{ #2 } I Would Give Him The Moon (MxM || 18+)

Chapter 71 - Sweet Care

(Joshua's POV - Sat. 17 May 2014)

"I'm not going anywhere... and I love you too, Baby..." I whisper in a hoarse voice against Liam's fingers, pressing them to my lips, and his face finally relaxes as his breathing evens. Now that he is back to sleep, I can allow myself a deep sigh of relief. The last couple of hours were quite difficult and I went through too many emotions in so little time. To be honest, the last twenty hours have been the worst of my life; first not knowing where Liam was; then witnessing his fall, worrying for him while he was in ER and waiting for him to wake up all night long; and finally hearing him recount what happened. My mind suffered from various painful and difficult emotions all this time, so yes, seeing his features relax as he gives into slumber is quite some relief but unfortunately, this is short-course relief.

The pain and anger quickly flood my veins and swallow the little relief that has been running amidst my blood. Most of my anger goes to the three bastards who held Liam hostage in that abandoned warehouse and did unforgivable things to him. Just thinking about their ugly and appalling faces makes my stomach churn and I really wish I could have smashed their faces. Nothing they will ever experience in jail will cover for a hundredth of what they did to my poor innocent boy. Never. Part of my anger goes to myself because I didn't see things coming but his continuing lies by omission didn't help at all. Dominic's bullying; what happened in New York last December, then in the parking lot on Thursday evening; not mentioning the fact that he deliberately put himself in danger! So yes, another part of my anger also goes to Liam and his stupid and reckless behavior. I will definitely need to teach him what communication and staying-safe mean. And then there's Tony; Tony my long-time friend; a father-figure to me. Tony, my Head of Security. Speaking of the devil, I am still sitting next to the bed and staring at Liam when he walks back into the room after a little while.

"How could this happen, Tony? How could at least three rotten bastards pass your background checks and remain unnoticed?" I ask dryly, my eyes still locked on Liam's sleeping form.

"I don't know yet, Joshua..." he replies apologetically.

"You don't know yet?" I reply bitterly.

"The investigation has only just started..." he sighs. From the corner of my eye, I can sense the tension in his weary body. I wouldn't bet my life on the fact that he slept at all last night and yet, I can't help that slight resentment. For fuck's sake, part of his job is to scrutinize the files of all the employees recruited to work at the Pierce Building. I can understand that damn Kenny's case because all the site workers' background checks are not as advanced as those working at the Corporate offices, but there are still Derek, Dominic and Devon! "Do you want my resignation?" he then asks dully, making me jump to my feet and flip my head to him.

"Don't start that bullshit! I never even thought about anything like that, but I want to understand what went wrong, Tony!" I growl in a hushed voice. "I want your team to run a complete new check of all the employees. Hire more guys if you need to."

"Jeff is already on it. I'm meeting him in the office in an hour so that we can schedule this asap," Tony informs me with deep seriousness, but I can read the guilt on his face and this is not what I want. What I want is to understand where things went wrong so that this never happens again. My security has always been of utmost importance to him; I know that he sincerely has a soft spot for Liam and that if he had been able to avoid such drama, he would have. Anyway, I am glad that things are already moving and I trust him to sort things out quickly.

"Good. I want these motherfuckers to rot in jail..." I grumble lowly.

"Your lawyers are already working on that. Maître Hedges was at the Police station with me yesterday evening and he will be there when the Police come to question Liam," Tony says. Dammit! The Police's visit will certainly be another trying and consuming experience for Liam; he will have no other choice than to go through the whole fucking thing again, but I will be by his side to comfort him every second. The tears he shed this morning while he was relating the events were really painful to see, but I believe that they helped him, as Tony's and my presence seemed to help a little too. Anyway, I needed to know what had happened and all in all, I think that he needed to let it all out too. I couldn't let him keep the weight on his heart and the sooner he managed the emotions out of his chest, the better it was.