Chapter 114

Liam’s POV

The next few days felt like a dream. With the break off of work, Aria and I got to stay home full-time with the kids. In the morning, we woke up around the same time and spent mornings together, sipping coffee in the kitchen. When the kids got up, we worked together to make pancakes and eggs.

We’d either laze about until lunch time or go for a family walk around the block or to the park. In the afternoons, we’d play board games, or cars, or watch a movie. Aria fell asleep once, and her head lulled onto my shoulder.

I froze, careful not to wake her up with even the slightest movement. So rare were our touches that I savored every second her cheek was pressed into my shoulder – until she jolted awake and pulled away.

In the evenings, after dinner, we talked for a while, or played with the kids. Then, after the kids had gone to bed, we would sit on the couch and talk about the day, while looking forward to the next.

It was domestic bliss, a quiet and cozy familial life that I had dreamed about for years.

If I’d had the ability to make every day of our lives like this, I would have done so.

But like all good things, Christmas break eventually came to an end. With the start of a new week, the kids had to go back to school, while Aria and I had to go to work.

Yet even with this switch, when I woke up in the morning, well before sunrise, Aria was already waiting for me, coffee ready, in the kitchen. She passed me my cup and we talked about the work day to come.

“What do you think we should put in the kids’ lunches?” she asked. “I bought some string cheese for Joe. Does William like that?”

It was such a simple topic about string cheese, but I still enjoyed every moment of it.

We made the kids’ lunches before they woke up, then had to go prepare for our own workday.

“I’ll take the kids on my way,” Aria said. Up until that moment, life had been pure domestic bliss. But then she added, “We shouldn’t be seen going into work at the same time every day.”

There, all at once, the illusion of a perfect life came crashing down.

Aria still wanted to keep us a secret.

She still didn’t trust me.

“Of course,” I said, biting back the hurt. It would do no good to have her see it. I wasn’t going to guilt her into wanting to tell the world about us. I couldn’t, not after the way I had treated her in the past. “Whatever you want.”

Aria nodded, not thinking much of my response, it seemed, as she rallied the kids and rushed out the door to her car.

I stood inside for a moment, watching her leave.

I wished there was more I could do or say, to help her realize I wouldn’t hurt her again. But maybe I was already doing what I needed to do. I was staying, while respecting her choices.

Eventually, with luck, she would come to see that I was genuine.

At work, I didn’t see Aria as I parked my car and headed into my office. Though no one should have been in the office during the break, the paperwork on my desk somehow seemed to double. Also, I had nearly a thousand emails to work though.

It was going to be a long day.

An hour later, I was still filtering emails when my assistant hurried into my office.

“You have to get down to the conference room,” she said in a rush. Her eyes were slightly wild, like she was worked up about something.

“What is it?” I asked, standing, emails forgotten. My assistant was the best of the best. For her to panic like this meant there was definitely serious going on. “What’s wrong?”

“One of the assistants for the executives just called. They are coming over here to do a team-wide meeting.”

“An executive? Which one?” he asked.

“All of them,” she said.

I cursed under my breath. This was something big then, for the entire board to come. God, we weren’t folding were we? We shouldn’t be. I saw the numbers and we had enough money to keep us afloat for a while.

But who knew what the owners wanted. If the owners wanted to back out, they would tell the executives first, who would then tell us.

I could be wrong though. Maybe it was good news?

Either way, my assistant was right. I needed to get down to the conference room and speak to the executives before anyone else.

Even hurrying, by the time I made it to the conference room, the room was already full with other employees – those who had less emails than me and saw the one from the executive’s assistant that called for the meeting much sooner than I had.

The executives were in a line at the front of the room.

A podium had been set up near them, with a working microphone.

“Come here, Liam. Stand with us at the front here,” one of the executives said.

That was unusual. Though I was the president of this headquarters, which made me everyone else’s boss, I still liked to sit with my team over standing on the side of the executives, who were essentially my bosses as well.

But, as they were my bosses, I couldn’t deny their direct request and moved to stand beside them.

They waited until the top of the hour. Then, the top executive stepped forward to the podium.

“Attention everyone,” he said, speaking into the microphone. He stood too closely at first and it whistled. Everyone covered their ears. After a correction, where the IT guy told him to stand straight, the executive continued. “Better?”

“Yes,” a few people said from the sitting audience. Chairs had already been arranged when I got here, all facing forward.

“Good,” the executive said. “I have an announcement to make. It’s such good news that we thought we should come give it in person. And it involves a person you know well.” He gestured to me. “Liam.”

I tried not to let my surprise show on my face, not wanting to alarm anyone, but truthfully, I had no idea what they were talking about.

“The team has been doing so well that we’ve decided to expand,” the executive continued. “Therefore, we will soon be opening a new international headquarters. After careful consideration, we’ve decided that your very own Liam would be the perfect fit to run that new office.”

The executives all began to clap politely. “Congratulations, Liam.”

My own employees looked around at each other in the crowd, confusion mostly on their faces. I spotted Aria in the crowd.

She mouthed to me, Did you know?

I shook my head to tell her that I didn’t. I hadn’t any idea this was going to happen.

This whole thing blind-sided me, leaving me off-kilter.

“Do you have any words you’d like to say?” the executive asked me.

“Uh, no. Not right now,” I said.

The executive frowned, obviously not liking that response. What did he expect? This might have been old news to him, but to me, it was brand new. I needed a minute to think about it.

More than anything else, I needed to talk to Aria.