Page 15 of Liam (R.I.S.C. Delta Team #5)

Allison yawned as she pressed the plastic keycard against the electronic pad attached to her hotel door. It had been a long, confusing, frustrating day. And though she’d done so for nearly the entire flight back to Chicago, all she wanted to do was sleep.

The light turned green with a low-sounding beep. With the strap of her purse inching its way closer to the edge of her shoulder, she pushed the heavy door open and stepped inside.

“Thanks,” Liam muttered low as he carried Maddie’s limp form.

When they’d landed, Jagger had shared the little girl had been awake for the flight’s duration. But then they’d settled into the team’s SUV, and within the first five miles, Maddie had fallen into a deep sleep.

“I’ll get the lights,” Allison whispered back, blindly sliding a hand against the wall behind her.

Her fingers met with the switch plate’s cool, smooth plastic. She flipped on the room’s dim light and immediately gasped.

Oh, my god!

She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

Dresser drawers were opened. Clothing was strewn about. The bedding had been haphazardly stripped away and tossed down onto the floor. In a word, the room was a complete and total wreck.

A deep, growling curse reached Allison’s ears half-a-second before she heard Liam’s hushed voice.

“Here.” He turned to her, his expression so hard it could have been made of stone. “Take her and don’t move.”

She didn’t have the chance to respond before Liam carefully transferred the little girl from his arms to hers. Allison’s heart pounded hard inside her chest, but she did as she was told and didn’t move.

The breath in her lungs froze in place as she stood still with Maddie held tightly against her chest. Liam pulled a pistol from a holster she hadn’t even seen and began making his way further into the room.

He moved with surprising grace while checking each and every nook and cranny for a possible intruder. His strong, masculine form carried him with efficiency and ease.

The gun was held steady in his outstretched hand, and when he’d confirmed her room was safe, he pointed to the door that led to his suite and mouthed, “Stay here.”

Allison’s mind raced with fear as he vanished from her sight. What if whoever had done this to her room was waiting inside his?

She couldn’t bear the thought of something happening to him. Especially because of her. Thankfully that fear was put to rest a moment later when he reappeared in the opened doorway connecting the two rooms.

“It’s all clear.” He shoved the pistol back into the hidden holster at his hip.

His brown gaze was nearly black with fury.

“Your room?” Allison kept her voice at a whisper.

Liam’s head slid from side to side. “Not touched.”

“So it’s just ours, then.” Her nose burned with a sudden rush of tears. “Okay, good. Th-That’s good.”

“Tell me what you need to get you through the night.”

The odd command left her blinking the moisture from her eyes. “Why?”

“So I can pack a bag.” A muscle twitched at the side of his rugged jaw.

A bag? “We’re leaving?”

“My team will come by later and get the rest of our stuff.”

“Where are we going?”

“We’ll talk about that on the way. Right now, I’m more focused on getting the two of you the hell out of here.”

It took work, but Allison managed to come up with a short list of necessities. She shifted her stance, readjusting her hold on Maddie while Liam got straight to work gathering their things.

He started with theirs before marching hastily back into his own room. Less than two minutes later, he was standing in front of her with his black backpack slung over his broad shoulders.

“Let me take her,” he offered quietly.

With the muscles in her arms burning from the strain, Allison was more than happy to oblige.

“Should we call the police?” she asked as they rode the elevator down to the lobby.

Liam gave a quick shake of his head while holding her daughter with ease. “Not yet.” He turned his intense gaze her way. “I’ll call Jagger as soon as we get on the road so he can fill in the rest of the team.”

The elevator came to a stop and the doors slid open.

Allison exited first to get out of Liam’s way. Like him, she kept her eyes glued for the first sign of danger.

She inspected every face they passed. Closely studied anyone looking even remotely familiar. With each new guest or hotel employee she saw, Allison expected to look up and find either Joey or Sal. Or worse…Tommy.

Because there wasn’t a doubt in her mind that he was responsible for the destruction to her room. Whether directly or from behind the scenes remained to be seen.

They entered the parking garage without incident and hurriedly made their way to the SUV.

