Emma’s POV “Home sweet home,” I breathed out as I walked into the apartment while Liam held the door open for me. “Mhm. I enjoyed the vacation, but it feels good to be back”. “Sure does,” I agreed as I plopped down on the couch. “Uhm excuse me?” Liam asked, referring to my luggage that was blocking the way. “What?” I asked, looking innocent. “Don’t you think you should put these away first before you sit down? Knowing you, you’re not going to stand up from there anytime soon, so you might as well just get this done first”. “Let me get this right,” I said, sitting up. “You expect me,” I pointed at myself, “To take all these,” I motioned at my three boxes,” Upstairs? Seriously, Liam?” I asked, feigning a hurt and disappointed look. “Wow. Just wow,” I scoffed, and rested back on the couch. “Oh please,” he rolled his eyes. “There’s no need to be this dramatic, Emma. I’ll take them up for you. All you needed to do was just ask”. “Will you?” I asked, smiling. He rolled his
Liam’s POV‘We’re married but not together’. Emma’s words. Those words continued to echo in my head throughout my drive to Anna’s place. I just couldn’t seem to get it out of my mind. Yes, we’re married. Yes, we’re not together. I agree. The way she said it today though. Damn. She really meant it this time. The thing is, with the way Emma and I have operated since we started sleeping with each other, yes we definitely fought more, but at the end of every fight, she’d say that same line, but then we both knew that something would still happen between us again, which it did until recently. Now, though, there was a lot more truth to what she was saying, because she actually had someone to fall back on. Tony. I know it’s wrong of me to think in this way, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t happy when I knew that Emma would always come back to me. Until now, that is. Now, Tony is in the picture. Bastard. I may have never met him before, and he may have not done anything to me, but i
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 POVTwo months had gone by since Liam’s dad died, and it was finally time for the funeral service to be held. Left to Maria, the service would’ve been held a month ago, but for some reason, Mr. Henderson specifically stated in his preliminary will that he wanted his funeral to be held two months after his passing. Liam believed he wanted the whole funeral to be big or something and ordered the two-month break to allow time for adequate preparations to be made. Weird, I know. Anyway, for the last two weeks, it’s been back-to-back planning over at the Henderson house. Maria had onboarded me on this because she liked my planning skills, so I took a break from work for three weeks, and I’ve been at the Henderson manor almost every day of that break. It’s been so crazy that I’ve even spent the last two nights sleeping here in Liam’s old room because the planning went late into the night and Maria insisted I sleep over. I didn’t have any more change of clothes at the manor, so I wa
Emma’s POVLiam had called me from the hospital where his dad had been rushed to, so as soon as I managed to get the address from him, I rushed down there with Sammy. I couldn’t bring myself to drive due to the shock of the news, so Sammy graciously agreed to take me. Luckily for me, Sammy’s place was closer to the hospital, so we were there in about fifteen minutes. “Liam!” I yelled as I rushed into the building. I almost didn’t even wait to let Sammy come to a halt with the car before I rushed out and into the hospital. That’s how anxious I felt about the whole situation. “Ma’am, please, no shouting. This is a hospital,” the nurse at the front desk said to me in a calm tone. “I’m looking for Liam Henderson,” I said, panting, as I rushed up to her desk. “Where is he please?” I asked desperately. “Oh, Mr. Henderson,” she cleared her throat in realization of the name I had just called. No surprise there because, after all, this was a hospital that Liam’s father had made generous
Emma’s POVSince Liam and I had that conversation about his dad yesterday, I wasn’t feeling at ease because he just felt, I don’t know, tight. I don’t know the exact word or words to use to describe exactly how he was last night, but let’s just say he was rigid. I know that to an extent he was happy to let some things off his chest, especially considering it had to do with his dad, but still, I’m guessing, since his dad is willing to just sit back and let nature take its course, he’s just been uncomfortable and angry, and I have had no idea how to help him. I mean, it was so bad that while we were trying to sleep, as I held him in my arms, I could literally feel the rigidity he exuded. I wanted to help him so badly, but I just didn’t know how, and it hurt my heart so bad to see him in this much pain. It was currently Saturday, meaning that I didn’t have to go into the office, but Liam did because work had just been a lot ever since he took over complete responsibility of the cases h
