Their Forever - Chloe Kent Page 0,11

in the gardens, his true passion, and Kade became their new chauffeur.

Something his wife had some serious reservations about if her reaction to Kade proved true.

“How did you meet her?” Kade prompted.

Liam cast his memory to the day his life changed. The day he had set eyes on Olivia. Her father worked in the vineyards of a notorious, though annoying, little man who fancied himself a mob lord. He wasn’t. He yielded his violence with a psychotic hand, flashed his wealth ostentatiously, and thought bigger was better.

Liam hated nothing more than a man like that. That didn't make Liam any less brutal, the business in its entirety was brutal but he handled it with old-school charm and sophistication like a gentleman, and that was the difference between a man thanking someone for taking their life and one who didn't.

Unfortunately, Liam had to close an arms deal with Nunzio Romano in person and had been present when Nunzio decided to display his power by sentencing to death, right there in the living room of his multimillion-dollar-tasteless mansion, one the workers in his vineyards, with his daughter begging for his life.

That girl was Olivia.

Liam had sat back, intrigued, and amused by what could only have been Nunzio's well-orchestrated attempt to exercise his power and show his big-gun antics in front of Liam.

Liam had made it clear to the idiotic man he had zero respect for him, and the only reason he even did business with him was because Liam did, in fact, have a substantial amount of respect for his father, Romano Senior. Also, one of the reasons he didn't interfere with Nunzio's longevity was out of principle and nothing more, no matter how much the man vexed him.

From what Liam had gathered, the young girl and her family had been caught trying to escape his compound. A slight Nunzio thought was the epic of all sins against him.

“You think this is right?” Nunzio had barked, the unsightly rolls of necklaces around his neck and his wrists jingling as he waved his gun at the frightened and frail-looking man. “Hmm? I feed you. I give you shelter and protection. I give you a weekly barbecue that I pay for with my own money, and this is how you repay me?”

The man had already given up. Liam could tell by the look in his eye as he anxiously glanced at his daughter.

“Answer me!” Nunzio shouted, spittle flying from his mouth onto the man's face. And still when the man said nothing, he slammed the butt of his gun against the man's cheekbone and kicked his leg from out under him.

“Don't you dare. Don't you dare, you vile pig. You bastard.”

Liam stroked his jaw as his gaze lifted from the old man, writhing on the floor, to his daughter.

“You dare to talk to me that way?” Nunzio lowered his voice as if to sound more threatening. He swaggered up to the dark-haired girl, her hair spiraling around her as she struggled in the grip of two of Nunzio's men. Her gray eyes burned with murderous intent. She fascinated Liam like no other.

“You are not a man; you are the lowest form of life. Vermin. You hide behind your guns and your bodyguards, but you're just a scared little boy without them.”

Shrieking, something Liam didn't think Nunzio wanted to do in public, least of all when he was trying for a tough-guy act in front of Liam, Nunzio brought the butt of his gun down on her cheek.

Liam glanced around at the four bodyguards in attendance. He had come alone, without a weapon. Oh well. When he turned his attention back on her, though, she had been looking at him, her gaze filled with pride and fury, and his heart jostled, an uncharacteristic reaction for a man like him.

In her space now, breathing that hot, stenchful breath on her face, Nunzio aimed for his ultimate performance.

“Can you believe this bitch?” Nunzio turned and asked Liam. “I paid for her schooling. I waited until she was eighteen, like her father begged before I brought her here to live with me. And you know how she repaid me? She hid from me for three fucking years.”

“On your compound?” Liam had to ask. “Right under your nose?”

“Yes,” Nunzio said eagerly before he realized the joke was on him. Defensive now, he decided to go guns blazing. “Women, huh?” he continued conversationally. “They need to be taught a lesson.” With that, he spun around on his heel and tried