Page 93 of Liam
“Fine,” she says, her voice a broken whisper. “If that’s what you want.”
She takes a shaky step back, her tears glistening in the dim light. And before I can even blink, she turns and walks away, each step echoing like a death knell in my chest. I want to call her back, to scream that it’s all a lie, that I love her more than anything in this world. But I don’t. I can’t.
I watch her disappear, and only when she’s gone do I close the door, sagging against it as my world falls apart.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
ALERIA
Isit in my darkened apartment, the stillness pressing in around me. Schrödinger moves across the hardwood, his presence the only thing grounding me. My cheeks are stiff from dried tears, but it’s my heart that aches as if each beat is a reminder of Liam’s words. They echo in my mind, over and over, like a wound that won’t heal.
“It’s over, Aleria. I never want to see you again.”
“Merrow?” Schrödinger nudges my leg, his eyes peering up at me.
“I don’t understand it either, buddy,” I murmur, scratching behind his ears. “How could I let myself fall for him again? After everything that happened in college. Why am I so stupid to let myself believe?”
My phone buzzes, Cora’s name flashing on the screen. What the hell could she want? To comfort me after Liam treated me like some piece of garbage? I don’tneed her pity.
But something, a nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach, pulls me to answer.
“Aleria?” Cora’s voice is tight with worry. “Have you seen Liam? He’s not home, not at the office, and he always answers my calls.”
She doesn’t know. “We broke up a few hours ago,” I say, the words tasting bitter. “He dumped me. I don’t know where he is now.”
“What? That doesn’t make sense. I saw you two at the nightclub. He’s so in love with you.”
“Well, apparently not,” I snap, hurt bubbling up. “He made it pretty clear he doesn’t want to see me anymore. That’s it.”
I drop the phone onto the table, my fingers stiff with tension. The quiet hum of the apartment fills the space where Cora’s voice used to be, but her words won’t fade. They circle back, gnawing at the edges of my thoughts. “He’s not home. Not at the office.”
Why isn’t he answering her calls?
I clench my jaw, trying to shake it off. He’s not my concern anymore. He made that perfectly clear. But the longer the silence stretches, the tighter the knot in my chest pulls.
Where is he? Why won’t he answer? I know his family is the most important thing to him. He would never ignore his sister like that.
I don’t want to care. I don’t care.
Liam’s words echo again in my mind. His cruelty.“We’re like a proton and an electron…”
I freeze, my hand stilling on Schrödinger’s fur. “Wait a minute,” I whisper, my heart beginning to race. “That’s not right.”
I jump up, startling Schrödinger, and pace. “Protons and electrons don’t force each other apart. They attract each other. Liam knows that. He’d never make that kind of mistake.”
The realization hits me like a physical blow. Liam wasn’t breaking up with me. He was trying to send a message. The incorrect physics wasn’t a mistake; it was a warning.
“Oh God,” I gasp, my voice shaking. “He was trying to tell me something was wrong, and I missed it.”
I lunge for my phone, my fingers trembling as I dial Cora’s number. As soon as she picks up, I blurt out, “Cora, I think something’s wrong with Liam.”
“That’s what I was saying!” Cora’s voice is sharp with concern. “Aleria, what do you know?”
“The breakup,” I explain, words tumbling out in a rush. “He said something about protons and electrons that was completely wrong. Liam would never make a mistake like that. I think... I think he was trying to tell me he was in trouble.”
There’s a moment of silence on the other end of the line. Then Cora says, “His bodyguard didn’t see him either. I’m calling a family meeting. We need to figure out what’s going on. Can you come to the estate? I’m texting you the address now.”
“I’ll be there as fast as I can,” I promise, already reaching for my keys.
