Chapter 214: Vanessa Joins The Team.

Liam’s Uber dropped him off in front of the building twenty minutes later.

His car was still parked exactly where he’d left it that morning. The moving trucks were gone. The street was quiet, the late-afternoon sun catching the windows and turning them gold.

He leaned against his car, legs still aching, and waited.

He didn’t have to wait very long at all.

A sleek black Audi swung around the corner a little faster than strictly necessary and pulled up to the curb. The door flew open before the engine had fully stopped, and Vanessa practically launched herself out.

Fitted charcoal blazer. Silk blouse. Heels clicking against the pavement at double speed. Her blonde hair was pulled into a low, polished knot that was already coming loose, and her green eyes were wide and bright behind the sunglasses she shoved up onto her head.

"Is this it?" she called before she’d even reached him. "Is this it? The building from the deed?"

Liam grinned. "This is it."

"Oh my God." She stopped beside him and stared up at the three floors of glass and stone, one hand pressed flat against her chest. "Liam. I’ve been thinking about this building since that diner. I looked up the address. I went on Street View. Twice."

"Twice?"

"Okay, four times." She grabbed his arm. "I cancelled a client review for this. A client review. Do you know what my supervisor is going to say?"

"Something unpleasant?"

"Something very unpleasant, and I don’t care." She tugged him toward the entrance. "Come on. Come on, come on, come on. I’ve seen the paperwork. I want to see the inside."

Liam laughed and let himself be dragged. He’d never seen her like this. The cool, unbothered Vanessa who’d smoothly laughed off his terrible "parents" lie over the phone was nowhere to be found. In her place was someone practically bouncing on her heels.

He held the door open for her.

She’d read the deed. She’d listened to him describe the place over burgers and fries. She thought she was ready.

Vanessa stepped inside and stopped dead.

For a second, she didn’t make a sound.

Then she gasped.

"Liam."

The curved walnut reception desk with its brushed-brass front. The slate-grey feature wall. The leather armchairs and the tall fiddle-leaf figs. Warm light pouring across polished floors. And through the glass at the end of the hall, the long oak conference table, gleaming like something out of a magazine.

"When you said three floors," she breathed, "I pictured empty rooms. Concrete. Maybe a sad folding table."

"They were empty rooms. Last week."

She spun around to face him, eyes shining. "Who did this?"

"Her name’s Priya. She didn’t sleep for about three days."

"I want to marry her." Vanessa hurried over to the reception desk and ran both hands along the walnut like she was greeting an old friend. "Feel this. Feel this, Liam. This is real wood. This isn’t some flat-pack thing."

"I know. I paid for it."

"And you still owe me that long story, by the way," she said, pointing at him without looking up from the desk. "About where the money for all of this came from."

"Eventually."

"I’m holding you to that." She was already moving toward the hallway. "Is that the conference room? Is that ours?"

"That’s ours."

She pushed through the glass door and let out a delighted little sound, circling the oak table, testing one leather chair, then another, then spinning in the third one like a kid in an office supply store. "Twelve seats. Twelve. We’re going to have meetings in here. Real meetings. With people who are intimidated by us."

"That’s the plan."

"Show me upstairs. Right now."

She took the stairs two at a time, heels and all. Liam followed more slowly, his thighs protesting every step.

His office made her stop in the doorway with her hands over her mouth.

"This is ridiculous," she said.

"Ridiculous good or ridiculous bad?"

"Ridiculous like opposing counsel is going to walk in here, see that wall of books, and settle on the spot." She laughed. "It’s perfect."

Then he led her to the office beside his. A walnut desk faced the window. A leather chair. Built-in shelves still empty, waiting to be filled. Afternoon light spilled across the floor.

"And this one," Liam said, leaning against the doorframe, "is yours."

Vanessa froze.

"Mine?"

"Yours."

She walked in slowly this time, almost carefully, and set her tablet down on the desk. She touched the back of the chair. Looked at the empty shelves. Then she turned around, and for a moment the excitement on her face gave way to something softer and far more vulnerable.

"Nobody’s ever given me an office with a window before," she said quietly.

"Well," Liam said. "Now somebody has."

She blinked hard and then laughed, waving a hand in front of her face. "Okay. Okay, I’m not crying. Business. Let’s talk business."

"Business," he agreed.

"I’ll need to give notice. Two weeks." She was talking fast again. "Harlan’s going to make it miserable. Arthur especially. He’s been asking about you, by the way. I told him you were unemployed and sad."

"Perfect. Let him keep believing that."

"And we need clients."

"Leave that to me. I’ve already got a few people in mind."

Vanessa narrowed her eyes. "Who?"

"You’ll find out."

"Oh, you’re enjoying being mysterious." She pointed at him, grinning. "Fine. But I want a list of names on my desk by the end of the week. Real ones."

"You’ll have it."

Then she tilted her head, and a sly smile crept in.

"Oh, and Liam? How are your parents?"

He winced. "There were no parents."

"I know." She grinned. "Terrible lie. Worst I’ve ever heard. I’m going to bring it up forever."

"I figured."

Something warm and charged passed between them. Neither of them mentioned the night they’d shared. They didn’t need to.

They ended back in the lobby, standing in front of the blank slate-grey wall behind the reception desk. The brass lettering sat in its crate in the corner.

"So," Vanessa said, practically vibrating. "What’s it called?"

"I don’t know yet."

She stared at him. "You built an entire law firm and forgot to name it?"

"I was waiting."

"For what?"

He smiled.

"For my partner to help me pick."

Vanessa let out a squeal so loud it echoed off the brand-new walls.