Chapter 148

Aria’s POV

As my tiny office down in the boiler room was incredibly uncomfortable, I ended up camping out in the breakroom or one of the meeting rooms with my laptop to work most of the time, when I needed to be doing office work and not out on the track.

Work on the new annex building was coming along quickly and efficiently. The construction workers guessed it would be finished in another few weeks.

However, given Joanna’s dislike of me and her apparent vendetta against me, I had no idea if I would even have an office in that annex. Perhaps she truly meant to keep me in the boiler room forever.

I knew finding me a new spot was on Liam’s agenda, but with all the fires he was rushing around to put out, I couldn’t blame him for having trouble and needing time to find me a new spot.

After all, I wasn’t the only one in this predicament. Even in the break room, where I was currently working, three other employees were in there with me, our laptops all opened, sitting around one of the round tables.

Surprisingly, this was effective. Being in the presence of others working so hard kept my own mind from wandering. I didn’t know these others very well, they were all knew, but they were quiet and hard working. Together, we completed a lot of work.

At least, he had. No sooner had I sent off an email to the mysterious new trainer, who I had still never met, and still suspected might have been AI, than Joanna walked through the door of the break room.

Even on breaks, she wouldn’t come in here. I hadn’t seen her lingering in any location that the regular employees liked to gather. She likely thought herself above mingling with the common people.

So it was strange to see her walk into the room now. She looked around. When her gaze fell on me, her focus suddenly zeroed in. I supposed I should have guessed that this had to do with me.

“I need to speak with Aria alone,” Joanna announced. The other three employees sharing the table and the space with me all looked at each other and at me, confusion in their eyes. To them, and to me, it would make more sense for Joanna and I to speak somewhere else, rather than uprooting all of us.

Yet, to Joanna, that kind of backtracking just for other’s convenience must have seemed too big an ask.

“Now,” she snapped.

At once, the three employees rushed to save and close down their laptops. Joanna glared at them as they hurriedly cleaned up their things. Then, they rushed toward the door. One of them nearly tripped, stumbling over her feet in her haste to leave. Fortunately, she righted herself and made her escape without actually falling.

When they were gone, with the door swung shut behind them, Joanna returned her intense focus back to me. She made no attempt to hide her obvious displeasure or her annoyance. I wondered if I actually did anything, or if it was simply my mere existence that offended her so much.

She eyed me up for a moment, perhaps in an effort to intimidate me. I hated that it worked somewhat. I wasn’t scared of Joanna, exactly, but she could make more work for me. She could always make Liam’s life even more difficult. Neither of those things I wanted to have happen.

That meant I had to try to play nice here. I had to placate her, soothe whatever caused this anger, and somehow get out of all this without making things worse.

Finally, she spoke, “You didn’t tell Liam about what we talked about. He has no idea that you know his relationship with you is a sham built on a lie.”

She was right. I hadn’t told him. I knew we would have to discuss it, sooner or later, but every time I had tried, I was filled with dread. Maybe I wanted to maintain the fantasy a little longer, this silly dream that Liam had chosen me to be his wife because he wanted me, not because I had simply been there and available at the time.

None of my inner dilemmas were any of Joanna’s business, however, and I wouldn’t pretend otherwise, not even to spare her feelings.

Though, as my initial outrage began to settle, I was overcome with a sudden realization.

How did Joanna know that I hadn’t talked to Liam about what I knew? Had she talked to Liam?

Why would they be talking about that – about me?

“How can you possibly know that?” I asked, suspecting and dreading that I already knew the answer.

Joanna’s coldness ebbed just enough for her to smile. There was nothing soft about it. It was sharp and cruel, as if it had been chiseled out of an icicle.

“Liam and I talk all the time,” Joanna said.

The words cut like shrapnel into my chest.

“Why wouldn’t you tell him, Aria? Is it because you are afraid I’m right? You already know I am, if you stop and think for a moment. There is no other reason someone like Liam would have wanted someone like you, if he hadn’t been using you as an escape from something else. But he needs to stop running from his responsibilities now. And so do you.”

“I’m not running.”

“We all have our places in this world,” Joanna said. “Mine is as Liam’s wife. Yours is as his doughty little mistress.”

I stewed in my anger, but I knew indulging her in this would only make everything worse.

“Surely you have more important things to do than taunt me,” I said.

She shrugged. “I suppose I do, but you needed a reminder. I was happy to take a moment to give it.”

With that, she turned on her heel and walked back out the door, leaving me alone with my misery and my doubt.

The only way she could have known that I hadn’t told Liam yet, unless she was guessing, was by speaking with Liam.

I didn’t want to believe that she and Liam talked all the time, as she suggested, but it did make some sense. Unfortunately.

Maybe I should speak to Liam about it.

Later, I told myself. Running to Liam now was likely what Joanna wanted to happen. I couldn’t go crying to him every time she tried to bully me. I needed to stay strong. I would talk to him about it later and that was that.

After all, more likely than not, Joanna had just been guessing. She probably just wanted to mess with my head.

I hated that it was working.

Near the end of the day, I headed up to Liam’s office – not just to talk about Joanna, but to also see if he was staying late again tonight. Yet, as I approached, my heart sank.

Liam’s assistant was out, but his office door was open. Voices sounded from within.

Liam and Joanna.

“Have you had time to think about things?” Joanna asked, her voice lilting, flirty – seductive.

My stomach clenched as my heart picked up speed. I turned and ran before I could hear anymore.

Liam’s POV

“My offer stays the same,” I said, glaring at Joanna from opposite my desk. “Either we are business partners or nothing.”

“Don’t be that way,” she said, pouting out her bottom lip.

She was flirting with me, trying to use her feminine wiles to change my mind. It wasn’t going to work.

Aria was the only woman I cared about enough to give in to, but Aria would never use my attraction to her to manipulate me.

“Back off, Joanna,” I snapped. “You are embarrassing yourself.”

She straightened at once, her flirtatious expression slipping immediately into one of annoyance and distain. Without saying a word, she turned and stormed out of my office.