Flipping it over, I see a handwritten note and gasp at the words. Whoever sent this to him is blackmailing him for money and using me to threaten him if he doesn’t come through.
This has to why he’s been acting weird around me and has been overbearing.
The gambling. Money. Traveling. Fancy car. Arranged marriage.
There has to be a correlation, but what does it have to do with me?
“Maddie, what the fuck?” I jump at Liam’s booming voice, shocked he’s home already. I thought I had more time and hadn’t even heard him coming upstairs.
“I should be asking you that,” I say, tears staining my cheeks at the realization of how big this is. Whatever this is. “Something’s going on, and I’m not leaving until you tell me everything. The truth.”
Liam walks toward me and eyes the photo in my hand. “Why are you going through my shit?” He bends down and swipes it from my grip.
Standing, I keep my stance firm and cross my arms. “Who sent that to you, Liam?”
“Maddie, it’s no—”
“Don’t lie to me!” I shout louder than I intended, but this isn’t just about him anymore. Someone has a target on me. “I deserve to know who’s going to kill me, don’t you think?”
Liam’s jaw tenses as he blows out a frustrated breath and runs a hand through his hair. “No one’s gonna fuckin’ touch you, Maddie. It was a scare tactic to get me back to Vegas. I went and told them to leave you out of this.”
“Them who?”
“Maddie.” He steps around me and sits on the edge of his bed. “Protecting you means not getting you involved.”
I stand in front of him, taking in the hard angles of his face and defeated expression. He’s exhausted. “I’m already involved, if that picture is any indication. It’s obvious you’ve been holding this in for a while, and it’s eating you alive.” I kneel between his legs and take his hands. “If you want me to trust you like you say you do, then tell me. Please.”
He contemplates my words, his chest rising and falling. When he finally nods, I blow out a relieved breath. Liam pulls me onto the bed next to him, and we face each other. Studying him, I see his pale complexion and the dark bags under his eyes. He’s been holding onto this stress for months.
“It started with gambling,” he begins. “I was doing well, making decent money, and ended up meeting a guy named JJ O’Leary at one of the casinos. He’s Victoria’s brother. He sucks at poker, and lost more than he ever won. JJ noticed I was winning against some wealthy men and offered me a deal one day. He’d pay the expensive buy-ins for the high-stakes games, and then we’d split the profits. Ultimately, it sounded like a good arrangement, a no-brainer really. Gambling with more money can lead to bigger payouts if you know what you’re doing. After I won a tournament, he wanted more, almost obsessed with the thought of what this could lead to. By the end of it, I lost, and we were out one hundred and fifty grand. Of course he was pissed, but he had pushed and encouraged me to do it even knowing the risk. He told me I was responsible for my half, and when I said I didn’t have seventy-five thousand, he confessed it wasn’t his.”
“Whose was it?” I ask impatiently.
“His father’s.” Liam swallows hard. “JJ stole the money and needed to replace it before anyone noticed.”
“Oh no,” I say.
“His dad’s a scary man,” he explains. “A multi-millionaire who runs a lot of big-time deals in Vegas.”
“Deals? What’s that mean?”
Liam licks his lips, lowering his eyes as if he’s afraid to say it. “His father is a mob boss.”
“Wait, what?” I shriek. “Like…the mafia?” I whisper as if someone’s listening.
After sucking in a long breath, Liam nods. “Yep. His name is Johnny O’Leary. Irish mobster.”
“Oh my God,” I say in disbelief, covering my mouth when a loud gasp releases. “JJ didn’t tell you that beforehand?”
“No,” he says, shaking his head.
“So…” I try piecing all the information together. “How does that relate to you marrying Victoria?”
“She’s Johnny’s only daughter and basically a mafia princess. But she wants out of the ‘family business’ and the only way for her to do that is to get her trust fund.”
I lift a brow. “And that involves you how?”
“She’ll get it either when she gets married or she has to wait until she turns thirty. She’s only twenty-one, and nine years is too long for her. She wants the money and her freedom now.”
“So that’s why it’s arranged…” I say, and Liam confirms with a nod, but I’m still confused. “But why you? Couldn’t she have married anyone? And why would you agree to it in the first place?” My mind goes crazy as I try to understand all this.