Chapter 175

Aria’s POV

I couldn’t let Markus’s vile words get to me. Liam and I did have a future together, but it was one that we both had to be willing to work towards.

Liam and I had both said some not nice things to each other. I knew he was keeping secrets and he accused me of doing the same. It was past time that we sat down and had a serious, uninterrupted conversation with each other – one without accusations or raised voices.

I was certain that if we took the time to actually talk to each other that we could make things right between us again. We could clear the air and be honest about what was going on between us.

We just needed to make time to actually have that conversation.

Liam had been the busy one, but that was only because he had to spend long hours working to combat the attacks of his horrible father against the team. He was working hard to keep his dream and the main source of our income above water.

While I still didn’t like how much time he spent at the office, I could at least understand it, especially given my recent interactions with Markus.

Markus was a go-for-the-throat kind of guy. He would always hound Liam so long as Liam stood against him.

I didn’t know what the right way to handle things fully was. On one hand, Liam needed to work hard to stop Markus. On the other hand, Liam needed to be home to spend time with his kids and help solidify our family.

What I did know was that if Liam and I didn’t start talking to each other, the team and our family both might not make it through these trials.

I also just missed Liam. We hadn’t spent this much time apart since our breakup. I’d gotten used to having him around again, and was warming up to the idea of being a forever family.

I didn’t want to lose everything because of miscommunications and because of Markus. So I decided to make my own efforts to reach out to Liam, so that we could talk and re-establish our connection.

After the kids go to bed, I work on a second dinner, this one just for Liam and me. I found his favorite recipes tucked away in my old recipe books. Since I wasn’t entirely sure when he would be home, I picked something that was easily reheated.

Then, with dinner prepared, I sat down to think of some of the things we needed to talk about.

Liam had some misconceptions about Samuel. I would need to explain that. I also reasoned that I should be more straightforward about what Joanna told me regarding our past. I was afraid to discover the truth, but pushing my doubts down within me and trying to cover them up was not working.

So I waited up until midnight, and then 1 am. I kept my eye on the clock, forcing my eyes open, drinking cup of coffee after cup of coffee. I couldn’t let myself fall asleep and risk missing this opportunity to speak to Liam.

1am slowly drifted into 2am, and then 3 am. The minutes ticked by with agonizing slowness, yet still Liam never returned home.

Sitting in the kitchen, sipping my coffee, I was reminded of how things were when we had been married, before children. I would sit at home waiting for Liam while he was out partying or spending time with Sophia.

How many dinners had gone cold while I had waited for my errant husband to remember he had a wife?

Things weren’t like that this time… I hoped. I had no reason to believe Liam was anywhere but at the office, working through the night.

Still, I could not stop the growing ache that rose in my heart, bringing me back to that place of misery from all those years ago.

I’d moved past that anger and hurt. I was a different person now. Yet, in the early hours of the morning, it was hard not to return to those same dark feelings.

I wondered if he was out with Joanna.

At 6am, my alarm rang on my phone, alerting me it was time to get up. Since I’d never gone to bed, I knew it was going to be a long day. Yet, more than my exhaustion, my lonely heart was certain to worry me the most.

When I heard the kids start to wake upstairs, I pushed myself away from the table, cleaned up the dinner, and started on breakfast instead.

Liam’s POV

When I blinked my eyes open, I had a severe creak in the back of my neck and my forehead hurt. Lifting my head up from my desk, I realized I had fallen asleep right there, face-planting onto my keyboard. On my screen, the email I had been trying to send was nothing but a long series of keysmashes.

Checking the time on my computer, I expected it to show that it was about 1 or 2 in the morning. Instead, it was nearer to 7.

Panic rushed through me. I didn’t tell Aria where I was. She probably just went to bed, but I didn’t like the idea of staying out all night without telling her. Too many times, I had betrayed her trust by staying out all night in the past. Yes, nothing happened in those times, but I had given her worry and that was enough.

Reaching for my phone, it wasn’t in the usual spots. Not on my desk. Not in my pocket. I checked all around, even in the drawers or under the desk in case I knocked it off while I had been asleep.

Nothing.

I was certain that I had it earlier in the day. Where could it be?

Joanna’s POV

Standing in the woman’s bathroom, Joanna toyed with the phone in her hands. It was Liam’s.

She’d taken it earlier in the night when she walked in on Liam and saw him asleep. She didn’t consider herself mean-spirited, but when opportunity knocked, she would not ignore it.

All night, since finding the phone, she had been texting herself back and forth. A romantic conversation…

Can’t wait to see you tonight…

You know how much I love when you talk to me like that…

From Liam’s phone, she requested of herself, Send me pictures please. I need to see you.

From her own phone, Joanna was happy to comply. You bad boy. Always talking about Aria. Does she know what you get up to when she’s not around?

From Liam’s phone, Don’t bring her up. This is between you and me, and I want to see you naked.

Laughing, she replied on her phone, As you wish.

Then, she opened her blouse, and took a few revealing selfies. All of which she immediately sent to Liam’s phone.

From Liam’s phone, she waits a moment, then replies, You are so hot. Much hotter than Aria.

Smirking, Joanna replied from her own phone, You want more pictures?

From Liam’s phone, Keep them coming.

Lowering Liam’s phone again, she began her own little photoshoot, filling her phone full of suggestive and revealing selfies, all of which, she then sent to Liam.