End Game (New York Stars Book 1)

𝅘𝅥𝅮 𝄠 Numb – Linkin Park

THE NIGHTMARE-LESS NIGHT was a blessing sent from above.

Getting eight hours of rest is a luxury I won’t take for granted, but it’s followed up with three nights of solid hell.

The dreams have shifted. Twisted. She’s been with me every night since I got back, but the terrors have morphed into her not just being kidnapped, her not just enduring what I went through.

Of her being tortured.

Of her being killed.

The third night, I don’t just wake up screaming. I wake up crying.

And I know why—Hudson downplayed the press situation while I was away.

Gracie got roughed up and she only didn’t land a punch because one of them knocked her into Ludvig who dealt with the assholes. Ever since, I’ve been imagining worst-case scenarios.

That she was in danger, because of me, is literally driving me insane.

“Oh, sweetheart,” she rasps as she takes me in her arms and holds me like I’m goddamn fragile when I’m supposed to be the one who’s strong for her. “What’s wrong? How can I make this better?”

Shaking my head as I hold her tighter, enough that I know I must be hurting her but unable to stop myself, I don’t answer.

I can’t.

There are no words that can convey the horror of what I just endured. Of the movie that my subconscious crafted as my own personal hell.

As she holds me, I start to relax, and she takes that as a sign to as well. Though she switches channels from one of her anime shows that she fell asleep watching and over to the 24/7 news channel, eventually, she falls back into a deep slumber.

As she does, I concoct a plan.

That alone takes some of the strain off, so when I finally get some rest and wake up without a nightmare, it makes me wonder if everything happens for a reason.

She eyes me with concern but takes my cue and says nothing. We both know I’ll talk if I want to, and I don’t.

Not to her, not about this, at any rate.

When she leaves for a class with her least favorite professor, I do the unthinkable—I call my father.

“Liam?” he greets, his tone loaded with surprise.

“I need help.”

As I stare out onto the city, I hear him release a breath. “Whatever I can do, I will.”

Swallowing, I mutter, “Thank you.”

“Never been a good father, Liam, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to be a better one now.” He doesn’t let me answer, just continues, “So, tell me, what do you need from me?”

“It’s Gracie.”

“What about her?”

“I need extra protection for her.”

“Conor foots the bill for three-quarters of your security personally, Liam—” That was news to me. “—so I know that you already put four bodyguards on her.”

“That’s not enough,” I rasp.

A soft sigh sounds in my ear. “Oh, son. She won’t be targeted. Not like you were.”

“How do you know that?” I demand. “If I was kidnapped, who’s to stop someone trying to grab her? I’d empty my bank account to get her back, Dad, but that doesn’t erase whatever they’d put her through. They cut my ear off, but what would they do to her?”

There’s silence on the other end of the line until he muses, “Been a while since you called me that.”

“I need your help,” I repeat, not wanting to get into this. Not now. Maybe not ever.

If he can help me protect the most precious person in my world, that’ll go a hell of a long way to righting a childhood of him skipping out.

“What are you asking for, Liam? Guards from his ranks?”

“Please.”

“I’ll talk to Conor.”

“Thank you.” I release a shaky breath. “Dad.”

“You’re welcome.” He clears his throat. “Son.”