Page 13 of Royal Bargain

He freezes, then turns toward me slowly, his jaw tightening. His eyes narrow before he finally speaks. “You’re still talking to him?”

I roll my eyes. “Of course I am. Aleksey is my brother. He’s the one who helped me get out of there. He’s been protecting me.” I sigh, shaking my head. “I don’t expect you to like him, but he’s not my enemy.”

Liam’s quiet for a long moment, eyes focused on mine. “What did he say?” he demands, his voice rough.

I grip the edge of the sheet more tightly. “He told me that they know. That Uncle Dariy knows. He’s found out I’m living with you. As soon as he found out I was staying with you, things kind of exploded. Aleksey says everyone is in chaos over there.”

Liam exhales a curse and rises to his feet. Whatever good mood I had earlier evaporates like a puddle in the sun. My hands shake as I wrap my arms around myself, trying to keep it together.

A lump rises in my throat, and I feel a burning indignation float to the surface. This isn’tfair. It’s not fuckingfairthat I’ve worked so hard to protect myself and my daughter, only for everything to come crashing down in a matter of days.

“Ana?” Liam calls my name, but I barely hear him as I curl my fingers into my palms. “Ana. Listen to me.”

I look over to find him sitting next to me, his hands moving to cover mine. Our eyes meet for a moment, but I glance away, needing to check on Lily.

She’s still dead to the world, making tiny, soft, baby grunts as she sleeps, and I get up and stand over her bassinet, reaching out to stroke her cheek.

“You are safe here,” Liam says, coming up behind me to rest his hands on my hips. “You and Lily are safe with me. There’s nowhere safer in the world. No one’s getting past me, Ana. Not while Lily’s in that crib,a mhuirnín. No one is going to get to either you or our daughter without going throughmefirst.”

The words should be soothing, should reassure me, but instead, they bring another uncomfortable truth to the foreground in my mind—Liam has put himself in immense danger by taking us in, by offering us his protection. If I hadn’t come here, if I hadn’t asked for his help, I wouldn’t be responsible for causing all this conflict.

I smile—though it’s weak—and nod, pretending I understand.

But this is all wrong. I can’t stay here, I can’t continue living with Liam and making his life harder.

Maybe it’s time I stop relying on anyone else. Maybe it’s time I learn to stand on my own. I have to stop thinking like someone’s daughter. I have to start thinking like someone’s mother.

The thought tumbles around inside my mind as the two of us settle down for the night in Liam’s bed. He holds me close, but my heart pounds in my chest so hard that I worry he might hear it.

I dream of Dariy, of enforcers storming in with guns drawn. Liam steps forward to protect me—then a bullet rips through his chest…

I wake gasping, drenched in sweat, my hands clawing at the sheets. Glancing next to me, I realize Liam isn’t there. Pressing my face into his pillow, I let the last remnants of the dream fade away as I inhale his spicy, musky scent.

I need to find a way to take my mind off everything going on, and I need to find a way to get out from under my father’s control and keep Liam from getting caught in the crosshairs.

I need to stop thinking like a scared Russian Mob princess, and start thinking like a single mother.

As I head downstairs, I see that Liam has Lily and he’s feeding her from her bottle while they sit together on the couch.

“Hey. I could tell you didn’t sleep well last night, so I got up with Lily when she started crying.”

I smile, genuinely grateful to have him willing to share the hard parts of parenting right now. Those few extra minutes of sleep felt like a miracle. I’m still exhausted, but I feel like I can handle having Lily today while Liam heads off for work.

He’s been doing something with Senator Burns’s campaign, running it or something like that. I don’t pay much attention to politics, only to whatever my father gets himself involved in.

“You’re going to be late,” I say, reaching out to take Lily from him when she’s finished her bottle. We’ve switched to a hypoallergenic formula, and it’s helped Lily’s colic immensely.

“I don’t mind if it means I get to sit with you two for a few extra minutes,” he says, his words a soft coo for Lily’s benefit. I smile as he reaches out to stroke her hair, and she gives him a gummy grin in response, her hand grasping his finger.

“I’ll be back,” Liam promises, giving me a small peck on the top of my head. It sends butterflies racing through my belly, but inside, I’m tensed up, worried over everything going on.

“Have a good day,” I call out, bringing Lily up to pat her back as I coax the gas from her belly.

Once he’s gone, I focus my attention on getting Lily set up for some tummy time while I sit nearby, folding some of the endless piles of laundry that always seem to need attention. As I sit there racking my brain to figure out a solution to all my current problems, I realize the answer is at my fingertips.

Literally.

Reaching for my phone, I scroll through my contacts, coming upon the number for Miranda Voss. I don’t even remember how I got her number from Clary all those months ago, but if ever I could use a fairy godmother type, it’s now.