Chapter Twelve: Voice in the Void

LIAM'S POV

"What are you thinking about?"

I raised my eyes to Illiana's, across the intimate little both we'd managed to secure at one of the hottest restaurants in town. "Nothing," I reply easily, making a grab for my tumbler of expensive scotch on the table, and slinging it back. "Just a lot on my mind."

Illiana nodded, placing her hands in her lap. "That's what my father always used to say when he was afraid a business deal would fall through."

"It's nothing like that, Illiana," I said, my tone gentle. "It has nothing to do with work, and everything to do with my personal life."

"Like your feelings about Iana?" she asked, her eyes sweeping to mine, no resentment behind them as she smiled slowly.

I scoffed, signaling for the waiter to get me another scotch. "Of course I have feelings about Iana," I very nearly snapped, nodding in thanks when the waiter returned immediately with another drink for me. "She's the second-in-command of my little sister's company. The last thing I'd want is for her to do what the last COO did, and nearly bankrupt the company."

"Well, I'm not completely blind."

"Nobody said you were," I say, doing my best to keep my tone steady as I lift my drink to my lips and swallow.

"I know you two had something, Liam."

"So what?" I asked, shrugging my shoulders. "You had other partners before you met me. What's the difference?"

"The difference is, you had feelings for her. In fact, I'm pretty sure you still do," she says, her tone not accusatory in the slightest; in fact, she sounds sorry.

"I don't do feelings, Illiana," I sneered. "That's what makes the two of us work. You can go shopping and be with all the women you want to be with, and I can just surround myself with work and everybody wins."

She sighed. "I appreciate your effort to get me out from under my father's thumb. He wouldn't approve of my alternative lifestyle, as he calls it," she said, smirking slightly. "And I know very well you're not surrounding yourself with work. You're drinking yourself into oblivion several nights a week because you're depressed."

"You don't know a damn thing…"

"Oh, but I do," Illiana countered, her voice gentle. "I know more than you think. I know so much about depression, because I've witnessed it firsthand."

I blinked. "Excuse me?"

"My mother," she said quietly. "My father felt that, because of his grand social standing, that he could have all the affairs he wanted, without regard for his wife. He married her for her money and connections, just like he had. Unfortunately, my mother made the mistake of falling for the scoundrel, and, as a result, spent many nights crying because he wouldn't love her back. He saw me as a disappointment, at first, and never touched her again. Father always said that it would've been better, had I been a boy," she went on, with a little shrug of her shoulders. "But, he made do with me, and after my mother divorced him, refused to allow her to take me back to Spain. He gave me everything; an education, money… And, in return, I kept his business in the black because, whether he likes it or not, I'm a far better business person than he is."

I shake my head then, shocked. "Dammit. I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"Nobody does, really," she replied wistfully. "Except for Sofia."

"Your girlfriend?" I ask, remembering the woman that was frequently flitting around Illiana at any given opportunity, and her expression warmed.

"Yes," she said quietly. "Hopefully, one day, when our business obligations are fulfilled, we can get a quiet divorce, and Sofia and I can…"

I sighed. "I'm not the only one suffering here, am I?"

She smiled a little then. "Perhaps you are not."

I shook my head. "I can't let this happen. Not anymore."

"All right, then," she said, reaching up and gently touching my hand. "I formally release you from any kind of marriage agreement."

I blinked. "Wait. You serious?"

"Of course I am," she replied. "You want Iana, I want Sofia. We want to be with who we truly want, and neither of the ones we want wish for us to be married."

I laughed at that. "You'd be right."

Illiana laughed aloud then, the lyrical noise suddenly filling me with peace. She leaned in then and kissed me lightly on the cheek in gratitude, which was when there was a small shattering sound from across the room. "What on earth…?" she whispered then, and our eyes followed the sound, and we spotted Iana sitting at the bar, shattered glass at her feet. "Oh, merda," she said under her breath as Iana got to her feet.

I pulled away from Illiana then. "I'm sorry…" I said quietly.

She smiled. "I'm not," she replied. "Go after her."

I flashed her a smile and ran, watching as she ran towards the front of the restaurant. "Iana, wait!" I shouted, watching as she ran outside. "Iana!"

I watched through the window as she ran up to the first Uber driver she could find, hopping into the car. I let out a string of curses through my teeth as she got into the vehicle, as I tore my way towards the doors. The anguish that filled me then as I watched the driver pull away from the curb was terrible, and I felt a small part of myself dying inside then, as someone I needed left the restaurant entirely.

. . .

