Chapter 92

Liam’s POV

As I waited for my assistant to spread word about the encroaching press conference, I entirely gave up on attempting any work today. With Sophia’s threats at the forefront of my mind, I didn’t have the mental capacity to handle much else.

If I wasn’t needed here to do this conference, I would have given up all pretense and just left.

As it was, I stared out the window instead, dreading how slowly the seconds were ticking by.

“You can’t go in there unannounced,” came my assistant’s muffled voice through the door. “Hey!”

The door swung open and Jackson stormed inside, his face twisted up in rage.

“This is your fault, isn’t it?” Jackson said, pointing a literal finger at me. “You drove her away.”

I glanced behind him where, leaning into the doorway from her desk, my assistant still held her work phone pressed to her ear.

To let her know everything was okay, and that she didn’t need to call security, I waved at her. She frowned in reply, but still disappeared out of the doorway, presumably returning to her desk and her call.

The door remained open, however.

“You are going to need to clue me in on what we are talking about, Jackson,” I said. In my mind, my worry drowned out most other concerns.

“Aria. She resigned,” Jackson said. “And I think you had something to do with it.”

“What makes you think that?”

“The way you two are… Everyone can tell there’s something going on between you, even if no one wants to talk about it. Well, I’m talking about it. Aria was here, and things were great. You must have done something, because now she’s gone.”

I didn’t totally follow his reasoning. I’d give him credit for being perceptive about the relationship between Aria and me, but I wasn’t sure I would be the one to catch all the blame. Aria could have left for any number of reasons…

Who was I kidding? Jackson was likely right. I had no idea what I did this time, but I was sure I must have done something to push Aria away again.

None of this, I was willing to talk about with Jackson.

“Get back to work, Jackson.”

“I want answers,” he demanded, slapping both hands down on my desk.

I looked at those offending hands and then up at his face. He was young and impulsive, with an ego big enough to have him demanding answers from me, his boss, when he should be walking on eggshells around me.

His attitude should infuriate me, and in a way it did. But in a much bigger way, he reminded me of a younger version of myself.

I’d been just like him once, years ago.

“I’m holding a press conference this afternoon,” I said. “You can find your answers there. For now, get back to work.”

I wasn’t going to say it again, and I hoped my harder tone conveyed that. Wanting to be a nice boss, I rarely demanded too much of my team. Everyone was here to do the work, and mostly they all performed to task.

But underneath the teambuilding and the kindness, I was still the boss. Jackson still had to listen to me, whether he liked it or not.

He clearly didn’t like it.

“Fine,” he grumbled, turned, and stormed out much the same way he had come in, slamming the door closed behind him.

A few moments passed, and then a more timid knock sounded at the door.

It had to be my assistant.

“Come in,” I called.

She walked inside, carefully closing the door behind her.

“Did you alert the media about the conference?” I asked.

“I did, Sir. Most of them will be sending a team.”

“Good.”

Expecting her to leave, I looked away, back out the window. When she didn’t seem to move, I glanced back to see, yes, she hadn’t moved from her spot.

“Was there something else?” I asked.

“Yes,” she replied. She hesitated, as if gathering her courage, but then asked, “I wanted to make sure you were okay.” Another pause. “Are you okay?”

“No. Not really.” My assistant had been with me long enough that she already knew the answer before she even asked. Maybe she expected me to lie. Maybe I should have. But I was just so tired.

“I’m sure it will work out,” my assistant said. “You and Aria have been through a lot together. If you talked to her –”

“Thank you,” I said, unintentionally curt. My gratitude was genuine, but so was my frustration. If I told my assistant the truth of what was going on with Sophia and William, she would feel obligated to call the police.

I couldn’t confide my deepest worries in anyone. Well, anyone except maybe Aria. But she wasn’t speaking to me at present.

“That will be all,” I said.

My assistant nodded, gave me a worried little smile, and turned for the door. Once she was outside of it, with it shut securely behind her, I lifted my cell phone once more.

Unlocking my phone, I dialed Aria’s number and prayed.

It didn’t ring before ending the call.

Still blocked.

I was well and truly alone then. Who could I turn to, that would keep this situation a secret, while also helping me solve it?

There wasn’t anyone in the world who I trusted that would…

Wait.

An idea was slowly forming in my mind. It was a bad one, certain to blow up in my face in the long run, but sometimes, to get out of hell, you had to make a deal with the devil.

Scrolling past Aria’s contact info, I sought out someone else. Then I clicked call.

Aria’s POV

With Joe at school and Isabella at her own job, I sat alone in Isabella’s house, mindlessly flipping through channels on the television. My laptop was open on the coffee table, with an assortment of tabs saved that lead to a plethora of job listings. None of them felt quite right just yet, but I was hopeful.

My brain was tired though, so I was taking a small break, hoping an episode of a sitcom or something else light might help me relax.

Yet in my channel surfing, I stopped on a news station when I saw the familiar façade of the team’s headquarters.

A scroll at the bottom of the screen read, Liam to speak soon.

What would Liam have to say? Did something happen?

The team’s business wasn’t my concern anymore, since I turned in my resignation letter. I knew that, and yet, I still felt a connection to them as if I was still employed there.

I had come to care for the team in more than just a professional capacity. While I wasn’t quite friends with any of them, I still wanted them to do well. And I worried about them.

Setting the remote down beside me, I waited with more trepidation than anticipation for what Liam might say.

I didn’t have to wait long. Soon, he walked out of the building and came to stand in front of a sea of microphones. The last time I had seen him give a conference like this, he had done so to save my reputation.

“Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us here today,” Liam said. His words were clipped, his tone tighter than normal. The deep lines beside his eyes hinted at the heavy stress pushing down onto him. “I don’t have much time so I’ll get right to the point.”

He inhaled deeply, as if to prepare himself, then spoke, “Our trainer Aria has resigned this morning. There’s been some rumors circulating around this event that I would like to clear up.”

Had there been rumors? This was the first I was hearing it.

Liam squared his shoulders. “I’d like to make this clear. I am not in a romantic relationship with Aria.”