The Marriage Debt: Chapter 32

Days ago

I stare at the pictures in my hand while the car drives across an idyllic road through the mountains. The view outside doesn’t amaze me as much as seeing these images in front of me. It’s still hard to believe they’re real.

That Liam is alive.

And not just that, but he’s thriving.

Surviving on his own without any help from any of his family members or friends.

They don’t even know he still exists.

A knot forms in my stomach.

I’m going to have to tell all of them soon. Especially Jill.

I rub my forehead.

It’s going to be tough. Tougher than anything I’ve ever done before.

But I’m here with a purpose, and I refuse to give up. If there’s even a chance, I have to try.

When the car finally stops, the detective looks at me and says, “Be prepared for anything and everything.”

I nod, looking out at the cabin down in the woods. “He really lives off-grid.”

After taking a deep breath, I get out of the car and walk into the forest until there’s a strange sound.

THWACK!

THWACK!

Rhythmic strokes. Someone’s chopping wood.

My feet rustle the leaves on the ground. A sweaty, half-naked buff man with long hair looks up. His eyes connect with mine, and at that moment, I know for sure …

I have finally found my brother.

“Liam,” I say.

His eyes narrow. Violently.

With the axe in his hands, he approaches me. Not down low. High up. Threatening.

“Who the fuck are you, and why do I feel like I know you?”

Jill

Present

“I didn’t recognize my own damn brother when I first saw him … but I’d recognize the one girl who tried to murder me in a heartbeat,” Liam growls.

“What?” I mutter, unable to believe what’s happening.

Why is Liam pointing a gun at my head?

“JILL!” Luca’s ear-piercing scream catches everyone off guard as he crawls up from the ground, clutching his side.

“Liam! No!” Jasmine shrieks, her eyes homing in on the gun. “Why are you doing this!?”

Luca groans in agony. “Tell her what happened, Liam. Tell her what you’re really doing here. She deserves to know why you’re going to kill her.”

Kill me? Liam?

He could never.

Right?

My whole body begins to shake, and I suddenly feel sick to my stomach.

“But I swear on her fucking grave I will chase you into your own,” Luca growls, standing up straight, despite the pain.

The pain I caused him.

“Like that’ll change a thing,” Liam says. “She’s still going to die.”

Die?

Now?

Here?

At his hands?

Thunder strikes, hitting the water behind us, and I suddenly become intensely aware of exactly where we are. The same place where I drove off the cliff three years ago. The same place I once thought I’d lost Liam forever. The same place he’s now threatening to … end my life.

“I don’t understand,” I mutter. “Finally, we have you back, and now—”

“I was never gone to begin with,” Liam interrupts. “But my memory was, for three fucking years. I died that day you drove me off that cliff, Jill,” he growls at me. “Do you know what happens to a man when he’s starved of oxygen for as long as I was?”

Tears run freely down my cheeks. “Please …”

He ignores my pleas. “I couldn’t fucking remember a thing. Three years filled with anxiety. I couldn’t sleep without nightmares, couldn’t live without headaches and constant rage. Ever since that one fucking night.”

His fingers almost dig into my skin, as does the gun, and I don’t know what to do except ask questions, hoping it’ll keep him going. My lips part. “How did you survive?”

“A bunch of fishermen were fishing in the area and saw me floating to the surface, so they jumped in to get me out.”

Oh, my God.

When we were both drowning, I was only able to save myself, but I still lost consciousness. All I know is that some random car stopped, and a guy came to drag me out of the water.

But by the time the emergency people came to help, they could no longer find Liam’s body. And everyone assumed he’d drowned and sank to the bottom.

I’m so confused right now. It’s too much to take in at once. “But you weren’t at the hospit—”

“I told them not to take me there,” he interrupts. “I didn’t have any fucking memories, but I did know this city was fucking dangerous and that I wanted nothing to do with it. All this time, I’ve lived far away from the danger. Even though I had no fucking memories, I was content living a normal life and working hard to survive.”

Guilt eats me alive, and right now, I don’t even know if it’s that bad to die at his hands.

Maybe I deserve it.

“My memories never came back,” he says, looking up at Luca, who’s desperately clinging to himself, despite the blood pouring from his wound. “Until that fucker found me and forced it all back in. And that’s when I finally understood the burning rage in my veins.”

Luca.

All this time, I thought Luca was the one threatening to hurt Jasmine and then his own brother.

But he was just trying to keep Liam away from me.

The gun clicks.

“Thanks for coming here, Jill. That makes things a lot easier for me.”

Oh God, what have I done?

Luca roars, snatching the knife off the ground before grabbing my sister and holding the knife over her throat. Jasmine’s shriek reverberates in my fucking bones.

“If you kill Jill, I’ll kill Jasmine,” Luca growls.

I shake my head at Luca, but he’s relentless.

“Please, don’t do this. Both of you,” Jasmine pleads.

“I’m sorry, Jasmine, but my brother leaves me no choice,” Luca says through gritted teeth.

“Let her go. Now,” Liam growls, his voice so low it makes all the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

What happened to the Liam I once knew, full of joy, full of kindness and wonder? The guy who wanted nothing more than to escape this dark and fucked-up life?

“This isn’t you,” I tell Liam. “Please, stop.”

“This is me, Jill. This is what you made of me. The old Liam you knew is dead.”

“It doesn’t have to be this way, Liam,” Luca says. “I’ll let Jasmine go when you let Jill go.”

“Don’t pretend you suddenly have feelings,” Liam bites back at him. “You don’t feel anything for Jill. Nothing compared to what I felt for Jasmine.”

Jasmine seems shocked at his admission like she didn’t know he was pining after her years ago.

“You have no fucking clue,” Luca retorts, the blade sinking into Jasmine’s skin. “I would kill for her.”

“You’d kill her own damn sister,” Liam says gruffly. “She’d never forgive you, right, Jill?”

I’m so in shock I don’t even know how to respond.

“I’d rather have her hate me for the rest of our lives than lose her.”

My eyes widen.

It feels like someone reached inside my chest and kick-started my heart.

“I’ll fucking do it,” Luca says, drawing blood. Jasmine whimpers in fear. “You know I will.”

Liam and Luca both look like lions ready to fight. Suddenly, Liam roars and throws the gun away. “Let her go!”

Fuck.

That was intense.

Luca shoves Jasmine aside, farther away from us. “Run. Hard.”

“What? No!” Jasmine shouts back. “I’m not leaving you two here with my sister.”

“Do you know why I told you to come with me? Because I used you as bait,” Luca growls, making me gasp. “He wants you.”

Jasmine shakes her head, confused. “No, I don’t care. I’m not leaving Jill.”

“Shouldn’t have done that, Luca.”

Suddenly, Liam grabs my throat and turns me around. My body dangles above the dropoff. “Someone needs to pay for my pain.”

“NO!” Luca screams.

Liam holds me up high so my feet no longer touch the ground. His grip is so strong I can’t breathe. Life ebbs away from me.

OOMPF!

Liam’s knees collapse with my throat still in his hands. I struggle against his grip, impending doom down below.

He grunts in pain, reaching for his thigh.

A knife is stuck in his flesh, blood oozing out.

His grip loosens. Too much.

I fall.

Fast.

“JILL!”