Chapter 165: PTSD? [FIXED!]
Liam slept off eventually, the events of the day finally catching up with him despite the restless energy that had carried him through most of the evening. Sleep came heavier than expected, deep and uninterrupted, the kind that came from a body finally forced to stop running on adrenaline.
Morning arrived faster than he anticipated.
His eyes opened to sunlight already filtering through the blinds, and instead of the usual grogginess, Liam felt something closer to renewed energy — sharp, focused, ready. There was too much sitting on his plate to justify wasting the morning lounging around. Between the firm, Mrs. Harriet, Mateo, and everything simmering beneath the surface with Arthur, today needed to be productive from the first hour onward.
He sat up, stretched, and immediately his mind went to the Louis Vuitton bag sitting untouched on his dresser, exactly where he’d left it the night before.
"First things first."
He grabbed his phone and pulled up Mrs. Harriet’s contact, dialing without hesitation.
Busy.
He frowned slightly, waited a few minutes, tried again.
No answer.
A third attempt, later that morning while he got dressed, yielded the same result — ringing out into nothing, no callback, no message. Liam set the phone down on the counter, jaw tightening slightly with the kind of frustration that came from a plan being held up by circumstances outside his control.
Every instinct in his body wanted to keep calling. Spam the line until she picked up, or worse, show up unannounced at the firm and hand it to her directly, consequences be damned. But Liam caught himself before that impulse could take root, forcing a slow breath through his nose.
"That’s exactly the kind of energy that gets a woman like her running in the opposite direction."
Desperation had a smell to it, a texture people could sense even through something as simple as too many missed calls in a row. Mrs. Harriet was sharp, perceptive — the kind of woman who would clock neediness instantly and lose respect for it just as fast.
Liam set the phone face-down on the counter and forced himself to focus on something else instead. He had self-control. He’d built an entire life around exercising restraint under pressure, and this was no different.
"She’ll call back. Or I’ll find another way. Either way, I’m not spiraling over this."
He grabbed his jacket, glanced once more at the Louis Vuitton bag waiting patiently on his dresser, and headed out to tackle the rest of his morning with the same steady composure he’d need to survive everything else on his plate today.
Things had mostly gone according to plan for the day, everything ticking along steadily enough that Liam finally found a window to catch Darren up on the building. He pulled out his phone during a quiet moment and started typing.
[Liam: Yo, forgot to tell you — I bought a building downtown yesterday. taking out a mortgage on it, gonna build my firm out of it eventually]
He left out the actual truth — the system, the deed appearing out of nowhere, the surreal way the entire purchase had unfolded without a shred of explainable logic. That wasn’t something he could put into words even if he tried. He barely understood it himself, and there was no version of that conversation that didn’t sound completely insane.
His phone rang less than thirty seconds after the text went through.
"Yo," Liam answered, already smiling slightly at how fast Darren had reacted.
["Boy, a BUILDING?"] Darren’s voice came through loud, equal parts disbelief and excitement.
["Yesterday? We literally just kicked it and you ain’t say shit?"]
"It happened kind of fast, man, wasn’t trying to make a whole announcement out of it."
["Bro, you bought a WHOLE BUILDING and I found out through a text a day later. That’s crazy work."]
Liam laughed, rubbing the back of his neck.
"I know, I know. Should’ve said something sooner."
["How the hell does that even happen that fast? Like, downtown, with your name on it?"]
"Not exactly my name yet, but yeah. Bought it outright, well—mortgage, but still. Realtor handled most of it, signed the papers, done."
["Man, honestly? That’s wild. You been holding out on me or something?"]
"Nah, it just moved quick. Things have just been moving fast lately."
["Bro."] Darren’s tone shifted into something teasing. "If I pulled some shit like this, you’d be bitching me out for weeks. Like, dragging me for details, asking if I got scammed, all that."
Liam kissed his teeth, already knowing exactly where this was headed. "Here we go."
["Nah for real though,"]
Darren pressed, laughing now.
["You’d be like, ’Darren, did you even read the contract? Darren, did a lawyer look at this?’ And meanwhile you out here just—poof, building appears, mortgage signed, no questions asked."]
