Fighting With Light (The Coldwell Brothers #2)

54. Liam

54

Liam

When we get on the plane to go home, I can’t hold out anymore. I have to know what she found. I wait until we get in the air, and she’s settled. “Babe, what did you find?” I ask her.

She shifts around on the couch and reaches for her backpack. She ended up packing two suitcases big enough to stuff a grown man into, and I thought it was odd that she had to bring that backpack, it’s not her style of Chanel and Prada.

Aelia unzips a compartment and pulls out a small iPad. She holds the button, turning it on, and we all wait in tense silence for it to come up. When it does, she types in her code and opens up the picture app. She hands it over to me, and the pictures aren’t the best, but I can see what it is.

Emerson stands over my shoulder to see. It’s a text conversation printed out between Marco and Fred Coldwell. Fred even names Marco in the texts, asking for help with something that he can’t do himself. The text also demands that he doesn’t bring anyone else, this has to stay between them. The next is a picture of fingerprints that look like they were lifted from something. Then I swipe again, not prepared to see photos of a woman that was beaten to death.

Her face isn’t just bruised, it’s her entire body. There are cuts up and down her arms and legs and a long one across her cheek. Her clothes are in tatters and exposing her. It looks like her cause of death was strangulation based on the large hand-shaped bruises around her neck. There are also pictures of her nails where she was fighting back, but he was too strong for her.

There’s a report of drug-alcohol tests, and the next picture is a piece of shipping tape with what looks like hairs. I zoom in a little more and grimace, its pubic hair. The last picture is a small piece of paper with coordinates on it. My assumption is this poor woman was buried there.

My father did this.

Emerson curses and stomps to the other side of the plane. There is no doubt in my mind that Emerson sees this as his fault. I can’t blame him because I do, too. How many women has our father hurt because we weren’t there to take his fists?

Marco Costa covered his ass and collected all the evidence he’d need to get rid of Fred if he ever had to. This would easily send him to prison for life. And if I were a mobster like Costa, I’d have Fred killed while in prison, and no one would blink an eye. It’s admittedly a good plan.

I look up at Aelia, and she’s staring at me already. “This is exactly what we needed,” I tell her.

She nods and wrings her hands together. Something else is on her mind.

“What? Did you find something else?”

She bites her lip. “You can’t use it for the case,” she says.

I stare at her a moment before snapping at her and realize she’s right. Before I can open my mouth, Emerson speaks up.

“She’s right. Three, if you provide that information in your evidence for the Feds, it will open an investigation into them, and you just killed Costa. I don’t know how deep their pockets are, but I’m not sure they’re deep enough to cover that up.”

I glance at Aelia, and she nods. “My brother will do his best, we discussed it, and most will think it was an enemy, a meeting gone wrong. It happens all the time in the mob world. They will bury him, and that will be that.”

“There’s no way they would connect the two unless Romeo or Mia talk, and they won’t,” I say and glance at Aelia.

“They have had plenty of chances to do that, they would never, you know, how snitches are viewed,” she says.

“But this will stop him from becoming governor. We needed something to stop him, and this is it,” I say. I understand what they’re saying, but this will eviscerate my father in the public eye. It’s perfect .

“Are you willing to play Russian roulette, Three? Because it sure sounds like it. There is zero guarantee that it wouldn’t be traced back to us,” Emerson grunts.

“The goal was to bring our fathers down, Liam. We did that with Marco…” she trails off.

“Spit it out, princess,” I snap.

She glares back, and I immediately feel bad about it.

“If we present the case with everything else we have, then reorganize the evidence of that poor woman, I think we can give them the pictures, but that’s it. We can’t give them the texts. If your father knows we have them and we don’t give it to the Feds, then, well, if he’s anything like my father, he will keep his mouth shut because that’s as damning as you can get.”

I sigh and lean back into my chair. “Fine. We will give them everything else.”

“We just have to hope that it will be enough,” Emerson says.

I nod and close my eyes, wishing we had a bigger plane with a bed in the back so Aelia and I could at least take a nap together. I missed her. I missed the way her body fit into mine. I missed the taste of her lips. I just missed her.

Standing from my chair, I pull her onto my lap on the couch and she doesn’t fight me, curling up into my chest. The pain of her absence lifts and I feel like I can breathe again because she’s safe and in my arms.

“What happened to your phone?” I ask her. Based on her face, I’m not sure I want to know.

“He took it before I could tell you what was going on.”

“And why did he do that?” I ask, lifting her chin so I can see it in a better light.

“I talked back,” she mutters.

I chuckle and kiss the bruise. “I’m proud of you, you know that?”

“Why? I should have put a bullet in his head for hitting me,” she says as anger passes through her eyes.

I shake my head. “No, you shouldn’t have because that was my job. I failed to protect you.”

