A Dom is Forever (Masters and Mercenaries #3)(23)

A long sigh came from Ian’s chest and he nodded. “Just be careful. Sometimes these things don’t turn out the way we want them to. I just hope you remember that the past is the past. Eve’s in the second room to the left.”

Liam started to walk out. “Thanks. And feel free to tell Alex I’m not shagging his ex. As far as I can tell, she’s not shagging anyone. She lives like a well-dressed designer nun.”

“And Liam. You didn’t f*ck up. Adam texted me. He’s out shopping with Avery so she can look pretty when she searches for you tomorrow. You mentioned that you were meeting a friend at the Tower. She plans to be there.”

His heart rate surged. Fucking A, yes. She’d taken the bait. “Good.”

He hadn’t scared her away. She still wanted him, and now he was in the power position. She would feel guilty, and he would use that to push her where he wanted her—straight into bed where he could figure out her secrets.

And decide if he was going to protect her or throw her to the wolves.

He walked down the hall and knocked on Eve’s door. He’d been thrown to the wolves once. He’d survived. He wasn’t sure Avery Charles would.

Eve answered the door, allowing him in. It wasn’t long before he was back, back in hell.





Five. He counted five bodies on the floor. Not exactly the floor. Two were draped over the floral print couch. Nasty thing. Like something a kid at university would pick up at a second hand store and drag back to his first flat.

Her. He saw a picture of the dead girl he’d woken up next to on the wall. She was smiling with her proud parents on either side. Her skin wasn’t chalky, and there was no rope around her throat.

Time had slowed down. He knew he should be panicking, but something made him stop. Look.

“What do you see?” Eve’s voice asked.

“Bodies. Blood.” Liam could hear her voice, but he was in the moment. He could smell the stench of the wharf coming from the open window. It confused him. He hadn’t been close to the water. The pub he’d been at had been on the edge of the city. He was supposed to meet with intelligence at noon to debrief. He was supposed to show his contacts the bonds and get the go-ahead to meet with the arms dealer.

“I don’t have the bonds,” he heard himself saying.

“No, you don’t. Rory has the bonds. Do you see Rory’s pack?” Eve’s calm voice kept him tethered.

“No. I just see them. The dead ones. Fuck, why can’t I remember?” It was the story of his life. The most important twenty-four hours of his life and all he could remember were bits and pieces, broken shards of a nightmare. The truth was buried somewhere in his head.

“Don’t panic.” Eve’s tone was firmer now. “Don’t lose the thread, Liam. Remember that you’re really here with me. You can come back at any moment, but it’s safe for you stay there.”

It didn’t feel safe. This little flat had turned into a body dump. No one bothered with rope on these victims. They all had their throats slashed, their heads tipping back to make ghastly, bloody perversions of smiles.

Someone had enjoyed his work. He’d reveled in it.

“Stay where you are, Liam. Don’t move the memory forward. Tell me what you see. Not the bodies. I know you have that memorized. What else do you see?”

He forced himself to look past the blood. It coated the furnishings, soaked the rug. Anywhere he stepped, he would get it on him. He looked at the small table in front of the couch. It was littered with crap, but the mirror caught his eye. It was an old mirror with a pink plastic handle, but it was the residue on it that really made him think.

“I see evidence that someone was snorting coke. Eve, I’ve never touched that shit in my life. SAS would have my ass. They check from time to time and almost always before and after a mission like this. They might do it under the guise of a checkup, but everyone knows what they’re looking for.”

He’d never so much as smoked a joint. He wouldn’t have just snorted a bit of coke for fun. Rory was another story. Rory was spontaneous. Sometimes too spontaneous. He was impulsive, and it was important to keep Rory grounded or he might lose him.

Take care of your brother, Liam. He needs you. He could still hear his mother’s words even under hypnosis. They had become a part of his life. They had become his shame.

“Stay with me,” Eve said.

He took a long breath. This, Eve had explained, was like a painting and he was in the center, merely observing. He could control the memory, slow it down or force it to speed up. He was safe as long as he stayed in control. “I don’t remember any of these people. Not even little flashes of them when they were alive. There’s a bill from the pub lying on the floor. That must be where we met them, but we’re miles away from there. Miles from the inn we were staying at.”

“I want you to stay calm now, Li. I want you to let the phone ring again. I want you to find Rory for me.”

This was the moment when he inevitably lost control and the memory took over. This was where his brain always shut down, and he came out of the hypnosis screaming.

But something was different. He felt more settled, calmer. He could do this.

The phone rang. He hated that sound, but he allowed it to ring. It trilled, pointing the way to something he didn’t want to find.