CHAPTER ONE ****Liana Pov****I never planned to set foot in the Reid estate again.If grief had a smell, it would be lilies. Sweet, suffocating, and impossible to escape. The scent hit me the second the doors opened, flooding my lungs and dragging memories I thought I buried years ago back to the surface.The wake was quiet, too quiet. People murmured in dim clusters under chandelier light, wind sighing through tall arched windows, the kind of silence that feels like it’s listening. Black suits. Black dresses. Black coffee. Everyone carefully choosing their words, as if speaking too loudly might disturb the dead.I stood just inside the threshold, coat still buttoned, fingers curled tightly around the strap of my bag. I had rehearsed this moment in my head a thousand times. I told myself I’d be composed. Civil. Detached.Then I saw Damien.And every useful thought evaporated.He stood beside Elise’s casket like something carved from stone. His shoulders were broader than I remembere

Last Updated : 2025-12-05

CHAPTER TWO ****Liana Pov****I didn’t sleep.I stared at the ceiling of the hotel room until morning light bled weakly through the curtains, grey and exhausted, much like me. My mind kept replaying the last few hours — the wake, Ava’s trembling voice, Damien’s eyes when he saw me.Grief does strange things. It blurs logic and amplifies memory. It brings back ghosts you thought you buried for good.At six in the morning, I gave up on pretending I could rest. I showered, letting hot water scald my skin, as if it could scrub away the scent of lilies and regret that clung to me.When I stepped out, I checked my phone. Bad idea.13 missed calls.9 messages.All from work.And one unknown number.I opened the first message.> Ethan: Heard you didn’t go home last night. Let me drive you to the firm today, okay?The second:> Ethan: Don’t ignore me, Torres. I need to know you’re alright.I couldn’t decide if his concern made me grateful or irritated.Ethan Ward isn’t loud with his feelings.

Last Updated : 2025-12-05

CHAPTER THREE****Liana Pov****Silence can be louder than gunfire.That’s what I learned in the car.Ethan drove, hands steady on the wheel, jaw clenched tight. Damien sat in the backseat behind me, his presence a dark gravitational pull I could feel without seeing.Three hearts, three breaths, one suffocating space.I looked out the window just to avoid looking at either of them. The city blurred by — glass towers, coffee shops, the rusted skeleton of an old bridge. The world continued like nothing had broken.Ava had lost her mother.Damien had lost his wife.And I had been dragged back into a story I tried so hard to end.“Traffic’s lighter today,” Ethan said, voice controlled, too careful.Damien didn’t respond.I glanced at him through the mirror accidentally. He was watching me — not the road, not Ethan, not his phone. Just… me.Like he was memorizing the shape of my silence.I looked away fast.Ethan noticed. Of course he did.“Capeview funeral home?” Ethan asked.“Yes,” Damie

Last Updated : 2025-12-05

CHAPTER 4 ****Liana****I woke up before the sun did, long before my alarm had any intention of saving me from my thoughts. The city was quiet, a dark gray against the windows, still sleeping while my mind replayed the same scene over and over: Damien’s eyes in the hallway, that fleeting moment of recognition that hit like something I wasn’t ready to feel again.I sat up, ran a hand through my hair, and forced myself to breathe.It was over. The funeral was over. I had done what I came to do.Now I could disappear again.At least, that’s what I told myself as I sat on the edge of the bed, elbows on my knees, forcing myself not to check my phone. I barely slept; every time I closed my eyes, I saw Elise’s face. Not the woman in the hospital bed. Not the body lowered into the ground. I saw her the night she dragged me to that bar — the glow in her eyes, the excitement, the way she leaned into Damien’s arm like she never feared a thing in her life.And I did what I always did: I stepped

Last Updated : 2025-12-05

All Chapters of A Man in Distress: Chapter 1 - Chapter 4

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