want to."

"The fuck you can't," I snarl, grief and betrayal a wild animal in my chest, tearing and clawing. "There's always a choice, Finn. And you just made yours."

I start to squeeze the trigger, ready to paint the walls with the contents of my best friend's skull. But before I can complete the motion, Asher's voice rings out, high and panicked.

"Liam, down!"

I don't hesitate. I drop to the floor, rolling to the side just as a barrage of gunfire erupts overhead, the air suddenly thick with the stench of cordite and blood. Asher is right beside me, his own gun barking in rapid, precise bursts, his face a mask of fierce concentration.

Chaos erupts, men crying out, bodies hitting the ground with meaty thumps. I catch glimpses of black tac gear, of familiar faces contorted in pain and rage. Finn and Mia's handpicked team, bursting in from every side, turning Declan's smug trap into a killing field.

I scramble to my feet, my gun seeking targets with cold, methodical efficiency. I put a bullet between the eyes of one of Declan's lieutenants, watching with grim satisfaction as he crumples like a puppet with cut strings.

But even as I gun down my brother's men, my eyes are scanning the catwalk, searching for that hated face, that cruel, mocking smile. Declan is nowhere to be seen, vanished like smoke on the wind, and a cold, sinking dread settles in my gut.

"Liam!" Asher's voice, taut with urgency, with a fear that turns my blood to ice. "He's making a run for it! We have to..."

But before he can finish the sentence, before I can do more than turn in his direction, a figure melts out of the shadows behind him, a gun leveled at his unprotected back.

Declan. His face a twisted mask of rage and hate, his finger tightening on the trigger.

Time slows to a crawl, the moment stretching like taffy. I see it all in vivid, horrifying detail - the curl of Declan's lip, the wild, manic gleam in his eyes. The way Asher stiffens, sensing the danger too late, his own gun coming up in a futile arc.

And I know, with a bone-deep certainty, that I won't get there in time. That no matter how fast I move, how desperately I lunge, the bullet will find its mark, will tear through soft flesh and fragile bone.

Will rip the light from my world, the heart from my chest, in a single, shattering instant.

No.

The denial is a scream in my head, a desperate, animal howl. I'm moving before I realize I've decided to, my body hurling itself forward, putting itself between Asher and the oncoming storm.

Between my love and the man who would destroy him.

The first bullet takes me high in the chest, a punch of fire and pressure that steals my breath. The second rips through my shoulder, spinning me half around, my gun flying from my nerveless fingers.

I hit the ground hard, my vision wavering, my lungs seizing as they fill with blood. Dimly, I'm aware of Asher screaming my name, of the retort of his gun, the heavy thud of a body hitting the floor.

And then he's there, his hands on my face, his eyes wide and wild with terror. "Liam," he sobs, his voice breaking on the word. "Liam, stay with me. Don't you fucking dare leave me, not now, not like this."

I try to speak, to tell him it's okay, that I'd make the same choice a thousand times over. That dying for him, because of him, is the closest thing to grace I'll ever know.

But all that comes out is a wet, rattling cough, blood bubbling hot and coppery on my lips. The world is going gray at the edges, the pain distant and muted, like something happening to someone else.

Asher is crying in earnest now, great, wrenching sobs that shake his slender frame. He pushes down on my wounds with desperate, fumbling hands, as if he can hold my life inside by sheer force of will.

"I love you," he gasps out, his face inches from mine, his tears hot on my skin. "Liam, please. Please don't leave me. I can't... I can't do this without you."

I summon the last of my strength, forcing my leaden arm to move, my blood-slick fingers to find his face. I trace the curve of his cheekbone, the arch of his brow, trying to memorize every line and plane, every precious inch of him.

"Love... you..." I rasp, the words a broken whisper, a final, sacred vow. "Always... sunshine. My... everything."

Asher makes a wounded, animal sound, his forehead pressing hard against mine. "Forever," he breathes, fierce and shattered. "No matter what, Liam. In this life and the next."

I want to hold on. Want to cling to him, to this moment, with every fiber of my being. But the darkness is rising, cold and inexorable, dragging me down into its fathomless depths.

The last thing I feel is the press of Asher's lips against mine, warm and soft and tasting of salt. The last thing I hear is the desperate thunder of his heart, beating in time with my own.

And then there's nothing. Nothing but the deep, velvety black, shot through with a growing brilliance that seems to call my name.

I'm sorry, sunshine, I think as the light engulfs me, swallows me whole. I'm so fucking sorry.

And then I know no more.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The steady, rhythmic sound invades the warm, cottony darkness, dragging me towards a surface I don't want to breach. I try to sink back down, to let the void take me again, but the noise is insistent, relentless.

With a supreme effort, I force my heavy lids open, blinking against the harsh fluorescent glare. For a moment, I'm completely disoriented, my mind sluggish and uncomprehending.

And then it all comes rushing back - the warehouse, the gunfight, Declan's snarling face. Asher, small and desperate, pleading with me not to go.

Asher .

I try to sit up, to call out for him, but my body won't cooperate. Pain lances through my chest, my shoulder, stealing my breath and making spots dance in my vision.

"Hey, hey, easy." A soft voice, a gentle hand on my arm. "Don't try to move, Liam. You've been through a lot."

I turn my head, the small motion taking a Herculean effort. Mia sits beside my bed - because that's where I am, I realize belatedly, in a hospital bed - her face drawn and exhausted, but smiling.

"There you are," she says softly, giving my arm a careful squeeze. "We were starting to worry you were gonna sleep forever."

I lick my dry, cracked lips, trying to force words past the desert of my throat. "Asher," I croak, the name a broken rasp. "Where...?"

