Chapter 156: Final Goodbyes
Diane’s POV
When Maxwell finally confessed, the full scope of his crimes became clear. Drug trafficking, assassination, human trafficking.
He had been operating in the criminal underworld for decades and had built a network of corrupt officials and deadly operatives, using his position to commit crimes and then cover them up. The reason why he is always staying one step ahead of the law. The evidence against him was overwhelming.
He confessed that Liam had contacted him to connect him with Jackson, initially to shadow me. But later after Liam had ordered the hit on Sophie, he contacted me again, said Jackson was going rogue, that he was worried about his family’s safety. Asked me to handle it.
"Too little, too late," Maxwell had said with a cold smile during his confession. "Jackson was already in motion."
As I listened to this revelation, I remembered Liam’s desperate words during our last prison visit. I tried to stop him, Diane. I tried to save her.
At the time, I had been too angry, too hurt, to believe him. But now, with Maxwell’s confession, I understood what he had been trying to tell me.
I cried for hours after that, mourning not just for Liam but for the truth I had been too wounded to hear. He had tried to save Sophie. He had tried to undo the damage he had caused. And I had rejected his pleas.
Maxwell was sentenced to life imprisonment, the weight of his crimes finally catching up with him. But the victory felt hollow, tainted by the knowledge that Liam had died believing I hated him.
The morning of Liam’s funeral dawned gray and cold, as if the weather itself was mourning. I stood in front of my mirror, adjusting my black dress, trying to find the strength to face this final goodbye.
The funeral was small, just as I had wanted. Henry, Holbrook, Guerrero, my parents, a few close family members, and Sarah with Dylan and Danielle. We all wore black, a somber procession of people who had been touched by Liam’s life and death.
The cemetery was quiet, the only sounds the soft rustle of wind through the trees and the distant hum of traffic. Liam’s casket looked so small, so final, as it sat beside the open grave.