“I thought things were now alright between us.” He said. His voice was barely above a whisper. “Why are you doing this?” And there was the truth, in those little words. Thought things were but not simply were. Even though she knew he was right, it still hurt. “When you made me sign that contract, you were selfish, and cruel. You only thought about you. You never thought about me.” Liz argued back. “You mean I was,” he corrected bitterly. “Because I needed a woman who could throw dust in my family’s eyes, and I chose you even though I knew that you would probably never have agreed to it had I not threaten you with the terms and conditions on that contract?” “So now, you do admit you were wrong. At first you were but then, I certainly don’t remember you strong-arming me into doing anything. In fact, I seem to recall I was doing it on my own free will. I thought it was daring and romantic.” His jaw clenched in a way that was achingly familiar, and Liz would have given anything to kno
“You still kept your pregnancy a secret from me,” he choked out at last, but at least he was directing his pain and rage towards her, rather than inward as he might have done during their contractual marriage.He might be mad at her, but he wasn’t shutting her out. Surely that had to be a start?“You didn’t tell me about your pregnancy. You had every opportunity to tell me. You didn’t. You deliberately kept it from me. I might have pushed you away, but you are still the one who left. What were you thinking when you found out that you were pregnant? You wanted to keep my unborn baby with you.”“It wasn’t like that and you know it. With what right was I supposed to stay back there when you pushed me away? I left for both our sakes, Adrian,” she repeated, her voice softer now that she could see he wasn’t going to argue with her.“I thought we both were going to start anew but then, I found out that I was pregnant with your child. The first thing I thought about was you. Trust me, Adrian.
They were having a lovely evening together. One of the nicest evenings that Adrian could remember for a long time.“Do you remember that time we went on that walk down the canal towpath and you almost fell in the water because you were showing off?” She asked.Adrian laughed, nodding. “Yeah, I was such an idiot….trying to make you see how cool I was. We hadn’t been out for a walk since then, had we?”Liz shook her head, her eyes alight with mirth.“I can remember thinking what a good idea it would be to show you that I could balance my way across the towpath, show you that I wasn’t scared,” he went on, reminiscing on those memories they’d made back in New York when they were still getting to know each other.“You would have done it effortlessly if it hadn’t been for that goose scaring the living shit out of you!” She laughed. She couldn’t help it.It felt good to laugh with her… to reminisce.“That was stupid,” he rolled his eyes at her. “And I wasn’t scared of that goose. It just cam
Going through the entire presentation for the AI development project had taking every bit of the nine hours at the office Liz had allocated. Checking and double-checking geographical surveys, evaluating this new technology impact and recalculating estimated financial budget to ensure everything was right – it all took time.In the end, though, she knew the staffs responsible for this project were ready.The investor would actually be at the meeting, and she was a little worried about that. After what happened last time with his associates who’d come to seal the deal, it would be the first time that she’d be meeting the investor himself.She’d heard he was a real hard-ass about cost-savings, but the solutions she and her team had proposed were the right ones, so were the terms and conditions mentioned on the contract. Maybe not the cheapest solutions and ideas, but her team clearly agreed they had identified the best options.Rolling up the final set of plans, she tucked them into the
Liz Walters suppressed the urge to apologize at the last second. Instead, she ground out. “You make it impossible for me to be otherwise.”“I push you to be better, to anticipate. What you do, or fail to do, is on your shoulders. Not mine.”A thread of hurt wove through the fabric of her emotions, maliciously eating a hole of her self-righteous anger. She clung to that anger, though, refusing to yield. He wanted to goad a response from her, and she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction.Snapping her napkin out and laying across her lap before the waiter had a chance, she glared across the table. “You taught me to have broad shoulders.”He paused, his glass halfway to his lips, and waited.Liz shrugged. “Broad shoulders were the only way I could ensure I had plenty of room to carry the disappointment you constantly heaped on me.”Mr. Walters’s eyes hardened dangerously.Bracing herself, she waited.His gaze shifted when the waiter appeared at her shoulder and asked for her drink or
The moment Adrian saw Liz when he sneaked into her bedroom; he knew something was wrong, seriously wrong. It wasn’t just the frown on her face or the dark circles under her eyes or the streaks on her cheeks that told of recently shed tears.The spoon and half gallon of ice-cream in her hand, and the big glass of water sitting beside her on her bedside table said a whole lot, too.He’d come right after he’d gotten her text message. She’d left the main door open for him.Seeing her in such a wretched state, his stomach dropped and he went right to her, taking the ice-cream out of her hands and pulling her into his arms. He had an idea why she was so upset – her grandpa.He knew that she had a dinner meeting with him and seeing how her grandpa has recently been pretty pissed off and ignoring her, anyone could have guessed that dinner didn’t end well.He didn’t say anything, and when she opened her mouth to speak, he stopped her with a kiss.She dropped the spoon to the floor with a clatt
Liz Walters’ mood had definitely lifted during their amazing, powerful love-making. But afterward, she couldn’t prevent that mix of sadness, rage and disappointment she’d been feeling much of the day from creeping back in and affecting her mood.While Adrian showered, she went into the kitchen and got out some stuffs to make them some dinner, going over everything in her mind one more time. There was no one around at this time of the night. It was way past midnight and they hadn’t eaten anything yet.By the time she’d gotten to the point of making them some salad, she was angry enough again that she was assassinating the head of the lettuce with a butcher knife.“Whoa, there,” Adrian exclaimed as he entered the kitchen, towering off his hair. She lost herself for a moment, admiring those flexing muscles of his arms. God, she would never get tired of staring at this man.“I don’t think that’s gonna do anything to help cool you down.” He said.She got the joke but couldn’t manage much m
“Liz,” her grandma stood in the doorway of her bedroom. “What’s the matter, my child? Why do you look so upset lately? You didn’t go at work today?”The worried-looking expression on her grandma’s face made her sad. She closed the short distance and held her hand. Gently pulling her toward her bed, Liz sat her down on the edge of it before taking a seat beside her. “Grandma, I need to tell you something.”“What is it about? Tell me,” the old woman softly said as she squeezed Liz’s hands reassuringly in hers.“I’m – I’m pregnant.” Liz hesitated for a moment, fearing her response.She closed her eyes and waited, too afraid to look at her grandma’s reaction.Her heart pounded anxiously, her chest heaving and her breath uneven. She felt a lump forming in the back of her throat when her grandma’s hands slipped from over hers. She mustered up some courage and opened her eyes to look at her.Her grandma was frozen in shock, staring into space but with the lines that had formed across her for