PROLOGUE
Gabriella
The humid northern California air was starting to cool as the night wore on. I grimaced as I pulled the phone from my ear and stared at it, wishing I could see my cousin on the other end. I should have FaceTimed with her so that I could see her face. Alexis was always at her most beautiful when she was pissed off.
“Have you lost your frigging mind, Gabs?” Alexis practically shouted and I could still hear her clearly even with the phone an arms-length away from my ear. “Why are you doing this to yourself again? He’s an idiot. Liam Bryant is not worth your time.”
I blew out a frustrated sigh and glared up at the star-filled night sky. The rock festival I’d wormed my way into was drawing to an end for the night. OtherWorld was on stage at the moment and then Demon’s Wings would close the place down. I wasn’t sure how my manager had gotten me onto the lineup for this event, especially with only a few days to do it, but I was grateful that she’d worked her magic.
I’d already performed earlier in the day on one of the smaller stages, so I didn’t have to worry about work getting in the way of the real reason I was there. My band and the few members of my road crew could deal with anything that needed immediate attention for now.
“Lee-Lee, stop,” I commanded. She had no room to judge what I was doing, not when I’d once said the same thing about the man who was now her husband. “I’m where I need to be. You don’t know what is going on with me and Liam, so just stop. Nonno…” My voice broke as memory after memory of my grandfather flowed through my mind and I had to clear my throat. “He confessed something to me last week, Lee-Lee.”
That had my beautiful cousin pausing and I heard her breath hitch. Our grandfather had had a major heart attack the week before and had only lasted a few days afterwards. I’d suspected he’d only hung on as long as he had so that he could clear his conscious. What he’d confessed to me, the things that he’d admitted to doing, would have made me hate him if I hadn’t known that he wasn’t going to make it.
It had taken a lot more strength than I had even known I possessed to forgive that old man, but I hadn’t wanted him to die thinking that I hated him. I hadn’t wanted to live with the guilt of letting him think it.
“Wh-what did he tell you?” Alexis whispered. My beloved cousin had had a rocky relationship with our grandfather for most of her life. Alexis had been born illegitimately and the old-world Italian man hadn’t let her live that down. She’d always tried so hard—sometimes too hard—to gain his respect. It wasn’t until she had nearly died that he had finally realized she meant so much to him.
“I don’t want to get into it right now, Lee-Lee.” I would be there all night if I went into the last conversation I’d ever had with my Nonno. “I just called you to let you know I wouldn’t be able to get Jordan this weekend like I’d promised him.” I pushed my hair out of my face and leaned back against my tour bus.
If Annabelle hadn’t been able to get me this gig today, I would have been back in Malibu getting ready to spend the weekend with the little man who owned my heart just as much as his mother did. Alexis’s son was a miracle, and I usually never wasted the chance to get to spend time with him. But this time, something was more important.
I needed to talk to Liam. Since he wasn’t returning my calls or responding to any of the hundred-plus emails that I’d sent him in the last week, he’d left me no other choice. As soon as he got off the stage, I was going to corner him and make him tell me the truth. Make him admit that he still loved me as much as I loved him. Make him tell me that he wanted to be with me. Then, if he didn’t ask the question that mattered the most, I would do the asking. We’d already wasted too much time and I wasn’t going to waste another minute.
I was going to marry Liam Bryant. He just didn’t know it yet.
Alexis blew out a frustrated sigh and I couldn’t help but smile. “Okay. Just know that I love you, Gabs. No matter what happens with you and Liam, I’m here for you.”
“I love you too, Lee-Lee.”
I could hear OtherWorld ending their show and quickly said goodbye to my cousin. With the end of our connection, I lost some of my confidence. I needed to do this—for me, but also for Liam. That didn’t mean I wasn’t terrified that he would continue to push me out of his life.
My grandfather had filled Liam’s head full of all kinds of nonsense in an attempt to protect me from a man he’d thought would destroy me. But when it came to Liam, even when he’d been in over his head with the drugs, I’d never been in danger of losing myself. Liam brought out everything that was good inside of me. It was without him that I was on the edge of falling apart.
Clenching my jaw, I gathered my courage and turned in the direction of the OtherWorld buses. They had been touring all summer with three other bands, Demon’s Wings co-headlining the tour with them. They had started the summer off with only two buses for their band, but I’d heard that they had added two more buses to their convoy since one member of OtherWorld had gotten married and another was recently engaged.
I didn’t normally keep up with what was going on in the band unless it had something to do with Liam. But out of the blue, Emmie Armstrong had made a phone call to my manger, Annabelle, and offered me a nice-sized check to perform at Liam’s little sister’s wedding. I’d done the wedding but had refused the check.
