Chapter 4 004

Liv

I slammed the trunk of my car shut, my hands trembling as the weight of my decision settled in. The sun had barely begun to rise, casting long shadows across the hotel parking lot. I stood there for a moment, staring at the car Aaron had given me for my birthday last year.

One of the things he loved to do was shower me with expensive gifts. I hated them all, but loved the red ferrari portofino he got me last year.

Now I bet I love this car thrice as much as I hate his cheating ass!

I pulled my phone from my pocket, the screen lighting up with another call from my mother. Not again. I sighed and answered, knowing exactly what was coming.

"Liv! What the hell do you think you're doing?!" she barked, her voice already frantic. "Do you have any idea what you've done? Everyone's talking about it! The embarrassment-God, the embarrassment you've caused me, your father, everyone!"

"My father has nothing to do with this!" I replied coldly as I placed my little travel box into the car trunk.

"What do you know about your father?" She barked.

How could I blame her greedy self. She left my father and decided to get married to Prescott. Vivienne's father. Just because he was rich.

I rubbed my temples, the headache from yesterday's chaos still throbbing at the base of my skull. "It's my life, Mom. I don't care what everyone's saying. I'm not marrying Aaron, and I shouldn't have to explain myself again."

"You don't care?!" Her voice shot up an octave. "You humiliated him! You humiliated us! Why did you have to pull that stunt in front of everyone? Do you think that was the right way to handle things? You just walk out on him at the altar?"

I could feel my anger rising, tightening in my chest. "What about Vivi?" I spat, cutting her off. "Are you not going to talk about her? About the fact that your precious daughter was the one screwing my fiancé behind my back?"

"Oh, don't you bring Vivienne into this," she snapped. "Vivi would never-"

"Vivi would never?!" I barked out a bitter laugh, gripping the steering wheel until my knuckles turned white. "I saw them, Mom. With my own eyes. So stop defending her."

There was silence on the other end for a beat, then she sighed, exasperated. "You're being irrational, Liv. Vivian might have made a mistake. Aaron made a mistake. But what you did-what you're doing-is ruining everything."

"I'm ruining everything?" I repeated, shaking my head. "No, Mom. They fucking ruined everything. And I'm not going to marry a man who doesn't love me."

"Love?" she scoffed. "This is about more than love, Liv. Marriage is about stability, and you had it. A man like Aaron-he could've given you everything! And you're just throwing it all away?"

"I'm throwing it away because I want more than stability. I want respect. I want honesty. I want someone who isn't screwing my stepsister behind my back!"

The line went dead silent, and then, without waiting for another word, I hung up. I was done. She would never understand, and frankly, I didn't care anymore.

I slipped into the driver's seat and turned on the ignition, the car roaring to life beneath me. With one last glance at the hotel, I sped away, determined to grab the last of my things from Aaron's place. I wasn't just walking away from him-I was walking away from all of it. From the lies, the façade, the expectations everyone had placed on me since the moment I agreed to this farce of a marriage.

As I neared the Blackwood Mansion, the sight of its towering gates made my stomach churn. I hated that I had to come back here one last time. The place that once felt like a future was now just a graveyard of broken promises.

I parked outside and stepped out, the gravel crunching under my heels as I made my way toward the house. My heart raced as I walked closer, each step heavier than the last. Then, just as I reached the front door, I heard a voice-familiar, low, and cold-carrying from inside.

"I know I couldn't make it down to the hall in time," the voice snapped. "But that doesn't justify why you had to cheat on your fiancée. Now she wants the hell out, and I flew here for nothing."

My breath caught in my throat, and my pulse spiked. I stopped in my tracks, frozen. That voice... It was like a jigsaw puzzle clicking into place, a voice I couldn't forget even if I wanted to.

It can't be him right?

I pushed open the door, my heart hammering in my chest as I stepped inside. And there he was, standing in the middle of the room, looking every bit the man who had kissed me senseless the night before.

My mind flashed back to last night-the kiss, the way he held me, the way his hands felt on my skin. I stumbled back, feeling lightheaded as the realization hit me like a freight train. The man I had spent the night with was none other than Aaron's father.

Kaelon Blackwood.

The air seemed to thicken between us as his steel gray eyes met mine.