Rowen wanted to laugh, she was struggling not to actually. Liam was cowering against the hospital window as an older woman was railing on him in Italian. She had called him everything that she could think of, and some of those things were rather imaginative. Rowen had to bite her lip when the woman started to smack him across the side of the head for his 'stupidness'.
Rowen had a general idea who the woman was, there really couldn't be any explanation other than she was Liam's mother. There was no way he would let anyone else go off at him like that without defending himself. He even started to apologise for something when he had no idea what he had done wrong.
Carlos was sniggering in the corner, a small dark haired woman who had eyes like Liam's was giggling along with him, hiding her mouth behind her hand. It was easy to guess that she was Liam's sister. And Rowen had seen Carlos somewhere before, though she had just met him a few minutes ago.
Rowen coughed to hide her laugh.
Her night was confusing and relieving at the same time. She had been so heartbroken at the thought of losing Liam that she hadn't listened to him properly while she was leaving a rather attractive mess of snot and tears on his dark blue shirt.
He had told her he loved her.
And he meant it.
-***-***-***-***-
She couldn't believe what he was saying. How could he love her? He had been so disgusted with her, she had seen it in his eyes, yet here he was saying that he loved her. And he just kept repeating it. Over and over again, like a prayer.
She didn't know what to believe, her memory of his face or his words.
"But how?"
Liam pulled back slowly, raising his hands he placed them on her shoulders and looked into her eyes. Rowen didn't need to look into his bright blue eyes to know when Liam was lying to her or not. She could just always tell. She had never questioned it before, never thought to look at why she could tell if he was lying, why she believed him so easily when before she would have questioned. Most of all, she never questioned why she trusted him so whole heartedly.
"It was wrong of me to leave you, I know that now." he shook his head at himself. "I had wanted to calm down, so I didn't frighten you. I was so angry. Not at you, at myself... at my father. I thought I was making the right decision to leave the hospital for a while, calm down... When I came back, seeing the guard at the door made me think that maybe my father had come for you, that someone had scared you... hurt you again... I saw red," he paused. "No, I saw fear, I was so scared that i'd lost you again."
Rowen's heart was racing in her chest. She should have known better. She should have known that Liam wasn't disgusted in her but in what had been done to her. He didn't want to scare her, he was putting her first.
Rowen put her hand on top on his, pulling it from her shoulder she held it in her lap. She was about to speak when he raised a finger to her broken lips.
"Let me finish?" she nodded. "Thank you."
Liam took a deep breath. Rowen could see that whatever it was he was about to say was going to be bad, she could see the pain in his eyes before he even spoke the words. Once again she was reading him, seeing the real him beyond the facade that he put on. She hadn't questioned this before, when she had no idea what she was feeling. Now she knew, and she knew he felt the same way for her.
She loved him.
"When you were taken, my father sent me a picture from your phone." Rowen gasped. Liam closed his eyes, tears welling in her eyes made them sting. "I was so angry I trashed the penthouse... I... I recieved a picture every hour."
Rowen pulled her hands away, covering her mouth. She shook her head in disbelief.
"No." she whispered. Liam bowed his head. "Oh please, no."
"I'm sorry." his voice broke slightly. "I know what happened, every detail. I saw it... I know what they did to you."
"They?" Rowen wished she didn't ask. When Liam's eyes met hers, she knew. She knew what had happened without him saying a word.
"My..." Rowen shook her head, stopping him. He didn't need to say it, she didn't want to hear it if she was honest.
His own father... his father had raped her while she was unconscious. She had thought it was just one man, just Marcos that had done something to her. She shouldn't have been so stupid. She should have known that Enzo wouldn't have missed his opportunity to hurt her. Even if she wasn't awake for it.
But if he was sending pictures to Liam, he wasn't doing it to hurt Rowen. He had raped her, sent a photo to his son, he wanted to hurt Liam. To punish him for disobeying and keeping her around.
"How?" she sobbed. "How can you look at me knowing what you do?! I don't even know what happened and I can't look at myself!"
"No, Rowen please." Liam pulled her back against him, holding her there even when she fought back. "I don't blame you... I don't look at you any different!"
Rowen knew he was telling the truth, yet her mind was rolling around thoughts that were dark, sick and just as twisted as what had been done to her. Did he like knowing his father had raped her? Was he going to keep fucking her like he had been, the way she had liked it, knowing that she had been raped?
She knew he had a dark side, something that scared her and thrilled her at the same time. Would he let that side of him out to play now he knew she could handle being brutally raped? Would he try it, would he try to rape her like his father had?
Liam kissed the side of her head, repeating that he loved her while she cried once more. Did he truly love her? How could he? How could he love someone when he knew that they had been raped by his own father?
"I love you." Liam said, pulling her back once more. She shook her head. "Please Rowen, I love you. Nothing will change that, nothing! You can fight me, push me away, you've tried to do that in the past and I hunted you down. Don't think that I won't do it again. I didn't know what I was feeling then, and now I do know. Do you really think that i'm going to let you slip through my fingers now that I know I love you?!"
Rowen bit her lip, she tasted blood slightly before Liam scowled and gently pulled her lip from her teeth. She was so stupid. How could she think such horrible things about him? It was lucky that she had never said them aloud. Liam would not have taken them well.
"I love you too." she whispered.
"I'm not letting you go! I don't care what you... wait... what did you say?" Liam blinked rapidly, his brain catching up to his mouth. Rowen gave him a soft smile. How could she not love this man?
A man that came to save her, a man that as he put it, hunted her down. A man that loved her for who she was and not who she could be. A man that was dangerous, loving, sweet, funny, caring, loyal, trustworthy, dark and oh so beautiful. A man that was too good to be true.