Marissa Bryant—now Marissa Niall, I guess—was one of the few people I actually liked. She was the kind of person people were drawn to, whether the
y wanted to be or not. She’d been one of the few people to accept me without judgment.
Of course I’d used the chance to see Liam as well, but he hadn’t let me get near him. Even at the reception, which I’d gone to in hopes of getting him to talk to me—even if for only five minutes, he’d basically hidden himself behind Emmie Armstrong at first and then Dallas Cage. I’d left feeling like a fucking stalker.
After that I’d been determined to put Liam Bryant out of my mind and out of my heart. I’d thrown myself into my music and, yeah, I’ll admit it—one or two one-night stands. If Liam didn’t want me then I wasn’t going to continue to throw myself at him. I wasn’t going to beg him to be with me.
Then I’d gotten the call from my aunt telling me that Nonno was sick and asking for me. I’d jumped on the first flight to Connecticut, torn apart that the man who had raised me might not make it through the night. The first words out of his mouth had shattered something inside of me and I’d sat in shocked silence as he’d confessed what he’d done that fateful New Year’s Eve night.
Now, knowing what really happened and why Liam continued to push me out of his life, I couldn’t let it continue. Not if there was even the slightest chance he still loved me. After what I’d found out, I was going to fight until my last breath was torn from my chest for the man who owned my soul.
I reached the buses and knocked on the first one that I came to. None of them were marked, or had the band’s artwork on the side of them proclaiming they were OtherWorld. It was almost an Emmie Armstrong trademark to keep the buses as plain on the outside as possible. I understood it and was actually glad that Annabelle had the same mentality. When your life was front and center for the tabloids and social media, it was easier to breathe knowing that the public couldn’t easily identify the vehicle you were basically living in while on tour. Anonymity was your lifeline out here on the road.
I didn’t know if Liam had had time to get back to them or not, but it was as good a starting point as any. After a few moments the door opened and Marissa stood there looking down at me. The beautiful, voluptuous woman stared down at me with first a frown and then a small smile. “Hi, Brie.”
At the sound of the nickname that Liam had originally given me, my heart clenched. Very few people had ever used that little nickname that I’d hated in the beginning. Now, even fewer people called me by it and it was a sweet kind of torture to my heart to hear it. “Hi, Rissa. Is he here?”
Marissa’s face tightened for a moment and I could tell that she was fighting herself. I respected her for being so loyal to her brother, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t irritated that she didn’t just give me a simple yes or no.
“He hasn’t come back to the bus yet,” Marissa finally told me. “He’s been going for a run with Linc after the shows, to wind down. It helps with…everything.”
I swallowed hard, nodding. I was thankful that Liam had found a new, healthier outlet for his addictions. I’d learned through a new, yet completely bizarre, ally that Liam was still holding strong with his recovery: going to meetings, staying away from temptations, and using exercise to fight cravings. So far the exercise had been the most helpful and I’d seen at the wedding exactly how healthy he was now.
Before, when Liam was still struggling—and losing—his battle with addiction, he had been more on the thin side. That hadn’t deterred from his almost beautiful male perfection, however. I doubted anything ever would. But now, he was so much more devastating with at least thirty pounds of muscle added to him. His eyes were brighter, and his skin had a healthy glow.
I’d taken one look at him at Marissa and Wroth’s wedding and had to fight my instant need for this new version of the man I loved. Dio, all I wanted was to be with him again.
“Do you know how long he will be?” I saw the hesitation on Marissa’s lovely face and rushed to continue. “It’s important that I speak to him, Rissa. Please…” I sucked in a deep breath and just spilled it all out. “My grandfather died last week, but before he passed he told me something that I had no clue about. Please, I need to talk to Liam.”
Sympathy filled her eyes. “I’m so sorry about your grandfather.”
I lowered my eyes. “Me too,” I whispered. I hadn’t really dealt with his being gone yet, not the way I knew I should have, not the way Alexis had. I was so determined to get Liam back as soon as possible that I hadn’t let myself process that the man who had taken me in when my father had died, raised me—loved and protected me since I was ten years old—was actually gone.
I heard Marissa move and lifted my eyes quickly. She stepped down from the bus and took one of my hands, giving it a compassionate squeeze. “He won’t be gone long, no more than an hour. As soon as he gets back I’ll tell him you’re looking for him. Okay?”
