Their Secret Obsession by Pippa Moon

Chapter 0251

Lottie POV

I sat in the car, my hands gripping the steering wheel tightly as I bombed it down dark country lanes, the night swallowing up the beam of our headlights. The road was a serpentine twist through the heart of nowhere, bordered by looming trees that danced eerily with the

wind. It was the perfect setting for a horror movie, but for me, it was just another backroad shortcut.

"You are going the wrong way," Liam huffed beside me, his fingers digging into the dashboard and door, knuckles white with tension.

"Am I?" I asked and couldn't help but smile, relishing the moment. Here was Liam, a big bad Alpha, a Sparrow brother, a man who was a paid killer for the royal family, visibly unnerved by my driving.

"Have you never been on a roller-coaster, Liam?" I teased, glancing his way with a playful smirk.

"Yes, and it wasn't as scary as this ride," he shot back, his voice a mix of amusement and genuine fear. "Slow down, goddess, give me strength."

"Pussy." I laughed, but reluctantly, I eased off the accelerator slightly, but the thrill of speeding along these hidden lanes was too good to give up completely.

"You need to turn around. You are going the wrong way." Liam insisted again. His voice was so high and squeaky it had Sage growling inside my head.

"We're not going the wrong way," I corrected him with a hint of nostalgia in my tone. "I spent years sneaking out to clubs, bars, and parties because Kane and Knox were so strict with Lilly and me. I know all the shortcuts that others don't."

"You rebel." He laughed uneasily, his fingers grasping tighter at the fabric of the car.

me, giggling as we lost the boys on these very backroads when we were just kids. They never could keep up, and that freedom felt just as exhilarating now as it did back then. Liam, clearly not reassured, pulled out his

asked, trying to keep my tone uninterested despite the fact I

he replied, his thumbs moving

of me couldn't shake the feeling that he might be warning

the girl to know I love her before I die." He glanced at me, a small smile playing on his lips. His words made me chuckle, the tension in the car lightning just

said, shaking my head but with a smile tugging at my lips. Encouraged by his dramatic declaration, I finally took pity on him and slowed the car further, the darkness of the country roads now just a backdrop to our unlikely adventure. After a moment's silence, driven by the night's

is this girl to you?" I

I

cautiously; I

immediately-on one of his

As paid hitmen for the

like these were not leisure but dangerous assignments cloaked in secrecy. And it was most likely the case that it

forbidden love.

Sage's voice echoed in my mind, a stern reminder not to probe too deeply into the darker aspects

shifted my approach; curiosity tinged with concern. Looking over at him, my lips twitched with amusement as

know what love is," he finally admitted, his voice a mixture of confusion and resignation. His response made me

love is?" I pressed, unable to hide my shock. He sighed a deep sound that seemed

no one really showed me tenderness until I met Adam and Chase. But that's different-it's

him and the stark reality of the life he and my brothers had been forced into a life shaped by

wrong." He announced