Chapter 166

Joe’s POV

“No way,” William said, his face scrunched up. “This is fake. Has to be.”

“It looks real to me,” Joe countered. He didn’t have a lot of experience in these things, but it seemed official enough to him. There were numbers printed on the bottom and someone had signed it. The handwriting wasn’t really good on the rest of it. Other than the amount of the check, Joe couldn’t really decipher the rest.

“How would you know?” William scoffed. “Where did you even find it, anyway?”

“In the hallway,” Joe said.

“So it’s probably Mom’s or Dad’s,” William said.

Seemed like, though with the way it was crumpled up, it seemed like it was going to go in the trash can. Joe had saved it before that could happen. It was too cool to throw away.

“We don’t know whose it is,” Joe said.

William hummed. “What are you going to do with it?”

“I don’t know,” Joe admitted. He didn’t want to see it get thrown away, even if it was fake. He liked pretending that he was holding $5 million in his hands. He could buy his own racecar – a real one – with that kind of money.

“Throw it away,” William said.

“No,” Joe said. “I found it so it’s mine now.”

“If Mom and Dad find out you have it, they might be mad.”

“If it’s fake or trash they won’t care. Why can’t I keep it?”

William frowned. He didn’t really have an answer to that. “I don’t know. You just found it? It feels weird.”

Maybe.

Joe assumed it was garbage, but… if it wasn’t…? Maybe he should tell Mom or Dad.

“Who wants snacks?” Isabella called, coming closer from the kitchen.

Joe hurriedly returned the check to his pocket.

Aria’s POV

The check wasn’t anywhere to be found. At this point, I had to just assume that I’d lost it. Now that Liam was here, I couldn’t continue my search, though, admittedly, I had been very thorough of the entire house, and so far turned up nothing.

If I hadn’t found it already, I wasn’t likely to.

This left me with only one option. I had to go see Markus. If I told him I didn’t want the check and admitted that I lost it, he could void it on his end, just in case someone did steal it. After voiding with the bank, the check would basically be dead, and everything would be fine.

I didn’t want it anyway.

But to do this, I had to own up to the fact that I lost a check worth $5 million. It would undoubtedly be humiliating, but it needed to be done.

Liam had followed me into the kitchen now, slowly fixing everything I had moved and upturned in my frantic search. I’d even removed the plates from the cabinets, thinking perhaps I had accidentally dropped the check when I’d been unloading the dishwasher last night.

Unlikely, of course, but I’d been desperate.

As he worked, Liam cast me curious, and sometimes suspicious, glances. I understood, though I didn’t want to address them. I couldn’t’ tell him that I lost his father’s bribe money. How would that look and sound?

I could tell him once everything was resolved. To do this, I needed to speak to Markus as soon as possible.

“I have to go out tonight,” I told him.

Liam froze, his hands holding a plate halfway up to the cabinet. “You do?”

“Isabelle will be bringing the boys back over soon. Can you watch them tonight?”

“Of course, but Aria… I mean, I was hoping we could talk.” He put the plate away, and then turned to face me. “We have a lot to say to each other.”

“I’m sorry,” I told him. “But I can’t tonight.”

“I left work on time so I could be here with you,” Liam said. “You can’t just leave…”

Annoyance flickered within me. How many nights had I stayed up hoping to talk to Liam only for him to arrive too tired to speak? How many times had I put the effort in, wanting to talk to him, wanting to work things out, only for him to not be there?

Now, the one time I had something of my own to handle was the time he had free, and he expected me to just drop everything for him? He didn’t even tell me he’d be home now. I was just supposed to know?

Maybe, if I had plans other than dealing with this check, I would have considered staying in and speaking with Liam. As it was, I was extremely stressed about everything and didn’t have the time or energy to be patient with him.

“I can’t tonight,” I said. “We’ll have to talk some other time. Maybe when I get back.”

“But, Aria –”

“Liam, you’ve had ample opportunity to talk to me these past weeks, but work has always come first. I can’t put everything aside just because now, suddenly, you have time to talk to me.”

“It’s not like that,” Liam said. “I’ve been busy, sure, but I’ve wanted to talk –”

“Well, now is the time for you to wait, like I’ve done,” I said. Turning, I walked into the hallway.

He followed me. “At least tell me where you’re going.”

“Out,” I said, without looking back. I grabbed my purse and my keys and walked right out the door.

Liam continued to call after me, but I ignored him.

Once I dealt with Markus, then we could talk. But not before.

Liam’s POV

I stood outside the door, watching Aria drive away. She hadn’t told me where she was going or what she was doing. In fact, she’d actively refused to tell me, which sparked my jealousy and my suspicions.

What could I think but that she was going to see Samuel?

Aria knew how important my work was right now. She knew it was exceedingly difficult to get away. But I’d still done that tonight so that we could talk. Now, she was throwing it all back in my face.

Pain coiled around in my gut, making me feel sick to my stomach. I didn’t want to imagine why Aria would be going to see Samuel, but thinking of the two of them… together… made me want to break something.

Unfortunately, this was just the moment Isabella pulled into the driveway with the kids in the back of her car. For them, I had to reel in my emotions.

Even if I couldn’t speak with Aria, I could at least spend time with them. That wasn’t nothing.

“Dad?” William called from the back of the car. In a flash, the door was opened and both William and Joe were running toward me for hugs.

Isabella rolled down the window. “I was expecting Aria. She here?”

“She went out,” I replied, my voice tight. Isabella, as Aria’s best friend, likely knew about her relationship with Samuel.

Surprisingly though, Isabella seemed shocked. “She did?”

After saying goodnight to Isabella and thanking her for watching the kids, I ushered William and Joe into the house.

Barely in the living room, Joe tugged on my sleeve. “Dad, I have to talk to you about something.”

William watched from a few feet away. I was about to ask him to give Joe and I some privacy, when Joe pulled a crumpled up slip of paper from his pocket and handed it to me.

“I found this in the hallway near Mom’s room,” he said.

My heart sinking, I flattened the slip of paper and saw that it was a check from my father to Aria.

For the amount of $5 million.