Chapter 5
Liam
Weakness is expensive.
That was the first thing my father taught me.
The second, never let others know where yours lie.
I should have remembered that last night.
“Your numbers are slipping.” My father’s voice cuts through my thoughts.
I was brought back to the boardroom meeting. The table surrounded my executives. None of them were staring. I could see them watching.
They were always watching.
I glanced at the documents before me. Quarter projections, acquisition delays, missed opportunities.”
All mine, all recent, and all of them were avoidable.
“I’m aware.” I responded.
“Are you?”
I look up.
Mark Blackwell was a man that raised his voice. He never did. For control was not determined by volume.
“Because from where I’m sitting,” He continued. “You’re losing focus.”
The atmosphere in the room changes, and I could feel the eyes turn.
“If you have something to say, then say it.” I was impatient.
“I do, and I am. You’re losing focus” His cold gaze meets mine.
Cold, calculating, ruthless.
“I’m handling multiple divisions.”
“You’ve always handled multiple divisions. What’s changed?”
Nothing.
Everything.
Hazel eyes. Soft soothing voice. A woman standing out of place in my apartment, making it feel less empty.
I shook it off. It didn’t matter. None of it did.
“Nothing’s changed.” I responded, maintaining eye contact.
My father was not one to look away easily. He had a skill for determining untruths simply by looking into the eyes of his suspect.
Did he know?
He probably did.
He always did.
One of the board members cleared his throat, and began. “I think it’s time we addressed the topic of succession.”
This was where the real conversation started. Not quarterly losses, not minor slips.
This!
This is what mattered.
Power.
The room shifts, interests are piqued and gazes move.
“Go on.” My father says calmly.
“You’ve built this company to the success it is today,” He paused, glaring between us. “But it is time to consider transition. Liam is the natural successor.”
Murmurs of agreement ripple across the table.
Of course they do. I had carried the company on my back for far too long.
It was time I became its head in both function and title.
“Is he?” My father continued.
“Yes… he has shown incredible competence throughout the years.” The man responded.
“Competent isn’t the same as ready.” My father said flatly.
My jaws clenched.
Here we go.
“And what exactly qualifies as ready?” I ask, impatient.
“I think you’re excellent at control. But you need more than that to run this company successfully.” He paused. “You need stability.”
“And what makes you think I’m not stable?” Our gazes were fully locked.
“Lapses in judgement, missed opportunities, unusually quick outbursts.” He said calmly.
I may run the place, but everyone else still reported back to him.
Fucking classic.
“That’s none of your business. And so long as they turn in profits, how I run the company doesn’t matter.” I said.
“But it does matter. It matters a great deal.” He paused, and took on a haughty look. “You lack discipline, Liam. You can’t run a company when you’re acting on impulse.”
The board members shifted uncomfortably.
Good.
They should.
This conversation wasn't about them, but if my father was going to make it everyone’s business, I didn’t plan on backing down.
“What do you propose?” I ask, meeting his gaze.
He leaned back slightly. “When you can prove you’re no longer susceptible to distractions, then we can have this conversation.”
“And turning in profits isn’t enough to prove that?”
“It’s not.”
“Then what is?”
He paused, and then continued. “It’s very simple really,”
It was not simple. Nothing my father proposed was never simple.
He was luring me into a trap.
But first I needed to understand that trap.
“To prove you’re not susceptible to distractions, you must attain stability.”
There it was again. What did he mean by distractions.
“Cut to the chase, Dad.”
“Get married.”
There was a long quiet silence.
Now it was time for the board members to get really uncomfortable.
“Married,” I repeated.
“Yes.” He said, calmly.
“You want me to prove I can run a multi billion dollar company by getting married?”
“I want you to prove to be stable, so you can run a multi billion dollar company.”
“You want optics.”
“I want stability.”
“That has nothing to do with my ability to run the company.”
“It has everything to do with your ability to run the company. A man who cannot manage a home cannot be trusted with a corporation. Your personal life reflects on your corporate life, Liam. I cannot risk handing Blackwell enterprises over to you when you just aren’t ready.”
The look in his eyes make realize he knew more than he was revealing. This had nothing to do with stability, he just wanted to tie me down.
To ensure I never drifted off his reach. He had no intention of retiring early. He would hand me the company when he wanted to, and prove that he knew better.
“What do you know, Dad?”
“You’ve been seen.”
