Protector (The Brannock Siblings Book 4) (21 page)

Christopher had released her throat the moment she passed
out and he'd waited for her to wake up only to make her wish she never could.
Not once did she stop fighting and it only made him more and more furious.

"I refuse to fuck you while you're unconscious,
Isabelle," he'd spit out. "I want you to remember everything."

But he'd wrapped his hand around her throat again and she
couldn't remember anything after that.

Her eyes moved around the room. There was an empty glass on
the table by the window and an empty bottle next to it.

She assumed he'd returned to the bar for another and would
be back any moment.

It took a while for her to finally stand and catch her
breath. She needed to get out of there. Go anywhere.

She started searching for anything that could act as a
weapon, but all she could find was a letter opener inside the desk drawer. It
would have to be enough.

Someone started pounding on the door and the letter opener
clattered to the floor. She groaned in pain as she bent to retrieve it then
froze when someone started calling out her name. Not even taking a moment to
think, she ran for the door and ripped it open.

"Liam?"

His blue eyes moved up and down her body, checking to make
sure she was okay. When his gaze landed on the bruise covering her cheek, his
entire face twisted with devastation.

"I'm okay," she said quickly, tears running down
her cheeks. Her voice came out as a whisper and she winced with pain and gently
touched her throat.

He slowly reached out and pulled her hand away. No doubt
there were red marks on her throat where Christopher had choked her and when
Liam saw the damage, he let out a harsh breath. Then she was pressed against
his chest with his strong arms around her. "Isabelle."

"How did you find me?" she sobbed into his shirt.

Pulling back slightly, he cupped her face and kissed her
hard, being mindful of her injury. She went limp in his arms and immersed
herself in that kiss. A kiss she never thought she would feel again. When they
were both breathless, he dropped his forehead to hers. "I've come to make
sure ye stay, love. I won't let him take ye away from me. I promised to protect
ye and I've failed once. I won't fail again."

She wrapped her arms around his neck, supporting herself on
her wobbly knees. His eyes did a slow burn over her face and she opened her
mouth to tell him she was sorry, but his thumb drifted over the bruise on her
cheek, making her suck in a breath.

Those blue eyes, always bright with mischief and desire when
he looked at her, darkened. She felt his shaking hands drop to her neck. "I'll
kill the bastard."

That's when she noticed Liam's father and brother in the
hallway behind him. They nodded their heads at her and kept their eyes on the
room behind her.

"He's not here. I think he went down to the bar."

"He left ye here alone?"

She nodded and tears ran down her cheeks. "I-I woke up
on the floor. I was getting ready to run when you came."

Liam grasped her hand and turned towards his father.

"We'll take care of things here, son. Take Isabelle
somewhere safe," his father instructed and moved aside to let them pass.

Liam wrapped his arm around her shoulder and guided her into
the hallway. "Let's go, love."

"You aren't taking her anywhere."

Liam immediately tucked Isabelle behind him, guarding her
with his body. Brian stepped up beside him and William came to his other side.
They all faced a swaying Christopher who looked like he was about to fall over
more than he was about to fight.

"He's shlossed," Brian said with a mirthless
laugh.

Isabelle clung to the back of Liam's shirt, all the bravery
she had a few moments before nowhere to be found. But she had nothing to be
afraid of.

Christopher was nothing up against three Brannocks when he
was
sober
. She had no doubt he was high as a kite as well as - in
Brian's words - shlossed.

She peeked over Liam's shoulder and felt his hand reach back
and gently land on her hip, keeping her steady.

Christopher stumbled up to them and for every inch he got
closer, Liam's fingers gripped her tighter. He swayed to a stop directly in
front of Liam. Brian and William closed ranks, making an effective barrier
between her and the man that wanted to kill her.

"I have business to settle with that tight little
-"

Without warning, Liam's fist crashed into Christopher's
face, effectively shutting the man up. He caught himself on the wall and shook
his head.

Isabelle saw William tense, but he did nothing to stop what
happened next.

Christopher lunged at Liam.

She screamed as they were both knocked to the floor. Liam
rolled before his body crushed her and Brian swiftly pulled her away from the
two men now swinging at each other on the ground.

