The Order

30

"Monroe." I nearly gasped as I began limping towards him.

The cigar dropped from his mouth as he quickly walked towards me. I nearly fell into his arms as I hugged him. The last time I saw him was when he tracked me down, found me disguised as an elderly woman in Florida.

"Hey kiddo." He said as he wrapped his arms around me, not even caring that my wounds stained his shirt with blood.

"What are you doing here?" I asked as I looked up at him.

"I was able to slip away for a night without them noticing." Monroe said with a small smile.

"Why the fuck are you here?" Liam said with his eyes narrowed. He didn't even bother trying to hide the annoyance in his voice as he looked over at me and Monroe.

"Is that anyway to greet your Uncle?" Monroe said, making me look up at him with my brow raised.

"It is when every time you come around there's a mess I have to clean up." Liam said as he crossed his arms. He looked at me for a moment, before he looked back at Monroe.

"Uncle?" I asked as my brows furrowed.

"James is my brother in law." Monroe said. He only mentioned his sister once, but didn't go into details about her death. There were rumors around the estate about Mrs. Knight, but no one ever mentioned anything beyond how much James adored her, and how heartbroken he was when she passed.

"Sit, I'll explain everything." James said as he motioned towards a chair.

"I don't want an explanation from you." Liam said. We all watched as a scowl stretched across Liams lips as he didn't move. I walked over to a chair, sitting down as I cupped ribs, not even caring that I was getting blood everywhere.

"I want an explanation from her." He said as he looked over at me. His tone was dark, as he glared at me.

"Why were they attacking you?" Liam said as his eyes narrowed. I looked over at James, who gave me a small nod, encouraging me to tell him the truth.

"Well? I'm waiting?" Liam said raising his voice at me. Monroe took a step forward, his eyes narrowing as he stared at Liam.

"Before I came to work for your family, I was an assassin at Corporate." I said as I looked up at Liam.

"Corporate, as in our biggest client?" Liam said as he glanced over at his father. James nodded slightly as he placed his hands in his pockets.

"They put a hit out on my sister, and since then I've been tracking down the team that killed her. It was going smooth until... my name ended up on a kill order." I said. Liam stood there, motionless listening to what I was saying.

"Monroe referred me to your father, and he offered me employment in exchange for protection." I said slowly, my eyes never leaving his brown irises.

"Corporate terminated our contract a few hours ago. That's why they were able to attack us on our property." James said.

Silence loomed over us as Liam didn't move. He didn't speak, he didn't look anywhere besides directly at me. After what felt like a few minutes, he inhaled deeply before he grabbed the chair next to him and threw it across the room as he yelled out a string of profanities. The chair hit the wall, breaking and sending pieces of wood flying all over the floor.

He then walked over to his father, getting in his face as his nostrils flared with anger.

"You risked the largest contract we have- for what? For a friendship with him?" Liam spat as he pointed to Monroe.

"He's family, Liam. The only family that your mother had. He's always been there for-" James began, only to get cut off by Liam.

"Your irrational need to maintain relationships with people outweighs your logic!" Liam screamed at his father. "In what world did this arrangement make sense to you?"

His words stung a bit, but we all know Liam. We all know his temper, and we all knew he'd react like this, regardless of whatever our relationship is at the moment.

"Do you know how much Corporate brings in for us? How badly we're going to struggle without that income?" Liam seethed.

"We will figure it out son, we always do." James said calmly.

"No, I always do! I always figure it out! Somehow I always manage to cover up your fuck ups!" Liam screamed, making James narrow his eyes.

"What makes you think they're not going to come after us for protecting her?" Liam screamed. "Your shortsightedness has put everything I've worked for at risk!"

"Well, Corporate is offended, and pretty fucking pissed at you at the moment, but you're not their primary concern. Mila is." Monroe said as he leaned up against a wall.

"So, not only did we lose our biggest client, but we're also at risk of having a massive organization of assassins come after us," Liam said as he glanced over at me. "All of this, over one woman."

"And you just didn't bother to fucking tell me any of this? You didn't think any of this was important for me to know at all? Hm?" Liam screamed as he took a step closer to me.

"Do not fucking yell at me." I said slowly and in a tone so deadly that even Monroe look surprised.

"You didn't need to know at the time, and now you do. Yelling isn't going to change anything." I said as I limped towards him.

"If you're done throwing your temper tantrum, there's some things we need to figure out." Monroe said as he tilted his head. "Like how to protect Mila."

"I already told you, she can continue to stay with us." James said as he looked over at Monroe.

"Do you really think that's a good idea?" Liam said, making me grit my teeth and annoyance. "The target on her head is large enough that we risk getting caught in the cross fire."

His words stung deeper than I could have imagined, as if the past month we've spent together and the nights we shared meant nothing to him. It was as if the Liam I knew, the funny, charming, giving man that I've been sharing my bed with vanished. The warmth and kindness that swam in his eyes when he looked at me was now replaced with anger.

I stood up, cupping my ribs as I slowly began limping towards the door. Monroe was quick to assist me, and he pushed off the wall before swiftly coming to my side and helping me walk.

"This is the safest place for her until we figure out what our next step is." James argued.

Liam began to argue with his father, but I was exhausted. Exhausted from the arguing, exhausted from my fight with Kenji, exhausted from Liam's intolerable mood swings. We walked out of the office, and I waited for a moment as Monroe closed the door behind us.

"FUCK EVERYONE ELSE. OUR BUSINESS COMES BEFORE ANYONE AND ANYTHING." I heard Liam scream from behind the door. At this point, James was also screaming at his son, both men nearly yelling over each other.

I clenched my jaw, holding back that anger and sadness from seeing how Liam reacted. Granted, I did keep this from him. He asked how his father found me, and I chose to hide the truth from him. I chose to deceive the man I've grown to care about, the man that I'd even dare say I might love.

So I can understand his anger, I can understand the betrayal he was feeling. But I never would have imagined how cold he would turn to me, how he could just cast me out in a heartbeat. If there was one thing I knew about Liam it was that this business, this empire he's been dreaming of running since he was a child, meant more to him than anything.

I just didn't think it meant more to him than I did.