Chapter 19
655words
I took an Uber home because my credit cards were declined at the rental agency.
The house was dark. The power had been cut? No, just the lights were off.
I stormed inside, soaking wet, shivering, and filled with a rage that needed a target.
Sophia.
It was all her fault. If she hadn't pushed Elena... if she hadn't been so demanding... I would still be the Golden Boy. I would still have my career.
"Sophia!" I screamed.
I found her in the master bedroom, my bedroom, which she had taken over. She was packing a suitcase.
Expensive Louis Vuitton bags were open on the bed, filled with jewelry and clothes.
"Where do you think you're going?" I asked, standing in the doorway.
Sophia looked up. She didn't look scared. She looked annoyed.
"Oh, you're back," she said, zipping up a bag. "I saw the news. Fired? Really, Liam? That's embarrassing."
"Embarrassing?" I laughed hysterically. "You ruined me! You and your jealousy! And now you're leaving? After I lost everything for you?"
"For me?" Sophia scoffed. "Please. You did it for yourself. You wanted to have your cake and eat it too."
She picked up her purse. "I'm going to a hotel. This house is going to be foreclosed on soon, and I don't do 'poor'."
"You're not going anywhere!" I blocked her path. "You're carrying my child! My heir! That baby is the only thing I have left!"
Sophia stopped. She looked at me with a pitying smirk. It was the same look she used to give Elena.
"Oh, Liam," she chuckled. "You really are dim, aren't you?"
"What are you talking about?"
"The baby," she patted her bump. "It's not yours."
The world stopped spinning.
"What?" I whispered. "But... the timeline. We were..."
"We were sleeping together, yes," Sophia shrugged. "But so were Marcus and I."
Marcus.
Marcus Kane. The owner of the Glaciers. The man who had just fired me.
"Marcus?" I choked out. "You... and Marcus?"
"Why do you think he kept you on the team for so long despite your knee being trash?" Sophia asked cruelly. "Why do you think he paid for my condo? I needed a cover, Liam. Marcus has a very scary wife. He needed a 'fall guy' to be the father on paper in case people asked questions."
My knees gave out. I collapsed onto the floor.
I was the beard.
I wasn't the star player. I wasn't the mastermind. I was the cover story for my boss and my mistress.
"You were perfect," Sophia continued, stepping over my legs. "Vain, stupid, and desperate for an heir. We knew you'd buy the 'war orphan' story or whatever we fed you. But now that you're broke and disgraced? You're useless to us."
She walked to the door.
"Wait," I grabbed her ankle. "Sophia, please. Don't leave me alone."
She kicked my hand away. Hard. Her heel dug into my wrist.
"Don't touch me," she spat. "Marcus is sending a car for me. Goodbye, Liam. Thanks for the ride."
She walked out.
I heard her heels clicking down the hallway. I heard the front door open and close.
I was alone in the dark house.
I looked at the empty spot on the vanity where Elena's things used to be.
I had betrayed the only woman who ever truly loved me. I had killed our child. I had destroyed my career.
And for what?
For a lie. For another man's baby. For a woman who stepped over me like trash.
I curled into a ball on the floor and screamed. It wasn't a scream of anger anymore. It was the scream of a man who realized he was already dead, and he had dug the grave himself.
The silence of the house pressed down on me, heavier than the scaffolding ever was.
And I knew, with terrifying clarity, that this silence was all I had left.
