Liam Takes Manhattan Read Online Free PDF Page A

grinned. “Thanks for the Christmas present.”
    “You are the most outstanding son anybody could ever wish for,” Pia said as she threw her arms around him. “I love that idea so much, and I have no idea how to go about doing it.”
    “Are you kidding?” Dragos said dryly. “They will be ecstatic to get this offer. You do realize it will probably mean ongoing donations justto keep the shelter afloat.”
    “That’s okay, I’ll add it to my list,” Pia said. She said to Liam, “You’ll help me with things, won’t you?”
    “I’ll help you as much as I can,” Liam told her. “But that kinda leads me to the last thing I need to tell you.” Dragos raised his eyebrows, and Pia looked at him expectantly. He braced himself. “This morning I applied to Glenhaven College.”
    Pia’s face wentblank with surprise. She said, “You did what?”
    Dragos’s expression darkened. He sat forward. “You applied to Glenhaven without talking to us?”
    It was harder than he had expected to meet his father’s blazing gaze, but he couldn’t back down now. He said steadily, “Yes, I did.”
    “Absolutely not,” Dragos snapped. “You’re not going to Glenhaven. I forbid it.”
    Whoops, there was no throttling backhis dragon at that one.
    Liam snapped in reply, “You can’t forbid me to go!”
    Anger burned in his father’s eyes. He snarled, “I can sure as hell refuse to pay for it!”
    What the hell? “I didn’t ask you to pay for anything!”
    “Stop it,” Pia said.
    “You just asked me to pay for an animal shelter,” Dragos shot back.
    “What, are you going to refuse to do that now?” Liam felt his fists clenching. “SoI guess I only get Christmas presents or college when I do what you say?”
    Pia leaped to her feet and shouted, “ Stop it, both of you! ”
    There was so much passion and forcefulness in her voice, both Liam and Dragos stopped to stare at her. Her face was clenched, and tears stood in her eyes.
    She pointed at Dragos. “You are saying things in the heat of anger, and you’re going to regret them.” Thenshe turned to Liam and told him fiercely, “Of course you get Christmas presents and college. But both of you need to take care right now. Remember that you love each other and act that way.”
    Unable to sit still any longer, Liam threw himself to his feet and started to pace. “I don’t understand why you’re trying to forbid me to go. It’s the only option open to me that makes any sense.”
    “You’llhave to pick another college,” Dragos snapped. “Somewhere more accessible—maybe Harvard, or Yale. Glenhaven is far too remote and too secluded. If something were to happen, you wouldn’t be able to get in touch with us. We wouldn’t be able to get in contact with you, or help you.”
    Right now that sounded like heaven to him.
    Liam forced himself to breathe evenly and managed not to say it. Instead,he said, “Harvard and Yale aren’t appropriate, so if something were to happen, you’ll just have to trust me to handle it.”
    Dragos shook his head. “You’re too young.”
    “If you can’t trust me to go away to college by myself,” he said through gritted teeth, “then you sure as hell can’t trust me to become a sentinel. But you’re not expecting me to become a sentinel anyway—are you?”
    His father saidnothing. But then he didn’t have to. His silence said it all.
    Tired tears sprang to Liam’s eyes, and he spun away to hide it.
    “Look,” Pia said, her voice sounding a little ragged. “College is a good idea for anybody, and so is finding independence. But Liam, there are a lot of reasons why your dad and I are not reacting well to this, especially after our trip to the Light Fae demesne last month.”

    He turned slightly at that. “What do you mean?”
    “Before Tatiana split from the Seelie Court to form her demesne in Los Angeles, her twin sister Isabeau, the Light Fae Queen of the Seelie Court, and Dragos shared some kind of past together,