IANA'S POV

Suffice it to say that things with Liam hadn't improved in the five and a half months since I'd returned to my position as COO of Nell's Rags. The only flipside to it all was the apartment I was renting not too far away, and that I could afford decent daycare for Hailey. Even though I was an nineteen-year-old teenage mother with only a high school diploma, I was on my way to getting a Bachelor's Degree in Business from the University of Chicago, as well as making a six-figure salary and things couldn't have been better. Hailey was healthy and happy, and despite tensions with Liam, my life was pretty damn good as well.

I woke up with my alarm that morning at eight, knowing that I had two hours to get to work and an hour and a half to get Hailey to daycare on time. My phone alerted me that there was a tornado warning, but it was for Northern Chicago, and didn't say that our area would be affected by it. Shrugging it off, I got out of bed, immediately hit with the hot blast of June weather from my window as I left my bedroom and walked down the hallway towards Hailey's room. "Good morning, baby, rise and shine," I said, opening the door to her bedroom and seeing her, already sitting up in bed. "Don't you look beautiful this morning!"

Hailey rolled her beautiful dark brown eyes. "Gee, thanks."

I scoffed at her use of sarcasm, still touched that she lifted up her arms to be held, which I immediately acquiesced to. "You all ready for daycare?" I asked, kissing her cheek before I set her down on the ground.

Hailey shrugged, walking past me and towards the bathroom, and I immediately followed her, despite her frequent protests that she was a big girl and could use it on her own. Hailey tossed her long, black hair as she stepped into the bathroom, her body immediately relaxing as her feet made contact with the cool tiled floor. She advanced upon the toilet and began lifting her loose nightgown, and I instantly turned around, knowing that it was a good idea to give my daughter a sense of modesty early on.

"Sweetie?" I asked. "Daycare?"

"Yeah," she replied as she began using the bathroom. "I'm ready."

I smiled at how at ease she sounded about the whole thing; like me, she was born like a mini adult, which was something that pleased me immensely. Had she taken after her biological father, Andy, in any way, shape or form, I still didn't know what I'd have done. "Good," I replied. "Mama arranged with Penny to get off early so she could pick you up."

"Not Papa?" she asked, and I sensed the great love I felt for Pops in her voice as she finished doing her business. She hopped down from the toilet then and flushed before gathering her clothes about her again and washing her hands.

"Papa is going away for his anniversary with Uncle Ian," I explained patiently, turning around and smiling at her. "They'll be gone for a week, but they'll be back, and we'll all have a wonderful summer together."

Hailey sighed, but nevertheless finished washing her hands and dried them on the towel before she made her way back to her bedroom and looked through her drawers. "What should I wear today, Mama?" she asked.

I came into her room then, kneeling beside her and looking through her drawers with her. "What do you want to wear, sweetheart? It's going to be hot today, so probably something that makes you feel comfortable…"

Hailey pondered her choices before she chose a T-shirt and shorts, and opted for a fishtail braid which I frequently styled for her. She smiled up at me as I selected her favorite pair of sandals and helped her get dressed, before I left her alone with a book so that I could get dressed. "I love you, Mama," she called.

I turned around immediately then and crossed over to her bed, pulling her towards me and kissing her head repeatedly, so much so that Hailey squirmed and squealed with laughter. "Don't ever stop, baby girl," I told her.

"I won't, Mama! I won't!" she chanted.

I did my best to pull myself away from her then as I left her bedroom and returned to mine, getting out a pair of black ripped capri jeans and a loose tank top to wear that day. I picked my favorite sneakers to go along with it, plus the latest sweater that Penny had given me from her new summer line, not due out until the end of the month. I packed my bag, which I would take along with my laptop case, with something more work appropriate, which I would change into once I arrived at Penny's work suite. Once I finished dressing, I pulled my hair into a ponytail and summoned Hailey to the bathroom, where we brushed our teeth together before I made sure both of our bags were packed and we left the apartment together.

"Are you going to be good for Poppy today?" I asked her, once we got to my car, and I strapped her into her carseat.

"Yes, Mama," she replied.

I smiled, kissing her forehead. "I know you'll be good for her, sweetheart," I assured her, getting her a drinkable yogurt from her bag and handing it over. "Strawberry, your favorite and mine," I said, giving her another forehead kiss and shutting the door, whereupon I got up into the front seat and drove off.

"Mama?" she asked.

"Yeah, baby?"

"Are you mad at Grandma?"

I sighed, knowing just how perceptive my daughter was. "It's an adult thing, baby," I told her, my voice gentle.

She nodded. "Mama?"

I smiled, meeting her eyes in the mirror. "Yeah, baby?" I asked.

"Do you love Liam?"

I felt my face flush then as I considered that. "I don't know, baby," I said at last. "That's just part of the human experience, though. Not knowing everything. I just hope that, at some point, I manage to figure it out."

