LOGINLIAM’S POV“I don’t know what to do mum” I said.And yes, I know that I was at work and supposed to be dealing with all the work that was held up in my absence, but here I was complaining to my mother.Shoot me.“What are you talking about son?” my mother asked and I ran a hand though my hair.“I don’t know mum it’s just Anika…”“Trouble in paradise?”“Not exactly, it’s just that it has been a week now since the incident that happened, and Anika is not acting the same anymore. She is so skittish and walks around with this permanent look of guilt on her face. Whenever I try to ask her about what the matter is, it is like she completely avoids me” I ran my hand through my hair.“I know that she is sad mum, I just wish she would tell me why.”What I did not add, even though it was pretty obvious was that the fact of not knowing was eating me alive from the inside out, because if I did not know, then I would not be able to fix it.My mum chuckled a bit “you really love this woman don’t yo
ANIKA’S POVThere was tension.And it made me feel uncomfortable because before all of this, Felicia was the closest person in the world to me, the one person on this planet earth that I could come to with anything.And I am sure it was the same for Liam.Jonathan was the closest person to Liam as well, and one person just managed to knock down the trust we had amongst ourselves with the snap of a finger. It hurt so much to think about it, and I just hoped that things would get better between us.I could not leave knowing things would be on sour terms.And now, the thought of what I was going to do was already breaking me into shreds.The silence in the room felt heavier than it should have. It settled over us like a thick blanket, making every breath feel difficult. I hated it. These were my people. The people who had become my family in every way that mattered. Yet somehow, we all looked like strangers who did not know how to find our way back to each other.We were sitting in the l
ANIKA’S POV“Please Simon, I know the deal that I made… I just need seven days with Liam, and once I am sure that he is alright, I will leave,” I said.My throat was burning as I spoke, every word scraping against it painfully. I caught the tears that threatened to leave my eyes with my fingers before they could fall.If Liam was to see me like this, then I could not explain why I was crying to him, and I could not handle lying to him any longer. Every lie felt heavier than the last, pressing against my chest until I could barely breathe.With every lie that came out of my mouth felt like another knife twisting deeper into my own heart.Simon burst out laughing like this was the funniest thing he had heard in a long time.“Doesn’t this give you déjà vu, Anika?” he asked, amusement dancing in his voice.“...”“I also asked you for seven days to win your heart. Now what are the odds?” He laughed even harder, clapping his hands as if he had just told the greatest joke in the world. "How
ANIKA’S POV“Simon they are hurting him!” I said again for the umpteenth time.I was way past hiding and keeping my voice low. None of that mattered anymore, not when there were literally five brute men on him, beating him like he was ordinary cattle.He glared at me. “Shut your mouth and stay put,” he said, still angling the camera in their direction.Simon had gotten a live confession from Bree when she was gloating, and that would be enough to prove Liam’s innocence, but other than that, it was like he actually derived some sort of sick pleasure from seeing Liam get hurt.It was the opposite for me.Every blow that landed on his body, it was like I was feeling it… twice as hard.“Simon…”“Anika, I know what you are thinking, wait,” he snapped, grabbing my wrists tightly with one of his hands.I was never going to wait that long anyway, but the second I saw Simon’s father pull out a gun and point it to Liam’s head, I lost all sense of common reasoning.I snatched my hand from Simon’
LIAM’S POVI laughed.Because there was nothing else that I actually could do.I knew that someone had it out for me, that much was obvious, but what I did not expect was for it to be him that had it out for me.Out of all people in this world, it just had to be Mr. Smith, Simon’s fucking father.What are the odds?“I helped you!” I spat. “You came to me when you were no less than a rat begging for scraps and I helped you.”That smug look on his face finally vanished completely and was replaced with a blazing fury.The next thing I knew, he raised his hand and backhanded me hard across the face.My head snapped to the side.The tangy taste of blood exploded in my mouth. I spat the blood onto the floor and smiled at him. My teeth were probably stained red from all of the blood and I probably looked like a madman.“Does that make you angry?” I asked.His hand wrapped tightly around my neck.“And tell me, whose fault is it that I no longer had the company, huh, you bastard?!” he screame
ANIKA’S POV“Here it is.”Simon dropped the divorce papers on my lap like I was something worthless, and not my entire life crashing apart right in front of me.I did not say a word to him, I just stared down at the divorce papers. The black ink blurred in front of my eyes. It felt like a ticking time bomb that was about to implode in my face at any second.It was like all of the promises we had made to each other, was just crumbled and reduced to a stack of paper.My fingers trembled as I reached out to touch it, only to quickly pull my hand away like it had burned me.I felt sick.Simon looked at me through the rear view mirror.“What?”He smirked.“You should cheer up. It is a good riddance in my opinion.”I ignored him.“When are we going to get Liam?” I asked instead.The deal was simple. I divorce Liam and he got Liam out of prison pronto. I was not in the mood for any of this extra chitchat. Not right now, and definitely not with him.Simon laughed.“With you it's always straig
SIMON’S POVDays passed in a blur.The more I drank and longed that once I opened my eyes at the start of each new day that somehow, I would see Anika back to me, with that sweet smile on her face.This time I would treat her right.But alas, each day when I woke up, all I got was heart ache and a
LIAM’S POV“Where is the cookies Liam?”I blinked back into reality when Ruby tapped me with that impatient look on her face…I had probably spaced out.“You better not be lying about the cookies” she said pointing her fingers at me sternly.I looked down at her “of course not Princess, in fact I’m
SIMON’S POVSleep had become a stranger to me.Not just that, I could not for the love of God get back to my routine… scratch that, I could not do anything no matter how much I tried.I could not sleep.I could not eat.Hell… I could not even breathe properly.It felt like my lungs forgot how to wo
BREE’S POVFinally she was gone.Dead, out of this world, never to return again to ruin things for me.For four years, I had watched as Anika stole Simon from me. I had a crush on him first, he was supposed to marry me, but Anika just had to swoop in before I had the chance and play that stupid fuc