Allison got into the front passenger seat, shutting her door and fastening her seatbelt as quickly as she could.

In the meantime, Liam buckled a still-sleeping Maddie into her booster before rounding the vehicle and sliding behind the wheel.

Allison waited until they were on the road before finding her words again.

“Tommy did this,” she stated quietly, her gaze focused on her window and the city lights passing by. “It had to be him.”

“He won’t get away with it.”

Liam’s voice had deepened with a noticeable anger, the change pulling her attention his way.

“How does he keep finding me?” More tears rushed their way to the surface.

She did her damnedest to hold them back, but a few escaped before she could stop them.

“I don’t know.” His eyes met hers, their determination impossible to miss. “But I can promise you, I’m damn sure going to find out.”

How does he keep finding me?

Allison’s words drove through Liam’s mind as he did his best to focus on the road ahead. Gallo’s pursuit of his wife and daughter had escalated to a B and E. And if Liam didn’t find a way to stop the son of a bitch, it was only going to get worse from here.

I can’t let that happen. I won’t let them get hurt.

He ground his back teeth together to keep from letting out a string of infuriated curses. Like his teammates, Liam was a man of action. A doer. And he was done being on the defensive.

Allison and Maddie didn’t just need a safe place to hide from her husband. They needed Gallo stopped. But how the hell was he supposed to do that when he couldn’t even keep the man from finding them?

That’s it. That’s where you need to start.

Liam’s thoughts began working together to come up with a new plan. If they could figure out how Gallo was keeping tabs on Allison—and if Knox was as good a detective as Jagger claimed—then proving Gallo’s been stalking his wife should be enough for Knox to obtain a warrant.

If.

If.

Should.

He couldn’t rely on a bunch of fucking ifs. Not when his girls’ lives were on the line.

Uh…hate to point out the obvious, but Allison and Maddie aren’t exactly yours.

True, but they were the ones he’d been charged with keeping safe. And the best way for Liam to do that was to put Gallo’s sleezy ass behind bars.

First things first, however, he needed to get the girls secured for the night. After that, he’d start digging for the solid evidence needed for Knox and his team.

A stalking charge was the very least of what Gallo deserved. But it would open the door for Knox to question him about his involvement in Martin Torres’s murder. And that would hopefully lead to the man being sent to prison.

For the rest of his miserable life.

Liam’s grip on the leather steering wheel tightened until his knuckles turned white. Thoughts of Torres reminded him of that nagging feeling he’d had back in Sloane’s office. The one that had hit him when he saw the strange expression on Allison’s face.

He’d planned to ask her if she knew more about the murder during the plane ride home. But his mind had been too pre-occupied by the thought of Knox trying to use her as bait.

When he’d cleared his head and calmed his ass down, Liam’s next thought was to call his team. By the time he managed to get off the phone, they’d reached their destination.

“Is this where we’re staying?” Allison looked at the house through the windshield before turning her focus his way. “Why here?”

“Yep.” Liam put the vehicle in park and cut the engine before meeting her inquisitive gaze. “And because I live here.”

“Oh.” Her surprise was impossible to miss, her long lashes fluttering with a few quick blinks.

“Come on.” He unbuckled his seatbelt and opened his door. “We’ll get Sleeping Beauty settled in for the night, and then I can give you the nickel tour.”

From over her shoulder, she looked at Maddie’s sleeping form. A sad smile lifted the corners of her lips, revealing an internal struggle that pulled at Liam’s heart.

Wanting to get them inside sooner rather than later, he shut his car door quietly before rounding the back bumper on his way to the passenger side. Allison exited the SUV while he opened Maddie’s door.

Liam grabbed his backpack from the floorboard, sliding its wide, padded strap across one of his shoulders. Scooping Maddie into his arms, he was careful not to bonk her head as he lifted her from the car.

Allison followed him up the short sidewalk to the home’s covered porch. Needing to reach his keys from the front pocket of his jeans, Liam shifted his hold on the precious cargo in his arms so that his right hand was free to move.

He unlocked the door and pushed it open, entering first and then stepping to the side to make room. Once Allison was inside, he shut and locked the door before entering the four-digit code into the alarm system’s keypad mounted on the wall to his right.