My teeth sank into my bottom lip to keep my chin from trembling. I didn’t like to rely on other people when something this important was on the line, but I had to trust Marissa. If she told Liam and he decided I wasn’t worth his time…
No, I wouldn’t think negatively like that. I couldn’t let the doubts cloud my mind when I was so close to getting him back. “I’ll be at my bus.”
She tightened her hold on my hand. “I’ll make sure he comes over, Brie. I promise. But I can’t promise things will go as you want them to. He’s not the same person he was when you two were together. He’s stronger, better…I won’t say he’s happier, but he is better.” Her breath hitched as she blew out a small sigh. “All I want is for him to be happy.”
I tried to give her a smile, but wasn’t sure if my lips cooperated or not. “Me too, Rissa. Me too.”
I took my time walking back to the bus. Even though all the other bands were done for the day, the crews were making sure things were in their right places, bands were still running on the adrenaline high that being on stage gave them, and groupies were running around doing what they always did. I dodged one person after another, my eyes not really taking any of it in as I mentally went through what I wanted to say to Liam. If he came to see me…
Someone bumped into me and I lifted my head, realizing I had ended up on the other side of the lot where all the buses were parked without even noticing. My own bus was in the opposite direction. Damn.
Checking my watch I realized that I really must have been in a daze because the hour Marissa had said Liam would be gone was almost up. Cursing under my breath, I turned toward my bus.
I don’t know what originally caught my eyes. With the cooling of the night’s summer temperatures I could understand why someone would be wearing a hoodie. It was the way they kept their head down that really caught my eye, quickly followed by the shock of long, auburn hair on the little girl that the hoodie-wearer had in their arms.
I stopped for a moment to process what I was seeing. Even in the dim lighting coming from the parking lot’s street lamps, I knew who that little girl was. The beautiful alabaster skin, the long red-gold auburn hair, and the eyes I knew were green told me that it was Emmie Armstrong’s little mini-me. Mia was my little nephew’s best friend. I’d seen her at a few of the playdates she sometimes had with Jordan and knew that she was her mother’s daughter in more ways than just looks. Mia was full of fire and spunk and even though she was the daughter of the one chick I hated most in the world, I still couldn’t help but smile when I saw her and Jordan playing together.
The fire and spunk was not on that beautiful little face tonight, though. I saw tears running down her face; saw fear in that lovely, pale face. I glanced around, looking for any sign of her mother, but knew instinctively that I wasn’t going to see Emmie. Demon’s Wings were on stage and the sound of the crowd even from where I was standing told me that they were definitely having a great show.
When the person in the hoodie disappeared from my line of sight, every maternal instinct inside of me started screaming at me to follow. Without even thinking about it, I started after them. At first at just a quick walk, but when Hoodie started moving faster I started jog
ging.
“Mia?” I called after them, hoping that I was wrong and that the person carrying the little girl was just one of Emmie’s staff. But they weren’t heading toward the Demon’s Wings buses—they had been close to OtherWorld’s and I’d already passed them.
The sound of my voice had Hoodie stiffening and turning their head a second before they broke into an all-out run. Fear churned in my stomach and I pulled my phone from my pocket, but instinct told me I didn’t have time to stop and call anyone. Hoodie was taking Mia, was most probably kidnapping her. I couldn’t let them take her, couldn’t let Emmie go through the worst nightmare a mother could ever face, whether I hated her or not. That didn’t matter. All that did was getting Mia out of Hoodie’s arms.
Hoodie left the parking lot and ran onto a street that was just outside the stadium the rock festival was being held at. The street was deserted and I was able to gain ground on them when Hoodie fell. My heart clenched, and I feared Mia was hurt from the fall.
When I saw Mia squirming free, I raced to lift her into my arms. “Mia, are you okay, sweetheart?”
“I-I w-want my m-m-momma,” Mia sobbed brokenly against my chest.
I wanted to reassure her that I would take her straight back to her momma, but the words stuck in my throat when Hoodie got to her feet and stepped in front of me. This close I could easily tell that it was a woman, but the only thing I could see of her face was the birthmark on her chin.
“I don’t think so, bitch. You aren’t messing this up for me.” She moved so fast I barely had time to think. I saw the glint of metal flashing in the dim lighting of the street lamp seconds before I realized what it was.
A gun.
I didn’t know what to do, but my first instinct was to protect Mia. I shifted her in my arms, praying that she would be safe just as the sound of the gun going off filled the air.
My chest suddenly felt on fire. I tightened my hold on Mia as I looked down and saw the blood staining my T-shirt. The next shot that went off seemed to deafen me and my next breath tasted like the blood I knew was filling my lungs.