Her man.
"I love you." she smiled, Liam leant forward watching her lips.
"Say it again." his eyes never left her lips.
"I ... love... you." she said each word so clearly a deaf person would have been able to read her lips from across the room. Hell they could have read them from down the hall.
"You..." he looked at her. His eyes darting between hers. It was like he was the female in this instance. Not believe what she was saying, he was her when he had said it and it had registered in her own brain.
"Yeah." she nodded. "Stuck with me i'm afraid."
Liam took her face in his hands. "I'm going to kiss you."
"You've never warned me before." she quipped. He looked at her seriously, she understood what he was trying to say. He wanted to let her know, warn her, in case it startled her and she panicked. He was taking care of her once more.
When she nodded, he had kissed her with everything he was feeling.
Love. Fear. Relief. Disbelief. Passion. Need.
She took it all, and gave her own back to him. She knew when he felt it, his hands grew a little tighter, his lips pressed a little harder. But he never moved, he never pushed her back onto the pillows, never settled his weight over her body. A part of her was grateful, but not because she didn't want those things, but because her body was too sore.
Maybe something was wrong with her, feeling like this after knowing you'd been raped. Wasn't she supposed to be disgusted by the thought of a man doing this, kissing her, loving her? Shouldn't reject his advances, and shrink in a corner from the thought of being touched sexually?
That's what she was lead to believe was the right response. But what if it was different when the one touching you loved you as Liam loved her? What if they pushed all memories and fear away with a touch and had you wanting to be held once more? Wasn't that a better reaction? Wasn't love better than fear?
Rowen didn't want to think while he was kissing her. She didn't want to let her mind run off with thoughts of what she should be feeling, rather than what she was feeling. So she lost herself in his kisses. Letting him heal her in a way that no doctor ever could.
-***-***-***-***-
"Stupido ragazzo, non si ha il tempo di dire al vostro mamma che si dispone di una donna? Che lei è stato ferito? È così che ho sollevato?" (You stupid boy, you don't have time to tell your Mama that you have a woman? That she's been hurt? Is that how I raised you?)
Rowen snorted, gaining the woman's attention. Carlos snickered from the doorway while Liam's sister hid her laughter into his shoulder. Rowen's eyes widened when Liam's mother advanced on her. She had nowhere to go, she couldn't escape like Carlos was trying to.
"Mama!" Liam quickly walked around his mother, putting himself between her and Rowen.
Rowen knew that his mother was nothing like his father, she knew that the woman herself had been in the same situation that Rowen was in. Raped by Liam's father. She knew what she was going through, to a point.
What scared Rowen was that this was the first mother, other than her own, that she had met. Her own mother was a handful, which is why she had told Liam not to call her. She didn't want to deal with her mother while she was in this state, and if it was left to Rowen her mother wouldn't even know what had happened to her.
They weren't that close.
Liam's mother on the other hand, she looked like a woman that knew everything that happened in her children's lives. And when she found out that Liam had a 'woman' and that she had been hurt, it was her first reaction to get onto a plane and make her way over. Rowen was a little jealous that Liam had a mother that would drop everything to make sure they were okay.
But she was a little worried about how they would react to her.
They didn't know how Liam had met her. That they had been sexual. That they had just admitted that they loved each other only hours ago.
His mother had no idea... that's why she was pissed.
"Move." she said calmly, her jade green eyes flashing at her son. Rowen whimpered.
She wasn't ready for this. She wasn't ready to meet his mother. To be asked questions about her intentions with Liam. She wasn't ready to be grilled by the woman who had raised him.
Oh god! She's going to ask if I'm going to marry him! Have children...
Liam spun to face her, his hands on her shoulders. His words were muffled but she knew he was telling her to breathe. That she needed to calm down. How could she? His mother was still there, waiting to grill her about a life she wasn't sure she could have.
Liam was shoved out of the way, soft arms that smelt like roses wrapped around her and pulled her close. Words were mumbled in italian, soft words that seeped into her ears and calmed her brain.
"Va tutto bene piccola ragazza, nulla può ferirti, sei al sicuro qui. Liam ti proteggerà adesso. Ti proteggero". (It's okay little girl, nothing can hurt you, you're safe here. Liam will protect you now. I will protect you.)
When Rowen felt in control of herself, she gently pulled herself back. Looking into the eyes of the woman who was the reason she had Liam in her life.
"Grazie. Mi dispiace io sono una tale confusione." (Thank you. I'm sorry I'm such a mess.)
"Mama, speak english." Liam's soft voice drew her eyes. She saw the way they had darkened and snorted. Of cause Liam would get turned on by her speaking Italian.
"Of cause." his 'mama' answered, leaning back. "My name is Maria Raffaello. I am this idiots mother. That is his sister, Francesca Mancini. She's married." his mother whispered the last part, making Rowen giggle.
She liked his mother. Now that she wasn't trying to kill herself with panic, Rowen could see that she was a little playful. And in her younger years, would have been quite the rebel. Rowen could see so much of Liam in her. His eyes were different, but his hair was the same as hers, his skin was the same tan as hers, the spark in her green eyes was the same in his blue ones.
As much as his father wished that his son was the hardened Mob boss, there was so much of his mama in him that Rowen didn't think Liam could be anything like what his father wanted him to be. For that she was glad, the world didn't need another Enzo Raffaello.
"I'm Rowen Munrow." Liam put his hand in hers making her smile.
"She's mine Mama." Rowen smiled at him. ""Lei è il mio amore".
Rowen blushed. She's my love. She would never get used to him telling her that. And she hoped that she had a long time to hear it.