Chapter 146

Aria’s POV

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d gone on an actual, honest-to-goodness date with Liam. Maybe never. Our initial courtship had been a whirlwind, but it had also been kept secret behind locked doors. Liam hadn’t wanted to be seen with me in any romantic capacity.

This time, things felt different. As we walked through the aquarium, he smiled warmly. Sometimes he touched my arm as he spoke with me, or he bumped our shoulders together as we stood beside each other, looking into the tanks of brightly colored fish.

While we were having a very good time, I still felt like I was on pins and needles, waiting for him to open up about Joanna. What I knew about their relationship I had only learned from her. That didn’t seem fair when Liam was the one who should have told me.

But he seemed set on avoiding the conversation entirely, distracting me instead with fish facts he read off of placards or directing me toward the souvenir shops and the ice cream stalls. Like a real date, he even bought me an oversized fish plush toy that we took turns carrying throughout the day.

Being with him like this was thrilling and sweet, and I cherished every moment. But we couldn’t go on like this, avoiding the building troubles between us.

“Liam,” I said after a while, when we were taking a break and sitting on a bench. The giant fish plushie was between us. Liam rested one arm over the top of it, his elbow brushing me lightly.

“Yeah?” he asked, not looking at me. Instead he was people watching. The aquarium was filled with families today, of all shapes and sizes. When a family much like ours – a dad, mom, and two young sons – walked by, he smiled.

I hated to ruin his blissful moment, but to preserve our own little family, we had to bring some things into the open. Things that were maybe difficult to talk about, but had to be said.

Rather than go straight for the heart of the matter – which was Joanna – I decided to talk around it in hopes to lead the conversation there. I didn’t want to open with accusations, knowing that would make Liam defensive and could ultimately hurt us both and our relationship.

Joanna could have been lying about the things she’d told me. I had no reason to truly believe her, other than the gut feeling I had. That couldn’t be enough evidence to condemn Liam. Until I heard from his own mouth that he had not married me for love, I needed to be on his side.

Joanna could have just been trying to come between us. This was something she’d already proven herself capable and willing to do.

Liam deserved my trust.

“I wanted to talk to you about… the troubles at the club,” I said. “It’s been a lot, lately.”

“I have been there for you and the kids enough,” Liam said, looking down at the concrete pathway before us. “I’m sorry.”

My heart ached, guilt rising for having doubted him.

“You’ve been under a lot of pressure with your dad,” I said.

“I thought he was out of my life for good this time,” Liam replied. “He always returns just to try to mess everything up. I wish he could understand that I am my own man with my own wants and goals. Those goals don’t always match up with his, but that doesn’t mean I’m wasting my life.”

I listened carefully, nodding, even as my dread started to rise.

“Has he always been so controlling?” I asked. Clearly my throat lightly, I added, “Has he tried to make important life decisions for you before?”

“All the time,” Liam said. “My entire life, he was trying to groom me into being someone that could fulfill his legacy, and when I refused… He didn’t take that gracefully. I finally cut him out, and he stopped contacting me. For a while, I thought that was the end of it.”

“I’m sorry,” I said genuinely. The secrets between us did nothing to deter the empathy I felt for Liam and his struggles both of the present and the past. His father seemed like an overbearing narcissist, and I could only imagine what that must have been like growing up groomed by a man like that.

“He’ll stop eventually,” Liam said. “Though I hate that it probably won’t be until his illness takes him and he dies.”

Lifting my hand, I placed it gently over Liam’s on top of the plush fish resting between us. Liam glanced at me and smiled.

“Having you with me helps,” he said. “With you at my side, I feel like there’s nothing I can’t overcome. Thank you, Aria.”

“I haven’t done anything.”

“You are here,” Liam said. “That’s enough.”

Was it? Once more the doubts began to creep back inside of me. Had Liam married me to get out of one of his obligations to his father – an arranged marriage? Was my mere presence, and not my love, what he’d truly needed all along?

No, he couldn’t have meant it that way. He was making an effort here to be romantic, surely, but thanking me for not leaving him while he was going through this difficult time.

He hadn’t meant that my presence was all he required from me. I know that. But then, why did I still feel so sad?

Glancing away, ache swelled in my chest.

I wished we could just talk about this directly and clear the air. But what if Joanna said was true? If Liam had married me simply to escape an arranged marriage and because I was available, not because he actually loved me, what would I do then?

Would I be able to move past a betrayal like that? What would that mean for our current situation? And for Joe and William?

It was all too much.

Turning his head away from me, Liam slipped his arm out from under my hand and tucked it back against his side.

The plush fish wasn’t an armrest anymore, but now a barrier between us. It might as well have been as big as a canyon. It felt impossible to cross.

Liam’s POV

I’d nearly told Aria everything. She was so easy to talk to, so warm and comforting, that it had nearly slipped out. What a terrible man I would have been, to hurt her like that so needlessly.

Markus had backed me into terrible corners in the past, forcing me to make decisions in the moment to protect myself that had I been given more time, I didn’t know if I would make.

I had acted out of selfishness and desperation. But I found that I could never regret it.

Marrying Aria had been impulsive, but it had also been the best decision of my life. So many times I had nearly botched this relationship, and even now it felt pushed to its limits. But Aria was the wife I wanted now more than anyone else.

How our relationship started, or why, didn’t matter anymore. Not with how much I loved Aria now.

Yet still, guilt crept over me. Aria deserved to know the full truth of our past. I’d kept too many secrets over the years and it nearly destroyed us. She would likely, eventually, find out this secret on her own and then there would be hell to pay.

I might even lose her.

No, I couldn’t let that happen.

No matter what. I couldn’t lose Aria.