. . .

The front door opened, like clockwork, as it always seemed to do, and I tried my best to bury my thoughts on the iPad document work-ups for future deals that Penny wanted me to accomplish. I was too happy to do it, as it was my job, and I had, essentially, signed up for it. However, the notion that Liam was still coming in here, every goddamn day, to seemingly check up on me, was just enough to drive me wild. I barely stiffened as he came up beside me, and set a coffee to-go cup beside me.

"Peace offering?" I asked him casually, not looking up from where I sat on the couch in the suite's living room. "You know full well that I can barely choke down coffee, Liam," I went on, my tone clipped. "I just drank it to rebel against my parents in my early teenage years, when I knew they wouldn't understand my desire for Old Style."

"It's hot chocolate," Liam replied, and, when I looked up, I saw he was holding a cup himself, while his beautiful silver eyes were gazing at his phone. "I think I know you a little bit better than that by now, Iana."

I blinked, surprised that he had obtained my hot beverage of choice without even having to be asked to retrieve one. "Thanks," I replied, my tone awkward, as I picked it up, surprised that it was still warm.

"What are you working on?" he asked, his tone casual.

I swallowed my first sip of the hot chocolate. "Some new deals Penny wants to have finished by the end of the summer."

"How many?"

"Half a dozen, give or take."

"Baker's, or standard?"

I turned my face then, so that my raven mane concealed the smile my face was slowly but surely beginning to form at his joke. "Standard," I replied, lifting the drink to my lips again. "By the way, it's been awfully quiet around here."

He looked around at that, something I could see from the corner of my eye. "I guess it has," he allowed, shrugging.

"Well, I'll have to meet with Penny soon for my final fitting," I said, lowering my drink back onto the couch, so that it rested on my leg, and peering closer at the notes within the document she'd left for me.

"Fitting?"

"For my bridesmaid dress," I replied, finishing up the reading and straightening up, turning to look over at him. "For the wedding, which you and I know is in less than a week. I'm so glad that Penny gave us ample time off to head to New York for the ceremony…"

"How can you talk about it like that?" he asked.

I shook my head at him. "I'm not following…"

"For fuck's sake," he whispered, shaking his head. "There's no wedding."

"No wedding?"

"No wedding," he replied, not looking the least bit sorry for it. "Illiana broke off the engagement a month ago."

"A month…?" I asked.

"To the day," Liam confirmed.

I felt as if a giant weight, which I'd been unaware was sitting on my chest—and likely had been, from the moment I'd found out about the engagement in the first place—had lifted off me, and, for the first time in a long time, I felt the physicality of breathing normally… "You're not engaged?" I whispered.

He shook his head. "No. Illiana told me she would handle her father."

"She go back to Italy?"

"No, she went to Spain to live with her mother."

I nodded. "So… You're single?" I whispered.

He smiled slightly then, and the air between us suddenly changed. "Yeah," he replied easily. "I'm a single bachelor again."

I nodded a second time, wanting more than anything to walk towards him with purpose, and to slam him against the wall, to claim what was mine, to act out all the fantasies I'd had with Liam since last June, now that we could, but I found myself rooted to the spot. "Well, I'm glad you're so happy about it," I managed to get out, and I get to my feet, slowly moving towards my office, knowing that I have to keep it cool.

"I doubt that's all you wanted to say, Iana."

I sighed, my pace slowing, just as I come to my office door, and nearly shrink back when I see that Liam is right behind me. "It's all I can say, Liam," I manage to get out, and begin to slowly inch towards my desk, carefully setting the iPad down.

That fire in his eyes, the flame that had the ability to turn my knees to jelly and set my inner core ablaze, flickered, as he suddenly advanced towards me. He pushed me up against the desk, his fingers tracing patterns of heat on my skin, and I was very close to begging him to touch me even more than he had been. He cupped the small of my back in his strong hand, while his other hand went upwards, towards my neck, and moved my raven mane back and out of the way, the goosebumps the only thing telling me that this wasn't a dream. His lips ventured towards my ear, where they rested, for the briefest of moments, before the hot breath snapped me back to reality once again.

"Tell me what you want," he ordered.

"Liam…" I whimpered, swallowing, doing my best to keep ahold of my tone of voice. I was weakening in his verbal dominance, and he knew that; he knew the effect he had on me. "You know what I want…"

"Say it," he whispered.

I shut my eyes. "Please…" I whispered, feeling my resolve slipping away.

"Tell me what you want, Iana," he said softly, his voice a purr, as he moved his hand from the small of my back towards my front, drifting towards that secret spot between my legs, where only he could make me feel complete, and I was so close to moaning, begging him to take me up on top of the desk… "Tell me, and it will happen."

