The morning sun slanted through the curtains, gilding the dust motes that floated lazily in the air of the penthouse. Liam sat at the dining table, a mug of black coffee cooling between his hands. The world outside was alive with the people going fir their business concerns. Yet Liam’s world had grown unbearably heavy, the silence inside his chest echoing with everything left unsaid.
He hadn’t spoken much since the confrontation with Ava’s father. The cruel words replayed in his mind: You will never be one of us. You were never meant to sit at our table. Words that left bruises no hand could touch. He tried to drown them with long hours at work, sweat dripping, muscles aching, but every night when he lay down, they returned—sharp and unrelenting. Everyone had accepted him and his fortune
