Chapter 84

Liam’s POV

I was a lot of things to a lot of people, but I knew for a fact that I was not Sophia’s property. I wasn’t her boyfriend of her lover. Maybe I was a brother-figure or a friend, but neither of those titles had been implied when Sophia had called me hers.

And now she wanted to have a chat with Aria?

“No,” I said. Stepping forward, I moved between Sophia and Aria, protecting Aria behind my back.

Aria likely didn’t need this protection. She was perfectly capable of defending herself against anyone who wanted to start trouble with her. Even so, I felt a measure of responsibility for Sophia. By indulging her for so long, I was the one who had created this monster.

It was my job to fight it.

“What do you mean, ‘no?’” Sophia snapped. “What I have to say is between Aria and me.”

“But I bet it’s about me, isn’t it? Let me guess, you are planning to tell Aria to back off, that I have a responsibility to you and William. She already knows that I care about William like he’s my own, but she also knows now that William is not my actual son.”

Sophia’s face twisted in shock and disgust. “You told her that? Liam? That’s a secret! I thought you were trying to protect my reputation.”

“It was never a secret,” Liam said. “It just wasn’t something anyone talked about. Don’t overthink this, Sophia. No one ever actually believed that I fathered William. At least not those who knew anything real about us.”

“But the papers…”

“Like I said, anything real.” After falling pregnant, Sophia had fallen into an imaginary land of her own design, where I was the perfect doting husband and father. It took a lot of time and therapy for her to acknowledge reality. Now, she knew I wasn’t William’s real father or her anything, but that didn’t keep her from trying to get me to want to be.

“But you love me,” Sophia said.

“I care about you,” I explained, not for the first time, “Like a brother would for a sister.”

“No, don’t say that.” Her frown deepened, and her eyes dampened with tears. The waterworks would usually get me to stop, but not this time. I’d danced around this issue too much and for too long, and all it had ever done was enable Sophia’s possessive behavior.

No longer.

“I love Aria,” I said.

Behind me, I heard a tiny gasp. How could Aria be surprised? Did she truly have any doubt that my feelings would stay the same after all these years? Or perhaps she’d always doubted my love, from the very start.

I’d done a very poor job of showing her my love back then. Yeah, we had good sex, but she needed comfort and affection. I had been too busy looking at myself in the mirror.

In the coming days, weeks, months, years – hell, my whole lifetime if she would have me – I’d make it up to her. Every day I would show her my love without exception. She’d never have any doubt ever again, for the rest of our lives.

“I love Aria,” I said again. “I always have, and you’ve always known that Sophia. You tried to deny the truth, but I’ve never hidden it from you. Aria is my wife, and she’s the only one want that I will ever want.”

Sophia recoiled like I slapped her in the face. “You don’t mean any of this…”

“I do,” I said.

“Take it back!” Sophia suddenly shouted. Her tears rolled down over her cheeks.

I’d spoiled her so much that she thought she could get me to change my entire heart with some anger and tears.

“That’s not going to work this time,” I said. “I love Aria, and you have to deal with that.”

“But William –”

“My relationship with William is unchanged. And I can still be a brother to you,” I said. “But that’s all it will ever be, do you understand?”

Sophia shook her head, more tears falling. “I hate you,” she sobbed, then turned and darted out the door, slamming it behind her.

I watched for a moment, half-expecting her to come back and slam the door again like a petulant child would do when they weren’t getting her way. When it was clear she wasn’t coming back, I sighed. A weight should have been lifted off of my shoulders here, but I still felt tension beyond belief.

Looking back at Aria, I could tell she felt much the same. Her shoulders were bunched. Her face downtrodden.

“Liam,” she said.

“Yeah?” I asked, preparing for any number of a million different questions from her, all relating to everything I said.

Instead, she asked, “Can I borrow a change of clothes? I don’t feel like waiting for mine. I want to go home.”

I wanted to tell her that she already was home. This house had always been equal parts hers and mine, even with the separation. But, her problem was more about location than the structure itself.

She just didn’t want to be here right now, with Sophia and so many of my other friends who were nearly strangers to her.

“I’ll get you something,” I said, and moved to my dresser drawers. “But I’m hoping we can talk about this… some other time.”

“Some other time,” she said. “Ask me tomorrow. I want to leave.”

I hurried to find her clothes that might fit. Anything of mine would be too big on her, but a t-shirt would cover her. If I could find a pair of sweatpants with a tie around the waist, that would stay up, at least. She could roll up the cuffs of the legs.

“Thank you, Liam…” she said, voice softer now.

I told her, “You don’t have to thank me.” And I meant it.

I passed her the clothes and she headed into the bathroom to change.

“I can drive you home,” I said through the door.

“No. You’d miss your party.”

“After what happened, Aria, I’d be okay. Your health is what I really care about.”

A beat or two passed, then she stepped out from the bathroom, wearing my clothes.

“Thanks,” she said, “But I can take care of myself.”

My mind was in a fog. All I could see was Aria in my sweatpants and t-shirt. A possessive little thrill shot through me. She was wearing my clothes, and she was going to hold onto them.

“I’ll return these later,” she said.

“Keep them,” I replied.

Joe’s POV

For two weeks, Joe had been checking the mailbox every single day, waiting for a reply to his letter. So far, it had always been just boring stuff, like bills or stuff for his mom.

Never what he actually wanted.

Until, one day, there it was. A reply to the letter that Joe had sent with Liam and William’s hair, to discover if the two were actually father and son.

He’d promised to wait until he was with Joe again before he would open it, but he hadn’t really learned patience yet. His curiosity won out before he had even walked back to the house, so he hurriedly opened it while he was still outside.

Skimming through the confusing stuff, Joe looked for the results.

There.

The letter said that it compared the two hairs…

And that they were a match.

William and Liam were father and son.