Liam ended up on top, his fists connecting with
Christopher's face, one after the other. The sound of flesh pounding flesh made
her stomach roll, and the dizziness she was already feeling from the pain of
her injuries, sky rocketed. Brian supported her weight at his side and watched
Liam deliver blow after blow.

Christopher shoved Liam away, knocking him to the floor. It
only took a split second for him to get back up, but that was enough time for
Izzy to zero in on the shine of the gun in Christopher's hand.

"No!" she yelled and tried to pull out of Brian's
hold.

The deafening sound of a gunshot made everyone freeze. It
echoed off the walls like thunder and Isabelle's stomach dropped. She watched
Liam's shoulders rise and fall from his labored breaths, but it was the sound
of Christopher's cry that made her legs give out.

William stood off to the side, his gun raised and pointed at
Christopher who was clutching his leg. Blood seeped out between his fingers.

"You shot me!" he screamed at William.

"And I'll shoot ye again if ye move another
muscle."

"Ye'll never touch her again, ye son of a bitch!"
Liam took the opportunity to throw one last punch. Christopher's head snapped
to the side and his eyes rolled back in his head.

"That's enough, son! I think a bullet to the leg should
keep him down," William reassured with a smirk on his lips.

Liam turned around and searched for Izzy. When he saw Brian
helping her to her feet, he instantly reached out for her. She fell against him
with a gut wrenching sob.

"I'm sorry, Izzy. He won't hurt ye anymore, love. It's
over."

She could barely hear him through the buzzing in her head,
but it didn't matter. She knew she was safe.

Every moment she had spent in her life wondering whether or
not it was even worth it. She finally knew. This right here... it was worth
anything
.

Liam lifted her into his arms and carried her down the
hallway as a line of men in guard uniforms rushed by them. She dropped her head
to his shoulder and closed her eyes.

"So, Maggie told me ye decided to wait for me," he
whispered against her hair.

Her head was too heavy to respond with anything more than,
"Mmhmm."

Liam chuckled and kissed her forehead. "I was ready to
beg, love. What will I do now?"

She looked up at him, lifting her hand to touch his bearded
cheek. "Love me."

Liam

Present day...

Driving through the cemetery always made Liam's heart race.
He spent a lot of time here in the early days after Izzy passed. The feeling he
got when her headstone came into view... it could only be described as peace.

Peace that he could talk to her for a few moments and feel
the warm breeze caress his cheeks, knowing it was really
her
touching
him again.

After that dreadful night, when he brought Izzy back to
Maggie's house, there was no letting her go. He stumbled over his proposal,
hashing it up pretty good until she put him out of his misery.

"Yes," she'd whispered. "Whatever you're
asking me, Liam. The answer is yes."

They flew to the states together a couple of weeks later and
Izzy's Aunt Neddy picked them up at the airport. They stayed with her for a
couple months until Liam received his fiancé visa. A week later, they were
married and all the money in the world couldn't have possibly bought that kind
of happiness.

Isabelle struggled for a while and often found herself
worrying about what was to come. Her injuries weren't serious and the bruises
faded quickly, but the memory of Christopher and those few hours she spent with
him, often kept her up at night. Her father was in prison for the connection he
had with Christopher. The judge didn't care how unwilling he was when
Christopher threatened him, he needed to suffer the consequences.

Isabelle agreed, but it was still difficult.

The only good thing was Christopher's sentence. He would
spend several years in prison before he had a chance to get out. His short stay
in jail back in Ireland didn't do much to deter him from his anger at the loss
of his so called business. Once he was sent back to the states, things changed.
He was being charged for a lot more than shipping a few drugs and Izzy had been
grateful for the freedom to live her life without looking over her shoulder.

He was eventually released, but by then, his goals had
changed.

A year or so after he left, he was right back in. This time for
putting a young woman into a coma as well as drug use and intent to sell. The
woman's family buried him and Liam had learned enough by then to know that he
wasn't going to be getting out anytime soon.

Lucien Ripley made sure that ended up being never.

Those first few months in the states, Liam learned a lot
about Isabelle and her parents. The life she had lived as a child wasn't
typical, and she continued to struggle with accepting that. It was also
difficult to watch her mother's heartbreak.

