Page 3 of Liam (R.I.S.C. Delta Team #5)

Liam studied Allison Gallo closely as he waited for the intriguing woman to share the rest of her troubled story. She was different than other clients he’d dealt with in the past, though he couldn’t quite figure out why.

Sure, she was pretty, but it wasn’t just that. As part of R.I.S.C.’s Delta Team, he’d had his fair share of attractive clients.

Allison also wasn’t the first victim of domestic abuse he’d dealt with, nor would she be his last. The world was filled with all sorts of assholes.

Monsters disguised as men, so the world didn’t see the evil living within their bones.

According to the beautiful blonde with eyes the color of the ocean and a blouse and skirt combo that appeared to be just a smidge too big, her husband was one such monster.

“I don’t just think my husband wants me dead, Mr. Cutler.” Allison responded curtly. “I know he does.”

Liam held her entrancing stare a beat longer before grabbing nearby spiral notebook and pen. Flipping it open, he used his thumb to click the pen’s spring-loaded tip before returning his focus back to her.

“Tell me about him,” he ordered gently. The more he could learn from her now the better.

Her shoulders bounced with a huff of a breath. “I don’t even know where to start.”

“The beginning’s usually as good a place as any.” He flashed her a teasing grin. When she didn’t so much as crack a smile, Liam cleared his throat and tried again. “You can tell me anything, Allison,” he told her sincerely. “You’re safe here.”

A look of skepticism flashed across her stunning gaze, letting him know it had been a long damn time since this woman truly felt safe.

His chest grew tight, and a knot formed at the base of his stomach.

And just like that, Liam became filled with a strong a shit urge to do whatever he could to change that.

“My husband’s name is Thomas Gallo,” Allison began.

“But everyone calls him Tommy. He and I met when I was still working the front desk of a hotel in Seattle. At first, it had been like a fairytale. I was young with pretty much nothing to muy name. Tommy was a little older. Charming. Very good looking and…wealthy.” She quickly added, “But I didn’t marry him for his money.

That’s not…” Her brows dipped inward with a frown. “I never cared about any of that.”

“Did you love him?”

“I thought I did. And I was stupid enough to think he loved me, too. But that’s not…

I mean, you don’t really need to know all of that.

” She glanced away, her dimpled cheeks flushing with embarrassment.

“I should have seen it sooner, but Tommy was very good at hiding his true self. By the time I realized what he really was, I was already pregnant with our daughter.”

“So you stayed.”

“I shouldn’t have.” She gave another shake of her head. “Not leaving him sooner will always be my biggest regret.”

“You said you were pregnant before you realized what he truly was.” Liam paused. “What is he?”

“A monster.” Allison lifted her gaze back up to his. “Tommy Gallo is a lying, cheating, abusive monster.”

He may have hesitated to ask the burning question, but she damn sure hadn’t hesitated in her answer. She was telling the truth. He’d bet his next paycheck on that fact.

A rush of anger on her behalf boiled up and Liam’s jaw tightened as a rush of anger on her behalf boiled up. They’d get to the details of the abuse later, but first?—

“Tell me about your daughter.”

For the first time since meeting her, Allison’s lips curved into a genuine smile. “Maddie’s six. She’s smart and sweet and…she’s my entire world.” Her smile faltered, her eyes shimmering with an onslaught of unshed tears. “I can’t…I won’t let Tommy take her from me. I’d rather die first.”

“That’s not going to happen.”

“You don’t know Tommy.”

Fair point, he supposed. But wasn’t that kind of the point of all this? So that he could get to know more about the man she’s convinced wants her dead?

“How long have you and Tommy been married?”

“Technically, almost seven years. But we’ve been legally separated for the last year.

And before you say it, I know I should have left him sooner, but it’s not as easy as everyone thinks.

I had a daughter to protect, and Tommy controlled everything in our lives.

The bank accounts, the keys to the cars, the phones…

” She sighed. “Everything was in his name.”

“I’m not judging you, Allsion.” Liam’s expression matched the sincerity in his voice. “You don’t ever have to worry about that with me.”

“Thank you,” she whispered softly, holding his empathetic stare.

“Where is Maddie now?”

“At a shelter here in town. It’s owned by a woman named Naomi Bartel. She was the one who suggested I come to Delta Team in the first place.”

