Chapter Five:Crossing The Line
720 Words
Emily’s POV
For a few seconds, none of us said anything. Liam just stared at the papers in my hand like he was still processing it.
Then he moved quickly and took the file from me.
“Where did you find this?” he asked
His voice was sharp. Not angry, just tense.
“It was in the cabinet”
Liam didn’t look comfortable when his eyes met mine. He shut the file and held it to his side firmly.
“You shouldn’t be going through files that don’t concern you”
That annoyed me a little considering he was the one that sent me here.
“I wasn’t trying to, I just saw my mum’s name” I defended
He stayed quiet.
I folded my arms slightly
“What does any of this mean?”
His jaw tightened and he looked away.
And suddenly all those weird moments from the past few days came rushing back.
My mum's phone call.
Richard’s warning.
Liam exhaled and ran his hand through his hair.
“You should get back to work”
That was it.
No explanation. Nothing.
He walked away, leaving me standing there feeling confused and irritated. This just raised even more questions.
The rest of the day felt off after that and even when I tried to focus, I couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to it.
Why did Liam look so shocked? I had never seen him lose composure before…not even slightly.
What was that file about? What does my mum have to do with all this? And who was this David with our surname?
Around evening the elevator opened and the office atmosphere changed.
Richard Ashford.
The entire office went quiet.
Richard walked straight into Liam’s office without a word. The door shut behind him.
I could see them talking through the glass windows and everything looked normal…till it didn’t.
Richard looked angry. Liam looked exhausted. Then Richard slammed something on the table.
I felt it. The sound echoed through the office.
No one reacted much which made things worse. Did this happen often enough to feel normal now?
Richard walked out looking angry. I wanted to go crawl into my seat because with everything the last thing i could do was make eye contact.
Liam sat still for a minute before he stood up to shut his blinds.
Definitely not normal. I wonder what that was honestly about. Is this somehow still related to the file I found?
Hours later most people had already gone home and I still had a ton of email to answer so I continued working.
At some point I looked towards Liam’s office and the lights were off.
He probably left early.
My neck and back started to hurt from sitting for so long.
I stood up stretching slightly to ease the pain.Then I heard movement behind me and I turned quickly.
Liam was still here.
The top buttons of his shirt were undone and his sleeves were rolled up a little.
His eyes looked heavy. And tired. The type of tiredness that settled on someone’s face. There was a faint smell of alcohol that caught my attention.
“I didn’t know you were here” I admitted quietly
“I could say the same”
His voice sounded rougher than usual.
For a moment none of us said anything and it felt strange seeing him like this. Not rushing between meetings or correcting someone’s work. Just standing there.
He started walking closer. Slowly.
This was wrong. He is my boss and he is Liam. Isabelle’s Liam. Or at least he used to be.
I should’ve stepped back. But standing this close to him made thinking really hard.
His eyes held mine for a second longer than they should have. Then he stopped close enough to see the exhaustion on his face. Close enough that thinking of what to say became hard.
Then suddenly my phone rang loudly between us. I looked down quickly.
Isabelle Calling.
Liam’s expression changed immediately and he reached past me and grabbed a file from the shelf behind me.
“Oh” I said as heat rushed to my face
“You should answer that”
His voice sounded normal. Like nothing had happened.
Then he walked away, leaving me standing there feeling ridiculous.
- Writer
