Chapter 5
935 Words
Liana sat at the head of the boardroom table, surrounded by a dozen pairs of eyes waiting for her to speak. The quarterly pitch meeting buzzed with energy, charts and slides projected across the screen, but her mind was a thousand miles away.
Ezra’s message echoed in her head like a steady drumbeat: You need to choose, Liana. Before we all lose.
And Roman’s: I’ll wait. However long it takes. Just don’t shut me out again.
She clenched her hands in her lap, nails digging into her palm. No matter how many numbers were thrown at her, no matter how many presentations she pretended to listen to, all she could think about was the war she had accidentally ignited between two men—one she could see a future with, and one she had never fully let go of.
“Liana?” someone called. “Your thoughts on the Sanchez merger?”
She blinked, trying to focus. “Right. Sorry,” she said, forcing a smile. “Let’s circle back to that after lunch. I’d like to review the numbers again before we finalize anything.”
Her assistant Cara gave her a side glance—quiet, concerned.
As the room emptied out, Liana stood up too quickly and almost knocked over her coffee. She grabbed her phone and walked out, heels clicking urgently on the polished floors.
She didn’t go to her office. She didn’t go to lunch. She went to the rooftop.
The wind greeted her like an old friend—cool, chaotic, and unfiltered. The city stretched beneath her like a map of every wrong turn she had ever taken. And she was tired. So damn tired of pretending she wasn’t shattered beneath the layers of ambition and armor.
She took out her phone.
Two unsent drafts sat there. One to Ezra. One to Roman.
But neither felt right. Not yet.
Instead, she dialed someone she hadn’t spoken to in a long time.
Her mother.
“Liana?” the voice came, warm but hesitant.
“Hi, Mom,” she said, her voice cracking a little. “Do you have a minute?”
There was a pause, then, “Always.”
Liana sat down on a bench and stared out at the skyline. “Do you remember when Dad’s company collapsed?”
Her mother was quiet. “Of course.”
“I used to think it just… happened. That failure came like lightning, fast and cruel. But now I know that people are behind every fall. Every betrayal.”
“I know what Roman did,” her mother said gently. “But I also know you loved him.”
“I still do,” Liana admitted, barely above a whisper.
Silence.
“And Ezra?” her mom asked carefully.
“He’s safe. He’s kind. He sees me now—without the cracks. Without the baggage.”
“And Roman?”
“He sees the cracks. He caused some of them. But he sees the whole me. And somehow… he still wants me.”
Her mother sighed. “Then the question isn’t who you love more. It’s who helps you love yourself better.”
That landed like a stone in her chest.
“I don’t know the answer yet,” Liana admitted.
“Then don’t rush to give one. The right man won’t make you choose with a ticking clock. The right man will choose to stay even when you’re still searching.”
Liana swallowed, her eyes blurring. “Thanks, Mom.”
After they hung up, Liana sat still for a long time. She knew what she had to do.
She walked back into the building with purpose, made a beeline to her office, and typed two messages.
First to Ezra:
“I need time. If you can give me that, I promise to give you honesty. Not convenient. I care about you—more than you know. But I can’t love under pressure.”
Then to Roman:
“You can’t wait forever. And I can’t give you everything until I figure out who I am without you. If you truly mean it this time, prove it—not with words, but with time.”
She hit send.
Then she exhaled, fully, for the first time in what felt like weeks.
Behind her, the door opened.
It was Cara again. “There’s someone here to see you.”
“Who?”
But before Cara could answer, Roman stepped through the doorway.
He looked at her, not like a predator, not like a man trying to win. Just a man trying to *stay*.
“I got your message,” he said quietly.
Liana stood, unsure if she was relieved or afraid.
“I won’t push,” he added. “But I need you to know something.”
“What?”
“I didn’t just destroy your father’s company,” he said, voice trembling now. “I destroyed my own in the process. I betrayed people I cared about. I sold my soul for revenge I thought would make me feel powerful. But it only made me hollow.”
Liana’s breath caught.
“I don’t want power anymore, Liana,” he whispered. “I want peace. And you… you’ve always been my only shot at it.”
She looked at him, heart pounding.
And for the first time, she didn’t say anything.
Because some truths didn’t need immediate answers.
Some choices took time to heal before they could be made.
But as she met his eyes, one thing was certain:
The fire between them was still burning.
And it would either save her…
Or consume her whole.
- Writer
