Liam’s POV
I was not surprised when I saw her in Maverick’s office, I had to fake it to make her believe that I wasn’t expecting to meet her here. The truth is, I know she works with him, and I know she lives in his apartment as well, I just pretended to be surprised because I need her to think that our meeting with each other after so many years was a coincidence, I want her to believe that I’ve been searching for her because I miss her. She has to pay for everything she has done for me and my family.
You see, it’s been almost six years ago that I helped her flee the city with the hope that she would finally open her heart to me and love me unconditionally, just like I love her. But she ditched me and ran off, leaving me to face the aftermath of her rebellion. She never looked back at me, and not even once did she call to check up on me. If only she had said something to me that day, if only she had told me that she can never love me. Or let’s assume she could not tell me such a thing at that moment, but she could have given me a hint or something. Anything would have been better than what she did that day. I could remember that day vividly as if it was yesterday, I remember my last words to her before she boarded that train and ran off,
“Wait for me, my love. I’ll come find you, Val. When I graduate from school, I’ll take over the family business from my father. Then I’ll come for you, my love, and I will protect you from every danger. I’ll keep you safe, I’ll fight for you and defend your honor every single day of my life. Promise you’ll wait for me, my love. Promise you will never leave me for another man and you will never forget about me. Promise me, Val, promise me.” I kept on urging repeatedly, pleading like a fucking, love-sick idiot as I hugged her firmly and kissed her passionately. I was so fucking stupid, I bared my heart to her, I gave her everything I could. I gave her my heart, I loved and cared for every one of her needs, and I was willing to go the extra mile and do more for her just to show her how much I loved and adored her. I needed her to love me back, I did everything to make her love me…
And what did she do?
She smiled and looked at me like a hero, kissing me back as eagerly as I kissed her, making me feel loved. She promised to wait for me, She promised to love no other man but me, and she assured me that were going to be together forever. When she boarded the train and waved at me, I saw sadness in her eyes, and I thought she was missing me already, I thought she couldn’t live without me for even a second. Who would have thought that she was saying her final goodbye to me?
She broke my heart, stumped on my heart, and made me a laughingstock in our school and the entire city. She knew we could never be together because of her supernatural abilities, yet she led me on and took all I have to offer, giving me fake promises of eternal love. I never believed the rumors that she is a witch, but after what she did to me, I couldn’t help thinking about her always and I wondered if she had used her witch powers to cajole me into helping her escape. I simply can not believe that I was so stupid to be fooled by a nobody like her, it’s so unbelievable.
And the worse part of it is that I got my family into a huge mess. I had no idea that the mayor would be capable of ruining our family. I’ve always thought that we were invisible and untouchable because we are so wealthy and famous. But the company was going through a hard time and my father never said anything about it. We owe a lot of money, and the banks were patiently waiting for the due date to come after us for the loans my dad took for our company. We were hanging on a thin thread and dad never said a word to anyone.
He let us believe that we were still the top construction company in the city and abroad, I kept living like a king, spending lavishly on parties and hangouts. And even after Valerie left, I still continued living my life as if nothing happened. I went to school as usual, and I pretended to be cool with everyone. I was worried about Valerie because I couldn’t reach her on her phone, but I didn’t let anyone know about it. I simply went about my usual activities, leaving nothing out.
I noticed that Norton was not speaking with me, or even hanging out with me. It seems weird because we used to be best friends, and we always hung out together in school and outside. I felt guilty when I watch him walk past me every fucking day. For weeks he washer wearing a bandage on his head, converting the injury I’d give to him when I saw him trying to have his way with Val. I don’t know if he knows it’s me, but for some unknown reason, he decided to end our friendship and nothing I say or did could make him change his mind about me.