Liam’s POVIt had been a little over a month since the dinner at my parent’s place had taken place. Emma and I had taken our anniversary trip to Berlin after being indecisive about where to go for days. We were away for a week honestly, it was the best week I’d had in months. With work, my dad’s sickness and everything else that life has thrown at me over the past few weeks, this getaway we had was the exact thing I needed. My problem now was that we were home, and I was back to work, and it was all just a lot. With my dad being out due to his sickness, I’ve assumed the position in the office as not just the CEO but also the COO as well, meaning that I am basically splitting myself into multiple parts now just to ensure that everything runs smoothly at the firm. “Hey, babe,” Emma greeted me as she walked into my room with two glasses of what looked like apple juice in her hands. “Hey, baby,” I greeted her back, shaking my head off the thoughts I had in mind. Today was the first da
Emma's POVAbout ten minutes after Maria and I got into our feelings with each other, Liam and his father returned to the dining room. Mr. Henderson looked fresh again in his change of clothes, but Liam, on the other hand, looked tired and stressed out. Clearly, the entire situation that had just unfolded in front of him stressed him out, but he didn’t say anything about it for the entire time the lunch went on. From one o’clock or so, till five minutes past three o’clock, the four of us ate lunch and made small conversations about anything else but the elephant in the room. While I found it a bit weird that everyone chose not to say anything about what happened, I obviously couldn’t comment on anything because, at the end of the day, I don’t have much of a say in what’s going on. It’s not like Mr. Henderson is my husband, neither is he my father, so yeah, I couldn’t exactly say much. Once we were done eating and had spent the extra hour at their place for our food to digest, Liam a
Emma’s POVTo cut the whole story short, Liam spoke. A lot. He said far much more than I could even remember, and what’s crazy is he just said these things a few minutes ago. He took his father’s go-ahead for him to say what was on his mind quite literally, and when I say literally, I mean literally. Unexpected to all of us, Liam started addressing issues from far before I came into his life. Issues he’s had with his father, and his mother, from when he was a little boy, actually. There was also him talking about how he felt closer to his grandfather than anyone else before his passing and how his passing really affected him because he knew that he wasn’t ever going to feel that type of pure love again from a father figure, let alone his father. He talked about how he always felt unloved by his parents because, while his father drowned himself in work most of the time, his mother drowned herself in work and societal events and gatherings, so it felt like she was even more absent. The
Emma’s POV“Okay,” Liam spoke up. “We’re listening. Why’d you call us over here today?” he asked. “First of all,” Mrs. Henderson cleared her throat. “Your father and I want to wish you both a happy anniversary”. Oh, so she remembered. “You remembered?” I squeaked out. “Are you kidding me, dear?” she asked with a small smile on her lips. “How could I forget? I mean after all the planning that went into that wedding and how invested I was, not just in the wedding but in your hopeful love story. With all that in mind, there was absolutely no way I could forget the day you got married to Liam; fake wedding or not. I was personally very happy that day because I liked you, so nothing was going to make me forget it”. “Oh…” I was speechless. “Thank you, Maria”.At the mention of her name, her smile instantly grew. I knew she hated me calling her Mrs. Henderson and I hated calling her that just as much because I believed we had formed a bond that went beyond me calling her that. So, while
Emma’s POVAs we pulled into the driveway of the Henderson house, I could see Liam visibly tense up already. From the way his fingers tightened on the steering wheel, to the way his jaw began to clench, it was clear he wanted to be anywhere but here right now. “Are you good?” I asked him, placing my hand on his that was still gripping the steering wheel even after he had parked the car. At the feel of my hand on his, the hold he had on the steering wheel instantly loosened, and I could thankfully feel the tension ease from his body under my touch. “I’m better now,” he said, mustering up a weak smile, as he held my hand and brought it up to his lips to place a kiss on it. “Thank you”. “Hey,” I rubbed the back of his neck. “Everything’s going to be alright. Besides, I have a feeling that we’re here to receive some good news. Nothing that’s going to spoil either of our moods. Okay?”“Okay,” he nodded, then turned off the car. As he started to open his door, I held him back again for
Emma’s POV“Happy anniversary, baby,” Liam said, cheesing from ear to ear, as he walked into my room with a tray filled with waffles, bacon, eggs, an assortment of fruits, and two glasses of orange juice.“For me?” I smiled as I looked up from my phone. “Yes, ma’am,” he nodded, placing the tray on the nightstand next to me. “Happy anniversary, my love,” he said again, as he bent down to hug me. “I love you,” he pecked my cheek. “Happy anniversary, Liam,” I cooed in response, hugging him tightly, making sure to sniff him in the process. “How early did you wake up for you to have taken a shower and made me breakfast?” I asked, genuinely wondering. “Early enough,” he shrugged his shoulders, hopping into the bed and squeezing closely next to me. “I see that,” I turned my head to face him. “Did you sleep in here with me though? Because I don’t even remember sleeping off. I had planned to come over to yours after taking a bath, but I guess I must have fallen asleep after doing that”. “