The house was taken and pretty much everything else, too,
once the trial was over. She listened to her parents' confessions to her and
how they realized that what they were doing wasn't worth losing their only
daughter over. It wasn't worth any of it. They told her they didn't think
Christopher was a violent man, but when her mother just couldn't take not
hearing from Izzy anymore, she had approached Christopher and found out for
herself.

Her regret showed in everything she did and Marjorie spent
those first two months that Izzy was back, begging for her forgiveness and
trying to make up for everything. It was impossible, but she tried. And
Isabelle, being the kind of woman she always was, eventually forgave
both
of
her parents.

"They taught me the things a parent
shouldn't
do, Liam. I'll use that to show our children what love and family really
is," she'd told him one night when he asked her why it was so easy to
forgive them. "Plus, I never would have met you if they were good parents.
In a way, their ignorance brought me to
you
. That's something I'll never
be ashamed of."

It took Liam longer to allow Marjorie and Nicholas into his
good graces, but once Izzy married him, he promised himself he wouldn't do
anything to jeopardize their happiness. Izzy wanted a relationship with her
parents no matter how bumpy it was and Liam would support that for the rest of
her life.

They kept their distance, but family was family and the kids
knew their grandparents loved them. That's all that mattered.

The car rolled to a stop on the path leading up to Izzy's
grave. The flowers surrounding the area reminded him of the morning he made
love to her in Maggie's garden the day before they left Ireland together.

When Isabelle was diagnosed with breast cancer, she made him
promise to take her back to Rathnew before it was too late. No amount of denial
would stop the cancer from spreading, so before too long, Liam bought the
tickets.

They'd stayed with his parents for a couple weeks before he
took her all over southern Ireland. He showed her everything there was to see
and they even extended their stay by another week so they could be there for
the birth of Finny's youngest daughter.

His family was still there. The distance may have made it
harder to keep in touch, but Isabelle looked forward to the times she could see
his family. She always adored the love his brothers and sisters shared, the
love they
still
shared. It reminded him of his own children.

They had met their aunts and uncles which made Liam wonder
if Colin got to Gus a lot sooner than he thought.

"Did you bring the bottle, Gus?" Conall asked when
Gus and Aiden pulled up next to them.

"Last one I could find," Gus replied with a forced
smile, holding up the bottle of Tullamore Dew.

They did this every year up until Ash moved away, and even
then, Gus or Con would find their way back home and spend the afternoon sipping
on Tullamore with Liam, remembering their amazing mother.

Liam watched Luke walk around his car and open the door for
Aislinn.

His daughter never complained that the day her mother passed
was on her birthday. Luke helped remind her that it was still a celebration and
Aislinn agreed. A day to share with her mother was no sacrifice at all.

Luke reached in the back of the car and emerged with
Isabelle in his arms.

She was only a few weeks old, but she was already showing
signs of being just like her mother. Ash had all the help in the world and
still, it was draining to have a baby. The smile on her face, however, was
enough to tell Liam that she loved every moment of sleep lost.

"Hand her over," Ash demanded, reaching towards
Luke.

He stepped back, cradling Isabelle's head in his massive
hand. "Baby, you know I love you, but you got to hold her for over nine
months. It's my turn, now."

Aislinn's whole face lit up. She fought the emotion back
down and rose up on her toes to kiss her husband's cheek. Then, without pause,
she leaned down and placed soft kisses on Isabelle's chubby cheeks. "Your
daddy is a charmer."

Liam looked over at Emily and Aiden. Each of them had a hand
over their heart with a swoony smile covering their faces.

"That's the sweetest thing I have ever heard,"
Aiden sighed.

Gus shook his head and
gently
popped Luke on the back
of the head, since he was still holding the baby. "Stop making my woman
want you, Shady."

Luke shrugged with a wicked smirk, "I can't help it if
I'm irresistible."

Liam laughed as he led the way up to Isabelle's headstone.
He swept off a few twigs that had fallen from the tree next to her and stared
down at the words on the stone.

'Your memory will never be forgotten.'

Those final days of Izzy's life were some of the hardest for
their family. She refused to stop taking care of them and wore herself out
quickly. Liam stayed home from work and held her in their bed whenever she was
awake. They shared memories of their life together and he made her laugh a lot
those last few days.

