Chapter 197

Liam’s POV

I didn’t need my father’s approval for anything, and I certainly didn’t need his pride. He was clearly up to something here, though what that could be, I wasn’t sure yet.

A big part of me what to tell him off, but another side of me, the more reasonable side, insisted that I hold my tongue. Any other day, I wouldn’t have cared, but as I needed Markus to believe in this fake engagement, I had to play nice. For now.

“Your engagement has made this old man very happy,” Markus said.

He sounded like he meant it too, which made me sick to my stomach.

Of everything I’d ever done over the years, agreeing to marry someone for money shouldn’t have been the thing that convinced my father to finally be proud of me. Yet here we were, staring down this barrel.

And all I could really think about in this moment was my mother. Markus had treated her so terribly, cheating on her, disrespecting her, driving her to suicide. None of this he ever accepted any responsibility for.

Now, he saw me stepping into his footsteps. ‘Leaving’ Aria and the kids, abandoning my dreams, marrying for money, and falling into line to succeed in his legacy.

He probably thought everything he did was right. His harassment of me – all of it. Whatever it took to get himself what he wanted. He didn’t care about the costs it meant to me, my family, or my mental health. So long as he got everything he wanted.

If my mother knew I had surrendered to his wishes, even for pretend, she would turn over in her grave. She’d be infinitely disappointed in me for giving up the fight. She’d always wanted more for me than she’d ever been allowed to have herself.

“When we first reconnected,” Markus continued. “I knew convincing you to return to being my son would not be an easy battle. I was ready for the challenge to preserve my legacy – the legacy I can now turn over to you, son.”

The legacy I would sooner see dismantled than have it become my sovereign as it had become Markus’s. I cared about my career, but nothing was more important than my family.

Maybe Mom would have been right to be ashamed of me. By lying to Markus, I might have preserved the team that employed both Aria and myself, but at the same time, I was taking too many risks with my family. There was no telling if Aria would forgive me for this ruse.

I’d wanted her to never find out about it, but it was going to be all over the news on Sunday. I could only hope she would allow me time to explain and that she could forgive me.

One thing was certain: I didn’t want to be on this phone call anymore.

“I have to get back to work,” I said.

“Ah, yes. Your little play job you have there. Enjoy it while you have it, son. Soon, I anticipate you joining my firm.”

“I really have to go, Markus.” I was quickly running out of patience.

“Please, son. Just once. For this old man. Call me Dad.”

“I’m hanging up now,” I said and ended the call. Disgust rose up inside of me, my entire body repulsed by the suggestion. Markus never acted like a father to me, even when I had been young. Now, he wanted to be not just the formal ‘father’ but the informal ‘dad?’

No chance in hell.

Not even a fake engagement could convince me to cross that line.

My mom deserved better than that. And so did I.

This corner of my bleachers that had felt like a sanctuary only a few moments ago, now made me feel itchy and uncomfortable.

I wanted to be as far away from that conversation as physically possible, and that meant leaving this spot. So, after gathering my things, I headed down the bleachers to leave the track and head back to my office.

Taking the long way, I ascended the stairwell in the headquarters building. There, as I was heading up, Aria came rushing down.

“Aria,” I said, spotting her on the landing above.

She stopped but turned her head away from me. “Liam.”

That was a rather frosty reception, even with how strained things had been between us lately, so I pressed, “Everything okay?”

“No,” she said flatly.

I hurried up the final few steps to stand on the same landing as her. Even this close, she still refused to look at me.

“Did something happen? Tell me so I can fix it,” I said.

“Why would I tell you now? Aren’t we waiting to talk about everything until Sunday?” She had an edge in her voice, sharp as a blade.

“If it’s work related…” I started, but it felt like a weak response.

Finally, she did look up at me, and I could clearly see the hurt in her eyes. She didn’t even try to hide it in that moment, and the sight of such raw pain stole my breath away.

“Aria…” I gasped, unsure what else to say. I was quickly losing my will to uphold this ruse. I knew this was the only way that I could save both our jobs and keep Markus from harassing us both, but… it felt so wrong to keep everything from Aria.

My mother would hate this for me.

Maybe I was playing right into Markus’s hands.

But, at the same time, it felt too late to turn back now. If I gave up now, dropped Joanna, and gave up pretending, everything would just return to how it was before.

We would never be fully free.

This ruse was harmful, but it was also necessary.

Once Markus was dealt with, then Aria and I could finally move on together, growing closer and stronger than ever.

If we survived this first.

“Liam,” Aria said. “Why do we have to wait until Sunday to have our talk? Why can’t we just talk now? Let’s go. Right now. Call out a half a day, and we’ll sit in the park or something and talk. There’s something going on with you, and I… Please let me in, Liam.”

Her words struck at my chest one after the next, leaving lash wounds across my heart.

All I wanted to do was agree to her request. The weight of my secrets weighed so heavily on me that I felt sick under them. I was being entirely crushed.

But if I told her everything now, she’d demand that I back out. For both our sakes, I couldn’t do that. Not yet.

“I’m sorry, Aria. I have a lot of work that I need to do,” I said. “We’d better just keep to our original plan of speaking on Sunday.”

As Aria watched me, the emotion slowly drained from her eyes, replaced by a hard, emotionless sheen. She put her mask on, and I ached, knowing she was shielding her true emotions from me.

“Are you sure?” she asked. “You are too busy?”

I swallowed thickly, feeling a lot like I was about to walk into quicksand. “Yes.”

She closed her eyes a moment. When she opened them again, for a moment, they were filled with disappointment before she blinked and all emotion vanished again.

“You are lying,” she said.

She couldn’t possible know that. Before I could deny it, she spoke again.

“When you lie to me, you have a tell now, that instantly gives you away.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You pull on your sleeve.”

“I do not,” I said, looking down. Sure enough, I was tugging on my sleeve.