“You two can sleep back here,” he whispered softly as he began walking further into the house.

Turning right, Liam flipped on the hallway light as he led the girl’s mother to the last of the three bedrooms. Allison’s small hitch of a breath sounded when they stepped inside.

“Liam.” She put a hand to his upper arm. “This is your room.”

“I know.” He went to the bed and pulled back the blankets. Careful not to wake her, he gently laid Maddie down onto the mattress before tucking her in.

“Seriously, Liam.” Allison’s whisper cut through the otherwise silent room. “I saw two other rooms on the way here. Maddie and I can stay in one of?—”

He lifted a finger to his lips as he walked past on his way to the door. Following his lead, Allison left the room as well. She stopped long enough to quietly pull the door closed.

Liam waited until they’d reached the living room to begin talking again.

“One of the two rooms you saw is my office, and the other only has a full-sized bed. Since there are two of you and one of me, it makes a lot more sense for you and Maddie to take the king.”

“I appreciate that, but we’ve slept in smaller beds before.” Her blue gaze skittered with a moment of embarrassment. “At the shelter in Nebraska, she and I even shared a cot. So trust me when I say we manage sharing a full-sized bed.”

His eyebrows drew together as he looked down at her with an empathetic stare. Between what she’d told him and the research he’d conducted, Liam felt as though he knew this woman on a far deeper level than merely bodyguard and client.

It was probably why he felt such an electrifying pull to both her and her daughter. He knew so much about them, and yet Liam found himself wanting to know more.

Things like her favorite color or flower. Maddie’s favorite dessert, or which she liked better…dogs or cats.

Liam also couldn’t ignore the familiarities in her story. The abuse and ridicule she’d suffered at the hands of her husband. The need to be free to live a life of her choosing.

It brought back a shit ton of childhood memories. Moments he wished like hell he could forget. The yelling and belittling she and poor little Maddie had been forced to suffer…the beatings Allison had so bravely endured… It was all a little too familiar.

Too much like the torture Liam’s own father had bestowed.

You took care of that problem, remember?

Thanks to him, his pathetic excuse for a father would never anyone else ever again. And as he stood in the shadows of his low-lit home, Liam made a silent vow to make sure Tommy Gallo met the same fate.

“One, you didn’t kick me out of anything.” He quietly addressed Allison’s concerns. “And two…” Liam stepped closer, reaching out and resting his palm against her cheek. “You and Mads have ‘managed’ enough, don’t you think?”

“The hotel bed was a full, and she and I slept just fine last night.” Her dimples grew deep with a soft huff of a laugh. “I mean, I may have woken up with Maddie half-sprawled on top of me and the covers on the opposite side of the bed, but we?—”

“Managed?” He sent a playfully arched brow her way.

Rather than respond right away, Allison closed her eyes and leaned into his touch. She was his client, and it was his job to protect. Yet in that moment, Liam couldn’t seem to find the strength to pull away.

“I don’t know how I’m ever going to be able to repay you.” Allison’s lids lifted once again. “Money aside, it’s only been two days, and you’ve already moved us to a hotel, flown us to Seattle, and now we’re here…in your house.”

“I couldn’t stand the thought of you and Maddie having to spend one more night in a shelter,” he rumbled low.

“Figured the hotel would work for the first couple of nights, and then we’d move you into something a little more permanent.

Tonight’s break-in sped up the timeline a bit, but you’ll both be safe here. ”

“What if they show up at your house?”

“Let ‘em,” Liam challenged back.

“I’m serious, Liam.” Allison stepped back, just out of his reach. “It’s one thing to take on certain risks with your job, but this is your home . And I’m not about to let you?—”

“Not your choice, darlin’,” he interrupted with a drawl.

“Besides, I have a state-of-the-art security system, including several cameras mounted outside that cover the property’s entire perimeter.

Trust me, Al. We’re on my turf now, which means this is the safest place for you and Maddie to be.

There’s just one more thing I need to know. ”

“What’s that?”

Liam waited a beat before flashing her a grin and asking, “Are you hungry?”