Page 66 of Captivated By You
CHAPTER
TWENTY-THREE
LIAM
I held her in my arms, unable to take my eyes off the man I’d beaten the shit out of who was now unconscious on her floor. He was too much like the assholes who had raped Sophie. Arrogant, egotistical. I was willing to bet small-dicked as well. And just like those assholes, the one on her kitchen floor had gone down way, way too damn easy.
At least if he fought back I could have expelled a decent amount of rage and fury that had laced my blood as soon as I heard her cry out in pain when I’d stepped into her house. I’d needed the fight. Needed the battle. Instead, I still had too much adrenaline racing through my system, a woman passed out and shivering in my arms, and a prick on the floor I wanted to crush with my boot.
I closed my eyes and released a deep, long and shaky breath. The asshole on the floor didn’t matter.
All that mattered was Claudia. It hadn’t taken long to find her home address and since that was what her text had said, I’d come straight here with a car Anne had waiting for me at the private airstrip.
I’d barely made it. If I would have been five minutes…two minutes…thirty seconds later…
I ground my teeth together and slammed the door on that thought.
Claudia was safe. Sleeping. Her throat would be bruised because that fucker had gripped her hard, but she hadn’t been violated.
I needed to get out there. Her weight settled into my lap and her fingers curled into my shirt.
She’d told me she loved me.
I couldn’t even process it. Doubt she realized she said it out loud.
Yet, the asshole who had tried choking her to death said he was her fiancé.
We had a lot of talk about. Another mess to clean up.
I had questions but the answers didn’t matter. She was mine. She would always be mine. After seeing what I’d walked in on, no way in hell was she ever leaving me again.
Fuck that.
I stood, fixing my hold on Claudia but she didn’t stir. She needed the sleep and I needed her to see a doctor. First things first, we needed to get home.
Wherever the hell that was, it didn’t matter. We’d pick a place and make it ours together.
Scanning the kitchen to see if Claudia left anything she’d need, I swiped up the papers scattered on the island. Real Estate Deed jumped out at me, but I tossed them on Claudia’s lap as I held her in my arms and moved toward the door.
After I had her settled in the front seat, papers folded in her lap, I went back inside and grabbed her keys, purse, and shoes. She wouldn’t need any of that shit again, but I didn’t want evidence we were there. Eventually, that dick was going to wake up and I wanted to be in the air again.
She stirred in the passenger seat when I was minutes from the airstrip I’d left just over an hour ago. Felt like days. The entire car ride, I’d kept glancing at her, concern bubbling beneath the surface of my skin.
I drove one-handed, one hand on the wheel, one on her thigh, brushing her warm and soft skin, hoping to rouse her.
As she opened her eyes as I slowed to a stop at a light that would take us to the private airport, they immediately flew wide and her hand clasped to her throat.
“Don’t talk,” I said, my hand on her thigh tightening as she grimaced. “You’ll be sore. Just rest until I can get you some water.”
“Okay,” she croaked.
The light turned green and I turned, struggling to peel my eyes off her or the way her eyes filled with tears.
She was still rubbing her neck as I pulled to a stop near the hangar and I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the plane was still there. Anne had thought of everything earlier, securing me not only a private jet but paying for my use for the next two days, not knowing when I’d be able to get out of Savannah.
It’d take hours to file a new flight plan, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to get her on the plane, in the bed, and hold her until she stopped crying and shivering.
“Liam,” she groaned as another sob hit her and she fell forward.