"Liam…"

"Say it, and it happens."

"No," I whispered then, the tears filling my eyes then, as I shut them; I couldn't bear to attempt to read his expression as I forced the word from my mouth.

"Iana…?"

"Please, don't," I whispered, trembling at his touch. I wanted him, so badly, but I couldn't let myself fall back into the way things had been before, I just couldn't…

"Iana, please," he whispered, his hand moving from my neck and towards my chin, which he fully intended to turn, so as he could bring his lips to mine, thus rendering us both powerless to the mind-numbing oblivion that we seemed to crave like the intoxicating, crushed-up diamonds of street drugs—

"I can't do this again!" I fired at him then, my voice choking a little at the end as I step away from his hands on me, refusing to allow my body to react completely, the only way it knows how, whenever Liam touches me. "Not again. I told you that last time that nothing can ever happen, and given recent events…"

"Recent events?" he asked, searching my face. "What the hell happened? Is that why you took yesterday off?" he demanded, searching my left hand for something before his eyes locked with mine again. "Did Axel…?"

I bit my lip, turning away from him. "Don't."

"No, tell me," he said, grabbing ahold of my shoulder and turning me around, and I slammed up against the side of my desk; I gripped onto it, staring up at him in shock. "Did he beat you or Hailey or something?"

I blinked. "Did he what?!"

He sighed. "Look, I never trusted the guy, Iana…"

"He wouldn't do that!" I cried out, pushing him away from me and walking out of my office, the heat getting to me. "Sure, I mean, our relationship was weird to some people because we got back together when I was seventeen, after the shootout at my mom's restaurant. And, given our hookups when I was fourteen, during the trial…"

"Christ," Liam whispered, looking horrified. "He fucking brainwashed you."

"He understood me!" I shot back, whipping around to face him again, feeling my eyes blazing in a moment of anger, and I couldn't for the life of me keep the choked tone out from my voice, although it felt as if my vocal chords could rip out at any moment. "And besides, if he even looked at Hailey wrong, he'd be in a wheelchair for life, at best. Don't even ask me what would've happened if he touched her."

"Fine," Liam huffed, crossing his arms. "He ask you to marry him or something? Besides, I thought you two were over."

"No, he didn't ask me," I said, rolling my eyes. "Don't act like you care."

Liam narrowed his eyes. "Of course I…" He broke off then, clenching his teeth and lowering his eyes. "Look, let's be realistic here for a minute. I mean, you never told me what went down in California with Andy that summer…"

"Because it was none of your fucking business!" I yelled back at him. "It's not like you're my boyfriend here! You made it pretty clear where we stand…"

"Yeah, and given that you're with Axel…"

"I am not with Axel!" I cried, and his eyes locked with mine. "I'm not," I said, my voice calm then as I forced myself to breathe. "He and I… We're done. Over."

"You're not back together?"

I shook my head. "No."

"That night, at the apartment, I thought…"

"No," I told him, my voice soft as I crossed my arms over my chest. "Axel and I, we're not back together, it's over. We ended things last November. I guess I just thought, since you're engaged, that I didn't want to look pathetic and single…"

"You could never be pathetic, Iana."

I scoffed, rolling my eyes and leaning up against the wall, positioned on the outer side of the kitchen, on the threshold of the living room. "Whatever."

Liam decided to ignore my sarcasm to what was, apparently, a genuine compliment. "Then, what happened?" he asked, and I looked away from him. "Iana, please," he begged, and something in his voice compelled me to keep talking.

I swallowed then, knowing that Liam was likely to see it in all the papers anyhow. "He came by the apartment last night," I said softly, crossing my arms. "He was being really distant lately, not taking my calls, and he and I… We haven't been intimate since we broke up that last time so needless to say, I thought something was wrong…"

"What happened?" Liam asked, all trace of jealousy gone.

"He told me that he was going to turn himself in," I said softly, feeling myself trembling as I remembered the look in his eyes, and how haunting the situation was. "His stepfather, Cara's father, Humphrey, he killed him."

"What? Why would he…?"

I locked my eyes to his. "The reason why his mother married Humphrey… I was originally told that the families were old friends, and it was seen as a favor, because his mother was raising him on her own, and she needed to finish school. In reality, Humphrey married Axel and Cara's mother because of Axel."

Liam's eyes widened. "Because of Axel?"

I nodded. "Yeah, because of Axel," I said, and Liam sighed.

"Jesus," he whispered, dragging his hand over his face. "I didn't know."

"And you shouldn't have," I told him, shaking my head. "That's why I think Axel and I were together in the first place. We needed each other. He needed me to deal with Cara's death, and I needed him for comfort because of what happened between us," I told Liam quietly.

