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that we are married. If I want to drop the top of your dress and ex-
pose you to everyone here and do whatever husbands do, I will,
but don t worry, I won t. I won t ever touch the lying cheating
bitch I married. When this evening is over and Atherton is taken
care of, you will become Bruno s to do with you what he wants. If
you die, I no longer care.
Alicia felt sick, her stomach turning not only from the thought
he might touch her but from what he had planned for her. She
loathed Bruno and knowing that Lohan would allow the thug to do
whatever to her with his blessings no less made her sicker. She
tried to shake her head to deny what he said but Lohan Billings re-
fused to acknowledge her unless it gave him sadistic pleasure.
If you survive this&
Now, his prediction seemed to be becoming truth in every-
thing. What am I going to do?
Alicia cried herself back to sleep hating her life even more
than she had before Blake Atherton came into it. I can t live like
this&
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No Deal
* * * *
Once Blake learned the latest on Alicia, he decided he had to
do something even if he failed. Too much time had passed from the
night at the warehouse to the present though he understood the
reasoning. Yes, it had been his decision to keep them apart until
Patrick had taken care of Billings but at the time they set their
plans, no one had any clue as to how far Billings reach extended.
As soon as Patrick and Leighton told him the latest news, Pa-
trick took over making the decisions as to their safety plus any
press and notifications that could accidentally become public know-
ledge. The last thing they needed would be a leak since they d
agreed that somewhere along the line, Billings had found someone
to finance him if he didn t have somebody laundering the income
from the fight club.
Blake knew Patrick had successfully sidestepped the questions
about Alicia s reasons for not attending her husband s funeral as
well as being in communicado since word leaked out of Billings
death. Everything that had been done in order to keep them alive as
well as Alicia out of the public spotlight had nearly been jeopar-
dized by Alicia s aborted flight to escape. If she d been successful&
Now that she d dismissed Phillip from her case with Alyce
Barrett taking over, maybe she d finally be able to see that they had
not become her enemies. If anyone could help Alicia, it would be
Alyce Barrett. If she could help the team handle an extremely bad
accident on the ice during a game where one of the opposing play-
ers had been cut in the neck by his teammate s skate blade, she
could help one stubborn yet beautiful woman.
A knock on the door brought him out of his thoughts and back
to the present.
Alyce, how are you?
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No Deal
Fine, Blake, and I see you re getting better as well as pushing
yourself, she said.
You know me, he said, grinning. Have you seen&
Yes, and I think she could stand a visit from you though how
you handle it is up to you. She s under the impression that none of
you will ever forgive her because of her association with Lohan Bil-
lings. I think I may have convinced her that all of you have been
telling her the truth but she really needs to see you.
I want to but I m not sure I can give her what she needs. Sure
I can forgive her but considering her beliefs, I wonder if she ll be-
lieve anything I say.
Only she can say one way or another though I m sure you are
the one who may be able to break through to her.
Any idea how I should go about this?
Alyce gave him some suggestions then left after wishing him
good luck.
Blake decided no time like the present would do the longer
he took to go to her, the worse the situation would become. He
pulled on his black bathrobe, grabbed his crutches and slowly made
his way to Alicia s room. No one stopped him, something that
didn t go unnoticed.
At her door, he looked in seeing Alicia Billings sleeping.
Quietly, he made his way across the room to the window, turned
and leaned back against the sill in order to take the weight off his
healing ankle. One thing he loved doing watching Alicia sleep
though right now, enjoying that pleasure would have to be put on
hold. That and what he truly wanted. Damn it!
After half an hour, he turned and looked out the window try-
ing to figure out what to say to her in order to convince her that
everyone had told her the truth though it remained in his mind that
she d run from him, the care of the clinic, her life& Shaking his
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No Deal
head, he continued to look outside, uncaring as to how long it
might be before she woke.
He heard her stirring, deciding to let her make the first move
then he d take it from there.
Blake?
Why did you run? he asked, ashamed of the way it came out.
I& she said, stopping before she said any more.
Why, Alicia?
* * * *
Alicia stirred sensing the presence of someone else in the
room. Glancing around, she saw someone standing at the window,
one arm against the frame while the other gripped a crutch.
Blake? she asked, praying her imagination had not decided to
play tricks on her.
Why did you run?
I& she began to say before stopping, unable to give him a
reason.
Why, Alicia? he asked again, this time with more force to his
voice.
I thought you d all be better off if I did. I haven t been al-
lowed to see you while your grandmother literally turned on me.
Everybody here tells me that none of this is my fault but the one
person I need to hear it from finally decides to come see me then
demands to know why I ran.
No one s lied to you.
I find that hard to believe. They re all telling me what they
think I want to hear although I have to give it to Leighton she
spoke her mind and told me what she thought of me.
She s very upset about you.
I doubt that she only cares about you.
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No Deal
What the hell happened, Alicia? You ve changed since that
night.
After what happened, did you honestly think I d be the same?
My God, Bruno damned near choked me to death before Lohan
told him he could have me once everything had been taken care of.
I shot a man and killed him then found myself at your grandmoth-
er s huge estate and being lied to.
No one lied to you, he repeated.
Why haven t you come to see me before now or at least let
me come to you?
At first, I thought it would be safer in case someone got wind
of what happened. Bringing you to Gran s estate gave you the pri-
vacy you needed to heal. You ve had the best medical care and eve-
rything you needed.
But I didn t have you.
I spent several days in and out of heavy sedation thanks to
several bleeders that had to be found so I wouldn t bleed to death
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