Unplugged (Blue Phoenix, #3)(79)

“Yeah, actually, I will. I’ll marry Cerys so she’ll never be hurt by dickheads like you again. I’ll take care of Ella and teach her respect and love, not about what money can buy.” Liam’s hands bite into Craig’s shoulders “I’ll be in Ella’s life but on her terms. She won’t belong to me and neither will Cerys. Nobody owns another person and nobody buys love and affection. Believe me, I f-ucking know.”

My head spins further at his inflammatory words. Why is he telling Craig we’re getting married? “Liam, please.”

“Let me put this simply. You give us Ella’s passport and we take her home or my lawyers will stitch you up so badly you’ll never see your daughter again,” Liam says in a low voice.

“You can’t do that!”

“Try me.”

The quiet of the street outside returns as we wait for the next move in this crazy cat and mouse game. Craig side steps Liam who moves to stop him approaching the room Ella is in.

“I’m doing what you’ve asked,” mutters Craig.

Liam watches Craig warily as he rummages through a black rucksack in the kitchen then turns to say something to me. Taking advantage of his distraction, Craig launches himself at Liam.

“f-uck you!” yells Craig

Liam ducks the punch that follows and hesitates for a second before striking out at Craig, fist colliding with his face. Craig steadies himself on the table, and wipes a hand across his nose, smearing blood onto his cheek.

“I promised myself I wouldn’t hurt you even though it’s all I’ve pictured doing for the last two weeks. No, for the last two months. Thanks for the excuse,” Liam says, moving toward him again.

“Liam!” I grab his arm and rub his tense muscles. “Stop! You can’t do this.”

Liam shrugs my arm off and grabs Craig by the shirt.

“Assault charge would be perfect for me,” says Craig, with a taunting grin. “Keep going.”

Liam doesn’t need asking twice and Craig is rewarded with another smack in the face. Craig attempts to tackle Liam to the floor and fails, Liam shoves him and Craig lands on his back.

I’m too shocked to talk; the surreality of the situation grows by the minute. I have to stay in control a while longer, for Ella.

Ella.

Trembling, I turn to the doorway and she’s there, clutching her familiar, raggy blanket to her face, big brown eyes wider than usual as she watches Craig and Liam.

“Liam! Stop!” I shout.

I hate Craig more now than at any point since I met him. Ella will always remember this: her own fear, the anger, and upset in the room and the uncertainty about her future. When I walk out of the door with Ella, whatever we leave behind, something else will come with us. In two short weeks, Craig has broken part of Ella’s childhood by subjecting her to this and the memories will stay with her forever.

I bundle Ella into the bedroom, away from the two men and close the door. I pray Liam sees sense and doesn’t pummel Craig but the shouting continues. Ella’s half-packed bag rests on the bed but I can’t finish packing right now. I pull her to me and curl up on the bed, wishing I could protect her from everything going on around us. She snuggles into me and to my relief she doesn’t cry.

“Will Liam take us home?” she asks in a small voice.

I stroke her tangled hair. “I think Liam will do anything for us.”

Liam spent two weeks suffering through this alongside me, and I finally understand it wasn’t only because of me. He genuinely cares about Ella, has done ever since they connected at Christmas. Liam is as big a part of Ella’s life as he is mine; he loves Ella in a selfless, protective way as if she were his daughter. By denying this, I said the worst thing I possibly could in the car outside.

CHAPTER 35



LIAM



An exhausted Cerys sleeps with Ella in her arms upstairs and I sit in the lounge room of our Cardiff house considering where we go from here. Following the hysteria of our meeting with Craig, we travelled back to Rome and out of the country before he made another move. Finally home in the early hours, a spaced out Cerys took Ella to bed and lay down with her. We’ve barely spoken. Cerys’s full attention has been on her daughter from the moment we left Craig in the apartment, as if she dropped her concentration for a second Ella might disappear.

I don’t know if it was the threat of more violence or my lawyers that caused Craig to back off, probably a little of both. He’s threatened to go to the police over the mess I made of his face, but he’s f-ucking lucky I stopped at a couple of punches. Only by holding Ella in my mind and knowing she’d hate me for hurting her dad, could I stop myself pummelling the bastard into unconsciousness.

The mess of the last couple of weeks tipped everything sideways. Life with Cerys would always be different, but when I reconnected with her, I never expected to be involved in custody battles and child abduction. The uselessness I felt in the time we were in Italy is new to me; I’ve always been able to fix things with money to the right person. Not this time.

Cerys’s words when we found Ella cut to my heart, how she accused me of not caring enough because Ella isn’t my daughter. I didn’t only help Cerys find Ella because I wanted to help her mum; I did it for Ella. The reason I wouldn’t let Cerys look at those parental abduction sites. Because I couldn’t handle it. She wasn’t the only one with visions of Ella hurt and frightened. Between them, Cerys and Ella have my heart in a strong grip, holding me in their lives.