"Iana, I don't think…"

I locked my eyes with his. "And I don't think you fully understand how much you hurt me when things went down last year," I said then, trying to keep my voice in check. "All you seemed to think about was yourself. You no longer had the excuse to fall back on that I was underage and your family and legacy could be in jeopardy because of that. I was given a cushy job by your sister, and I moved into another neighborhood this year, so it's not like I'm ghetto trash anymore, Liam, but what you don't seem to understand here is what a friend is."

"Iana, I apologized for that…"

"So fucking what?" I whispered. "If you really didn't want me, you should've come right out with it, before we slept together."

He lowered his eyes. "You're right… But things are different now…"

I shake my head at him. "No, they're not. We're constantly stuck in this one place, neither friend, nor lover, nor stranger, and it's gotten to the point where, Axel or not, I have no idea what we are, and even though California happened…"

Liam looked uncomfortable then, as he often did when emotions were high. "Fine, then. As your friend, what happened?"

"Friend," I muttered. "Right…"

His eyes narrowed again. "Stop it, Iana. You know I'm your friend."

I rolled my eyes. "If you say so…"

"I don't want to hear this right now," he said, his voice hard then as he grabbed ahold of my brachium and stared into my eyes. "Not from you. You know I'm your fucking friend, despite how complicated shit has gotten, with your job and my family, not to mention our trysts with Axel and Illiana this past year…" He broke off then, hesitating for a moment, fully absorbing that Axel or Illiana were no longer an issue at play here, and yet, didn't know how to move forward completely. "Now, are you going to tell me what the fuck happened with that fucking asshole who fucking abandoned you?!"

"I fucking paid the son of a bitch off, all right?!" I said, and Liam looked stunned before me as he let me go. "I paid him the fuck off, okay?"

"Paid him off?"

"Yeah," I said, dragging my hands down my face, "I paid him off. In exchange for him signing away his rights to Hailey, I paid for his last two years of college."

"Jesus, Iana…"

"She's my daughter," I replied. "And it's not like I didn't cover my bases. In the document, it states that his parents don't get any rights either. As Andy is an only child, no siblings can ever come forward with a claim."

"And do Andy's parents have siblings?"

"His dad had a brother who died," I replied. "And his mother was an only child as well. No member of the Parker family can ever touch my daughter," I said.

"And the grandparents?"

"Deceased, on both sides, I checked," I told him, feeling relieved that I was now talking about my daughter's safety in being with me, and that it was all out in the open. "She's mine, and she's always been mine, and she'll always be mine."

"So, that's all you did there?"

I nodded; the tattoos didn't matter, not at the moment. "Pretty much, yeah." I hesitated for a moment before I crossed my arms. "If you're fishing for information to figure out if I fucked Andy again, the answer is no. No, no, no. I haven't slept with anyone since you and I…" I broke off then, my face flushing as I moved my eyes back down to my work table; I couldn't look at him, not when I mentioned this, for it was still raw, as we'd barely discussed it. "Since you and I had our moment last June."

"That was a year ago, Iana, and you were with Axel…"

"So?!" I demanded, my eyes flashing back up to his. "I told you that we didn't—"

"Yeah, but still, you could've…"

"Oh, for fuck's sake, Liam, I'm a mother, and the COO of your little sister's company. I also have a pretty big family, and bills to pay. Plus, all those trips your sister sends me on for work. I haven't had time."

"Some of those investors must've been interested."

I shrugged. "Yeah, well it wouldn't have mattered. I was there for business, not pleasure. And besides, I wasn't interested in any of them."

Liam took a step forward. "Well, then maybe there's still a chance…"

"No," I told him, stepping back from him. "Despite the fact that Axel and me are over, chances between us don't matter here," I said, biting down hard on my lower lip, hating the fact that I was a teenage girl who had successfully gotten her heart broken by two different men. "You know what I want, Liam. I told you as much the last time we did what we do best. I can't do it, Liam; I have a daughter now. No more indiscriminate sex; I just… I can't. It's not who I am anymore. I'm sorry."

Liam rolled his eyes. "God, I wish you wouldn't be so fucking dramatic…"

"Easy for you to say!" I yelled back at him. "You don't have a kid to support in every feasible way! It's different!"

"I have a company to support…"

"That's not the same as a child and you know it," I said, my phone vibrating then, and I moved to take it out of my pocket. "God, I wish you could be a bit more considerate…"

"Whatever, Iana…"

"No, don't you 'whatever' me, Liam!" I cried out then, raising my eyes to his, after I'd unlocked the device that, unfortunately, pretty much every person on the planet seemed to be dependent on in some way, shape or form. "Can't you see that acting like a toddler won't get you what you want here?!"

