Liam’s POVIt was a bit past 4 a.m. on Monday and I had just woken up. I spent the weekend at Anna’s place but because I didn’t actually plan to, and I just said I would because I wanted Emma to feel bad, I didn’t actually pack any work clothes. I had to wake up early because I planned to go home, take a shower, and get dressed, then head to work from home, and I needed to do all of that before eight o’clock because I had a big meeting this morning. “Hey, baby,” Anna greeted me as she opened her eyes slowly.She picked up her phone from the nightstand by her side. I assumed to look at the time based on the next words that left her mouth. “Why’re you up so early?” she asked as she sat up. “Morning,” I greeted, clearing my throat. “I’ve got to get to work early, and I didn’t bring any work clothes, so I have to head home now”. “But why?” she whined. “Because I have a job?” I answered sarcastically. “What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked, turning on the lamp on her nightstand to
Emma’s POV“Hey, girl,” my co-worker, Dina, greeted me with a hug as I walked into the office. “I’ve missed you”. “I missed you too, Dina,” I smiled as we let go of each other. “How have you been?” I asked, setting down my bags in my space. “Good, good. You? How was Greece?” she asked, wriggling her eyebrows. “It was fine,” I said, letting out a laugh. “I had a good time”. “That’s great. And how’s that husband of yours? I’m sure you both got down and busy over there” she said with a wink. “Dina,” I playfully smacked her arm. “You don’t have to be so loud about it,” I warned, with a hushed tone, as I looked around and noticed someone had turned their head toward us when she spoke. “Sorry, sorry,” she apologized, giggling. “My bad. But tell me you both didn’t have a good time together there”. “We did,” I lied. Dina obviously doesn’t know that my marriage is fake and even though I consider her one of my close friends in this office, I just can’t tell her. The fewer people that kn
Emma’s POVI was about to pack up my stuff and call it a day when I got a call from Liam. “Hey, Emma,” he greeted me once I picked up the call. “Hey, Liam. What’s up? Are you good?” I asked because I was quite shocked that he was calling at this time. He doesn’t usually call me during the day unless it’s really important. “Yeah. I'm fine,” he said, then sighed. “My mum just called me and said she wants us to come over tonight for dinner. She says it’s important because she and my dad have something they want to share with us or something like that”. “Your dad? Okay, now I’m kind of worried. Since when did your dad start wanting to discuss things with us? Not you but both of us?” I asked. “Trust me, I’m just as shocked as you. I tried asking her for details, but she wasn’t budging so we have to go. Please tell me you don’t have any plans tonight. If you do, I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to reschedule”. I sighed. “Lucky for you, I don’t. I’m free tonight so we’re good to g
Emma’s POV“Emma, darling,” Liam’s mum greeted me as she hugged me and planted a kiss on my left cheek. “I absolutely missed you”. “Good evening, Maria. I missed you too,” I greeted her back as we let go of each other. “How are you?” “Much better now that you’re here,” she smiled. “Oh, stop,” I blushed. Maria had come to welcome me from the door, as opposed to Lilian, who usually does it. It’s almost as though she’d been waiting by the door in expectation of me. She’s so cute. “Come on in, dear. Liam is in the living room waiting for you. He got here about five minutes ago, so we were just waiting for you to get dinner started. “Oh I’m sorry to have kept you all waiting,” I apologized as we walked toward the living room. “Oh nonsense. You did not keep us waiting at all. I said eighth o’clock and it’s barely seven fifty yet. You’re right on time, darling. Don’t worry about it,” she smiled. We had gotten to the living room and sure enough, Liam was there. Right next to him, Mr.
Liam’s POVCancer. One word. Six letters.That’s all it took for me to lose my appetite. It’s all it took for my mind to grow hazy. It’s all it took to disorient me.Cancer.“Yes. Cancer. Lymphoma to be more specific, and I’m at stage four. Unfortunately for me, it progressed quickly, so the chemotherapy is no longer working, and I don’t have much time left, which is why I wanted this dinner to be held tonight so I could tell you both,” my father continued, looking between Emma and me. “I need you two to produce an heir”.“What?!” Emma shrieked out from beside me. “What do you mean you need us to produce an heir?!”“Well,” my father cleared his throat before speaking. “Seeing as Liam is my only child, and I am currently without any grandchildren, my two options are to either leave everything I have spent my whole life working for to Liam or give it all away. I do not mind giving my fortune away, but I believe it unfair to not have my legacy passed on considering how much effort I hav
Liam’s POV“We signed a contract. That’s legally binding, right? Is there no way I can get out of this by some sort of legal means,” Emma turned to face me and asked, tears welling in her eyes.Fuck. I hate seeing her cry.Unfortunately, there was no way out.The contract she signed had a segment in it that talked about how the initial agreement was subject to change if any unforeseen circumstances came up. I don’t know if she read over that part or not, but she signed the contract regardless, so she’s stuck.My jaw, which had been clenched for a good part of the time during their whole conversation, relaxed as I saw the look on Emma’s face. I had had some anger towards her because of the comment she made before she and I stepped into the dining room but that all disappeared within seconds as I looked into her now tear-filled eyes.It broke my heart to do so, but I shook my head in response to her question to signify that there was indeed no way out for her.“No,” she whispered, foll
Emma’s POV“Oh my God,” I repeated, but slower this time as the realization really sunk in me.He planned this.Mr. Henderson planned this.The bastard!“Emma, you were not supposed to hear that,” Mr. Henderson spoke up as he cleared his throat and recovered from the shock of hearing my voice the first time. “Eavesdropping is rude”.“It’s not eavesdropping if I was just about entering the room, is it?” I snapped back. “My goodness,” I scoffed as I took long strides toward where I was previously sitting at the dining table.One thing and one thing only was on my mind.I needed to get the hell out of this house. “I’m leaving,” I said, shortly, as I picked up my purse and my phone from the table.I contemplated picking up the gift Maria had presented me with because I didn’t see the need to have it anymore, but I eventually decided to take it along with me.“This conversation is not over”, Mr. Henderson stated.“As far as I’m concerned, it is,” I paused to answer him. “You want me to ha
Emma’s POVAs soon as those words left my mouth, the front door opened. It startled us a bit, so we both sat up and looked over to see who had just walked in. Obviously, it was Liam. He walked in looking so dejected, but his demeanor just looked like pretense to me, as if he was only looking that way to try and sympathize with me. I may have been wrong, of course, but that’s what I thought at the time. “I know you don’t mean that, Emma,” he said as he walked further into the apartment. “Yes, I do,” I responded, then looked away from him and resumed the position I was in Sammy’s arms. “Hello, Samantha,” he greeted Sammy.I know this is totally off-topic from my current situation, but I’ve always found it funny how Liam doesn’t stick to one name when talking to Sammy. If it’s in a casual situation or something, he calls her either Sammy or Samantha. Many a time, though, in such situations, he refers to her as Sammy. However, whenever the situation requires the tiniest amount of se