Once Upon a Marriage by Tara Taylor Quinn Page A

life.
    And he had to speak with his clients. He’d already been on the phone with Barbara Bustamante that morning. Liam, Gabrielle and Marie were next.
    She was coming toward him, wiping her hand on the blue-and-yellow apron.
    â€œSorry,” she said. “Busier than usual this morning.”
    He smiled. He couldn’t help it. “That’s good,” he said. For her. For her business. Her future. Not for the man who was being paid to keep her out of danger.
    â€œGabi just texted. She and Liam are on their way down. Is it okay with you if we just do this here?”
    â€œIn your office.” He stood. But left his coffee and grabbed a newspaper to put next to it. He was coming back to the table.
    * * *
    L IAM   AND G ABI , both in jeans, sat together in one chair. Gabi perched on Liam’s thigh. Marie took the chair behind her desk—trying not to be jealous. To feel lonely.
    She loved them. Both of them. And wanted them to be happy. She was happy for them.
    And Elliott, closing the door, stood by it. He was the only one of them not wearing jeans. His usual dark attire looked more sinister than usual.
    Or maybe it was the grim expression on his face.
    Her assessment from the night before, that he might be ticked off at her, faded as fear escalated.
    â€œThe police caught the guy who slashed your tire.” Elliott came right to the point, focusing on Liam.
    â€œOh, good!” Marie couldn’t help herself. Relief was sweet.
    Until she saw Gabi shake her head.
    â€œIt’s not good, is it?” Gabi asked. Always the one to see the worst. But her gaze was steady on the bodyguard. “We wouldn’t be here if this was all over.”
    â€œThe guy they have in custody slashed the tire, but not because he has anything against Liam. He didn’t even know whose car it was.” Elliott included all three of them in his conversation now.
    And Marie was still not seeing the bad news. “Then it was just a random act,” she blurted. She wanted this over. Wanted everyone safe.
    And Elliott gone?
    No, she didn’t want that.
    But maybe...if he wasn’t working for Liam...
    He’d said he liked her too much...
    He liked her...
    And Lord knew, she liked
him
...
    Elliott was shaking his head.
    â€œLiam’s vehicle was the target,” Elliott told them. “The guy had been hired to disable it. Permanently. He only slashed a tire as he ran, after his attempt to do worse damage was interrupted. He wanted to get paid.”
    â€œWho hired him?” Liam’s voice was sharp. Marie recognized the tightness of his chin. Liam Connelly might have grown up the pampered son of a very rich man, but he did not sit back and let others do his dirty work for him.
    At least not easily.
    She and Gabi exchanged a glance. A silent promise to work together to watch over Liam and make certain that he didn’t do something stupid. Like get himself killed.
    A promise to keep an eye on him and remind him of everything he already knew. To help him stay calm while he let the police—and Elliott—take care of this situation.
    And then Marie processed what Elliott was telling them. Someone really was out to get Liam.
    â€œSo this guy...he’s going to lead you to whoever hired him, right?” she asked. And wished she was more surprised when Elliott shook his head.
    â€œHe was just some guy who approached him on the street. Outside the car shop where he worked. The perp’s story is that this guy comes up to him as he’s leaving work, tells him he was told in a bar the perp frequents that the perp needed some extra money, would definitely know how to ‘fix’ a car and knew how to look the other way when he needed to.”
    â€œHe’s committed crimes before,” Gabi said. “He has a record?”
    â€œFor penny-ante stuff. Steeling bikes, pickpocketing, that kind of thing. His older brother’s upstate for armed robbery with