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 phone, and

are you texting?" I asked, trying to keep my tone uninterested despite the fact I was desperate to know more

thumbs moving swiftly over the

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

want 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 a

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

is this girl to you?" I asked, glancing over

I met

answered cautiously; I understood

immediately-on one of his

As paid hitmen for the

assignments cloaked in

forbidden love.

not ask. He won't want to lie to you, and it will put him and her in danger." Sage's voice echoed in my mind, a stern reminder not to probe too deeply

twitched

admitted, his

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

and no one really showed me tenderness until

heart aching for him and the stark reality of the life he and my brothers had been forced into a life shaped by duty and danger, where affection was often

He announced into