Beneath The Billionaire’s Mask

Amy Hawkes barely heard the front door click shut behind her, her mind very much distracted by the noisy and crazy circular flow of thoughts that kept hammering at her.

The smell of rain clung to her coat as she tossed it onto the chair by the door, the fabric heavy with the weight of the afternoon storm.

She had barely stepped into the apartment when she saw it.. a small, neatly folded envelope on the kitchen counter.

It looked out of place, resting in the center of the black marble like a symbol of something that didn't belong.

She frowned, setting her bag down with a sense of predicting something bad.

Her eyes scanned the quiet room, the silence pressing in, heavy and stubborn.

The once-a-year dinner.. their first wedding anniversary.. that had been planned for tonight.. the meal she'd spent weeks organizing.. seemed a world away from the chilled emptiness that now filled the apartment.

Liam hadn't been home when she arrived. Not that it was unusual. He'd been distant lately, but she told herself it was just the stress from work.

But now, as she stood there, her pulse quickening, her look kept returning to the envelope.

Her fingers shook with fear and emotion as she reached for it.

The smooth paper slid easily from its place, the handwritten address on the front absolutely clear: For Amy. Her name, written in Liam's familiar script.

The envelope felt heavier than it should have, as if it held more than just paper.

Slowly, she tore the top open, the sound of it too loud in the silence.

Inside, a single sheet of paper lay flat against the inside of the envelope.

She unfolded it carefully, almost carefully, like fearing the letter would burn her fingers the moment she read it.

But it wasn't the paper that burned her. It was the words.

Amy,

I've always cared about you, but I don't know how to say this any other way. I think it's time we end this. You've known for a while that our marriage was never what it seemed. I know this will hurt you, but we both need to move on. You deserve more than this. You deserve someone who can give you everything.

This is the end of our marriage.

Liam.

The words blurred before her eyes, and the paper shook in her hand as her mind struggled to understand what she was reading.

No. No. It couldn't be true.

Her heart pounded in her chest as she read the letter again. And again. Each time, the words didn't change.

The letter was short, cold, and completely without feeling of love, hate, guilt, etc.

The man she had married.. her husband, her partner in this life.. had ended it with a few lines of text on a piece of paper, left showing little concern in a relaxed way on the counter like an overdue bill.

Her stomach twisted into a knot as the world tilted beneath her feet.

The pain was sharp, sudden, and constant. She held in hand the letter to her chest, her breath coming fast and shallow.

Liam had never been the type to open up, but this.. this was a final blow, delivered without warning.

She spun on her heels, her breath coming in sudden, short breaths in as she ran down the hallway toward their bedroom, her mind screaming for answers.

As soon as she opened the door, she saw him.. Liam, standing by the window with his back to her, staring out over the city, his profile lit by the fading light of the stormy evening.

"Liam?" Her voice shook emotion even though she did not want to.

He didn't turn to face her, didn't even move because of pain at the sound of her voice.

He just stood there, his broad shoulders slumped under the weight of something she couldn't see.

"Amy, I... we need to talk."

Her blood ran cold. That tone.. distant, detached.. wasn't the Liam she knew. He was never like this. They'd fought before, sure, but never like this. Never so... quit.

"I already know what we need to talk about," she said, her voice shaking with a mixture of anger and hurt. "You've made it perfectly clear."

She held up the letter, her hand shaking (with fear or emotion).

He didn't react at first, but she could see the tension in his way of standing, the way his muscles tightened.

"Amy," he began, his voice soft but firm, "this marriage.. it was always a contract. It was a business deal, not a love story." He turned slowly, his eyes locking onto hers for the first time. "Our families.. my father, your father.. they made sure this was never about us. We were both caught in it."

The words hit her like a punch to the gut. Her breath caught in her throat, and for a moment, the world around her seemed to fall away.

She tripped while walking back, holding in hand the letter tighter.

"What do you mean?" She couldn't even recognize her own voice, the way it cracked with shock/not believing. "What are you saying? You.. we.. this... it wasn't real?"

Liam's look softened, a look of something almost like pity crossing his features.

He took a step toward her, but she took a step back, shaking her head desperately.

She wanted to scream. Wanted to demand the truth from him.

"You knew, Amy. You had to know," he continued, his voice low and full of apologies. "Our families arranged this. We were supposed to marry to save your father's company, not because we were in love."

Her chest tightened with the force of the words, her mind trying to make sense of them.

She blinked quickly, as if to clear the fog that had moved downward/originated on her.

She could feel her body shaking as the reality of what he was saying began to sink in. Everything they'd built together, everything she had believed in, was a lie.

"And you just... let me believe that this was real?" Her voice was barely a whisper now, raw with the sting of betrayal. "All this time, you let me think you loved me?"

Liam's eyes flickered with something unreadable, but his expression remained guarded. "I did what I had to do. You were never meant to know."

Amy's knees went weak, and she sank onto the edge of their bed, her hands holding in hand the fabric of the letter so tightly it began to tear.

The truth, as ugly and cold as it was, hung in the air between them like an invisible force.

She couldn't breathe. She couldn't think.

The weight of the moment pressed down on her chest, and for a few seconds, she simply stared at him, the man she had loved with everything she had, her heart raw and exposed.

"I'm sorry, Amy," Liam said quietly, almost too softly. "I really am. But we both need to move on now. It's time."

Her mind raced, but the one thought that cut through everything else was this: Liam wasn't the man she thought he was.

Her hands shook as she stood up suddenly, the room spinning as her mind tried to keep up with the reality crashing down around her.

She felt like an outsider in her own life, an unwilling person who was part of a study, etc. in a game she never even knew she was playing.

And then, as she turned to leave the room, the phone on the nightstand buzzed, breaking the silence with a cold vibration.

Amy paused, looking down at the screen.

It was a message from her father's lawyer.

The message simply read: Call me when you see this, it's important.

Amy's heart skipped a beat. She turned back to Liam, her mouth dry. She wanted to scream at him.

But instead, she whispered, "What else aren't you telling me?"