"Fine, fine. Take whatever call that is, Iana, because I'm fucking done," he said, throwing up his hands as I lowered my eyes to look at my phone.

My breath caught in my throat then; not just at the notion of him leaving, but at what I saw on my phone at that very moment. "Liam…" I gasped out then.

"Don't," he said, his voice hard as he moved towards the door. "I'm leaving. You don't have to worry about me bothering you anymore…"

"No, Liam, don't!" I cried out then, and something in my voice made him stop walking. "My weather app on my phone went off…"

"So?" he asked, not turning around.

"The tornado's spread from the north to the south," I told him, my voice shaking as I raised my eyes up to look at him, trying and failing to keep myself in check. I found that the notion of him leaving, walking out that door, and being sucked up into a cyclone was too much to bear. "It's coming here, and it's due to hit in the next ten minutes. We can't leave."

"I can make it," he said.

I dropped my phone on top of the couch then, crossing the room immediately then and grabbing him by the shoulders, before I turned him around. "Don't you fucking dare walk out that door," I whispered to him, feeling my entire body shake as I held onto him.

"What's it to you?" he demanded, refusing to look at me.

I reached up then, taking his face into my hands, and I felt my heart hammering in my chest then when he shut his eyes at my touch. "Because I can't fucking lose you, too, Liam," I told him, and his eyes snapped open at the unexpectedness of my words, while all the while I was willing for my voice not to shake. "I just… I can't. Not you. Please…don't go."

"Iana…"

"Stay with me," I whispered then, my voice barely above a whisper, our eyes refusing to unlock from the other.

He regarded me then, stiffening slightly, and I released him, suddenly feeling as if I'd let go of something very important. "Why should I?"

"Because I fucking care about you," I whispered then, and felt the tears pricking my eyes. I shuddered then, as he lifted his thumb, and caressed my bottom lip, and I felt the yearning coursing through my veins. "I've put up with a lot of shit in my life, Liam, and a bunch of that shit has been your shit. But the eye of the storm is gonna hit in just a few minutes, and I refuse to allow you to walk out that door. And you know why? Because you could fucking die. I'm not about to let that happen."

"Why's that?" he asked.

"Because your mom needs you, Penny needs you, the Kennedy Bureau needs you…" I broke off then, realizing that those words, no matter how important they were, were not the ones Liam wanted to hear. In that moment, as Liam and I stood, literally a hairbreadth away from life and death, I knew I had to tell the truth. "I need you," I replied, meaning those three words then, and something seemed to click within him then.

"You need me?"

"Yeah, I need you," I said, my voice barely above a whisper, as I felt the intensity of his gaze upon me then as the wind blew outside, and the trees thrashed along with them. "Don't you know that by now?"

Liam nodded then, taking my hand and leading me past the main room and towards the back, and I quickly grabbed my cell phone as we walked by the couch. "I told Penny to put in a shelter here," he told me, hesitating in the middle of the hallway, for I'd since dropped his hand in a moment of uncertainty. "We'd better hurry, Iana. Like you said, the storm is ten minutes away, and we don't want to be caught in it."

I was about to step forward, when a tree suddenly came crashing through the main room of Penny's penthouse in the wake of a violent wind, and I was immediately knocked to the ground by the sudden impact. "Are you fucking kidding me?!" I screamed, pushing myself up to my feet immediately. "Shit…" I whispered, and winced slightly in pain.

"Iana!" came Liam's scream, as he did his best to navigate through the thick branches of the white oak tree, and caught a glimpse of me as I moved towards him. "You okay?" he demanded then, clutching my arms and staring at me.

I nodded, then, my movement stiff as the wind whistled in both our ears. "I'm fine. Just landed pretty hard on my shoulder," I replied, and Liam looked shocked at my declaration. "I'm fine," I said, my voice firm. "Trust me, I've had worse."

Liam swallowed then, obviously tempted to ask me what that 'worse' was, but another bash against the side of the building caused him to lift me up and carry me out from the wreckage the tree had caused.

"I can fucking walk, thank you," I said through gritted teeth and Liam, albeit reluctantly, set me down in the hallway.

Stepping forward, he showed me what I thought had been a linen closet in the bathroom, but actually opened up to a stairwell. "Come on," he said, flicking on a light and motioning for me to close the door behind us as we walked down.

"Sure this is safe?" I asked, walking down and trying and failing to grip at the walls. "Put some railings in here next time," I muttered.

