Chapter 143

Aria’s POV

That night, while the kids were busy with their homework, Isabella and I sat hunched over my laptop while we looked into Markus’s investment bank. The official website was well-designed and implemented with professional looking photos and high tech security features.

If I hadn’t known Markus and the company had money before, I would have figured it out just by looking at this website.

“Sure their own website would praise the company,” Isabella said, scrolling through the happy customer testimonials, complete with perfect photographs of the clients’ pearly white smiles. All of it seemed incredibly staged. “If we want to discover the nitty gritty we have to leave their main site.”

“And go where?” I asked.

“Internet forums,” she replied. “Trust me on this.”

Passing the laptop to her, I watched as she searched for the company name and added the word ‘scandal’ after it. Hitting send, she was immediately greeted with several dozen websites, many of them forums as she suggested. But there were also news media websites with articles dedicated to the company.

None of the snippets looked good.

“… are in hot water again…

“Sued for the sixth time this year so far…”

“Many allegations of harassment…”

“Big layoffs again…”

“God, this guy is ruthless,” Isabella said, clicking on one of the articles. “Did you know you have to have a net worth of over $50 million to even be allowed to invest? If it falls below that threshold, even due to their poor investments, they drop you. But that’s not even that bad compared to other things they are accused of.”

She backed out of the article and clicked on another. “Here. This one says that some of the employees tried to sue the company when they were overworked and underpaid, but they all ended up backing out of the lawsuit. Well, except for this guy… Huh.”

“What?” I asked.

“This guy mysteriously disappeared before the court dates…”

“Isabella…” I really didn’t want to hear stories like that. If anything were to happen to Liam, I wouldn’t know what to do. With how much money and power Markus had, I doubted anyone would listen to me if I tried to stand against him.

“Even Markus personally has been sued before,” Isabella continued, ignorant of my inner troubles. “But he always comes out on top. This guy seems like a real prick. Here he sued a single mother for slander because she called him heartless.”

If these lawsuits and articles were any indication of Markus’s character, then I didn’t have much faith in his ability to see reason in the coming days, regarding the disagreements between him and Liam.

I could only hope that Liam stayed as far away from this man as possible.

Liam’s POV

Going to see my father was the absolutely last thing I wanted to do tonight, but if I couldn’t find a way to stop this onslaught of his against the club, I didn’t know how much longer we could hold out.

Knowing Aria would worry, I decided not to tell her where I was going or what I was doing. When she’d sent me a check-in text ten minutes ago, I’d pulled over to text her back that I was still in the office.

Now that I was out front of Markus’s mansion, I wished I had stayed at the club.

The building had gothic architecture, with gargoyles looming, looking down from atop tall columns built against the walls of the building.

This wasn’t the house I’d grown up in, but it was the one in which my father spent the most time. The house from my childhood was closer to the edge of town. It sat empty, as it had for years, though remained in good condition. Many times I’d thought about trying to buy it from Markus just so I could have it torn down.

Now, I walked up to his front door and rang the bell. His butler opened the door. I’d only met the man on a handful of occasions, but each time he seemed even less impressed by me than the time before. This time, he stared at me flatly.

“My master is expecting you.”

“Lead the way,” I said.

The butler – I couldn’t remember his name and he didn’t seem inclined to give it again – led me through the winding hallways of the mansion and outside to a sunroom filled with plants. There, my father sat in a wheelchair, with a blanket thrown over his legs.

He was paler than I remembered, and thinner too. For years, he’d towered over me, an impressive and intimidating presence from my youth. Now, he was a sad, sick old man, with thinning hair and sunken in eyes. Those eyes remained fierce, however, even as the rest of his body seemed to be failing him.

When he looked up at me, the fury inside of him pushed out onto me as surely as if he’d walked up to me and smacked me – something he’d been prone to do in my younger years.

“You came to see me because you are desperate,” Markus said.

Somehow, though his voice was weaker than I remembered it, it was still imposing. Having to strain to hear it made it even worse somehow, like I was forced to lower my guard just to have him stab me in the ear.

“I’m prepared to offer you a deal,” Markus continued.

“I’m prepared to hear it,” I said, “but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to say yes.”

“Even if you refuse today, you will agree eventually. You’ve always been a stubborn boy, but you have some sense in you. You must, to be of my blood. You will soon come to realize the many benefits I am offering you, boons that you do not deserve. But as your father, I am inclined to offer you the best life.”

“The best life is one I get to choose for myself,” I said.

“Don’t be difficult,” Markus snapped. “You are here at my mercy, and I will have order in my house.”

On impulse, my mouth shut. He’d said that very same thing to me many times when I was child, right before dolling out punishment. My body acted on learned reflexes now. When those words were spoken, I had to shut my mouth or feel worse punishment.

“My generous offer is this.” Markus took in a long, wheezy breath. “We both know that your current marriage is a sham. You impulsively married this Aria girl to escape the marriage your mother and I had planned for you.”

Hearing him mention my mother, even in this context, set me on edge. That he was speaking about Aria as well only amplified my anger.

“My marriage isn’t a sham. Aria is the woman I love.”

“You confuse dedication with love, Liam. You feel obligated to this woman, but you do not love her. Men like us… We cannot bound to any one woman, and certainly not for any foolish reason as stubbornness or love. You married her. You proved your point that you are your own man. Now it is time to be responsible instead.”

“I am responsible.”

“Divorce Aria,” Markus said, refusing to hear anything else I had to say. “Marry Joanna. Inherit the family fortune and the company. “If it’s your son Joe that you are worried about losing in all this, I assure you: You will be granted full custody. I will personally make sure of it.”