Chapter 57: The Reckoning
Liam’s POV
The morning of the board meeting arrived with the grim inevitability of an execution. I stood before the mirror, adjusting my charcoal Tom Ford suit with mechanical precision. The man staring back at me looked composed, powerful—the very image of corporate success. Only the shadows beneath my eyes betrayed the turmoil beneath the surface.
My phone buzzed on the counter. Sophie’s name flashed across the screen, as it had dozens of times over the past week. I watched it ring, my jaw tightening. The last thing I needed was another complication, another demand for my attention. Let her go to voicemail. Let her wait.
Once, Sophie had been a delicious distraction, a forbidden thrill that made me feel invincible. Now she was just another reminder of everything crumbling around me. Another loose end.
I silenced the phone and slipped it into my pocket. The board wouldn’t wait, and I needed every ounce of focus I could muster.
My driver was already waiting when I emerged from the mansion. The morning air had a bitter chill that matched my mood perfectly. As I settled into the leather backseat, I pulled out my phone again, bypassing Sophie’s missed call notification to dial Noah.
He answered on the fourth ring, his voice clipped and distant. "Liam."
"Noah," I kept my tone casual, as if the weight of today’s meeting wasn’t crushing me. "Just checking if you’re coming to the board meeting in person."
A pause, then: "I’ll be joining through Zoom."
Something in his voice made me tense. Noah had always been my steadfast ally and best friend, the one person I could count on no matter what. But lately, there had been a coldness between us, a distance I couldn’t quite explain.
"You’ve been hard to reach," I said carefully. "Everything alright?"