The Unexpected Twist by Marline (top 10 novels to read TXT) 📕

was taking its toll on Liam as well. He was probably scared, just like I was but trying desperately to cover it up for my sake. I wanted to walk over to Liam and tell him I was sorry but then decided against it because it would probably annoy him further that I couldn’t even stay seated for half a minute.

Apparently the water boiler worked well because Liam was back in no time with a steaming hot cup of tea. He handed it to me wordlessly and then sat on the tea table in front of me, with his arms leaning on his knees and hands clasped together in front of him. I stared at my tea as I warmed my hands on it and tried to think of what to say.
“I’m sorry.” I finally said, without looking up at him. “I know I’m being childish but what if something happens?” Before I could go any further, Liam cut me off.
“Nothing is going to happen. Don’t worry, you’re safe here. And I will protect you if something does happen.” I glanced up at Liam and could not look away because his eyes had captured mine. There was such an intense love in them that I caught my breath and almost dropped my tea. When I finally managed to tear my eyes away from his, I stood up, placed my tea on the mantelpiece and frantically started pacing around.
“If something happens then I’m not just going to stand around and do nothing, I want to—“ I stopped talking because Liam had blocked my path and forced me to look up at him.
“You know,” he said tenderly, and I could only stare up into his beautiful dark eyes, “that determination is one of the reasons I fell in love with you.”

Chapter 11

It was already late at night and so we decided to go to sleep. Liam’s room was right next to mine and I was happy about this. I didn’t think I would be able to sleep if he was so far away. I opened my room door and saw that there was a large bed in the middle, with neatly folded sheets and fluffy pillows. The beige curtains of the windows were open and the first thing I did was walk over to them and close them. Every gust of wind made the house creak and I was terrified at every sound I heard.
“Are you going to be all right?” I think I jumped about a meter into the air when Liam spoke. He laughed softly.
“Sorry for scaring you.” He walked over to me and placed his hands on my hips.
“Don’t worry, you’re safe here.” He said and then placed a quick kiss on my lips. I tried to smile but it wasn’t sincere and my attempt quickly faded.
“Come here.” Liam pulled me into a tight hug.
“Liam?” I said when we pulled away, and I couldn’t help that my voice came out in a squeak.
“Yes?”
“Could you… Could you stay here tonight?” I was too embarrassed to look at his face when waiting for his reply.
Liam placed his hand on my cheek and rubbed his thumb across my skin, leaving a tingling sensation behind. I raised my eyes to meet his.
“Sure I’ll stay here.” He smiled and relief washed over me. I crawled into bed without bothering to put on my pyjamas and after turning off the light Liam lay down next to me. He wrapped his arm around my waist and I snuggled into him, instantly feeling safe in his strong embrace.
“Thank you.” I whispered softly.

I woke up because I heard something creak. I snapped my eyes open and tried looking around but the room was quite dark, the only light coming from the sliver of moon that was visible tonight. The moment I heard the creak for the second time, my heart started beating like a drum. All of a sudden I saw a figure move in the shadow and I couldn’t help but scream. Liam sat up so quickly that I barely saw him move.
“Claire what’s wrong?” He said alarmed and straight to the point.
“There’s someone here.” It came out like a sob but that was because at this moment I was sure we were going to die. Within seconds Liam had moved over to the light switch and the room was flooded in light.
I looked around the room but saw nobody. Where had the person gone? I was so extremely terrified that I could barely move, all I could do was keep looking around me and hope that the person wasn’t going to attack me from the back.
Liam looked at me. “Are you sure you saw someone?” He asked.
I nodded frantically; I had to make him believe this. I was not going to get a minute of sleep if this person was roaming around the house and Liam didn’t believe me.
“Ok, you better come out.” Liam suddenly said sternly, all the doubt had disappeared from his voice. When nobody answered Liam grabbed a pillow off of the bed and slowly inched towards the only blind spot in the room, next to the cupboard. And we hadn’t checked under the bed yet, of course, but I doubted that in the time that I saw the figure and Liam turned on the lights this creep could have gotten under the bed without us noticing. So that meant that he was indeed next to the cupboard.
“No Liam, don’t go there.” I whimpered. Liam ignored me though, and inched closer and closer to the cupboard. When he was a few mere centimeters away Liam stopped.
“Come. Out.” He growled. Silence greeted him. Liam crossed the distance and then stood in front of the space next to the cupboard. He could see something that I couldn’t.
“Drop your weapons.” Liam suddenly ordered. All I could do was sit there, frozen on the bed, wondering who on earth was in our room and how exactly he was trying to kill us.
“I don’t have any weapons.” I suddenly heard a familiar voice. I couldn’t help but gasp.
“Liam, get away from him!” I yelled but Liam ignored me and kept his stare fixed on the person in front of him.
“Come out and stand with your back towards the wall. And keep your hands where I can see them. If you don’t, you’ll regret it.” Liam spoke harshly. Wow, Liam could be scary if he wanted to be. I had to put my hand over my mouth to keep from screaming when an all too familiar figure stepped out of the shadows.