His words are quiet, but they land.
“Seen,” I repeated.
“At the gala. With a woman nobody knows and leaving early.”
He was calm with his words. He had no need to be aggressive. His mere indifference was more terrifying than his anger.
“You left the gala with an unknown woman to God knows where. Not like you.”
And there it was.
Of course he knew.
Of course someone reported back to him.
There was no privacy until I replaced him. He had taught me how to control, and as such he knew how I manipulated.
But his methods were beyond me.
“It was irrelevant.” I say finally.
“Nothing is irrelevant. Not when you’re about to inherit everything.” He said, allowing me to digest his words before proceeding.
“Bring me a wife. One that can strengthen the company’s reputation. Prove you’ve attained stability, and the company is yours.”
The meeting ended shortly after, and I sat there knowing he had me. It was a checkmate.
I had no lover, and I didn’t plan on getting one. Going through the trouble of finding one and getting married all to prove my father wrong would take as long as he needed to reach his desired age of retirement.
And then a thought flashed across my mind.
What if I didn’t need to c
reate a family from scratch?
What if I could acquire one to prove my father wrong, and be rid of them the second the company was mine.
Only one name kept flashing in my mind.
She was inevitable.
Chapter 6
Liam Blackwell had built his life around control.
Control over conversations.
Control over emotions.
Control over people.
That was why this whole thing with Ava irritated him more than it should.
Because for the first time in years, his mind refused to obey him.
He stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows of his office, staring at the busy streets below while Clara spoke about schedules behind him.
“Your lunch meeting with the investors was moved to one thirty,” she said, scrolling through her tablet. “And the board wants the revised reports before tomorrow morning.”
Liam barely heard her.
Instead, he remembered tears.
Ava sitting on the elevator floor.
Her voice shaking in his office.
“You use someone to get what you want, and then you toss them aside.”
His jaw tightened.
That was not what happened.
At least that was what he kept telling himself.
Sleeping with her had complicated things. He knew that immediately the next morning. And complications destroyed judgment. His father had spent years drilling that lesson into his head.
Feelings were distractions.
Distractions created weakness.
Weakness cost people everything.
So Liam had done what he always did when something threatened his control.
He cut it off.
But somehow, instead of solving the problem, it only made it worse.
“Sir?”
Clara’s voice pulled him back.
“What?”
“You’ve been staring out that window for ten minutes.”
Liam finally turned around. “Is there a point to this observation?”
“Yes,” she replied dryly. “You’re distracted.”
“I’m busy.”
“No. You’re distracted. There’s a difference.”
Clara had worked for him long enough to say things other employees wouldn’t dare to.
Liam walked back toward his desk. “If you came here to analyze me, you can leave.”
“Fine,” she said casually. “But whatever happened between you and Ava Harris is affecting both of you.”
His eyes lifted sharply.
Clara sighed. “See? That reaction alone proves my point.”
“Nothing happened.”
“Right,” she said, unconvinced. “And I’m secretly the Queen of England.”
Liam ignored that.
Instead, he reached for the reports on his desk. “Where’s Ava?”
Clara blinked once. “Avoiding you.”
Something about the answer irritated him instantly.
“She skipped the executive meeting this morning.”
“She sent her assistant.”
“She was required there.”
“Well,” Clara said carefully, “she’s been avoiding this floor all week.”
Liam leaned back slowly.
Avoiding him.
For some reason, that bothered him more than it should have.
He had made the right decision. Distance was necessary.
Then why did it feel wrong?
---
Ava hated that she still checked her phone sometimes.
Not because she expected a text from Liam.
But because some stupid part of her hoped for one.
She sat at her desk trying to review employee files, but her attention kept drifting.
Around her, the HR department buzzed with conversations and keyboard clicks, yet she felt disconnected from all of it.
“Ava?”
She looked up to see Jenna standing beside her desk holding coffee.
“You look exhausted,” Jenna said.
“Thanks. That’s comforting.”
“I’m serious. Are you sleeping at all?”
Ava forced a small smile. “I’m fine.”
The lie came naturally now.
Everybody accepted “I’m fine” because it was easier than hearing the truth.
Jenna sat on the edge of the desk. “Did something happen with Blackwell?”
Ava nearly choked on air.
“What?”
“Oh please,” Jenna lowered her voice. “Everybody noticed he brought you to that gala.”
