Chapter 496 The Woman He Could No Longer Keep

Chapter 496: Chapter 496 The Woman He Could No Longer Keep

“Diana?”

Liam called her name again.

Looking at his face on the screen, Diana was swept back to their younger days.

Liam had been a brooding teenager then, quiet and withdrawn, with little interest in socializing. His eyes had seemed empty, as though nothing in the world could reach him.

Diana knew better than anyone what he’d endured growing up. She understood his pain, his bitterness, and the darker side of his personality.

Liam had been brought back into the Mercer family when he was fourteen. By then, he’d already spent years being treated as an outsider. Returning to his father’s household had only brought him a different kind of rejection.

His father had deceived his mother.

He’d been on a business trip in the mountain when an accident left him stranded. Liam’s mother had found him, rescued him, and brought him home.

She came from a simple, kindhearted family. She was beautiful, too, and Liam’s father had been charmed by her. During the time he spent recovering, their feelings for each other had grown into love.

There was just one thing he’d never told her.

He was already married.

His business trip was supposed to last a month. To Liam’s mother, who had little experience with the world beyond her own small community, he seemed like a man who could be trusted.

Then he left.

And she never heard from him again.

By the time she realized he wasn’t coming back, she was already pregnant with Liam.

In those days, an unmarried woman having a child brought shame not only on herself but on her entire family. At first, Liam’s mother couldn’t accept that the man she loved had abandoned her. She waited for him, clinging to the hope that he’d return, even as her pregnancy progressed.

He never did.

Eventually, she had to face the truth: she’d been deceived and abandoned.

The humiliation and relentless gossip took a terrible toll on her family. Under the strain, her father suffered a cerebral hemorrhage that left him paralyzed.

With no other way forward, she gave birth to Liam and tried to carry on.

But the delivery was complicated by severe postpartum hemorrhage, and her health deteriorated rapidly. She was also struggling with depression, and the home Liam grew up in was filled with grief, tension, and despair.

He watched people treat his mother with contempt. As he grew older, he became a target himself, bullied and deliberately excluded by other children.

It wasn’t until Liam was fourteen that the Mercer family finally came looking for him. They’d discovered that his father had a son from a relationship they’d never known about, and they wanted to bring the boy back into the family.

Around the same time, they learned the truth about his father: the man had been married all along.

For Liam’s mother, it was the final blow.

She’d spent years holding on to the hope that the man she loved would return. Now, all those years of waiting, all her pent-up anger and lingering expectations, came crashing down at once.

She died just a few days later.

The man she’d waited for never came back to make things right. Instead, the news that reached her was that her son would be taken away to join his father’s family.

Liam was still young when he was brought into the Mercer household.

But sharing their blood didn’t mean he belonged.

He was still an outsider, still isolated and pushed aside. The childhood he’d already endured had been painful enough; now he had to contend with the coldness and hostility of a family that had never made room for him.

Even his father’s attempts to make amends felt hollow.

By the time Diana first met him, Liam seemed almost lifeless. He was withdrawn, suspicious of everyone, and determined to keep the world at a distance.

Then Diana came along.

She’d always been the sort of person who could find something to laugh about even when life was difficult. Her warmth came naturally, and she had a way of making the people around her feel that things weren’t quite as hopeless as they seemed.

Little by little, she got through to Liam.

After years of drifting through life alone, he finally found someone he could hold on to. To him, Diana was like a lifeline after being lost at sea for far too long.

He fell deeply in love with her, cherishing her as though she were the most precious thing in his life.

For her sake, he changed.

He wanted to succeed. He wanted to climb to the top and become powerful enough that no one would ever be able to look down on him or bully him again.

He wanted to build a life in which no one could take away the person he loved.

But now...

Some things remained the same, even as the people involved changed beyond recognition.

Diana stared at Liam’s face on her phone.

The brooding, handsome boy she’d once known had grown into a mature man. His gaze still held the same fierce devotion whenever he looked at her.

And yet, no matter how familiar his face was, she knew things could never return to the way they’d been.

“I was reviewing some footage and got emotional. I’m at Rose’s place. Nothing’s wrong,” she said, her voice hoarse but surprisingly steady. “She needs me to stay with her for a while, so I’m not coming home tonight.”

The light in Diana’s eyes seemed to fade a little more with every word.

Liam studied her.

For some reason, a sharp ache rose in his chest.

He pressed his lips together. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine. Look at me. I look perfectly fine, don’t I?”

Diana smiled again.

She made it seem as though nothing was wrong.

And yet, despite her reassurance, Liam found himself reluctant to end the call. He couldn’t explain the sudden restlessness or the strange feeling that he needed to keep looking at her a little longer.

“When are you coming back?” he asked. “I should be done with work in about three days. We agreed I’d take you out somewhere. Have you decided where you want to go?”

Diana’s smile didn’t change.

“I’ll let you know when I decide.”

“Get some sleep. I’ll let you go.”

“Okay.”

She ended the call without hesitation.

Rose turned toward her—and froze.

Diana had been pressing her finger so hard that she’d broken the skin. A thin line of blood had appeared where her nail had dug into it.

“Diana!”

Rose hurried to get the first-aid kit and began cleaning the wound.