"It wasn’t ’no questions asked,’ I actually did my due diligence," Liam shot back, though he couldn’t fully suppress his own laugh at how accurately Darren had called it.
["Uh huh. Sure you did."] Darren’s amusement settled slightly, replaced by genuine interest. ["Aight, for real though, that’s big. I’m proud of you, man."]
"Appreciate it." Liam knew Darren must either have Keiza around or something because his way of speaking had changed slightly.
["But you already know I gotta see this thing in person. Ain’t no way you’re just casually dropping ’I bought a building yesterday’ and expecting me to not pull up."]
Liam smiled, shaking his head. "Yeah, I figured you’d say that."
["So when we going?"]
"I actually already got plans to go check it out this evening, walk through it, see where things stand with clearing it out."
["Bet. I’m coming with."]
"Didn’t think I had a choice in the matter."
["You don’t,"]
Darren said flatly, and Liam could practically hear the grin in his voice.
["This is a group outing now. Historical moment. Gotta document it."]
"It’s an office building, Darren, not a museum exhibit."
["To you, maybe. To me, this is proof my boy really out here changing his whole life. I’m taking pictures."]
Liam chuckled, genuinely warmed by the reaction despite the teasing wrapped around it. "Alright, alright. Come by around six, we’ll head over together."
["Say less. I’ll be there."]
-
Sophia hadn’t slept well, and it showed. Every small sound in the house last night had jolted her upright, heart hammering, convinced for one irrational second that someone had followed her all the way home despite every precaution she’d taken. By morning, exhaustion sat heavy behind her eyes, but it was the paranoia underneath it that really had its claws in her.
She found herself walking Mateo to the bus stop, something she hadn’t done in months since he insisted he was old enough to handle the two-block walk himself.
"You don’t have to do this," Mateo said, glancing sideways at her as they walked.
"I know. Just felt like it today."
He didn’t push, but she could tell he wasn’t buying it. Mateo had gotten sharper lately, more observant, and the tightness in her shoulders combined with the way her eyes kept flicking toward parked cars and side streets wasn’t subtle enough to hide from him. He put pieces together in his head — something happened, something scared her, something she wasn’t going to explain.
He thought about texting Liam. His thumb had actually hovered over the contact more than once already that morning. But something held him back, some nagging awareness that he’d been leaning on Liam a lot lately — the gaming, the advice, the constant check-ins. He didn’t want to become that kid, the one who called every single time something felt off.
*I had his number the whole time,* Mateo thought, a little embarrassed now. *Why’d I wait for him to come online?*
He cringed internally at the memory, but pushed it aside for now. Liam hadn’t seemed bothered by it at all last night. Maybe it wasn’t as big a deal as he was making it in his head.
The bus dropped him off, and school unfolded like it always did — until it didn’t.
Jessica actually acknowledged him.
Not through Owen, not secondhand — directly, a small smile and a nod as they passed each other near the lockers. Mateo felt his whole chest light up, and he couldn’t stop the grin that spread across his face, flashing one right back at her before continuing down the hall like his feet weren’t suddenly ten times lighter.
From the corner of his eye, he clocked Cody and his friends walking past. They brushed by him, said nothing, didn’t even glance in his direction.
Mateo understood immediately what that meant.
The bullying wouldn’t disappear completely — that felt too optimistic to hope for — but the physical stuff, the shoving, the tripping, the shoulder checks in the hallway, that seemed to have quietly ended. He was fine with whatever remained as long as that part stopped.
He knew it wasn’t Liam’s doing directly. Liam was too diplomatic for something like that, too composed to threaten a group of teenagers into submission. This had Darren written all over it — the kind of intimidation that didn’t need explanation, just presence.
Owen caught up with him a moment later, falling into step beside him with his usual easy grin.
"You good?" Owen asked.
"Yeah," Mateo said, still riding the high of Jessica’s smile. "I’m good."
Whatever Owen had done to keep the worst of it at bay this whole time — running interference, staying close during the moments Mateo felt most exposed — it hadn’t gone unnoticed. They weren’t best friends, not exactly, but Mateo was grateful for him all the same.