All Chapters of STEP ASIDE EX-HUSBAND: THE RISE OF LIANA: Chapter 121 - Chapter 130

Stanley's POVThe house was still, but the stillness here was not peaceful. It was quiet with substance, weighing heavily on the walls, thinning the air like a rope that could cut at a single pull. Liana leaned beside Serena on the couch, knees bent toward her, with that soft, deliberate voice she reserved for certain people. Her tone had an edge that was enough to remind you that she was not the kind of woman who cracked under stress.Serena's skin was white, her eyes darkened from too many nights without proper sleep. Her hands tugged at the string on her hoodie, tightening knots in it tighter and tighter, as if she could pull so hard that she would untangle the entire mess. This was a habit for her that I had noticed over the past weeks. I stood at the back of the room, somewhat hidden in the dim lighting. My back was slightly turned against them because distance allowed me to see more. I didn't want them worrying about how this conversation would go. From where I stood staring a

Stanley's POVI was sitting by the counter when Nolan called to let me know he was on the porch. He voice sounded smooth and even like he had everything under control, but there was a heaviness behind it that propelled me faster than I should have reacted. I opened the door and saw him with his bag on his shoulder. His eyes were clear, scanning, like he was already warned up, but he smiled at me briefly."Thanks for dropping by," I said, stepping aside to let him in."No problem. Let's get through what she left us," he said. His voice was low but there wasn't anything quiet about it. He sounded ready to work.He walked straight up to the table and dropped the bag on the wood. He opened it up and started to remove things. A laptop, wire coiled tidily, small gadgets that looked ordinary but I could tell they weren't. They were handled with care, laid out in an order, like the tools of a surgeon getting ready for an operation.I was standing there, hands in pockets. My chest tight."You

I stared at the phone in my hand for a long time before I pressed the button to call Mason. My fingers shook even though I tried to steady them, the tremor betraying me no matter how tightly I curled the hands around the device. The room was quiet except for the sound of my own breathing, sharp and shallow, as if every inhale risked breaking the silence.Stanley and Serena were a few feet away, keeping their voices low as they whispered with Nolan, who was still working at the system with his relentless focus. Their movements were muted, blurred at the edges of my vision, like figures trapped in glass. All I could hear, all I could truly feel, was the weight of the decision in my hand.The screen lit against my skin. My thumb hovered over the green icon, trembling. I told myself I was ready, that I could handle this, that I had to. But the truth was, I was terrified.What if Dominic already knew what Mason had done for us in the past? What if this call was the last one I would ever ma

Liana's PovIt had been three torturous days since I'd last heard from Mason. Three week long days, each of them filled with silence. I comforted myself that he was fine. I told myself that if anything was amiss, I would know. But the truth was that each ring of my phone twisted my stomach into a knot. Each whispered moment when the screen stayed black made me worry more.That evening, as I was curled up on the couch in the living room, my phone buzzed in my lap. My heart skipped even before I went to grab it.The message was from an unknown number.It's me. Mason.I held my breath. My hand trembled as I shove the phone further into my hand, scanning the next line with desperate eyes. I'm fine. I had to ditch my number. Dominic almost got me, had to dump the phone. I put a hand on my chest. My heart was thumping so hard it ached. For a moment I just sat there, paralyzed, unable to breathe, unable to think past the blinding tide of relief. He was alive. He was safe.I sent out respon

Liana's PovEveryone was gathered in my Z core office. The tension was palpable from the moment we all sat and the round table looked too small to handle what we were about to discuss. Stanley sat beside me, near enough that I could feel his arm brush against mine from time to time. Serena sat quietly, her hands folded in her lap, her face white but calm. My mother sat across from us, and the attorneys spread papers out in front of them, their glasses glinting in the light from above.Finally, Walter cleared his throat. "I know this is intimidating, Liana," he said gently, his voice carrying the kind of weight you could not ignore. "But I want you to remember that truth has a way of always emerging. What you are doing here is not only for you but for your daughter."I nodded in spite of the constriction in my throat."We've been through everything," another lawyer said as he tapped the papers. "The only missing link is evidence directly connected to Elia Torres. We also know he hit Se