<b>Chapter </b><b>132 </b>
<b>841 </b>
Steam still clung faintly to the air as Nivera padded barefoot across the bedroom, the thick white bathrobe cinched loosely at her waist.
Her damp hair fell over one shoulder in loose waves, the ends dripping onto the fabric as she rubbed them gently with a towel.
The room was quiet, and it’d be a lie if she said she didn’t hate it, as she wanted him around.
She dropped onto the edge of the bed, letting the towel fall into herp, when her phone lit up on the nightstand.
When she grabbed it, she saw that the call was from an unknown number.
Her brows pulled together. Alejandro’s world had taught her one thing–unknown numbers were never harmless. Half the time they were threats; the other half, something worse.
Still, her thumb swiped before she could think better of it.
“Hello?” She said cautiously.
The voice on the other end froze her mid–breath.
“…Nivera?”
Her spine stiffened as she recognized it. It, however, sounded more mature but still carried the same easy rhythm it always had when it called her name.
“Liam?” she said slowly, almost disbelieving.
“Yeah. It’s me.”
She blinked, utterly thrown off. “How–how did you get my number?”
“The same way Alejandro did,” Liam replied without hesitation. “The same way, we’ve always gotten information when we needed it.”
She let the silence stretch for a moment, unsure whether to be impressed or annoyed. “Right. Of course. Because the Elton family’s privateworks are the answer to everything.”
“You say that like <i>you </i>didn’t benefit from them once upon a time,” Liam said lightly.
His tone–teasing, steady–was exactly the same as she remembered–and that was the problem.
Nivera sat back, pressing the towel into her hair as she tried to gather her thoughts.
Lian wasn’t one who liked to beat around the bush, and so, the fact that he hadn’t gone straight to telling her why he had called made her
uneasy.
Part of her wanted to hang up<i>; </i>the other part wanted to… not.
She didn’t know why he was calling or if this was some subtle message from the family.
Whatever it was, she wouldn’t get the answer by randomly guessing, and so, she got down to business.
“Are you calling me for a reason, Liam? Or is this just for the thrill of seeing if I’d answer?”
“Both,” he said simply.
<b>1/4 </b>
14:14 Fr. 15 <b>Aug </b>er O
She let out a humourlessugh. “Of course.”
There was a brief silence, filled only by the faint background hum of wherever he was. Then Liam’s voice shifted–slightly lower, more
serious<b>. </b>
“I’ve been… meaning to ‘call—to check in,” he added, his tone shifting into something awkward, almost hesitant.
That made herugh outright. “Check in? You’ve had months–months–to check in. But you didn’t. Not a single call, not even a text. Not
when they threw me out. Not when you knew where I was. Nothing.”
“I know,” he admitted quietly. “I’m calling now. I thought you wouldn’t pick up.”
“I almost didn’t,” she admitted, leaning back into the pillows, staring at the ceiling. “Guess my curiosity got the better of me.”
Liam didn’t say anything for a moment, and she waited in that odd space between familiarity and distance.
She had spent years with Liam as the one sibling who actually made her feel seen–movie nights, sneaking her out when she was grounded, and covering for her when she missed curfew. He had never been the problem. Until he became part of the silence, and that made his
absence hurt even more.
“You’re still mad at me,” he said knowingly.
“I’m d you’re self–aware. After Dad and Vivian humiliated me and I finally left, you never reached out.”
“I know,” he said quietly. “I screwed up there.”
“You think?”
There was no malice in her voice, only a tired sort of sting. She closed her eyes and let herself sink into the sound of his breathing on the
other end.
“I remember you used toe into my room at midnight with ice cream,” he said softly. “You’d bring two spoons and say, ‘don’t tell Dad.“”
He paused, thenughed under his breath. “And you’d always finish yours before I was halfway through mine.”
She smiled faintly despite herself. However, it disappeared just as it came. “That was in the past. We’re in the present, Liam–and unless you want to tell me why you’re calling, I’m disconnecting the call.”
“I hate what happened at dinner the other night.”
