Chapter 168

Aria’s POV

When I arrived home, I sat in the car in the parking lot for a few minutes, trying to calm myself. My speaking with Markus did little to help the situation. He thought I was a liar, pretending to have lost the check. He wouldn’t listen to me tell him I wasn’t interested in his money.

Everyone can be bought, he’d said.

Now, I worried about what that might mean for the future.

Inside, Liam was likely waiting for me. He’d come home early to talk to me, but I hadn’t had time to talk. Now that I did…

I guessed it was time to tell him about the check. Even if it was lost, I didn’t want Markus to use this as a wedge between Liam and me. Gathering my courage to face the argument I suspected was coming, I exited the car and walked into the house.

Liam was waiting for me just inside the door. His arms crossed, he frowned deeply.

“Where are the kids?” I asked.

“In their rooms, doing their homework,” Liam said.

Ah. He’d prepared for this discussion then. “I’m ready to talk now.”

“Good,” he said. “We can start with you explaining this.” He handed a slip of paper out for me to see.

Immediately, I recognized the check, but I didn’t know whether to be relieved or even more worried that he had been the one who found it.

“Markus gave me that,” I said.

“Yeah, I figured out that much. Did you ever plan to tell me about this? Or is this another secret, like Samuel, that you intended to keep from me?”

With that tone and those pointed accusations, he was clearly furious. But he was also extremely off-base. Samuel was a friend, not a secret – though, admittedly, there was some misunderstanding there. Yet I fully intended to talk to Liam about both Samuel and the check.

The problem had always been that Liam was too busy.

“This happened a week ago,” I said. “I kept trying to tell you, but there was always something.”

“You are making excuses.”

“You’re never home,” I snapped back. “And when I tried to talk to you at work, I found out that Joanna had moved into your office. I couldn’t tell you with her there.”

Liam scoffed. “How do I know that’s true? Maybe you really were thinking about taking the money.”

His distrust of me rankled my nerves. “That’s what you think?”

“Why shouldn’t I?” Liam said.

There was anger in his voice but, like me, he fought to keep his volume low. Neither of us, I knew, wanted to upset the kids again. Despite our differences, we were a united front when it came to the care of William and Joe.

“You didn’t tell me about Samuel,” he said. “I had to find out by running into you at a café.”

“Which you shouldn’t have been at, because you were supposed to have been working,” I reminded him. If he wanted to accuse me of keeping secrets, he would quickly find that the tables could be turned. Liam was keeping far more secrets than me, and worse ones, at that.

“I was working,” Liam said.

“At a café with Joanna? The woman who still thinks you are her fiancé?”

“I don’t encourage that,” Liam replied. “I’ve told her many times that things aren’t that way. She just doesn’t listen to me. You know that. But I don’t know anything about Samuel.”

“We’re just friends,” I said. “I’ve told you that before too. You are the one who won’t listen to me.”

“Yeah, well.” He waved the check around. “I would have remembered if you told me about this. But you didn’t.”

“I told you why –”

“You made excuses,” he said, cutting me off.

My annoyance flared, and the anger that had been building up within me started to rear its ugly head. He was so quick to accuse me. Didn’t he understand that I had turned that money down? That my relationship with him and my loyalty to this family was stronger than $5 million?

Infuriated, I lashed out. “That’s my divorce compensation, and I’d appreciate if I could have it back.”

Immediately, he froze, his face going slack, eyes wide. Regret filled my heart. I’d only said that to hurt him, so that he could feel how much he was hurting me. That had been a childish action, one fueled by anger.

“Liam,” I started, ready to apologize.

His soft voice cut me off. “You really want to leave me?”

“No, I –”

In a flash, he hardened. “Fine. Here.” He pushed the check into my hands. Then started to walk around me, out the door.

“Liam, wait!”

He didn’t slow. He didn’t even look back. “I hope you and Samuel will be very happy together!” he called, on his way to the car.

“Liam!” I shouted, hoping he would come back.

Instead, he got into his car and drove off.

I cursed under my breath. I’d wanted to talk things out with Liam and explain what happened, but once again our passions and angers got the better of us both. Why was it always so difficult for us to have a full adult conversation without losing our tempers?

Did he really think I was going to take this money and run off with Samuel? I’d told Liam that Samuel and I were just friends! He never listened to me. If he would only slow down before making so many baseless accusations, then we could –

“Mom?” Joe asked from behind me.

I turned and found him standing there in his pajamas, a big frown on his face and his eyes looking down.

Liam and I had both made efforts to be quiet during this argument. Had we still been too loud?

“What’s the matter, honey?” I asked.

“Did Dad leave?”

“He’ll be back,” I said. I hoped.

No, I had to be confident. He likely only left to clear his head. Surely, once he’d done so, he would return to us.

“Did he leave because of that…?” Joe asked, glancing up at the check in my hand.

“No,” I was quick to say, while tucking the check away into my pocket. “He just wanted to go for a drive, that’s all.”

Joe nodded, but his frown remained heavy. He was clearly still unconvinced. After a moment, his bottom lip began to wobble.

I hurried closer, dropping down to my knees to be more level. “What’s going on, Joe?”

“It’s my fault,” Joe said.

“What is?”

“I found it… that…” he nodded toward my pocket.

“The check?”

“Yeah. I found it on the floor and I kept it. Then I gave it to Dad. I should have… I don’t know… Something else.” Tears welled in his eyes. He sniffed, as if determined to keep them from falling. It was still enough for my heart to break.

“No, Joe. It’s not your fault.”

This explained a lot. So I had dropped the check at some point, here in the hallway of the house. Joe had picked it up and pocketed it.

At least, it had been recovered and wasn’t going to be used by someone nefarious. With it back, I could give it to Markus for real.

But first, I had to reassure Joe, and then speak to Liam.

If Liam would even listen to me…