Page 80 of Avalanche
“Have you heard anything from your lawyer?” Liam asks, the matter-of-fact question cutting through the silence like a knife.
“Not yet,” Antoine admits. “But I know the case was set to finish yesterday. Or, this morning in France. Which would have been overnight here.”
He scrambles to find his phone from where he dropped it on the floor beside the bed, then draws in a sharp breath.
“Mon dieu.”
“What is it?” Liam presses against my other side as he attempts to read the message on Antoine’s phone, no longer content with lounging beside us.
“It’s my lawyer,” Antoine breathes. His attention is fixed to the screen of his phone, his green eyes glowing intensely in the blue light, his beautiful features cast in dramatic shadow. “We won. He says…” He worries his lower lip with his teeth, fingers trembling as he scrolls through the message. “He says the court accepted the validity of our marriage. Of the Will. Everything.” He turns to face me, a wide, incredulous grin flashing white in the darkness, his bare chest trembling with ragged breaths. “We did it! Lily. Ma puce. My wonderful, wonderful Lily...”
And then he’s hauling me against him, his lips crashing against my own. His phone fumbles to the bedding between us, the light spinning and casting long shadows on the walls. I melt against him, meeting his hungry kisses, stunned and trembling.
When he finally releases me, I’m completely breathless, my mind a confused storm of gratitude and love and lust and uncertainty.
“You know it isn’t true, right?” he says, pulling back to stare intently into my face. His hands grip my shoulders, his own chest rising and falling with panting breaths that seem to echo my own racing heart. “That article, I mean. I think I know who that was, the man they interviewed. I barely dated him.”
He pauses, giving Liam a sheepish look, before dropping his gaze to the space between us. “I barely dated anyone before you both.” His eyes flick back up to mine, desperation glowing bright. “I’m crazy about you, Lily. Madly in love with you. What we have, what we did—it wasn’t just so I could claim my inheritance. You know that, right? Please tell me you know that?”
My entire body softens beneath his words, melting like sand beneath waves as his words weave between us, like thread stitching up the tears left by the sharp words of that article.
“I know.” My voice is a raspy whisper, a gentle murmur in the darkness. “I know you do. I love you too.”
I feel my lips curve as I think about the article again. One source close to the couple informed us… But of course no one outside the six of us even knew we were getting married at all, except for Seth’s parents, and I doubt they would contact the tabloids.
“Your lawyer says you can sue for defamation,” Liam announces. “In his email. At least, I think that’s what he says. I had to put it through Google translate.”
Antoine blinks in surprise, his lips parting around a gasp of mock indignation when he sees Liam casually holding his phone, apparently reading through the letter from his lawyer.
Liam ignores him. “He says there have been a number of news sources which have made harmful statements about you and Lily’s relationship, and that he’s happy to pursue defamation proceedings against them should you wish.”
“I bet he is,” Antoine snorts, grabbing his phone from Liam and thrusting it onto the mattress on his other side. “If they’re all as bad as that last article, he’ll make a killing in legal fees.”
“You should look into it,” Liam says, frowning. “I don’t like to see people saying that shit about you.”
Antoine shrugs. “It won’t last. Trust me.” He shoots Liam a reassuring smile, but his lips tremble at the corners. “The tabloids will get bored of it after a few days.”
He’s probably right. The tabloids will get bored.
But my parents won’t.
I frown, thinking of my mom’s string of texts, of those missed calls. Part of me—the part of me that loves my parents, the part of me that want’s their approval and has been desperately hoping for them to respond to my messages—is itching to call her back. But what would I even say? What do I say to parents who turned off their love for me when they finally turn it back on again?
Was it even love to begin with?
“The question is…” Liam wraps his arms around me and hauls me onto his lap. I give a gasp of surprise and he presses open mouthed kisses to the side of my neck—demanding, bruising things that have all thoughts of my parents scattering like snowflakes on the wind.
“The question is,” he says again, and I can feel the shape of his grin against my throat, “who is going to tell Eddie that you’re married to a billionaire?”
Epilogue
Three months later
Seth
“Are you sure you’re okay on the sand? I brought your crutches, I can go get them…”
“I’m fine.” I give Liam an indulgent smile, only to have him shoot me a suspicious scowl. “I’ll just lean on you if I have trouble.”
