Lambasted

Chapter Twenty Four

The morning sunlight felt sharper than it had the day before, like knives slipping through the tall glass windows. I blinked against the brightness, my head still heavy from the storm of words that had spilled out last night. My chest ached with the memory, and for a moment I thought I might have dreamed it all. Liam’s face. His steady voice. That impossible suggestion. Marry me.

But the ache in my chest told me it had been real.

I pushed the sheets away and rose from the bed, my legs trembling as though even standing demanded too much strength. The penthouse felt too large, too quiet, and the silence pressed against me with an almost physical weight. I wanted to run, to disappear, but my body moved slowly, as though caught in invisible chains.

The phone on the nightstand lit up, its screen flashing with alerts. At first, I ignored it. I did not want to know. I did not want to see. But curiosity, cruel and relentless, pulled me toward it. My fingers curled around the device, and with a single swipe the headlines bloomed before my eyes.

And I broke all over again.

Gold Digger or Mistress? Socialite’s New Life Sparks Outrage.

From Divorce to Disaster: Ava Reynolds Clings to Another Powerful Man.

Once a Wife, Now a Trophy? The Fall of Daniel’s Ex.

Each headline pierced through me, sharper than Elizabeth’s insults, colder than Daniel’s laughter. They had not just captured photographs from last night. They had captured me in Liam’s arms, his hand hooked tightly around me as if I belonged to him. Every image screamed possession, scandal, disgrace.

The comments beneath the articles were worse. Ruthless words typed out by strangers who had never met me, yet believed they had the right to shred me apart.

“She is nothing but a social climber.”

“Of course she would find another man to pay her bills.”

“Pathetic. No shame at all.”

My chest squeezed so tightly that for a moment I could not breathe. I pressed the phone against my thigh, my hand shaking. My heart beat so fast it felt like it might burst free.

The walls seemed to close in around me. No matter where I went, no matter how quiet I tried to stay, the world followed me with claws. Every step forward was met with another blow, another headline, another stranger’s cruel judgment.

I sank down on the edge of the bed, my head in my hands. My body shook with the effort of trying not to cry. But the tears came anyway, spilling hot and relentless down my cheeks.

A knock at the door startled me. I wiped at my face quickly, forcing my voice to steady. “Yes?”

The door opened slowly, and Liam stepped in. He was dressed already, his suit sharp, his tie perfectly in place. He carried a newspaper in his hand, folded but unmistakable. His eyes found me immediately, reading me as though every thought I tried to hide was written across my skin.

“You saw it,” he said, not as a question but as a statement.

I nodded, unable to find words.

He placed the newspaper on the table beside the bed. “It will pass.”

I let out a hollow laugh. “It never passes. It only grows worse. Every mistake, every rumor, it multiplies until there is nothing left of me.”

Liam’s gaze sharpened, but his voice remained calm. “Then stop letting them destroy you.”

I looked up at him, my face wet, my chest aching. “And how do I do that? Tell me, Liam. How does someone like me survive this?”

His silence was heavier than his words. He walked closer, his steps steady, deliberate, until he stood only a breath away. His eyes held mine, unflinching, unshaken.

“Marry me,” he said again, the same words that had haunted me all night.

The air between us grew tight, heavy, almost unbearable. My breath caught in my throat. “You cannot keep saying that as if it is so simple.”

“It is simple,” he replied. His voice was quiet but firm, the sound of a man who did not bend. “You need protection. I need freedom. Together, we silence them all.”

I shook my head, forcing a weak laugh that broke halfway. “You make it sound like a business deal. A trade.”

“That is exactly what it is,” he said. “A contract. You protect me from my family’s pressure, and I protect you from theirs. Call it what you want, Ava. Marriage. Alliance. Deal. But it is survival.”

The word survival clung to me, sharp and suffocating.

I thought of the headlines still flashing on my phone. I thought of Elizabeth’s triumphant smirk, of Daniel’s eyes filled with cruel delight. I thought of the whispers that followed me into every room, the stares that burned holes in my back, the names that clung to me like shackles.

Was this what survival meant now? Compromise? Sacrificing the last pieces of myself for some fragile kind of safety?

My lips parted, but no words came. I wanted to scream, to argue, to tell him that I would not trade my freedom for a cage, even if that cage had golden bars. But the truth clawed its way into my chest. I did not have freedom anymore. The world had taken it. Piece by piece, it had stripped me bare, until all that remained was a shell.

“You cannot mean this,” I whispered finally. “You cannot truly want this.”

Liam’s jaw tightened, but his eyes never wavered. “I do. Do you think I would repeat it if I did not?”

I shook my head again, though the strength behind it faltered. “What about love? What about the truth of what marriage is supposed to be?”

His gaze softened, but only slightly. “Love does not shield you from the world. Power does. My name does. My presence does. What I am offering you is protection, not poetry.”

The words stung, raw and merciless. I wanted to despise him for them. And yet, a darker part of me wanted to cling to them. Because maybe he was right. Maybe I had been chasing ideals that no longer belonged to me.

The tears burned again, my voice breaking as I spoke. “And what happens when people say I only married you for your money, for your power? That I used you?”

“They already say that now,” he replied, his tone steady. “The difference is, if we marry, their words have no weight. They can call you what they like, but you will stand untouchable beside me. No one will dare to push you again. Not Elizabeth. Not Daniel. Not anyone.”

The sound of their names felt like salt in an open wound. I closed my eyes, my body trembling, my mind spinning in endless circles. Every word he spoke chipped away at the walls I had built.

When I opened my eyes again, Liam was still watching me. Waiting. Patient. Determined.

“I do not know if I can do this,” I admitted, my voice shaking. “I do not know if I can give up whatever little I have left of myself.”

He stepped closer, close enough that I felt his presence surround me, close enough that his voice brushed against my skin. “Ava,” he said softly, almost gently now. “You will not lose yourself. You will find a new way to exist. Stronger. Safer. And no one will touch you again.”

The silence stretched long, heavy, suffocating. The headlines burned in my mind, the whispers echoing like ghosts. My heart screamed to run, to refuse, to hold on to what little dignity I thought I still had. But my body trembled with another truth.

Survival had a cost. And I was running out of choices.

I turned away, unable to meet his gaze any longer. My voice cracked, small and fragile, as I whispered the only truth I could manage. “I need time.”

Liam did not push. He did not argue. He simply inclined his head, his voice calm but resolute. “Take it. But know this, Ava. The world will not wait. And neither will they.”

The meaning was clear. The clock was already ticking.

And for the first time, I wondered if compromise might be the only path left to me.