Chapter 27
Aria’s POV
I sat in my car, staring at the screen of my laptop. The search results were scattered with articles, business profiles, and vague mentions of Liam’s rival, Mason Thornhill.
Liam’s warnings about Logan had been a distraction from the bigger threat—a shadow lurking at the edges of his career and, by extension, our lives. It was time to find out exactly who Mason was and what he was hiding.
Most of the articles painted Mason as a charismatic entrepreneur, the kind of man who thrived in high-risk ventures and didn’t shy away from controversy. But I knew to dig deeper.
The most troubling piece I uncovered was a nearly decade-old case: Mason had faced criminal charges for fraud, though the case never went to trial. Key witnesses had vanished, evidence went missing, and Mason walked away unscathed.
But what really caught my attention was a brief mention of an unsolved crime linked to one of Mason’s former businesses. There were no details—just a single, ominous sentence about an associate’s mysterious disappearance that had never been resolved.
I couldn’t help but wonder if this was the key to why he was targeting Liam. Was Mason desperate to keep something hidden, something that could ruin him?
The more I read, the more I felt my stomach churn. Mason was far from a simple business rival; he was a man with dangerous secrets.
I needed to tell Liam what I’d found. Maybe, just maybe, it would be enough to end all of this, and I could finally move on.
Liam’s office was quiet when I arrived He looked up as I entered, a mix of surprise and concern flashing across his face.
“Aria, what are you doing here?” he asked, setting down his pen.
I hesitated, suddenly second-guessing whether I should be bringing this to him. But Liam deserved to know the truth, especially if Mason was hiding something this big.
“I’ve been doing some digging,” I said, pulling out my notes and handing them to him. “On Mason.”
Liam’s eyes scanned the papers, his brow furrowing as he read through the details of Mason’s past.
“This… this is bad,” he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. “I knew he was crooked, but I didn’t know about the missing person case. It makes sense why he’s so desperate to keep things quiet.”
I nodded, watching the emotions flicker across Liam’s face. Relief, frustration, and something else—something darker that made me uneasy.
“I thought maybe if you knew what he was hiding, it could give you some leverage.”
Liam leaned back in his chair, exhaling slowly. “It’s a start. If we can find any real evidence connecting him to that disappearance, it could be enough to make him back off.”
I wanted to feel relieved, but instead, I was filled with a gnawing unease.
Liam’s expression softened, and he reached across the desk, his fingers brushing mine. “Thank you, Aria. I know this hasn’t been easy.”
The warmth of his touch sent a jolt through me, stirring memories of moments that felt like a lifetime ago. I pulled my hand back, nodding. “I just want this to be over.”
But even with the new information, one question kept nagging at me—how did Logan fit into all of this?
I decided I needed to confront Logan, to hear his side of the story and figure out if he was involved in this tangled mess.
I arranged to meet Logan at a quiet café on the edge of town, away from the prying eyes of Liam’s team and anyone who might recognize us. Logan was already there when I arrived, sitting at a table near the window with his usual confident air, but his eyes were guarded.
He looked up, his smile warm but tinged with something I couldn’t quite place. “Aria, this is a surprise,” he said, standing to pull out my chair. “What’s going on?” I took a seat, my mind racing with everything I wanted to ask.
“I’ve been thinking about what happened between you and Liam. I need to understand what really went down with that business deal.”
Logan’s expression shifted, a flicker of discomfort crossing his face. “That was a long time ago. Ancient history.”
“Maybe,” I pressed, leaning in closer, “but it doesn’t feel like ancient history. Not with everything that’s happening now.”
Logan hesitated, his gaze dropping to his coffee cup. “Aria, I don’t want to drag you into this. Liam and I—we had a lot of bad blood. The deal we were working on... I thought I was doing the right thing, but it got out of control.”
“What kind of deal?” I asked, my voice sharper than I intended. I was tired of half-truths and vague answers. I needed clarity.
Logan sighed, running a hand through his hair. “We were involved in a merger. Big money, high stakes. But there were… irregularities. Things I didn’t catch until it was too late. Liam blamed me, and maybe he was right. I didn’t handle it well, but I wasn’t the only one making bad choices.”
There was a pause, a moment where Logan seemed to be weighing whether to say more. His eyes flickered with something I couldn’t quite read—regret, maybe, or guilt.
“I tried to fix it, but Liam cut me off. The damage was done.”
I studied Logan, trying to piece together the story from his fractured account. He seemed genuine, but there was an edge to his words that didn’t quite sit right. Like he was telling me just enough to keep me from digging deeper.
“Is that all, Logan? Because it feels like there’s more you’re not saying.”
He shifted uncomfortably, his fingers tapping a restless rhythm against the table. “Aria, it’s well behind us. Just let it be. Things between me and Liam aren’t fixable, but it doesn’t have to change what we have.”
I wanted to believe him, but something about his demeanor made me doubt his sincerity. It was the way he avoided my eyes, the way his answers felt rehearsed.
“Thank you for your honesty,” I said, but as I left the café, the nagging feeling remained.
Logan had taken some responsibility for his role in the fallout with Liam, but something about it left me feeling uneasy.
I drove home in a daze, replaying the conversations over and over in my head.
When I finally pulled into my driveway, I sat there for a long moment, staring at the house where Joe was waiting, blissfully unaware of the chaos that had overtaken our lives.
I wished I could keep it that way, shield him from the tangled mess of adults who couldn’t seem to keep their pasts buried.
With a heavy sigh, I got out of the car and headed inside, feeling as if I was being pulled in two different directions.
Joe came bounding out of the house, calling “Mommy!” excitedly. I told myself to let everything else go, I had to focus on Joe.
But as much as I tried to focus on the facts, my mind kept drifting back to the look in Liam’s eyes when he’d promised to protect us, and the way Logan’s smile never quite reached his eyes.