Agonizing over my choice to kill Marco Costa will not help me. But I can’t find it in myself to feel bad about it. It was my woman, her mother, or him. That’s an easy choice. I’ve seen that look on an angry man before, and it ended with him beating my mother within an inch of her life. It ended with me as a ten-year-old kid doctoring up my mother’s wounds while Emerson stood guard at the door and Kai sneaking to the fridge for ice to help with the swelling. Marco was going to lay into Mia, and Aelia would have never forgiven herself for it.

“He was going to use my mom to get to me. He wanted me to marry into the Ballerini family in Italy, and,” she pauses, “I told him no, so he threatened to sell me instead.”

My stomach rolls at the thought. But I would have found her, I would’ve stopped at nothing.

“You got here just in time because I would’ve given in to protect her.”

“Hey, I asked you to marry me before that Italian bastard. You would leave me like that, princess?”

A small smile makes the corners of her mouth tip up, and I consider that a point for Team Liam because I haven’t seen her smile since we’ve been reunited.

“I mean, have you been to Rome? If that’s not a reason to marry someone…”

“Well, we have a beach house,” I counter.

“I don’t know, ancient history, a ton of luxury brands, and arguably the best food in the world? That’s pretty hard to compete with.”

I slap her butt and she gasps like she’s offended.

“That’s okay, I would have hunted him down and then kidnapped you and brought you back. I don’t care how pretty Rome is. You’re mine, only mine .”

I know we can get through this, it’s just going to take time.

“It’s true,” she says, “I would have married him if it meant protecting my mom.” Her smile drops, and she rests her head on my shoulder.

“I would have too, baby,” I murmur.

** *

We went back to Mom’s house, and Aelia hasn’t let go of me since we got home. Mom has been kind and welcoming to Aelia. I think she realizes that she’s nothing like her father.

I explained everything that happened and what we need to do next. Since this is a big decision, it needs to be made as a family.

“Are you sure we can…handle this?” Cordelia asks as she bounces Theo on her hip.

Aelia has been staring at him this whole time, and it’s making me wonder if she wants that… now . I don’t know if I’m ready to be a dad yet. But I don’t think Kai thought he was, either. Shaking my head of the thoughts, I look at Mom.

“That is a valid question. You all need to understand that the moment we do this, it isn’t in defense of what we have built here, it’s a declaration of war to your father,” she says.

“I think the bigger question is are you prepared for that? He called out a hit on you, Mom,” Kai says.

Righteous anger floods my veins and I want to go medieval on him for what he’s done to us.

A few years after leaving our father, I decided to leave what happened to us in the past, but I would make damn sure that it never happened again. I became my own villain, willing to do the bad thing to protect the good or sometimes the bad thing for the sake of sending a message. But it was worth it and I’ll continue to do it.

People don’t realize how powerful pride and power are. They don’t understand what it does to someone unless they have experienced it themselves. It rots from the inside out, and it makes you want more. Power is corrupting, addicting, and violent. It took me many years to realize that my father wasn’t going to change. It was solidified when he tried to kill my sister-in-law, kidnap my mother, then tried to kill her.

My brothers and I had to see my mother fight for her life again because of him. I will never forget the look on her face as she held her bloody side. Everything was happening so fast and I had never felt fear the way I did that day. I never want to feel that way again .

No more. If this is war, then so be it.

“I am,” Mom says.

“I don’t think there is any other way,” Emerson says. He sits down on one of the large chairs and rubs his face. “I’ve been thinking about it since Liam clued us in on what he was doing. If the Feds don’t want it, then we go public with half of it. I think it’s the only way to show that we mean business, but…” Emerson trails off, and I know what he’s about to say. The text messages are damning. It would create a whole different set of issues for Fred Coldwell, and I’m sure shit is hitting the fan as we speak.

“Just say it, Emmy,” I grumble and put my nose in Aelia’s hair.

“We send Fred proof of the text messages. Let him know we have something that could destroy him,” Emerson says.

“And expose Liam? Hell no,” Kai says.

“I’m fine with it, we do it if we have to.”

Aelia tenses under my hold.

“Please don’t be the martyr, Tarzan, I need you,” she whispers.

“If it comes to that, I will be doing it for you, princess.”

“Are we agreed we will send most of the information, not including the texts, to law enforcement and then go from there?” Mom asks.

Everyone nods.

“I’m going to drive out to Nevada and send it from there to be extra careful.”

“Really?” I ask him, surprised. Emerson doesn’t like to go places very often. The only reason he went to Colombia and Massachusetts was because he had to.

He clears his throat. “Yeah, it won’t take me long, and I think it’s better if I do it.”

I stare at him a little longer. “Thank you, brother.”

He looks at me, then stands and silently leaves the room.

“I guess this meeting is adjourned,” I say, slapping my thighs and standing.

I pull Aelia to her feet and drag her outside. We have some things to discuss.

