A Dom is Forever (Masters and Mercenaries #3)(122)

“Avery?” He got to one knee, a little afraid to touch her for fear that she would fight him. He had to handle her carefully. “Baby, we have to get out of here, and we have to do it quietly.”

She sat up, her whole body shaking. “I know. The window in this room leads to a garden and then out into an alley. We can get out that way.”

He helped her to her feet. “Avery, I didn’t mean a word of that.”

Her face tightened, a quizzical expression in her eyes. “I know that. You couldn’t exactly declare your love. Do you really think I’m that dumb? But you’re so paying for some of that. I get to be bratty at least twice a day with no fear of reprisals for a year or so.”

He pulled her into his arms, reveling in the feel of her. “I was so bloody scared. Fuck, love, I thought you would hate me, but I couldn’t let on how much I cared.”

“You could have told me I’d been working for your brother,” she groused, but her arms went around him. “Liam, you’re bleeding. We need to get those files and get you out of here.”

“Forget the files.” He kissed the top of her head. She was going to look interesting running around London in a silk nightie. He needed to call Ian, but they’d taken his cell along with his gun. Luckily, his brother had died and left him a very nice SIG Sauer. Liam reached down to pick it up. “Ian and MI6 can find the files love.”

His hand was almost on the gun when his whole body jerked back and pain fired through his shoulder. What the hell? He fell back, agony making him moan.

“I’m afraid I can’t allow that to happen, Mr. O’Donnell.”

Panic started to crowd out the pain as Liam realized that he’d been the distraction all along—he and Avery, not Ian. Eli Nelson walked through the door dressed all in black, a calm smile on his face.

“Now the real fun can begin,” Nelson said.





Avery dropped to her knees. Liam had been shot. Again. This time it wasn’t a small singe. The bullet had gone into his left shoulder and blood was already staining his shirt. Tears blurred her vision. She looked around. She had to stop the bleeding.

“Avery, get out of here.” Liam looked up at the newcomer who bent over and picked up the gun on the floor. If he was bothered by the dead body, he didn’t show it. Liam struggled to sit up. “This is between you and me, Nelson.”

So this was the infamous Eli Nelson, the man who had been working with her boss.

“Oh, this has never been between you and me, Mr. O’Donnell. You give yourself far too much credit. You were a pawn, nothing more.” Nelson sighed as he looked down at her former boss. “Just like your brother was a pawn.”

“You saved me that day,” Liam said. Though he was bleeding profusely, she could see his eyes looking around, plotting his next move. She just had to be patient.

“I did.” Nelson pocketed the extra gun. She should have tried to get it, but she’d rushed to Liam instead, and she wouldn’t have been quick on the draw anyway. But maybe she could get the knife. It laid there on the floor, covered in blood. The thought of touching it was revolting, but she would do it if it meant she could save Liam.

“Because you knew I would be good leverage against Rory one day.” Liam seemed to be trying to get her behind him, but he was having trouble moving.

“I like to have a backup plan. Never underestimate what a bit of chaos can bring. Rory was proving difficult. I loaned him this business and he’d decided not to give me my fair cut, so now I’m taking it. I realized that your team could be useful to me. MI6 was struggling, you see. So I waved my magic wand, and Ian Taggart followed like I knew he would, and he brought along his team. Now, I couldn’t just let you all run around London looking for me, so I sent Weston the files on Ian. Again, chaos is the great equalizer. You didn’t like hearing about Ian’s past, did you? You shut down and that bought me the time I needed. I knew once Rory here figured out that you were alive, he would lose his concentration and I could take the prize. How’s Sean doing by the way? And Grace? I heard she made it out alive. Surprising.”

“No thanks to you.” Liam gripped her hand, trying to push her behind him. “Avery ain’t got nothing to do with this. If you want revenge on Ian, you best be dealing with me and letting her go.”

Avery wasn’t going anywhere. She looked around trying to find anything that would help.

Nelson’s face scrunched into a confused mask. “This isn’t about revenge, Liam. This is a fun game between rivals. Ian thinks he’s so much smarter, but I am far better at this than he is. I’ve been playing for years, and he didn’t even understand the game was going on. And I definitely am going to need Avery Charles. One of the things your brother did right was to encode everything. I don’t even know how to contact my new clients to let them know that management has changed. I made a deal with one of his men to get me the cipher, but I don’t have anything to decode. By the way, thanks for killing Malcolm. It saved me the trouble of having to do it myself. I never actually intended to pay him, of course. Miss Charles, if you would fetch the files.”

She shook her head. “I don’t know where they are.”

Nelson frowned. “That’s really too bad.”

He raised the gun, and Liam’s other shoulder jerked back, taking a bullet. Avery screamed. How many bullets could he take? Neither one of his arms seemed to work, but he was trying to struggle to his feet.