Heat rushed into Ava’s face instantly.
“That meant nothing.”
The words tasted bitter.
Jenna studied her carefully before nodding slowly. “Sure.”
After she left, Ava dropped her face into her hands for a moment.
She was tired of pretending she wasn’t affected.
Because she was.
God, she was.
What hurt the most was not even the fact that Liam walked away.
It was the way he made her feel safe before doing it.
That was the dangerous part.
For one stupid night, she stopped carrying everything alone.
For one stupid night, she allowed herself to lean on somebody.
And he reminded her exactly why she never should.
Her phone buzzed suddenly.
A message from Clara.
Mr. Blackwell wants hard copies of the revised reports.
Ava stared at the message blankly.
Of course he did.
He could have printed them himself.
This was intentional.
Her fingers tightened around the phone.
For a second, she considered refusing.
Then reality settled in. Liam Blackwell was still her boss.
And she needed this job. So she printed the reports, gathered the papers, and headed upstairs.
The elevator ride felt endless.
By the time the doors opened, anxiety already sat heavily in her chest.
She hated that he still affected her this much.
His office door was slightly open. Ava knocked anyway.
“Come in.”
His voice was calm as always.
She stepped inside carefully.
Liam looked unfairly good today. Dark suit. Rolled sleeves. Sharp jaw. Cold eyes.
The kind of man women ruined themselves over.
The kind she promised herself never to need again.
“I brought the reports,” she said professionally.
He watched her cross the room.
Not casually.
Not politely.
Intensely.
And somehow that annoyed her even more.
She placed the documents on his desk quickly. “Anything else?”
“You’ve been avoiding me.”
Straight to the point.
Ava folded her arms. “I’ve been working.”
“You missed two meetings.”
“You survived.”
Something almost looked like amusement in his eyes before disappearing.
“I don’t like being ignored.”
That irritated her immediately.
“You don’t get to act offended,” she snapped quietly. “Not after what you did.”
The room became still.
Liam’s expression hardened slightly. “We already discussed that.”
“No. You dismissed it. That’s different.”
“Ava—”
“No.” She shook her head. “You don’t get to confuse me again.”
His jaw tightened.
For the first time since she met him, Liam actually looked frustrated.
“You think this is simple for me?”
A humorless laugh escaped her. “Oh, poor billionaire CEO. Must be hard.”
His eyes narrowed.
“You think I wanted this distraction?”
There it was again.
Distraction.
Like she was some inconvenience that accidentally happened to him.
Ava swallowed the hurt quickly before it could show.
“That’s the problem with men like you,” she said quietly. “You make women feel special and then act shocked when they have emotions afterward.”
Something shifted in his face then.
Not anger.
Something heavier.
But she was too hurt to care.
“I’m done having this conversation.”
She turned toward the door.
Then his voice stopped her.
“I haven’t stopped thinking about you.”
Silence.
Ava closed her eyes briefly.
Damn him.
Damn him for sounding honest.
She turned slowly. “Don’t.”
“It’s the truth.”
“You don’t get to say things like that after treating me like a mistake.”
For once, Liam had no quick response.
And somehow, that hurt more.
Because it meant he knew.
Ava shook her head slowly. “You don’t even realize what you do to people.”
Then she walked out before he could answer.
---
Rain started falling before evening.
By the time Ava got home, the weather had turned cold and gloomy.
Noah sat on the living room rug surrounded by crayons and papers while cartoons played softly in the background.
The moment she entered, he looked up immediately.
“You’re sad again.”
He went straight to the point.
Always.
Ava breathes deeply and soft while removing her heels. “Hi to you too.”
“You were happier last week.”
His innocent honesty nearly broke her.
Children noticed changes adults tried hiding.
Ava walked over and kissed his forehead gently. “I’m okay.”
Noah gave her a doubtful look. “Did somebody hurt your feelings?”
The question hit too close.
Before she could answer, the doorbell rang.
Both of them looked toward the door.
Ava frowned slightly.
She wasn’t expecting anyone.
Amanda wasn’t due until tomorrow.
The bell rang again.
Impatient this time.
A strange feeling settled in her stomach as she walked toward the door.
Then she opened it.
And froze.
Liam stood outside her apartment in the rain.
His hair slightly wet.
His tie loosened.
His expression unreadable.
But what shocked her most was this:
For the first time since she met him—
Liam Blackwell looked nervous.