It was happening again, except it was worse this time.Liam's enemies were torturing him again, submerging his head into a bathtub full of greenish disgusting liquid. He couldn't scream for help this time because his mouth had a rag stuffed in it and his hands were tied right behind his back. Charlotte, Hunter, and everyone else were taking turns in punishing him."Liam?" He could make out a familiar voice faintly calling his name, amid the laughter of his enemies.He struggled to break free but it was effortless."Liam, wake up!" The voice came again, louder this time. Not as distant as it was before."H-he's not d-d-dying, is h-he?" This was another person, a stuttering man."Liam!" The ear-splitting scream and a rough shake on his shoulders woke him up from his nightmare.Liam was panting so hard that he almost choked on his own breath. His heart clenched tightly in his chest as he looked at Stevie-Lou and Jake, who were already at his side. Looking extremely worried."Calm down, Li

They checked into a hotel two hours later and Liam, who was clad in Jake's clothes, wore a baseball cap to hide his face, so people wouldn't notice him. "Separate bedrooms?" The male receptionist bounced his head from Stevie-Lou to Liam and then Jake.Stevie-Lou couldn't have Jake sleeping in another room when he had autism. She had looked after him until they were adults, and Liam on the other hand used to have nightmares. He needed someone by his side to ease him from his panic attacks."One room," she replied after looking away from the two of them.And the receptionist stared at her as if she was a slut."What kind of a woman shares a room with two guys? You are in for a threesome." He put his hand on his chin.Stevie-Lou's temper flared and she pounded her fist on the receptionist's counter, making him flinch."Shut up and give me the key," she growled at him.Liam clenched his jaw to suppress an impending scoff. "F-f-for the records, I'm her elder brother and this is Li.."Jake

As expected, the hitmen were arrested. When the cops arrived in casual wear, they didn't even know what was going on until they were shown IDs, handcuffed, and shoved into the backseat of cars. All eight of them were outnumbered by the police. Afterward, Sinclair exposed Bryce Canon to the police with evidence he had gathered, including the murder of Stevie-Lou's colleague. He was trying to flee when the police caught him. "I can't thank you enough, Liam," Stevie-Lou was tearful after hearing this. It was exactly midnight when Liam narrated how everything went and she pulled him into a bone-crushing hug because he was like a savior to her.Liam let her hug him as much as she wanted, she had saved him twice and so he felt obligated to return the favor. Jake was in the background sniffing when they pulled away from the hug."The risks we took, my biggest fear was dying before my wedding," she blurted out and swallowed hard.Liam averted his gaze to the floor, put his fists in his pock

It was finally the day for Ted and Stevie-Lou's wedding, a Saturday, so Liam worked from home. He contemplated attending the wedding with his cousin and the woman he liked. Ted, whose list he was topping as the 'least-liked, didn't invite him but Stevie-Lou did. Jake even called him the other night and stammered over the phone, asking him to show up earlier than everyone because he was a part of their family.No one knew how affected Liam was by this wedding. Chloe was his first love until she showed her true colors because of his condition, although Liam claimed over the interview that he would focus on taking after his father rather than relationships. But things changed right from the first day he bumped into Stevie-Lou.He thought she was a boy at first because of her outfit, only to have her cap fall off and he saw her red hair braided in cornrows before her face.She turned out to play a huge role in his life. Asked him the most questions at the interview with the press corps.

Stevie-Lou was as pale as a ghost who had been through all hell and back, as she placed one unsteady footstep after the other, dragging her feet with her along the aisle.Images of how the security blew up kept replaying in her head, tormenting the shit out of her senses. She knew she would be scarred for life.His charred remains were in her glass of wine, across her dressing mirror, and on the floor. Patches of his navy-blue uniform, his cap that looked like it was eaten to half by moles.She was numb with her eyes puffy from tears and her face make-up free because she couldn't stop her sobs the whole time they tried to redo her makeup. Due to the way Ted knelt on the floor and begged her, she agreed to go on with the wedding. They took her into another room, took the blood-stained wedding dress off her body, and discarded it. She had her bath for the second time that morning and a new wedding dress was bought for her.Ninety-nine percent of the wedding guest didn't know about the