Mia's smile widens, her eyes crinkling at the corners. "He's okay," she assures me, her voice warm with relief and affection. "Barely left your side for days. We finally convinced him to go home and shower, get some real food in him. He'll be so mad he missed you waking up."

Tears sting my eyes, a knot loosening in my chest. Asher's alive. Safe. The knowledge is a balm, a benediction, easing an ache I hadn't even realized I was carrying.

"Declan?" I ask, almost dreading the answer. "Is he...?"

Mia's expression darkens, her mouth thinning into a grim line. "Dead," she says flatly. "Asher put a bullet right between his eyes, after he shot you. It was over quick."

A shudder runs through me, a confusing tangle of relief and grief and a sick, vicious satisfaction. My brother, my tormenter, the monster that haunted my steps and dogged my soul...

Gone. Just like that, in a spray of blood and bone, a life snuffed out as easily as a candle flame.

Part of me mourns him, the brother I once knew. The boy who bandaged my scrapes and snuck me sips of whiskey when our old man's back was turned. But that boy died long ago, swallowed up by the cold, ruthless thing that took his place.

In the end, Declan made his choice. And Asher made his. The fact that I'm lying here, breathing and whole, is a testament to that.

"The rest of them scattered to the winds after Declan went down," Mia continues, her voice taking on a note of grim satisfaction. "Finn included. He knows there's no place for him here anymore, not after what he did."

I close my eyes, swallowing down the bitter ache of betrayal. Finn's treachery cuts deep, a wound that will take longer to heal than the ones in my flesh. But that's a battle for another day, when I'm not so weak and wrung out.

"What happens now?" I ask, almost afraid to hear the answer. "With Declan gone, the whole organization will be in chaos. There'll be a power vacuum, people scrambling to fill it. It could get bloody."

Mia shakes her head, a small, secretive smile playing at the corners of her mouth. "I don't think so," she says, a glint of something like pride in her eyes. "Asher's been busy, while you were out. Making calls, cashing in favors. Seems like a lot of people are real eager to play nice with the man who took down Declan O'Connor."

I blink, a slow, incredulous laugh bubbling up in my chest. It hurts like hell, but I can't stop, the absurdity and wonder of it shaking through me like a fever.

My Asher, my sweet, stubborn sunshine... stepping up and taking the reins, steering the ship of my bloody kingdom into calmer waters. The image is so incongruous, so utterly right , that it steals my breath all over again.

"I love that man," I murmur, more to myself than to Mia. "Fuck, I love him so much it hurts."

"He knows," Mia says softly, a wealth of understanding in her voice. "Believe me, Liam, he knows. What you did for him, taking those bullets, being willing to die for him... there's no greater proof of love than that."

I swallow hard, tears threatening at the backs of my eyes. "I'd do it again," I rasp, the words a vow, an oath carved into my very bones. "In a heartbeat, Mia. He's everything to me. Everything ."

She squeezes my arm again, her own eyes suspiciously bright. "I know," she whispers. "And so does he. You two... you're the real deal. The kind of love people write stories about."

Before I can respond, the sound of running footsteps echoes down the hall, growing louder with each passing second. My heart rate kicks up, the beeping of the monitor beside the bed accelerating in response.

And then the door flies open, and Asher is there, his hair wild and his eyes fever-bright in his pale face. He stops dead at the sight of me, his chest heaving, his hands trembling at his sides.

"Liam," he breathes, the word a broken, hopeful thing. "Oh my God, Liam."

Mia shoots to her feet, a knowing smile on her face. "I'll just... give you two a minute," she says, squeezing past Asher and out the door, pulling it shut behind her with a soft click.

And then we're alone, just me and Asher, the air between us charged and heavy with a thousand unspoken things.

"Hi, sunshine," I rasp, drinking in the sight of him, the living, breathing reality of his presence. "Long time no see."

Asher makes a choked, wounded sound, and then he's flying across the room, his arms coming around me with almost painful desperation. I grunt at the impact, my injuries protesting, but I don't care, I can't care, not when he's warm and real and here .

"Don't you ever fucking do that again," he sobs into my neck, his tears hot and wet on my skin. "Liam, God, I thought... I thought I'd lost you. I thought you were gone ."

I bring my arms up to cradle him, one hand cupping the back of his head, the other smoothing over the quivering line of his spine. "I'm here," I murmur, pressing my lips to his temple, his cheek, the trembling corner of his mouth. "I'm right here, sunshine. Not going anywhere, I promise."

He pulls back to look at me, his eyes red-rimmed and shining with a love so fierce it takes my breath. "You better not," he says, the words as much a threat as a plea. "Because I swear, Liam, if you die on me, I'll fucking bring you back just to kick your ass."

A laugh startles out of me, painful and perfect. "Noted," I say, grinning up at him like the besotted fool I am. "I have no doubt you'd find a way, too. My stubborn, gorgeous man."

He smiles, a real smile, bright and blinding as the dawn. "Damn right," he says, leaning down to rest his forehead against mine. "I'm afraid you're stuck with me, O'Connor. In this life and the next, remember?"

"I remember," I whisper, my throat tight, my heart so full it feels like it might shatter. "Forever and always, sunshine. No matter what."

He kisses me then, soft and sweet and brimming with promise. It feels like coming home, like stepping into the light after an eternity of darkness.

Like the first page of a new chapter, the start of a story I never thought I'd get to tell.

But now, with Asher in my arms and a future stretching out before us... I can't wait to see how it ends.

Or rather, how it begins . Because this, right here?

This is just the beginning. Of our life, our love.

Our happily ever after, hard-won and precious as diamonds.

And I'm going to cherish every goddamn second of it.