"For some reason, Lacey thought they'd throw off the feng shui or something, and Penny was inclined to agree with her," Liam replied as the lights flickered around us, and I could tell from his tone that he thought his little sister's girlfriend's reasoning was bullshit. "Not like this'll be on the cover of Vanity Fair…"

"National Geographic, maybe," I said, and Liam chuckled softly ahead of us when we could finally see the bottom of the stairs. "They like catacombs, don't they?"

"Last time I checked, those were ancient ones. You ever see the ones in France?"

"Ugh, don't remind me!" I said, shuddering as we neared the final half-dozen or so steps. "Those gave me nightmares for weeks!" I hesitated for a moment close to the base of the stairs, catching sight of a rectangular shape in the semi-darkness, which could only be a door. "Is that it?" I asked Liam quietly.

"Yeah," he said. "It's a room of reinforced steel, with a couple of cots, blankets, and a few different kinds of non-perishable foods, plus water," he explained as we headed down towards a door, where Liam keyed in a code. The door slid sideways then, and Liam moved out of the way to let me inside first, whereupon he stepped in behind me, and the door shut automatically behind him. "It can sense body heat," he informed me.

I hesitated slightly, my thoughts going to Uncle Lip, Aunt Mandy, and Ronan. "What about the other apartments…?"

He grinned. "I may have helped the rest of the building with the funding to make sure that the other units came equipped with these."

I rolled my eyes. "Of course you did."

"You like it?"

"Looks great," I told him, tossing my phone down onto one of the cots, pulling my charger out of my pocket and putting it down next to it. "Least we're safe. And together."

"Yeah," Liam replied, standing up against the door. "Together."

I bit my lip then, moving to sit at the edge of the cot I'd thrown my phone on. "We could be here awhile, you know," I said, slowly raising my eyes to his, and my eyebrows shot upwards then as he went over to the little mini-fridge in the room, retrieving an ice pack, which he handed over to me without hesitation. I felt amazed that he'd so accurately anticipated my needs, without me having to ask for it. "Thanks," I said, shocked by this behavior. I removed the blazer I'd worn that day, sitting there in my camisole, jeans, and sneakers as I tossed my hair to my left side, and placed the ice pack upon my right shoulder.

"How do you figure?" Liam asked, and I looked up at him again. "That we could be here a long time," he said helpfully.

I swallowed then, taking in the way he was looking at me, now that I'd taken off my blazer, and felt as if my body was betraying me by visibly flushing. "The Tri-State Tornado, of which Illinois was one of the states, lasted three and a half hours, and ended up killing over six hundred people in our area," I replied, turning back to Liam, who clearly looked impressed. "It's also the longest tornado in history."

"Fuck," Liam said, leaning back against the wall. "So we could be here as long as that?"

I shrugged. "Could we be? Yeah. Unless this tornado has a stick up its ass and wants to break the Tri-State record," I said, smirking.

"You said Axel understood you…"

I swallowed then, knowing that Liam would pick up on that. "Yeah," I said softly, pressing the ice pack more firmly into my shoulder. "Yeah, I did."

"What happened to you, Iana?"

I sighed. "Lotta shit, Liam."

"Tell me."

I sighed, rolling my shoulders and wincing slightly, for my right shoulder flared up at the movement, and I knew I'd have to take it easy. "I told you that I thought of Clayton and Fionn as my sons, because our mom dumped us with our uncle when we were kids…"

"I remember," he said, crossing the room again, and I watched as he retrieved a first-aid kit from a high shelf. He walked with it and sat on the other cot, opening it and taking out an ace bandage, which he worked into his hands for a moment before inching forward. "Can I?" he asked, and obviously he knew not to break my boundaries without permission.

I nodded, mentally crossing my fingers that I wouldn't attempt to launch myself at him, now that he was so close to me. "Sure." I hesitated for a moment before I took off the ice pack, and noticed that the minor swelling had gone down considerably, and yet I inhaled sharply when Liam reached out and began wrapping up my shoulder.

"Did I hurt you?"

I shook my head at him. "No," I said quickly, my cheeks flaming as my eyes locked momentarily with his.

"So, Clayton, Fionn, and you lived with your uncle…"

"Right," I said, snapping out of the moment. "Our Dad ran off to evade the law because Mom told him to—something about his old record coming to light or some shit—and then everything went to hell. You know how I hate cops?"

"Sure," he replied, holding the bandage with one hand while the other worked with the clip to hold it into place. "You said that you'd never tell anyone about our relationship when you were underage because of that hatred."

I blinked, surprised that he remembered that. "I did, didn't I? Well, it's because my mom hooked up with one," I said quietly.

He raised his eyebrows, gently letting my shoulder go. "Couldn't have been easy for you to see your mom move on that quickly."

