Page 73 of Glass Jawed
Liam leans back, rubbing his jaw before finally speaking. “I saw them. Rohi and Tim. At that little café we use for low-stakes client meetings.”
My pulse stutters.
“I was about to walk in, but when I saw who she was with—fuck, Lucian. She told me she was the same girl who—I was pissed. I turned to leave. Thought I’d confront you.”
He pauses. And then his voice softens with something I can’t name. “And that’s when I saw it.”
My heart’s thudding so loud it’s nauseating.
“She panicked. Started stumbling through her words. Her hands wereshaking, Lucian.”
My chest caves. “Fuck.”
“She was rambling. Saying you were going to make her the villain again. That she was a homewrecking sl—” He cuts himself off with a clenched jaw, but I already know what he was going to say.
And the image hits me full force. Rohi, on the bench, with her oversized tote and anxious smile. Sitting there, falling apart in real time. Haunted by a version of me I can’t imagine I ever was.
Tears rise unbidden and I press my palms to my skull, clawing at my scalp like it’ll force the guilt out of me. “Fucking hell.”
Liam exhales slowly. “Yeah.”
And there’s nothing else left to say.
A few hours later, Liam’s still crashed on my couch—one leg dangling off the side, his arm thrown over his face.
I’m in the armchair, unmoving. Staring at the ceiling. Hollow.
I can’t go back into that bedroom. Not anymore.
Not with the echo of her desolate voice still staining the walls. Not with the scent of another woman clinging to my sheets like shame.
Sleep won’t come either. My head’s pounding but I won’t take anything for it.
Pain feels deserved right now.
Then—a shrill ring slices through the silence. Liam jolts upright, disoriented, scrambling for his phone.
The second he sees the name on screen, his shoulders drop, relief flooding his face.
“Yeah?” He answers, already pushing himself off the couch. “Yeah, okay—no, I’ll go.” A pause. “Oh, not long. I’m at...hisplace. I’ll be there in ten... fifteen tops.”
I frown, gesturing toward him with a stiff hand. Who is it?
Liam catches my look but doesn’t say anything. Just pins me with a glare sharp enough to gut.
Then turns back toward the call.
“Yeah, of course,” he says softly. “I’ll do that. I promise. I’ll call you when I’m there, Vee.”
Vee.
Kashvi.
It hits me like a brick to the chest.
She’s sending him... to Rohi.
My throat closes.