Her body tensed again at the memory–Ss’s thinly veiled insults, Vivian’s snide remarks, and her father’s cold dismissal.
Liam sat there, silent, watching her burn. He did step in at the end, but he really could have spoken up sooner.
“I’m sorry for not saying anything,” he continued. “I don’t… I’m not proud of that. It’s easier to stay quiet in that house especially with Vivian
and Dad–but I know that’s not an excuse.”
“You’re right,” she agreed. “It’s not.”
“I’m sorry anyway,” he said again, more firmly this time.
She took a breath, her fingers twisting the belt of her bathrobe.
“I don’t need your apology,” she stated finally, voice softer now but not without edge. “Because it changes nothing. You were always <i>the </i>one I thought would-” She stopped herself, lips pressing together.
“Would what?” he asked gently.
She swallowed. “Would actually care enough to say something. To stand up for me when they treated me like I was disposable.”
On the other end, Liam was silent. The kind of silence that made her think he was remembering something too.
“You know,” he said after a beat, “you were never disposable to me. You still aren’t.”
Nivera’s hand tightened around the towel. Damn him for sounding sincere.
“Well, you abandoning me for almost two years says otherwise.”
“I know, and I’m sorry,” he apologized once again.
For the first time in a long while, she realized how much she missed this–missed him. The conversations that felt easy even when they
weren’t.
The sound of himughing. The knowledge that there had been at least one person in that house who didn’t look at her like she was a stain on the family name.
Well, two, if you count the times her mother didn’t scold her unnecessarily.
“I miss you, Nivera, and there are a lot of things I wish I could have done differently, but I didn’t, and for that, I’ll never stop apologizing.
“Well,” she said, trying to mask the sudden heaviness in her chest, “I’m d you cleared that up, and no, it doesn’t change anything. Anything else you wanted to say?”
“Nivera…”
“Goodbye, Liam,” she refused him to continue as she disconnected the call.
She sat there for a moment, staring at the phone in her hand, unsure whether the ache in her chest was lighter or heavier.
She’d just set the phone down when the door clicked open.
Alejandro stepped in like he owned the ce–well, he did.
His hair was slightly tousled, like he’d run his hand through it on the way upstairs, and a ss of whiskey was in his hand.
It made her wonder just how serious whatever Martins hade there to discuss was.
His eyes immediately caught hers, then flicked to the phone beside her.
“You were on a call?” It was, however, more of a statement than a question and she nodded.
“Who was that?” he asked casually, though there was a glint in his gaze that said casual was an act.
“My brother,” she replied.
He took a slow sip, studying her over the rim of the ss.
“Why did he call?”
“Not everything is a plot, Alejandro. Sometimes a phone call is just a phone call.”
“In my world,” he started, crossing the room toward her, “nothing is just anything.”
14:14 PM, 15 Aug
“So why did he call?”
“To apologize for what happened back at my parents‘ mansion.”
“Well, it’s a littlete for that if you ask me,” Alejandro remarked.
She didn’t move as he stopped in front of her, his gaze lingering on the damp strands of hair falling over her shoulder, “You’re warm,” he murmured, almost to himself.
“That’s what happens when someone takes a bath,” she said dryly.
He smirked faintly, then straightened. “Go get dressed. Dinner is ready.”
She frowned. “I’m not hungry.”
It was a habit of hers not to eat while she was actively working in order to avoid her gaining any bit of weight.
It was stupid, but that was just how she liked it.
“That wasn’t an invitation,” he dered, his tone soft but absolute.
And with that, he turned and walked out, leaving the faint scent of his cologne behind.
Nivera exhaled slowly, ncing back at her phone. The screen was ck now, but the echo of Liam’s voice was still in her head.
Liam sounded so sincere while he was apologizing, and she couldn’t help but pick up in his tone something that suggested he had a good
reason for not reaching out.
If he did, why was he holding himself back from saying it? Now that she thought about it, it was rather strange that Liam didn’t reach out to
her.
A frown appeared on her face as different questions began to pop into her head. And if there was one person that was good at finding out the answers to questions, it was Alejandro.
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