“Please don’t do this to yourself. Why didn’t you confront him? Are you going to pretend you don’t know what he’s done?”

Rose was afraid Diana would let the years they’d spent together cloud her judgment.

What she and Liam had shared had been more than an ordinary romance. They’d helped each other survive some of the darkest periods of their lives. Their bond had been deep, intense, and almost impossible to untangle.

Rose understood that.

If she’d been in Diana’s position, she doubted she’d have been able to face the situation calmly, either.

Diana lowered her head.

“No.” ℯ

“Then what are you planning to do?”

Diana looked at Rose and forced a smile that was somehow more heartbreaking than tears.

“I told you. It’s over between us.”

She paused before continuing.

“I’ll divorce him. But I know Liam too well. He won’t agree to it.”

If she confronted him and laid everything out in the open, she’d lose her chance to leave on her own terms.

Liam’s attachment to her was intense enough to make him act recklessly when he felt he was losing her. She couldn’t risk giving him the chance to stop her before she was ready.

Rose frowned.

“So you’re thinking of...”

Diana glanced down at the blood on her palm. Her voice was quiet.

“Once I’ve finished my work, I’m going to resign and leave New York. If he can’t find me, we can live separately long enough for me to establish that the marriage has broken down. Then I’ll be in a better position to move forward with the divorce.”

She knew Liam better than anyone.

If she confronted him now and told him she wanted a divorce, he’d never simply accept it. He might indulge her in almost everything else, but this was the one thing he would never willingly give her.

He wouldn’t let her go.

And if she gave him warning, she might never get the chance to put her plans into action.

So why provoke him before she was ready?

Rose stared at her, her thoughts in turmoil.

She hadn’t expected Diana to work out a plan in just a few hours.

Diana wasn’t running away blindly. She’d already thought through what she needed to do.

“Where will you go?” Rose asked.

“I don’t know.” Diana’s eyes remained distant. “Anywhere he can’t find me.”

The destination didn’t matter.

After what Liam had done, she no longer wanted to remain trapped in this relationship.

He’d been seeing another woman behind her back while letting her believe that their marriage was as solid as ever.

Now, she would keep her own plans from him and walk away without giving him the chance to interfere.

He’d taught her how easily appearances could be maintained while the truth remained hidden.

She could do the same.

Just as he’d allowed her to believe she was living in a perfect little world, she could let him believe that nothing had changed between them.

By the time he realized what was happening, she’d be gone.

He wouldn’t even have time to react.

Rose felt a bitter ache in her chest.

Diana had once found salvation in Liam’s love. That was precisely why his betrayal hurt so much more. The same relationship that had once helped her survive was now the source of her deepest pain.

But the moment Liam crossed that line, he stopped being the boy who’d once helped Diana find her way out of despair.

Rose pulled her into a tight embrace.

“Decide where you want to go. I’ll ask Ryan to help you make the arrangements. With him involved, Liam won’t be able to track you down easily.”

She had every confidence in Ryan’s ability to help.

And she understood why Diana wanted to leave without giving Liam a chance to explain himself or talk her out of it.

Diana wanted to close the door completely. She didn’t want to leave even the smallest opening for him to manipulate the situation or persuade her to stay.

Rose didn’t blame her.

Arguing and dragging things out would only prolong the pain.

When Liam finally understood what he’d lost, the regret might consume him. But by then, Diana would have left him no room to negotiate and no chance to stop her.

Diana had always been perceptive. She simply hid that side of herself behind her easygoing, carefree manner.

Suddenly, tears welled up in her eyes again.

It was as though she’d been holding herself together with sheer willpower, and something inside her had finally snapped. She kept wiping her cheeks, but the tears continued to fall.

“Rose, thank goodness I have you...”

She knew she couldn’t get out of this situation alone. And she trusted Ryan to help her disappear from Liam’s reach.

“What about your job?” Rose asked, her heart aching. “You love what you do.”

She quickly handed Diana a tissue.

Diana closed her eyes and leaned against Rose’s shoulder.

“Rose, I’m not afraid to start over. I won’t give up my career just because of him. But if leaving my job is what I need to do to build a life of my own, then I’ll do it.”

If she stayed, she’d never truly escape Liam’s reach.

Her plans would amount to nothing.

She was capable of supporting herself. She could find another job and build a new life somewhere else.

Besides Rose, there wasn’t much in New York that she felt she couldn’t leave behind.

There was just one thing.

“But Sophie works under you,” Rose said. “How are you supposed to keep working with her after this?”

That was what worried Rose most.

Sophie was already part of Diana’s project, and their professional paths were bound to cross again.

Expecting Diana to keep working beside the woman involved with her husband, pretending she knew nothing, would be cruel.

Diana’s nose reddened. Her voice trembled, but she managed to keep her composure.

“You know, ever since I was a kid, I’ve been good at one thing: putting up with things. I endure whatever comes my way and pretend it doesn’t bother me. I’m practically an expert at it.”

Rose gently ruffled her hair.

“Then when are you leaving?”

If she could, Rose would have marched straight over to Liam and slapped him herself. If he hadn’t betrayed Diana, her friend wouldn’t have been forced to make such a painful decision.

Diana closed her eyes tightly.

“Within a week.”