The Heir I shouldn't wantUpdated at Mar 24, 2026, 17:26
You’ve been avoiding me.”Hazel didn’t look up. “I work in a different floor.”A soft sound behind her. Not quite a laugh.“Do you?” Liam asked. “Because somehow, you keep ending up exactly where I am.”Her grip tightened on the folder in her hands. “That’s not intentional.”“No,” he said quietly. “Nothing about you ever is.”She turned then, forcing steadiness into her voice. “If this is about work, you can speak to my supervisor.”“It’s not.”The air shifted.Liam stepped closer, slow, deliberate—like he had already decided she wouldn’t leave.“You were warned,” he continued. “About staying away from us.”“I remember.”“And yet,” his gaze dropped briefly, then returned to her face, sharper now, “you didn’t listen.”“I did,” Hazel said. “I’m doing as much as I possibly can working in the same building.”Silence.Heavy.Unsettling.Something dark flickered in his expression—not anger, not quite.Something worse.“I don’t think you understand,” Liam said softly.Another step closer.“You don’t get to decide that.”Her pulse stumbled. “I do.”His voice lowered, almost intimate.“Then why,” he murmured, “haven’t you walked away?”“You knew,” Hazel said, her voice quieter than she intended. “You knew what he did.”Liam didn’t deny it.“I know everything that concerns me.”Her breath caught. “I’m not something that concerns you.”His gaze held hers—steady, unhurried, certain.“You were,” he said. “The moment he let you go.”The words landed harder than they should have.“I’m not yours to claim just because he walked away.”“No,” Liam agreed softly.Then he stepped closer.Close enough that she felt the shift in air, the quiet pressure of his presence closing in without touch.“Not because he walked away,” he corrected. “Because I decided you were worth noticing.”Hazel’s pulse stumbled, but she didn’t move.“That’s not your decision to make.”A pause.Then, almost thoughtful—“It already is.”Her fingers tightened at her sides. “I won’t be passed between brothers like—”“You won’t,” Liam cut in, calm, final.His voice dropped, quieter now. More dangerous.“I don’t take what’s offered,” he said.His eyes didn’t leave hers.“I take what I intend to keep.”