Chapter 170

Aria’s POV

One moment, I was resting my eyes on the couch. The next, I was blinking awake in my bed, the morning light creeping in through my windows. How had I gotten here?

Liam. It had to be. I wasn’t a sleepwalker, and no one else would have had the strength to carry me. He had tucked me in, as well, making sure I was comfortable.

My heart warmed to him slightly, though I also wished he would have woken me up. I didn’t want him to be mad at me anymore, or to be mad at him.

Maybe we could make a schedule of some kind. If we agreed on a time and place, we could have Isabella watch the kids. Then we could sit down, for as long as we needed to, uninterrupted and finally talk about everything.

But first, unfortunately, I had to go to work. As I rallied the kids for our morning routine, I realized Liam was already gone. This wasn’t unexpected. After all, he’d come home on time last night, likely leaving a lot of work for him to do this morning.

I was still disappointed.

Later, when I entered the office I shared with Anthony, he gave me an uncertain look.

“What’s with that look?” I asked him.

“I’m just attempting to determine what kind of mood you are in today,” he replied. “Are you going to tear up the office? Or accuse me of something else?”

“No,” I said. “The check has been found.”

“Did you drop it?” he asked.

I blushed slightly with embarrassment.

“Uh huh,” Anthony said, unimpressed.

“For what it’s worth,” I told him, “I am sorry. It was wrong of me to accuse you.”

“Yet you still did it.”

“I’m sorry,” I said once more. How many apologies would it take before he believed I truly felt awful about the whole thing?

“Well, don’t make a habit of it,” Anthony said. “I was finally started to tolerate you.”

For Anthony, that was as close to forgiveness as I was sure to get. I was grateful to have what I could get.

“So we can go back to normal now?” I asked.

He sighed, long-suffering. “If we must.”

Some relief flooded through me. The last thing I needed was for my work life to be as chaotic as my home life. Anthony was an arrogant grump, but at least we had reached an understanding.

Within these four office walls, I could find solace.

Liam’s POV

“Did you have a good night last night?” Joanna asked when she walked into our shared office. I’d already been here for a handful of hours, catching up on the work I delayed the night before. Even with two cups of coffee already inside of me, I still wasn’t awake enough to deal with her taunting.

Joanna and Markus seemed to keep regular tabs with each other. No doubt Joanna had heard about the conversation Markus and I had the day before. She would know, then, that the $5 million check was real, and that Aria had it and why.

Divorce compensation.

I frowned.

“Hopefully you can see now that Aria’s not worth your time and effort,” Joanna said. Walking to her desk, she placed down her purse and then shucked off her coat. “I would never give up what I want for a miserable 5 million dollars. She could have gotten much more from Markus, I’m sure.”

As this wasn’t a conversation I wanted to have with anyone, let alone Joanna, I tried to tune her out and focus on work. Yet, even though I was no longer listening to her rambling, the implication of her tirade left me lost in my own thoughts.

Putting my work aside for a moment, I opened an internet search bar, and typed in Samuel’s name, as well as the name of our city.

Immediately, a profile link with an attached picture showed up. Recognizing him, I clicked on the link. It led to the ‘About Us’ section of the local hospital.

Samuel, I quickly discovered, was a medical doctor, and a well-regarded one at that. His page was filled with accolades from medical boards, other doctors, and even patients. There were testimonials explaining how he had saved lives.

A brief family history was also included, explaining how Samuel came from a warm, loving family, who helped support him every step of the way.

With Samuel, Aria wouldn’t have to worry about any maniacal power-hungry fathers trying to ruin her life. She could simply be. They could have a relationship without so much drama or trouble. As a doctor, he would have had enough money to support her and the kids, and could take care of them if they ever got sick.

What could I offer in comparison? I didn’t know much about life other than racing cars. My childhood was a mess. My father is a villain. I loved Aria but I’d failed so many times to show her that I did.

Truly, she had every reason to leave me for Samuel.

On paper, he was much more likely to give her and the boys a stable, comfortable home. This was something that I desperately wanted to be able to provide for them. But with Markus attacking my life from every angle, it had been a struggle.

“You aren’t listening to me,” Joanna said. “I’ve been over here talking and you haven’t heard one word that I said.”

“If you want to gloat about Aria, you can save your breath,” I told her. Feeling miserable as I was, I had no patience for her games today.

“I stopped talking about that five minutes ago,” Joanna said. “Though, I was on your side when I talked about it. Didn’t you hear what I said? I said, 5 million dollars isn’t enough.”

“How is that being on my side?” I asked. Any amount of money shouldn’t be worth a relationship if two people were genuinely in love. There was nothing Markus could offer me that would tempt me away from Aria.

“Because you are worth so much more than that,” Joanna said. “I’d need a $50 million offer at least, before I would even consider it.”

She smiled as she said it, as if she genuinely thought this was a compliment to me. She had no idea how unpleasant it was to have any kind of monetary value attached to my person.

“Thanks,” I said, sarcastically, but she took it as genuine.

“You’re welcome,” she said brightly. “I’m glad you are finally starting to understand that I have your best interest at heart…”

Tuning her out again, I looked away from her, back to the screen and Samuel’s picture.

Aria likely wouldn’t need the $5 million if she was running away with a doctor. Although, maybe it would help give them a jumpstart to a future together. Knowing Aria though, she would likely put a lot of it away for the kids.

“You aren’t listening again,” Joanna said.

“Joanna, I really don’t want to talk right now,” I replied, feeling a headache coming on.

“You’ll want to hear this. I have some really good news for you.” Smiling wide, she announced, “I found the perfect buyer for the team. He’s willing to pay handsomely to be the new owner, and we can finally get out from under this place.”