Chapter 9 - THE QUESTION HE WAS AFRAID TO ASKLiam waited four months to propose again.
He researched.
This was his first mistake.
Leo found thirty-seven browser tabs open.
Best romantic proposal ideas.
How many roses is too many?
Can horses be trained to carry engagement rings?
Leo closed the laptop.
“No.”
Liam glared.
“You don’t know what I was planning.”
“I know enough.”
Tommy joined the conspiracy.
“No restaurant.”
“Why?”
“Clara hates public attention.”
“Beach?”
“She hates sand.”
“Helicopter?”
“She gets motion sick.”
Liam stared at him.
“How does anyone romance your sister?”
Tommy shrugged.
“Feed her.”
That was surprisingly useful.
Liam cooked dinner.
He burned dinner.
He ordered pizza.
When Clara arrived, smoke filled the kitchen.
She stared.
“What happened?”
“Romance.”
She began laughing.
Liam had never loved a sound more.
They ate pizza on the floor because he had accidentally ruined the dining table centerpiece with a pan.
No guards.
No staff.
No expensive performance.
Just them.
Liam looked at Clara.
“First time we met, you told me you only needed me alive until Friday.”
She smiled.
“You were horrible.”
“I was injured.”
“You threw a glass at my head.”
“Near your head.”
“Important distinction.”
“I thought needing anyone was humiliation.”
His voice softened.
“Then you walked into my room and refused to be afraid of me.”
Clara’s eyes filled.
“You opened curtains I had kept closed for years.”
He took out the ring.
No kneeling.
His leg still disliked kneeling.
“I don’t need you to save me anymore.”
Clara’s expression changed.
“I just want you beside me.”
He held out the ring.
“Clara Bennett, will you marry me?”
She waited three seconds.
Liam looked terrified.
She enjoyed all three.
“Yes.”
He exhaled.
“You’re cruel.”
“You survived.”
He kissed her.
Then Tommy jumped out of the pantry.
“Yes!”
Clara screamed.
Liam nearly reached for a gun he no longer carried.
“Tommy!”
Her brother doubled over laughing.
Leo emerged from the hallway.
Clara stared.
“You too?”
Leo shrugged.
“He needed supervision.”
For once, the house was filled with laughter rather than gunfire.
Their happiness did not erase the past.
Liam testified.
Victims received compensation from seized Mercer assets.
He spent years repairing damage that could never be completely repaired.
Some people forgave him.
Others never would.
Clara never demanded that they did.
Redemption, she understood, was not receiving universal forgiveness.
It was accepting responsibility even when forgiveness never came.
Liam learned that slowly.
Painfully.
Honestly.
And when nightmares woke him, Clara did not tell him he was a good man.
She simply reminded him he could choose what kind of man he would be when morning came.
Three weeks before the wedding, Tommy’s final scan arrived.
Clear.
Clara read the report twice.
Then a third time.
“No evidence of disease.”
She sat on the hospital floor.
Liam found her there.
She held out the paper.
He read it.
Then sank down beside her.
Neither spoke.
They simply cried.
Years of fear left Clara’s body all at once.
Liam held her.
“Friday,” she whispered.
“What?”
“The first night.”
She laughed through tears.
“I told you I needed you alive until Friday so I could get paid.”
“I remember.”
“I thought money was the reason I walked into your room.”
She touched his face.
“It wasn’t why I stayed.”
May you like
Liam kissed her forehead.
“I know.”
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