Sophia didn't know why she hadn't left the balcony yet. Perhaps it was the night air, or the strange shift in the tension between them, but she couldn't bring herself to walk away from Liam just yet. He stood there beside her, his usual arrogance tempered by an unusual quietness that unsettled her more than she cared to admit.
"I don't need your pity," she said, her voice sharper than she intended. She couldn't afford to be weak, not now, not when he might see something in her that she refused to acknowledge.
Liam's eyes softened, just for a moment, before he masked it with his signature smirk. "I'm not offering pity, Sophia. I'm offering something... more complicated." He leaned against the railing, his gaze drifting to the horizon. "You're not the only one trapped here. This marriage was a business deal for both of us. But there's more to it, isn't there?"
She looked away, unwilling to let him see how much his words affected her. She was playing a game, and she couldn't let him get inside her head. "I don't know what you're talking about," she muttered.
"Oh, I think you do," he replied, his voice low and steady. "You're smart, but even you can't ignore the pull between us. All the hate, all the fights—it's just a cover, a way to keep the truth from surfacing."
Sophia's heart raced, but she refused to let him see it. "You're delusional."
"I'm not." Liam's tone was certain, almost... gentle. "The longer we keep pretending, the harder it's going to be to deny it."
She swallowed hard. The last thing she needed was to admit that, somewhere deep down, he might be right.
"Don't mistake this for something it's not, Liam," she said, her voice hoarse.
He didn't respond, but his eyes held a challenge she wasn't sure she was ready to face.