He could still hear her laugh in his mind, making him fall
in love with her all over again.

Gus poured the drinks, and as always, Conall went first,
raising his glass.

"Remember the day Mom found out we all skipped classes
to go swimming in Lake Merritt? She showed up at school the next day in her
swimming suit and a pair of shorts."

Liam laughed, shaking his head in astonishment. "She
was so jealous you all went without her," he said.

"Yeah, and she walked into each of our classrooms with
that white gunk all over her nose and said
'You didn't invite me yesterday,
but I sure as hell am not missing out on it again.'
I had never been so
embarrassed in my life," Con added.

"She excused me from classes once a year after that,
just after school started," Ash chimed in. "Just her and me, swimming
in the lake until it was time to go home and make dinner. I always kept it a
secret."

"She did the same thing with me," Gus stated, his
lips turned up into a bright smile. "Told me not to say anything so you
all wouldn't be jealous."

"Same here," Con said roughly.

Liam felt the lump already forming in his throat. "She wanted
you all to have something special. Planned it out every year," he said
quietly. "She loved that time with each of you. Talked about it for days
afterwards. She refused to let any of you have fun without her knowing about it
because she just wanted to share that with you."

Ash wiped under her eyes and sniffed. "It
was
special. Everything about her was special."

"Mom knew how to have fun," Conall said, holding
his glass toward her headstone. "You loved each of us in your own way,
Mom. But we all knew we were special, that we each had your whole heart. You
were fierce with that love."

"Fierce!" they all said in unison.

All of them lifted the glass to their lips and drank. Emily,
of course, sipped from her bottle of water and Ash did the same since she was
nursing Isabelle.

Aiden moved around the circle, pouring another shot of
whiskey in each of their paper cups.

"Remember when Mom paid each of us to tell Dad we liked
his beard?" Gus smirked.

Liam straightened his shoulders and felt his eyes widen.
"Excuse me?"

Ash burst into a fit of giggles when Luke said, "I made
ten bucks every time you kept the beard for longer than two weeks."

"I made twenty when I stopped you from shaving it that
one time," Ash informed him. "I knew she was good for it so I hid your
razors and told her about it, hoping I'd get a little extra. She slipped me
twenty bucks when you came home. When you couldn't find them, you promised you
would wait another week."

Aiden laughed. "If you look anything like Gus does when
he grows out his beard, I can understand why she did it."

"Ah, my little fire. I look better," Liam winked
at her.

Gus rolled his eyes and held his glass out. "You knew
how to get what you wanted, Mom. Out of Dad... out of any of us. What you
didn't realize was that we would have done anything for you, without taking a
damn penny." Gus sniffed, his eyes glistening with tears as he looked up
at the sky. "You were loved just as fiercely as you loved us. Still are,
Mom."

"Loved." The word was said together, but the sound
was carried away in the breeze that suddenly surrounded them.

They each smiled as they took another drink, eyes wet with
tears, but not a trace of sadness. Only love.

Each of them said their peace. Even Emily and Aiden shared
stories of how Isabelle changed their lives without ever needing to meet her.
She lived in each of her children and they carried on her love and the things
she taught them.

When it was finally Liam's turn, he shook his head, fighting
the tightness in his chest. "I remember your mother every day, and
every
day
I love her more, I miss her more. But know this..." He raised his
class to Isabelle's head stone and smiled. "She's here. She's always here.
We never have to be without her and we never
will
be."

Liam looked around at his children and stopped when he saw
little Isabelle squirming in his daughter's arms.

"Your memory will never be forgotten," he said,
quoting those words on her headstone.

They all took a drink. No other words were needed to seal
that tribute to Isabelle Brannock.

Twelve years without his Izzy was a long time and even
though every day without her hurt a little, Liam couldn't be happier about the
time he had
with
her. His children reminded him of her every day and he
would never be lonely.

Not when he had the memory of his Izzy so deeply ingrained
in his heart.

They all stood to leave a few minutes later, whispering a
soft
see you soon
and touching the top of Izzy's headstone with a kiss.

Liam was the last to walk away, as he always was, because he
had one final thing to ask his beautiful wife.

"Are ye happy today, my love?"

The End.

###