Chapter 193: Morning After! [FIXED!]

The kitchen smelled like coffee and butter when Liam walked in the next morning.

Rachel was already at the stove, her back to him, flipping something in a pan with more concentration than an omelet really needed. A plate of toast sat on the counter.

A glass of orange juice had been poured and set at his usual spot at the table, like she’d been up for a while waiting for him.

“Morning,” Liam said.

“Morning.” She didn’t turn around.

He sat down. A moment later she slid a plate in front of him, eggs folded neatly, bacon on the side, and immediately turned back toward the stove like she’d forgotten something there. She hadn’t.

Liam picked up his fork and watched her for a second.

He knew exactly why she wouldn’t look at him.

Last night, he’d figured out what she was trying to do. That she’d wanted more from him than one night, much more, and had tried to make it happen without asking. He’d called it out, plainly, right there in the moment. He hadn’t been cruel about it, but he hadn’t softened it either.

By most standards, that alone should have been enough to end things between them for good.

But Liam hadn’t walked out. He’d stayed. And now, eating her eggs at her table in the gray morning light, he still didn’t feel like leaving.

He did wish he’d said it differently, maybe more gently. He couldn’t take it back now. And honestly, his reaction had been fair. Nobody should have that decision made for them.

Still, she looked like she hadn’t slept.

“These are good,” he said, lifting a forkful.

“Thanks.”

“You put something in the eggs. Cheese?”

“A little cheddar.”

“It works.”

“Mm.”

Silence. The pan hissed. Rachel wiped down a counter that was already clean.

Liam set his fork down. “Okay. Small talk isn’t going to cut it.”

“Rachel. Come sit for a second.” Liam finally said.

She hesitated, dish towel still in her hands, then slowly pulled out the chair across from him and sat, eyes fixed on the table.

“I want to talk about your case,” he said.

Her head came up.

“The apartment building,” Liam went on. “I’ve been going through everything Marcus’s lawyers filed. Property records, tax documents, the original purchase. I didn’t forget about it.”

Something flickered across her face: surprise, then a fragile kind of hope she clearly didn’t want to trust yet.

“You looked into it?”

“I did more than look.” He pulled out his phone, opened a document, and slid it across the table to her. “Here.”

Rachel leaned in.

It was a breakdown, clean and organized, with headings and short bullet points instead of walls of legal language.

“Okay,” Liam said, pointing. “This is the deed. The building was bought eight months before you and Marcus got married. Your name is the only one on it.”

“Right…”

“Now this,” he scrolled, “is what his lawyers are claiming. They’re saying he put money into renovations after the wedding, so the property became ‘marital.’ That he has a right to half.”

“He did pay for some of it,” Rachel said quietly.

“Some. But look at the dates.” He tapped the screen. “Most of what they’re listing was paid out of the building’s own rental income. Your income. Not his. The money came from the property, not from him or so we can argue. And the two payments that actually came from his account? Here and here. Combined, they’re nowhere near the number they’re claiming.”

Rachel frowned at the screen, reading it again more slowly.

“So they’re… inflating it?”

“They’re inflating it. And they’re counting on your lawyer to screw it up.” Liam leaned back. “With this, we can argue the building is your separate property, and at worst Marcus is owed back what he actually put in, or a little more. Which is a fraction of what he’s asking for.”

Rachel stared at him.

“How did you even find all this?”

“It’s my job,” he said with a small shrug. “Well. It used to be. It’s about to be again.”

She looked back at the phone. Liam watched it land, slowly at first and then all at once, as she realized she understood every line of it. He hadn’t buried her in jargon or talked down to her. He’d laid it out so she could actually see it.

“So I keep it,” she said softly. “The building. I actually keep it.”

“If we fight this right? Yes. You keep it.”

Her eyes filled.

Before he could say anything else, she was out of her chair and around the table, arms wrapped tightly around his neck.

“Thank you,” she whispered into his shoulder. “Thank you, thank you.”

Liam hugged her back.

The awkwardness from earlier was gone. For now, at least, there was only relief. Marcus couldn’t take everything from her after all.

Liam smiled as Rachel finally pulled back, wiping her eyes with the heel of her hand and laughing a little at herself.

“Sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to cry all over you.”

“You’re fine.”

She sat back down across from him, and for the first time that morning her shoulders weren’t hunched up near her ears. Liam realized she’d been carrying far more tension than he’d noticed. All of it had been sitting in her chest, and it had come out in one hug.

He was glad he could give her this.

Still, part of him stayed careful. Last night had thrown him. He didn’t regret staying, and he didn’t think she was a bad person. But he’d be more deliberate with her from now on, at least in that one area. Some things you didn’t get to learn twice.

He watched her pick at the edge of her toast, smiling softly at nothing. She looked happy, really happy, but underneath it there was something else he recognized. Loneliness. The quiet of a big apartment, long days with nothing to fill them, and a lot of time to spiral.

“Can I suggest something?” Liam asked.

“Sure.”

“Have you ever thought about getting into the gym?”

Rachel burst out laughing. “The gym?”

“I’m serious.”

“Liam, I’ve tried. Many times.” She held up her fingers and started counting. “I’ve had a membership. Two memberships, actually. A personal trainer for exactly three sessions. I bought one of those fancy at-home bikes. It’s a coat rack now.”

He grinned. “So that’s a no?”

“It never sticks. I go for a week, maybe two, then life happens and I stop.”

“Maybe it didn’t stick because you were doing it alone.”

She tilted her head, studying him. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying come with me.” He shrugged. “I’m going back this morning anyway. It’d give us something to do together that isn’t…” He gestured vaguely between them. “Lawyer stuff.”

Rachel hesitated, fingers wrapping around her mug.

Liam already knew what else would be waiting at that gym. Sophia had been showing up there lately too, and there was a decent chance the two of them would end up in the same room.

He’d thought about it, and he wasn’t worried. They were both grown women. He’d never told either of them he belonged to them, and neither of them had any real claim on him. If they decided to make it a problem, it wouldn’t make much sense. If anything, a little healthy competition might be good for everyone.

“I’ll probably be terrible,” Rachel said finally.

“Everyone’s terrible on day one.”

“I’ll be sore for a week.”

“That means it’s working.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re very annoying when you’re encouraging.”

“People keep telling me that and I still don’t see it.”

Rachel let out a long sigh and set her mug down.

“Fine,” she said. “One day. Just one. If I hate it, I’m never going back.”

“Deal.”

“And you’re not allowed to laugh at me.”

Liam put a hand over his heart. “I would never.”

“You’re already smiling.”

“That’s just my face.”

She threw a napkin at him, laughing, and went to find something to wear as she was barely clothed.

Liam already had plans to go to the gym today and this meant that she could just tag along, it would be a good way to get her heart pumping.

This was in no way for her to lose weight as Liam liked how fluffy she was, there was nothing wrong with all that meat as it made the experience different from the one with the other ladies.

However, it would be a good place for her to make friends or even have an outlet to let out some stress.

Liam knew he had to help Mateo out, it had slipped his mind that he had to get the little bugger a comic book.

Liam wondered why he hadn’t gotten it the previous day when they were all together, but he was allowed to forget things. There was a lot going on yesterday after all.