Taken With Trouble (CAUGHT IN CHAOS #2)

46. Chapter 45

Chapter 45

Serena

I tap my foot on the ground and drum my fingers on the plastic chair. Then I pace down the hall to the closed door and back to the waiting room. I’m sure I look crazy. I’m wearing a shirt that’s not mine, my pants are covered in blood, my eyes are swollen, and there are bruises on my cheeks. But I don’t see anyone or anything except that closed door.

Why won’t someone just tell me if Liam is alive? When they finally got him on a stretcher and into the ambulance, his pulse was so low, his skin so pale. And that was five hours ago.

Meanwhile, my heart is beating enough for both of us. I’m on the verge of a panic attack. I can’t even see his grandpa Henry because he was taken to a different hospital to get checked out and only family is allowed in.

A familiar figure walks into the waiting room and heads straight for me.

“Give me good news, Harris,” I whisper.

“We got them all,” he says.

I nearly collapse, but he catches me. He doesn’t say anything as he holds me and my entire world upright. “Thank you.”

“For what?” he murmurs. “This is what partners do. ”

A sob clenches my throat, but I’ve cried enough for one day. “So, w-what happened?”

“It was crazy. The Boss, whose real name is Eugene, turned on all his people, and said ‘if I can’t have the treasure, no one can’.”

I pull back, stunned by the name and what Caleb just said. “Treasure?”

Caleb shrugs. “That’s all he said.”

Cillian Moore’s treasure? It’s real?

I shake my head. “He turned on everyone?”

“Yep. Liam managed to clean up the video and make it viewable. He also got the whole ordeal with The Boss on camera. That video was damning enough. Even The Boss’s lawyer didn’t know what to think. Liam also got us into his computer. He literally got everything we could possibly need to put them away.” Caleb shakes his head and nudges me into a seat.

“I…” I blink, trying to make sense of everything. “I can’t believe Liam did all that.”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but apparently he cares enough about you to ensure you won’t have to worry anymore. The video is out in the open. Everyone will be going away for life.”

“You and I both know that justice isn’t always served.”

“No, but I have a feeling this time it will be.”

“Why do you say that?”

He scratches his chin. “I had a visit from the Prime Minister and the director of the FBI.”

“You mean the ASAC?”

Caleb shakes his head. “ The director.”

I don’t understand. “What?”

“Liam was well-acquainted with both and emailed the video to them as well. Apparently…” Caleb grits out the word. “Liam has been helping them both for years. They weren’t concerned he was back in the country and never authorized us to go after him. That was all Ford and the boss dude.”

I laugh finds me. “Boss dude? ”

Caleb yawns. “I’m exhausted. And still struggling to believe Liam wasn’t as bad as I thought.”

“You really are tired.”

He shrugs. “I hate him less now.” He’s quiet for a long moment. “How is he?”

The solemn melancholy falls over me again. “They won’t tell me anything.”

Caleb drops an arm around my shoulder, and I lean into his comforting embrace. I don’t let people into my life, into my heart. But Caleb has a permanent spot as family.

“If your girlfriend saw us like this, she’d flip.”

“Good thing she’s not here,” Caleb says.

“Um… excuse me? I’m standing right here.”

Caleb and I jerk upright to see Amelia Quinn in the flesh. Short blonde hair and a bright pink mini skirt with a grin that’s unnatural. But she doesn’t flip. She takes one look at my puffy red face and falls into the chair on the other side of me, wrapping me in her octopus arms.

“I’m uncomfortable with this,” I groan, trying, but not hard, to push her away.

“Too bad,” Amelia says. “You’re stuck with me now.”

“Why are you here?” I grunt.

“Liam texted me.”

“What?” Caleb shouts.

Amelia avoids his questioning gaze. “He texted me yesterday saying he bought me a trip to London as an apology for pulling a gun on me, and I said in that case, you can pull a gun on me anytime. Not that I want to make it a habit, but when it comes with perks like this…”

I roll my eyes at her rambling, but somehow, it’s not as annoying as I used to find it.

“He said London was beautiful this time of year, and Caleb was here as well. I really didn’t need that much more convincing.” She looks around me to wiggle her eyebrows at Caleb. “Especially since Caleb blocked me…”

I knew that was going to backfire .

Caleb looks very conflicted with the arrival of his girlfriend. Five hours earlier, and she could have walked into the middle of a shootout. This woman.

“I can’t believe him; I swear I’ll take a shot at him—”

Amelia and I glare at him, and his face pales. “Right, I forgot where we were for a second. But we’re going to talk about this,” he says to Amelia.

“When you say ‘talk’ you mean, makeout, right? Like the last time you wanted to talk, and then we ended up locked in the supply closet at that bar, and the—”

“No,” Caleb cuts her off, a blush creeping up his cheeks. “I mean talk .”

“Right…” Amelia drags the word out and winks. She looks ridiculous.

“Ugh, you two just get a room already.”

“We’re not leaving,” they say in unison.

“Don’t worry, Rena. He’s going to be fine.” Amelia latches onto my side again.

“You might not be if you don’t let me go,” I grunt. But she doesn’t, and I don’t make her.