Page 167 of Perfect Liar

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Page 167 of Perfect Liar

“Nothing else matters right now, Elle.”

But he was wrong. One thing mattered. And to me, it mattered more than anything at that moment. I didn’t want him to go out there without seeing his ring on my finger. I dug it out of my pocket and pressed it onto his palm.

“Put it on my finger, Will.”

Our eyes locked, and for a minute, everything else faded.

“You’re everything to me, baby. Everything.”

He slipped the ring on my finger and kissed it, then he brought his mouth to mine. And as he pressed his mouth against mine, he put his hand on the electronic pad, launched me into the safe room, and yanked the door shut, locking me inside.

I stumbled from the force of it, catching myself on a chair.

Lissie raced across the room and threw herself on me with enough energy to knock me off balance again, and I fell back against the door.

I wrapped one arm around her while raising my other hand above my head, the hand with the gun, so Mary could take it from me.

Lissie had been so quiet until the moment she collided with me. While I held her, I wondered if she remembered her time in the little secret room in Stonington, the day we lost her mother. I wondered if she thought about our former life in Stonington.

She had fallen quickly for her new life and her new family. She genuinely loved Will and his brothers, and they loved her too. Will was the closest thing to a father she had ever known. And Mary was already her “grannie.”

We didn’t yet have legal proof that she was Ethan’s child, but it was hard to believe otherwise. Her striking eyes really couldn’t be denied, and she’d inherited not only that from Ethan, but also his warmth and his sense of adventure.

Losing this family would devastate her all over again.

I kissed the top of her head and hugged her with everything I had, letting her hide her face on my sweater as she cried.

“Your uncles will be back soon, I promise,” I said softly.

And then she surprised me by pulling my hand to her belly and twisting my ring. Her crying stopped, and she let out a little gasp before lifting her face to see my eyes.

“Did Uncle Will give this to you?”

I tucked my finger under her chin and rubbed her tiny dimple with my thumb.

“Yes, he did.”

Her eyes sparkled.

“Does it mean we can stay with him forever?”

“Yes, that’s what it means. This is your home now, Lissie…here with all of us. See? He’ll come back home soon.”

God, please, we can’t lose him.

Sweat soaked the hair on my neck as I braced myself for another round of vomiting. I covered my mouth, trying to hold back, but it didn’t help.

Mary knocked on the bathroom door.

“Ellie, are you all right? Let me help you, darling. May I come in?”

Mary opened the door slowly but rushed in once she saw me on the floor. She gathered my hair and put her other arm around me.

I straightened my back and wiped my mouth on a towel.

“I’m so sorry about this. Have you heard from them?”

“Oh, my girl, there’s nothing for you to be sorry about. I understand…Will explained about the anxiety and how it might affect you. I’m afraid none of the boys have called yet.”




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