Chapter 0009
Liam’s POV
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Joe’s small voice cut through the noise of the bustling event. “Daddy!” he called out, waving excitedly at someone behind me.
I turned around, not expecting much, and there he was–Logan. My childhood friend, my rival in many ways, and the person who
had always seemed to do everything right.
While I had rebelled against the expectations placed on me, Logan had embraced his role as the perfect heir to his family’s
fortune. He was polished, composed, and the last person I expected to see here.
“Logan?” I asked, the surprise obvious in my tone. “What are you doing here?”
Before Logan could answer, Joe rushed forward, wrapping his arms around Logan’s leg.
“He’s my dad!” Joe announced, his voice filled with pride as he looked up at Logan with wide, admiring eyes.
Logan smiled warmly at Joe, ruffling his hair with a playful affection that made my stomach churn. I felt a hot wave of anger rise
in my chest.
Was Logan the father of Aria’s child?
The idea slammed into me with the force of a freight train. Had Aria left me for him? The possibility burned through me, leaving a
trail of bitterness in its wake.
“You know exactly who she is to me,” I said through gritted teeth, my voice low and laced with accusation. Logan was one of the
few people who knew about my secret marriage to Aria.
Seeing him here, with Joe, felt like the ultimate betrayal.
But Logan didn’t seem to register the tension in my words. His face remained calm, almost indifferent.
“Your ex–wife?” he replied, sounding genuinely confused. “What about her? You two are divorced, aren’t you?”
Before I could respond to him, Aria appeared beside us. Her eyes darted between Logan and me, momentarily wide with surprise
before she composed herself.
“Liam,” she said, her voice steady and controlled, “you have no right to interfere in my life anymore. We’re divorced. I’m free to
be with whoever I want.”
Her words hit me like a cold slap in the fare. They were a stark reminder of the distance between us, of everything that had
wrong.
gone
I stood there, silent, trying to process what she was saying. The anger that had been simmering inside me turned into something
colder, more controlled, as I faced the reality of the situation.
Joe, unaware of the tension between the adults, turned to William, who was watching us with curious eyes. “My dad is way cooler
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than yours!” Joe boasted, pulling out his chest with pride.
The rest of the event passed in a haze,
I went through the motions, nodding and smiling where appropriate, but my mind was elsewhere. The image of Joe clinging to Logan, of Aria’s calm declaration of her independence, played over and over in my mind, a cruel reminder of everything I had
lost.
That evening, after the children had been put to bed, I returned home, my thoughts still churning. The familiar scent of the house greeted me as I walked in, a mix of polished wood and faint floral notes that clung to the corners of my memory.
I had barely had time to settle in when Sophia appeared in the doorway, wearing a nightgown that left little to the imagination.
“Stay the night,” she said, her voice soft and inviting as she stepped closer.
I backed away slightly, maintaining the distance between us. “Sophia,” I began, keeping my tone kind but firm, “nothing has changed. You’ll always be like a sister to me.”
think it would be good for him if you found William a real father figure.” I kept my voice gentle.
“It’s what your brother would have wanted.” Her brother had been one of my teammates, and when I defiantly refused to race that day, he had to take my place. The race ended in tragedy–his car flipped, and despite everything we tried, he didn’t survive.
I’ve carried the guilt ever since, vowing to look after Sophia, the sister of the man who lost his life because of my choices. After
the accident, she confessed her love to me, hoping I might feel the same.
But I couldn’t give her what she wanted, and when I rejected her, she left, angry and heartbroken.
Months later, she returned, pregnant, telling me the child’s father had abandoned them.
I felt responsible, determined to keep my promise to her brother, so I agreed to be a father figure to William.
But standing here now, it’s clear Sophia hasn’t let go of her feelings for me, despite my refusal to be anything more than a
protector and a father figure to her son.
Sophia’s confident smile faltered for a moment, but she quickly recovered. “Liam,” she pleaded, her voice taking on a desperate
edge, “you could still be William’s father, just like before.”
I shook my head, the weight of everything that had happened pressing down on me. “It’s not the same,” I replied, my voice heavy with finality. “And you know that. I’m still not divorced.”
Sophia’s expression hardened at my words. She crossed her arms over her chest, blocking my path to the door. “Is that why you haven’t signed the papers?” she demanded, her voice rising slightly.
“Is it because you don’t want to divorce Aria? Or is it because of Logan?”
Her words hung in the air between us, and I could see the accusation in her eyes.
The anger that had been simmering beneath the surface all day threatened to spill over as I faced her. “Whatever’s between me
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and Aria is our business,” I said, my voice cold and distant.
“Focus on William, Sophia. That’s all you need to worry about.”
Sophia’s shoulders slumped, and for a moment, she looked as if she might argue. But instead, she stepped aside, allowing me to
pass.
I walked out of the house, the night air cool against my skin. The familiar roar of the engine filled my ears as I sped away, the
powerful acceleration of the car doing little to ease the turmoil inside me.
I tried to focus on the road, to lose myself in the rush of speed and the hum of the engine, but my thoughts kept drifting back to
Logan, to Aria, and to the years that had led us here.
I had been so focused on the pain, on the anger of their double betrayal, that I hadn’t allowed myself to really think about what it
all meant.
I hadn’t allowed myself to consider the possibility that maybe, just maybe, I had been the one who had driven Aria away.
But that was a truth I wasn’t ready to face. Not yet. Not with everything else that was happening
I didn’t know what the future held, or what would happen between me, Aria, and Logan. All I knew was that I couldn’t keep going like this, pretending that everything was fine when it clearly wasn’t
Something had to change, and soon.
For now, all I could do was drive, the open road stretching out before me like a lifeline in the darkness, offering a brief escape
from the chaos that awaited me back home.