At first, I thought he was only being stupid and childish because I could visit him when he was in the hospital. I was so sad about her departure, and I locked myself in the room, refusing to see anyone or do anything for almost two days. I had to force myself to go back to school and keep up the charade to cover my tracks. He had called to tell me he was in the hospital, but I just couldn’t visit, I was so sad and grumpy, I didn’t want to answer too many questions about my mood. He was my best friend and I hurt him and become that ungrateful bitch. You see, this is why I think she had used her mysterious powers on me. If I knew she had such powers, I would have stayed as far away from her as I possibly can.
We got summoned by the mayor a few weeks after she ran away. Or the family was slammed with a heavy lawsuit for aiding and abetting a criminal. It was said that my father was the mastermind behind my actions, they blamed the entire family for what I had done and they threatened to make this city a living hell for everyone related to us. They presented evidence to prove that I had helped her escape from the house and I took her to the train station myself. I was very careful that day, I tried as much as possible to avoid all the cameras in the mayor’s mansion, but I still wasn’t careful enough. I was caught on camera as I pulled into the premises, and while we drove to the train station, we got snapped by a traffic camera. They have several pieces of evidence to present to the court, in case I try to be smart or stubborn.
I had no choice but to give her up immediately. I told them she was no longer in the city because boarded the train that leaves the city. I was too dumb to find out where she intends to settle down, I thought she would call me, but I didn’t bother to find out her plans. That was their first demand from me, they wanted to know everything, they wanted to know what she has been planning and where she intends to go. I could have saved myself and my family a lot of stress and heartache if only I could lead them to her, but I didn’t know anything about Valerie’s plans. And then it occurred to me that I don’t really know anything about her, I have no idea what she is capable of, and she never included me in her plans because she never truly trusted me.
I sat there like a moron, regretting all my actions. Dad pleaded with Mr. Keller, but he wouldn’t listen to anything we have to say. I turned to stare at Charlotte and Newton, and I saw the blazing anger in their eyes. That was when I connected the dots and realized that this is the reason why Newton stopped being friends with me. Mr. Keller showed my father some documents that were supposed to be private, I have no idea how he got his hands on them, but we discovered that it contains information about our company and the loans we owe the banks. He has information to prove that our company would not be able to pay back any of the loans because we are going to declare bankruptcy in a few weeks.
He threatened to release this information to all the banks and have us kicked out of this city. We were so dumbfounded, we couldn’t say or do anything. I buried my head in my palm in shame, I can’t believe that I will be the reason why our company would be taken from us. The mayor and his wife were obviously enjoying our present predicament. They were so happy to list out their outrageous demands to us and we were forced to comply with their every demand, which includes getting married to Charlotte and helping them to find Valerie and bring her back home.
After the meeting which ended with me being betrothed to Charlotte Keller, I decided to do everything I can to find Valerie and make her pay for putting me through all this. She can’t get away with this, she won’t be out there living her life peacefully while my family and I suffer great humiliation at the hands of the Kellers. Charlotte and I are betrothed, yet she did speak to me for months after that first meeting. If I didn’t know how slurry she can be, I would have said that she is playing hard to get something. She didn’t speak with me and neither did her brother, Newton.
I licked my wounds in private while acting cool in school as if everything was okay. This time I decided to help dad in the company, I used my free time to work in our lab and come up with a solution to our financial crisis. It was hard work, and it was messy and tricky as well, but I managed to pay up our loans bit by bit, and after two years, we were all clear. We paid off our debts and I graduated from school and had to go onto the company fully. With our debts cleared, I knew there was nothing the mayor could do for our company. All that is left is for me to marry his daughter and also locate Valerie and bring her back to her family.
I decided to start with the easiest, and that is to get married to Charlotte. She was still acting weird, she wouldn’t spend a second with me, and she would never acknowledge the fact that we are betrothed. I made an effort to get her to speak with me, I practically forced her to have a conversation with me so we could at least get to know each other a bit before we walk down the aisle.
Believe me, I don’t want this marriage as well, I mean, I don’t even like the girl. I knew she is a slut, and I tried my best to put up with her attitude because I don’t have a choice in this. Who would have thought that Charlotte had other plans?