Chapter 226

Liam’s POV

After receiving Joanna’s message, as well as one from my assistant to tell me most of the other shareholders I had meetings with that day canceled on me, I called Joanna outright.

No more games, or passive aggressive messages. If I had to go to the source to stop this madness, then that was what I was going to do.

“Hello, Liam,” Joanna said when she answered the phone.

I sat in my car in a parking lot, absolutely furious with her and with myself for allowing everything to get this far.

“I assume you are calling me to beg forgiveness,” Joanna said. “By now, you should be well aware of the consequences of fucking with me.”

“You think owning the team will give you leverage, just as Markus thought threatening to give his money to other teams in the league would,” I told her. “Both of you are wrong.”

“Why, Liam. You sound upset. Are things not going how you predicted?” Joanna asked, a smile in her voice. “Funny. On my end, everything is going according to plan.”

“This won’t work for you, Joanna,” I said. “Not the way you want it to.”

“Then why are you calling, Liam? You want to negotiate, and I’m willing to. You know what I want.”

“Markus’s money.”

“He only wants us to be married. He doesn’t specify that we have to stay married. I hardly see what the problem is,” Joanna said. “A quickie marriage, a quickie divorce, we split the money, you get the team back, everyone’s happy.”

“I’m married to Aria.”

“And I’m sure she’d be happy to marry you again when you are a billionaire. Really, Liam, you are making everything much more difficult than it needs to be.”

“I’ve messed up in the past, but not this time,” I said. “That money doesn’t mean anything to me, and neither does the team – not without Aria.”

“Cute,” Joanna said. She laughed but there was an edge to it. Her good-humor was wearing off now, showing the true, darker colors underneath. “Let me make things clearer for you, Liam, because you don’t seem to understand. I always get what I want.”

“Not this time,” I said firmly.

“That’s easy to say now. But I won’t stop here. If I don’t get this money, I will personally tear down everything you love. Your team. Your family. Everything.”

I tightened my grip on my phone. She was threatening my family?! “I’d be more careful what you say,” I told her through clenched teeth. “I tried to be patient with you in this, Joanna, but I will not allow you to harm my family.”

“Then you shouldn’t mess with me,” she said and hung up.

“Joanna!” I snapped, but it was too late. The line was already dead.

My stomach twisted with disgust. I had been such a fool to trust her in the past, thinking I could out manipulate a master manipulator. I’d been out of my league from the start. Honesty had always been my better strong suit, but because of my actions, who would believe me now?

Joanna had gotten to everyone, spreading lies about our relationship and about me. My own actions only gave further credence to those lies.

If only I could tell them that Aria was my wife, and Joanna and I were only putting on a ruse to trick our overbearing parents…

But even if I could say those things, would anyone actually believe them?

Maybe they would, if I showed proof… including photos of Aria and I, as well as my grandfather’s will. I’d saved some of his more threatening messages as well. If I could show the public what duress I’d been under than maybe…

No. I had to respect Aria’s wishes. I needed to think of a different way to resolve this. There had to be something.

Come on, Liam. Figure this out.

My next appointment had already canceled, so I had some time to sit there and think. Yet I couldn’t think of one good idea that wouldn’t backfire.

Around 3, I thought of Aria and the kids, probably home by now, safe and oblivious to the struggles I was facing here.

That was a relief. I only ever wanted them to be safe and protected from all of this noise.

My phone rang. Lifting the screen, I was pleasantly surprised to find it was Aria calling me. I quickly answered, eager to hear her voice.

“Aria,” I said. “I’m so glad that –”

“Liam,” she cut me off.

The moment I heard her voice, my adrenaline spiked and my body went into high alert.

She sounded so small, so afraid. It was so unlike her.

“What’s going on? Are the kids okay?” I asked.

“Everyone’s okay,” she replied. “We are in the house.”

“Then what’s happening?”

“I went to the bus stop to get the kids,” Aria said, her voice shaking ever-so-slightly.

It felt like she was barely holding it together. Knowing how tough she was, I knew something had rattled her deeply and she was likely just trying to keep her calm in front of the kids.

“They came off the bus, and we started walking to the house. The reporters, the paparazzi, the cameras… they all came out of nowhere and swarmed us.”

I clutched my phone hard again. It creaked under the pressure. “Where are they? Outside?”

“Yes,” Aria replied. “They have totally surrounded the house, but they are staying off the property line.”

“If they take one step over that line, you call the police,” I told her. I considered calling them anyway.

“I will,” Aria said.

“Keep the kids away from the windows.”

“They are in the kitchen having brownies,” Aria said. “I’m doing my best, Liam, but…”

“Hang in there. I’m coming home now.”

“It’s only 3,” she said.

I understood the unasked question here. In the past, when I was prioritizing work, I would never leave before the end of day hours at 5, 6, or even later. But with my family in peril?

“I’m on my way home,” I told her.

“Thank you, Liam,” she said, with obvious relief in her voice.

I hated that she felt the need to thank me for this simple act. A husband should be there for his family without their needing to ask or offer thanks.

I’ve let her down far too many times in the past. This wasn’t going to be one more of them.

After hanging up with Aria, I put my car in drive and pulled out of the parking lot.

My thoughts ran a mile a minute. We’d gone out of our way to hide the fact that Aria lived with me. She still had her house on the other side of town. Though it mostly sat empty, either Aria or Isabella ran by almost daily to check on things and get the mail.

How would the reporters have known to look for her at my house? And at the bus stop? And at that specific time?

I feared that I already knew the answer, and it was enough to make me furious and sick.

Joanna.

She could have tipped them off.

She had threatened my family, and now she was making true on those threats.

If I wasn’t going to give her what she wanted, she was going to make life hell for me and the people I loved.

As I neared the house and the lines of reporters and cameras, they did move back to give me access to the driveway. However, the sheer number of photos they took of me nearly blinded me. Even through my closed windows, I could hear their shouting.

“Liam! Liam! Why does your mistress live with you?”