All Chapters of STEP ASIDE EX-HUSBAND: THE RISE OF LIANA: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

Dominic's Pov The air was thick with unsaid things. After Marc left my penthouse, his tension remained in the room like fog after gunfire. I was at the window staring over the city. I'd built this skyline in my head all those years ago, before I ever cut it from glass and stone. But now I could feel it being taken from me, grains of control slipping through fingers that used to crush like fists.Elia Torres was no longer a name. She was a silhouette on the floor, a sanitized file that didn't ring true, a ghost we inhaled and buried to protect what? Margins? Investors?No. Marc was withholding something I knew him well enough. The stutter, the twitch in his left eye, the bumbling laugh… facades. Which meant I needed someone who wasn't lying or hiding something. I picked up my phone and sent a coded message to Alejandro. "Meet me at my house, don't let Marc know about this meeting, it's private. "In a matter of minutes, he sent a lone dot. I interpreted that as confirmation that he g

LIANA'S POVI lingered there, staring at my phone screen for too long. My thumbs hovered over Stanley's name as if touching it would make him vanish. I didn't know what scared me more, the thought that he would not pick up, or that he would but after the conversation with mum, I was convinced I needed to talk to him. Finally, I pressed the call button.It rang once and then it kept ringing but no answer came. My heart was pounding as I dialed it again. "Hello?" His voice was deep and groggy.For a moment, I was paralysed. My mouth opened but nothing came out. That voice, Lord,it was like a pull to everything I wanted to disown and everything I secretly desired."Are you there?" he asked, soft, hesitating.I swallowed. "Yeah. I'm here."There was a pause. Then his voice returned, panicked and on the verge of being out of breath. "I'm… I can’t believe you phoned. I mean, I'm so grateful you phoned.""Hold on," I said, trying to stop my voice from trembling. "Don't be thankful yet.""

LIANA'S POVI stood at my home office window, my fingers casually slung over the rim of my telephone. The sun was bleeding into the late afternoon horizon, leaving long streaks of gold in the sky, but I barely noticed. My mind had been racing since Stanley and I parted ways at the restaurant the night before. The subjects that we had discussed… the dangers we had skirted around… it all rubbed at my nerves with a tenacity that I could not dispel.Stanley had said that Dominic might be watching him. And if Dominic was suspicious of Stanley, it wasn't far fetched that I might be quietly watched as well, maybe Serena was watched too. The thought sent shivers down my spine. I jut wanted to be done and over with this Dominic scandal and move back to my normal life. I picked up my phone and glanced at my messages. Sifting through the calls I had left unanswered and the half dozen random emails, I saw Serena's number. My thumb lingered for a moment on the screen. She was a major part of this

LIANA'S POVThe Palmetto District gallery loft was cooler than I remembered. High ceilings and blanched cement floors provided an unfinished atmosphere, and the sunlight filtering through tall windows created soft golden stripes across the room. I rested my shoulder against the tall window, arms folded, jacket tight around me as minutes crept toward ten.This room was once used to showcase exhibits and silent auctions. Today, it provided the backdrop for something much more rambunctious.I glanced at my watch. 9:58 a.m.Footsteps came up behind me, light and sure. I did not need to turn around. "You got there first," Serena breathed.I looked over my shoulder, and there she was, unfazed and sharp eyed, in a blue coat with her hair tucked back tightly. She had the look of someone who had nothing to lose and everything to fight for. A woman who'd stopped waiting for someone else to give her closure."Didn't sleep much," I said."Who does anymore?" She flashed me a tired but real smile.

LIANA'S POVThe living room was the only bright space in the dark house, and that was because the glow of the laptop lighted it up. I stood beside the couch on the edge with stiff shoulders, the torn section of the guest register sitting on my keyboard like a smoking gun. That page had become stuck in my head, rolling over endless questions without answers. I didn't even need to look at it to see it.I had not touched my dinner, neither had I taken off my work clothes. My heels were half-kicked off, as I paced between the window and the coffee table.The doorbell rang, and I startled. It was quite late for visitors and I really wasn't in the mood for any. I crept hesitantly to the door, cautiously, then looked through the peephole.Standing on the front pouch is black a sweatshirt and slacks was Stanley. I signed softly and opened the door without speaking.He stretched out a little brown bag. "Brought takeout. Considering who I was coming to visit, I figured you hadn't eaten."He was