"We later found out that she did it to clear our dad's name, but what she didn't know, what nobody knew, is what went on behind closed doors."

"He was abusive towards your mom?"

I sighed. "Yeah, he was, but everyone knew about it. Uncle Ian tried to get Mom to leave him, but she kept saying she loved Tommy, and that she was fine… What she didn't know, what nobody knew, is that everything Tommy did to her, he did to me."

Liam blinked. "What are you telling me? Weren't you…?"

"I was five," I replied, the lump appearing in my throat as I could physically feel the wool rug underneath me then. "Just five. I was a mother of two little boys and fighting to keep us all together. All I could think of was us getting taken away, so I learned to cook, clean, take care of the kids, and still manage to go to kindergarten. But it all came crashing down when Mom decided to go to AA on Friday nights, which was when my uncle worked a double shift, and Tommy would get off early from work."

"He… He hurt you?" Liam asked, and I could tell from his tone of voice that he couldn't bring himself to say that word.

I nodded. "He did," I replied. "Pretty much every Friday, like clockwork. In the living room, on the fucking wool rug. I learned very quickly that I had to do everything he said. The alternative was death."

"For you?"

"For my entire family, which I would be obligated to watch," I replied. "And then he said he would kill me, too."

"Think he would've?"

"Eventually," I admitted, "but not at first. I think he would've used me for his sick pleasure for a little while longer, and then, once I was too old to satisfy whatever sick fantasies were going on in his head, he'd have killed me."

"Was he the only one?"

"No, he wasn't the only one," I said quietly. "The second one was my middle school principal. I was thirteen. Later, I ended up beating up his son, who is Ezra's biological father, which almost got me sent to jail."

"Family retribution?"

"More like attempted murder, on the son's end," I muttered.

"Of you?"

I shook my head. "No. Of Franny. Told him she was pregnant, and he freaked the fuck out. I don't know what I would've done, or she would've done, if I got there a second too late to step in and help her…"

"Fuck," he whispered. "That sucks."

I shrugged. "It's over now. All of it is over now."

"That why you think you'd never be with anyone long-term?" Liam asked, finally getting to his feet and returning the first-aid kit to the shelf.

I sighed, leaning back and lying on the cot. "I don't know anymore, Liam," I said quietly, my eyes locking with his. "You've turned my entire world upside down, and I don't know what I can do about that."

It was then that I heard a bang from somewhere outside, and I knew then that the storm had finally hit. My heart was in my throat, and when I sat up, I still noticed that Liam was respecting my personal space. I considered this for a moment, whereupon I felt as if my life was flashing before my eyes, and I couldn't have it all end like this. I knew my daughter was safe, for her daycare was equipped with a shelter of its own, and, knowing that, I knew I could do what I had to do to be happy, if these proved to be my final moments.

"Fuck it," I whispered. "Fuck all of it," I went on, and launched myself off the cot without a moment's hesitation and walked deliberately over to Liam then. I felt his shocked yet blazing gaze on me then as I approached him, and felt fire on every inch of my body as our eyes remained locked. That was before I grabbed his face and yanked it down to mine, and my lips met his almost instantly, the desperation behind the movements truly life and death. I wrapped my arms around him then, a shudder escaping his mouth and mine then before his arms came around me, and our hearts thundered together as one, and I felt my legs threatening to collapse under me at the impact of what the physicality held. "I need you, Liam," I whispered, pulling back slightly and putting my forehead against his as the wind whirled outside, and I held myself against him, doing my best to keep my voice from trembling, but my emotions officially held no promises. "If we fucking die, know that I died needing you more than ever."

Liam looked determined then, never wavering in holding me against him. "I'm not going to let you fucking die, Iana. Not now. Not ever," he assured me, "because I fucking need you, too," he said then, before putting his mouth back on mine then.

Automatically, I reached up then and yanked off my camisole, before I tore at his buttons and pulled off his blazer. We stepped out of our pants in fluid motions before I dragged him towards one of the cots, but Liam couldn't seem to wait any longer. As the wind beat at the outside of the building, Liam slammed me up against the wall, doing away with my bra and panties quickly, while my fingers hooked into his boxers and yanked them down, and I felt not pain my shoulder, but, rather, exaltation of all that we did, and at the feeling of his hands on me. I stood on my toes then, before I braced myself briefly against his shoulders, winding my legs around his torso, urging him inside me as quickly as I dared.

My breath hitched in my throat, as I managed to take his entire length inside of me, and my eyes very nearly threatened to roll back in my head. "I need you," I whispered.

"I need you, too," Liam whispered back, as the entire apartment building shook around us, and as the outside area was ravaged by another storm entirely.

END OF SEASON FOUR