We walk out past the pool to the patio behind the pool house. I sit down in one of the large Adirondack chairs and pull her into my lap .

“Why did we have to go this far for you to talk to me? I don’t know why we can’t talk in bed,” she says, leaning in and biting my ear. I fight the shiver rolling down my spine and lean back to meet her eyes.

“Because we need to talk.”

She groans and rests her head on my shoulder.

“So much talking, I’m tired of talking.”

My heart pounds as I work myself up to ask her if she still wants to marry me. I realize I’m an idiot and shouldn’t have asked when emotions were high, adrenaline was thrumming, and our entire life was flashing before my eyes.

Life is too short and I’m done holding back. Aelia has proved that I don’t have to be alone for the rest of my life.

“But we need to talk about this, princess,” I whisper.

The swelling on her face is almost gone, and a purple bruise and scrapes remain where her father backhanded her. If I could kill him again, I think I would. Every time I look at her, I get a little angry.

“Babe, I’m fine,” she sighs and turns her head so I can’t see the bruise.

I grab her chin so I can see her full face, and she frowns. “Don’t hide from me, never hide from me. Okay?”

She tilts her head and nods.

“I’ve had to be careful for so long, not trusting anyone, only having shallow relationships, and that can’t be you, too.”

She traces my lips with her finger and says, “That will never be me, Liam, I’m going to be your wife, I’m yours. I told you that, and I meant every word.”

A sigh of relief passes my lips, and I squeeze her hip.

“Is that what you wanted to talk to me about? You wanted to make sure I still wanted to marry you?”

I look away, embarrassed. She huffs a laugh and kisses my cheek.

“It’s funny to me how you are so damn smart and yet painfully stupid.”

I jerk back. “Hey, that’s mean,” I grumble.

She smiles and winces at the same time. “You like when I’m mean to you,” she says and wiggles her brows suggestively .

I chuckle and rub my thumb on her thigh in a circular motion. “I just want to make sure it wasn’t said because of everything, if it was, that’s okay, just…tell me.”

“It wasn’t. In fact, while we were apart, I kept thinking about what it would be like to be your wife.”

“You just like being spoiled by me,” I tell her and she giggles, hiding her face in my neck.

“So what,” she says, but it’s muffled.

“I’ll spoil you for the rest of our lives, princess, that’s a promise.”

She chuckles. “I’m pretty expensive, though.”

I laugh. “Yes, baby, I know you are, but I get access to my trust when I get married, so it’s all good.”

“Ah, you’re a trust fund kid,” she says.

“I wouldn’t go that far.”

“I’m sorry,” she says.

“For what?”

“For not telling you about the whole arranged marriage thing. I hope you’re not mad at me. I...didn’t know how to tell you and early on there was no reason to tell you because we weren’t supposed to be a thing and...” she trails off.

My stomach twists. I was a little angry at first, but I compartmentalized because we had a job to do. “I’m not going to lie, I wish you told me, but I understand why you didn’t. But because I did my research on you, I assumed as much.”

“Then why didn’t you ask me about it?” she asks.

“Because it wasn’t my business at the time, and then when we finally realized we weren’t temporary, I couldn’t find the right time to discuss anything like marriage.”

“Fair enough,” she sighs.

I kiss her and we’re both quiet in the dark, the sun has long set with the crickets chirping in the night. We’re many miles inland, so the only sound of water that I have is the pool running.

“I’m scared,” Aelia says.

“Why?”

“What if everything we’ve worked for doesn’t work? From what I’ve learned about your father, he’s a snake,” she says.

“Then we find another way, like we always do.” I take a deep breath and say the words I should have said the moment after it happened. “Aelia?”

She hums into my neck, and I want to take her to bed. I don’t want to dwell on this anymore.

“I’m sorry,” I tell her.

“For?” she asks.

“Sorry for killing your father.”

She sighs and lifts her head, pressing her lips to mine. Her pained whimper makes me pull back, and she grips the back of my neck, roughly dragging her lips on mine. I groan into her mouth, and she mewls softly, but holds fast to my neck.

“I don’t care if it hurts, I need you,” she says.

“You have me,” I murmur against her lips.

“As insane as it sounds, don’t apologize for killing my father ever again. I hated him, Liam. If it wasn’t you. It would have been someone else, maybe even one of my brothers. I was contemplating it myself. You have nothing to be sorry for. He wasn’t a good man or father, he did wicked things. The world is better off without him.”

“Damn, princess.”

“It’s true. He was evil, he’s caused so much pain for others. Romeo will be better.”

“I hope so,” I tell her. I’m not sure how, but I imagine not working with my father is the first step to that.

“I’m free now, Liam. For once, I didn’t have to save myself, you did it for me.”

“Sempre,” I whisper to her in Italian.

She smiles and rubs her perfect nose over my crooked one. “Sempre.”