Chapter 12

“What are you doing here?” Liam spat. Stan looked worse than I’d ever seen him before, his eyes were deep set and had huge bags under them and it seemed as if he’d lost weight. He looked like a scared mouse, the way he was cowering next to the wall but Liam wasn’t fooled by his act.
“Answer me!” He yelled, as he grabbed Stan by the shirt and raised his fist to punch him.
“No Liam!” For some reason, I felt like I needed to stop Liam from punching Stan. Liam didn’t even acknowledge that I said anything, he just kept his eyes trained on Stan and I knew that if Stan didn’t answer within the next 3 seconds, he would get a broken nose.
“I.. I’m sorry.” Stan whimpered. Liam pulled Stan forewords and then slammed him into the wall.
“I’m not going to ask you again.” He said in a deathly voice and I had to admit that at this point even I was afraid of him. “What are you doing here?”
Suddenly, a look of anger and determination swept over Stan’s face and he stood up a little straighter and tried to regain his composure.
“I need your help.” He said calmly. “And I came to warn you.”
If Liam was as confused as I was then he certainly didn’t show it.
“What did you come to warn us against?” He asked, completely ignoring the first part of Stan’s confession.
“There’s a murderer and he’s out to get you.” Stan said and a look of fear crossed over his face.
“Last time I checked, you were that murderer.” Liam commented dryly.
“I know.” Stan sighed. “That’s all part of his game. If you let me go I’ll explain it all.”
“Yes, and then you can pull out a gun and shoot us? I think not.” Liam said.
“I swear I don’t have any weapons on me. You can search me if you want to.” Stan said and he raised his hands up in a sign of innocence. Liam gave Stan a look of distrust before he checked his pockets and all other places where Stan could possibly be carrying a weapon.
“All right.” Liam said slowly, still hesitant to let Stan go. “Sit on the floor here and don’t even try coming any closer to us.” Liam then walked back over to me and stood in front of the bed, with his arms crossed while Stan sank to the floor.
“Explain.” Liam demanded.
“I was sent to jail for raping Cameron and a number of other girls.” Stan began. “One night, somebody whom I did not know helped me escape from jail. The day after I was free I heard on the news that I had supposedly killed Lisa with a knife. They knew it was me because it had my fingerprints on it. The only reason that knife had my fingerprints on it was because I used it to cut through a fence, when I was trying to escape. The man gave it to me to use.” I was growing more terrified with every word Stan spoke. What if what he said was true and there was some crazy murderer on the loose who could kill us at any moment? But what if what he said wasn’t true and that crazy murderer was sitting in my room right at this moment in a supposed “safe house”? Oh how on earth did I get into this situation? Why couldn’t my life just be easy and normal?
“How did you get here?” Liam asked, ignoring Stan’s confession.
“The man who helped me escape gave me directions.” Stan said, a little confused. “He said that you wanted to speak to me and could help me.” Fear was evident on his face and I started feeling a little sorry for him.
“You’re lying.” Liam said through clenched teeth. “You’re trying to make someone else take the blame and erase evidence of what you have done.”
“No, no I’m not, I swear!” Stan said and he placed his hands out in front of him in an innocent gesture. He also seemed to get more scared every word Liam spoke. Liam walked up to him, grabbed him by his shirt and lifted his fist in the air ready to punch him.
“No wait Liam, what if he’s telling the truth?” I said before Liam could punch Stan.
“I don’t think he is.” Liam snarled.
“Well I think he is.” I said, with more confidence in my voice than I felt.
Liam turned to look at me angrily. “Why are you defending him? He is the one who raped Cameron and nearly raped you too!” That was a good question, why was I defending him? Truth of the matter was, I felt sorry for him. The fear that was evident in his eyes prevented me from