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“Yes. I think so. But, um, remember how we spent the night together a couple of weeks ago? It seems like?—”
“Amelia, I’m not sure we should go digging up?—”
Amelia held up her hand. “Liam, please. You said you’d let me finish.”
Liam looked uncomfortable, but he nodded.
“It seems that our night together had a more… tangible… impact than we’d expected. I know this will come as a surprise, but you have a right to know. I’m pregnant.”
“You’re pregnant?” Liam’s blue eyes widened. “Are you sure? Did you take a test?”
“I’m sure and I did.” There was a long pause. “Liam, you can say something now. Please say something.”
But Liam just shook his head, very slowly.
“Liam.” Amelia felt tears prick at the backs of her eyes. “I don’t expect you to drop everything and become a real family or anything like that. I don’t even expect child support. But you have a right to know that you’re going to have another child.”
“Thank you for telling me.” Liam’s gaze was distant. “I appreciate that.”
“Are you mad?” Amelia asked.
“Why would I be?” Liam shook his head again, then got to his feet. “I need to go to work.”
“What?” This was the last straw. “Right now?”
“Right now.”
“Is your work really more important than our conversation?”
Finally, Liam’s blue eyes met Amelia’s. “There’s one piece of work that’s more important than anything else. I’ve been putting it off, but I need to do it. It can’t wait.”
Amelia opened her mouth to ask Liam not to go. She wanted him to stay and talk to her. She wanted to work this out. But she closed her mouth again. Begging wouldn’t change the outcome of this. Liam cared about his work more than he did about her, or Grace, or their unborn child. Amelia couldn’t do or say anything that would change his mind. She knew that now.
“Bye.”
“Bye, Amelia.” And with that, Liam left. He didn’t even go to his office first — he just left.
Amelia sat on the couch a while longer, alone in the dark and the quiet. Her heart couldn’t take much more of this. Yet leaving would also be heartbreaking, because it would mean walking away from Grace.
Amelia rested a hand on her stomach.
“It’s okay, little one. I’m going to figure this out. I promise.” She closed her eyes. She just hoped that she could make good on that promise — the first she’d ever made to the child.
With a heavy heart, Amelia got up and went to her room. She loved her baby-to-be. She loved Grace. Despite everything, she even loved Liam. But Amelia knew that love just wasn’t enough.
CHAPTER 22
LIAM
Liam walked with a brisk purpose he hadn’t felt in a long time. When he’d fled the penthouse, leaving Amelia alone in the living room, he’d planned to go to his office. The office, with its paneled walls and carpeted floor and its policies, had always been Liam’s safe space. When he’d struggled with his parents or with something else in his life, he’d always gone to work. There, he could focus on nothing more than the next task and the one after without thinking about anything else.
Liam’s feet carried him along the familiar route. On autopilot, his mind still far away, he strode across the lobby, rode the elevator to his floor, and made his way to his office. It was quiet now. Most people had gone home by this time of night, probably to be with their families. Liam sat in his chair, the one he’d ordered specially from Norway for its excellent lumbar support and streamlined angles. He ran his hand over the mahogany desk he’d purchased and looked over all the latest technology he’d acquired so that he could do his job as well as he could. He looked out the window at the lights of San Francisco and the dark expanse of the ocean.
For so long, Liam had been proud of the work that had brought him to this point. He’d felt a great sense of fulfillment, sitting here in his beautiful office, far removed from the realities of life taking place on the streets and in the homes far below. He’d been pleased with the work he did to shape young minds and provide the best education possible for the next generation, so that they wouldn’t face the same struggles he had. He’d felt that he’d done everything he needed to in order to be the kind of man he wanted to be.
Yet now, everything here felt dull. Faded. The desk might as well have been a child’s toy built of cardboard and ambition. The chair could have been that old broken desk chair that Liam had brought home as a boy after he’d found it on the side of the road. The view of the city below, as beautiful as it was, was just a reminder that he was distant from all the parts of life that really mattered. Liam’s empire and all the hard work he’d put into it felt hollow without someone to share it with.
Liam had wanted to come here to think and plan. He’d wanted to decide how to handle the situation with Amelia and her pregnancy. He’d wanted to determine the best situation for everything, going forward.