“I know Naomi,” he confirmed. “Her building’s over on West Sixtieth.”

His knowledge of the woman and the place where Allison was staying seemed to help her relax a little more.

“Normally, I’d never trust my daughter’s safety to anyone else, but there’s an in-house daycare for its residents.

Naomi assured me the volunteers at the shelter are all highly are vetted, and I didn’t think a meeting like this one was appropriate for a six-year-old.

” Her body shifted slightly against the chair’s soft leather.

“She also said she’s worked with your team in the past, and that I should trust you.

And I really hope that’s true, because I honestly don’t have anywhere else to go. ”

Liam leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk’s smooth surface. Doing his best to put her immediate worries at ease, he offered a reassuring, “You definitely came to the right place, Allison.”

“She said your team has worked cases like mine before.”

“If you mean cases involving obsessive, abusive, sometimes deadly husbands, then yeah.” He nodded solemnly.

“We’ve worked a few of those cases, unfortunately.

Mostly ones where the jerks involved—or more accurately, their lawyers—are sly enough to keep any potential charges from sticking.

We’ve even worked alongside the CPD on a few of them. ”

“I can’t risk going to the cops,” she stated as if it were a matter of fact. “Tommy owns half the force in Seattle, but it doesn’t stop there. He has money, and with that wealth comes a seemingly endless line of connections.”

“What kind of connections?”

“My husband runs in many different circles, Mr. Cutler. Cops, politicians…criminals. Basically, anyone he can use to get what he wants.”

“And what he wants is you dead?”

“Yes.” Her blonde curls bounced with an immediate nod. “Tommy wants our daughter all to himself. Not because he loves her, but because he refuses to let me win.”

There was no doubt or trepidation there, but rather a certainty he couldn’t ignore. Whether Tommy Gallo truly wanted to see his wife dead remained to be seen. But one thing Liam did know was that the asshole would never get that chance.

“His reputation is everything, Mr. Cutler,” Allison began again. “Above all else, Tommy craves power. It’s like he has this deep-seated need to always be the one in control.”

I can only imagine the kinds of things that happen when the bastard loses that control.

“What changed?” Liam needed to know.

“What do you mean?”

“You said you stayed with him until a year ago. What made you choose now to leave him?”

The look that crossed over her tore at his heartstrings with much more force than it should have given they were strangers.

“Three days before Maddie’s sixth birthday he came home in a particularly bad mood.

I tried getting him to talk to me, but all he did was yell.

Then he started throwing things. First, it was the glass he’d been drinking from.

Next came the vase of freshly cut flowers he demanded always kept on display.

Until that night, his anger had always been directed at me, but then… ”

When her voice trailed, Liam gently encouraged her to give him the rest. “Tell me.” His tone was gentle yet firm.

“He reached behind his back and pulled out a gun.”

His stomach dropped. The idea of her—or any other woman, for that matter—being threatened in such a way made him physically sick to his stomach. No one had the right to treat others like that. No. One.

Not even my bastard of a father.

“Please tell me he didn’t?—”

“No.” The cornsilk curls of Allison’s hair swished back and forth along her shoulders as she put his mind at ease. “He didn’t shoot me. Instead, he shifted his aim to the wall behind me and pulled the trigger…right as Maddie walked into the room.”

“Oh, shit.”

“The bullet missed her head by less than two inches.”

Motherfucker.

A wave of protective anger toward Tommy Gallo rushed to the surface. If Allison’s claims were true, the bastard had come damn close to killing his own daughter. He deserved to burn for that single, violent act alone, not to mention the tears Allison had just swiped clear from her cheeks.

“Tommy didn’t say a word,” she whispered sadly. “Not to Maddie or to me. He just casually turned and walked out of the room as if everything was fine. As if he hadn’t almost killed his five-year-old daughter. That was the moment I finally woke up.”

“That’s when you chose to leave.”

Allison nodded. “I was used to Tommy’s wrath. I could take it, you know? But Maddie—” Her sweet voice cracked with visible emotion. “I’d die before I ever let anyone hurt her.”

“So you risked yourself to make sure she was safe. That was the bravest thing you could do.”

“Funny.” She huffed out a sarcastic breath. “That’s almost word for word what Sloane told me when she and I first met.”

“Sloane?” He scribbled the name down for later.