No longer the safe

When I got home, not my father’s place but the one I share with Liam. The streetlight outside flickered, casting long shadows across the hallway as I twisted the doorknob. My heart was still unsettled from everything that had happened tonight. I opened the door and Liam was standing in the middle of the living room. His face darkened as he stared into my eyes.

His posture was rigid, fists clenched at his sides. The air between us was tense, thick with the unsaid, and charged with something that made my pulse spike.

At that moment, a sound of footsteps came from upstairs. Delicate, soft, and slow like someone who wanted to be noticed. I looked up and saw Tessa coming down the stairs in my nightgown. My nightgown. The one with lace trim I had folded neatly in the drawer that morning. She wiped the dew from her hair with a towel and smiled at me.

"I hope you don't mind me using your bathroom, as we best friends" Tessa said as she sauntered down the stairs towards me.

Her confidence was nauseating. She wasn’t embarrassed, no, she was proud, glowing like she belonged here.

"Of course, I don't mind! I hope you didn't use more of my belongs!" I sneered at her, while she pretended to widen her eyes naively. The hypocrisy of her performance nearly made me laugh. As if innocence could be worn like a mask and not peel off at the edges.

"What? What are you talking about, my best friend?"

Best friend. The words dripped with venom disguised as honey.

I ignored her and went into the kitchen to get a cold soda. I needed water!

The fridge door creaked open. The chilled air bit at my skin, a stark contrast to the heat boiling beneath it. I needed the cold anything to keep myself from exploding.

"Why did you come home so late?" Liam's voice was distinctly angry. There it was. Accusation. Deflection. His anger wasn’t about my lateness, it was about getting caught.

"Why are you together?" I said and took a big gulp of cold soda water. It was so cold!

The icy bubbles burned my throat on the way down, grounding me just enough to stay calm.

Liam was stunned for a few seconds. He stole a glance at Tessa, who was drying her hair. He thought I hadn't noticed his little gestures. He said with a straight face, "There was a terrible fight in our city and I saw Tessa on the way home. So, I drove her home. At least our house was safe. If you have time to look at your phone, I'm sure all the missed calls are from me!"

A polished lie, wrapped in half-truths and spoken with perfect conviction. He had rehearsed this.

"Sorry, my phone is out of battery!" I took out my phone and shook it in front of him.

I don't want to respond to his bluff now. Since he wants to play the game, I'm happy to play along. Let's see who can act better.

Let’s see who’s the better liar.

"Liam asked me to stay the night!" Tessa pouted. "Brinna, you don't mind, do you?"

Her voice was sugar-sweet, dipped in faux concern. She batted her lashes like a flirtatious schoolgirl. The insult was too barefaced to be anything but deliberate.

"Of course, I don't mind!" I said coldly.

You and my husband had sex in my bed then later killed me on my wedding day. Would this betrayal change if I rejected you?

It wouldn’t. The damage was already done. The sheets might still be warm from their treachery.

"Ever since you were a little girl, you've been robbing me of everything from Babbie dolls to clothes and jewellery. Anything you like, Tessa, you take away from me! Maybe you don't take things because you like them, you just like taking things from me!"

The words clawed their way out of me, ragged and raw. Years of silent resentment given voice.

I put the glass bottle of soda on the table heavily, and the sound of the crash was clear and loud.

Liam frowned, but Tessa looked in Liam's direction and began to cry. Fake tears perfectly timed, perfectly calculated. She was playing her role like the lead actress in a drama only she enjoyed.

"I'm sorry! I shouldn't have used your bathroom so freely! I think I should go!" Her voice was pitiful enough to make any man fall for her, and her long legs under her bathrobe were both white and seductive.

Even her apology was performative. She knew her body was a weapon, and she wielded it with practiced precision.

"Brinna, can't you be nice to your best friend?" Liam couldn't resist defending her.

Of course he couldn’t. Loyalty was a one-way street in this house now.

"What a fuss you are! This is how we get along as best friends.

She used to fight me, but today she chose to cry," I said with a smile, "When Tessa doesn't get what she wants, she even bites me! She's my best friend! I know her best!"

My smile was painted on, hollow and cruel. I spoke through my teeth, the truth veiled in sarcasm.

Tessa's cries became more pronounced, but Liam's eyes were confused because of my words. When Tessa saw the look in Liam's eyes, she knew that crying wasn't going to work today.

She hesitated, her confidence faltering for the first time. I think the conflict in the city should be Liam's main concern. He doesn't have much free time to deal with the quarrel between us best friends.

Women's problems are trivial in the eyes of men, who care more about their careers and money than any woman they've ever slept with.

After 5 years of courtship , I have seen through courtship and men! Five years of shared meals, shared lies, and buried betrayal. I no longer needed illusions.

"Give me a whisky," said Liam, pulling off his tie, which suggested that he was feeling a little antsy tonight. His collar was damp with sweat, his forehead pinched. He wanted to drown in liquor instead of guilt. Instead of handing him a drink, I lolled against the edge of the table and nibbled at the sparkling water in my hand.

Soon I heard ice falling onto a glass. Tessa handed my fiancé a whisky like a hostess. She knows what he likes. She knows too much. Things I once prided myself on knowing.

Good! But I must pretend not to see what is happening in front of me. I have patience.

"In the back alley of a bar, we had a run-in with the Logan family. Someone fired, and then a terrible battle broke out between us. Most of the dead were my men, and only two were Logan!" Liam downed his glass in one gulp.

His voice trembled beneath the anger. Guilt? Fear? Or just frustration at a failed power play?

"Why did you fight?" Tessa asked before I could speak.

I sneered. What a stupid question. Conflicts between the Hartford and the Logan are common. What really upsets Liam is not how many people have died in the conflict, but that this is not the time for any conflict at all!

"Who knows! Maybe it's a woman or something! F.uck it, whatever it is!" Liam snapped. "There can't be any conflict now, especially not until the merger is over!"

The merger. The one thing holding the fragile threads of this family together.

"Why?" Tessa asked, not knowing whether she should shut up.

"Why, you ask me why," Liam said, taking out his anger on Tessa. "I think you should go upstairs to bed now. My fiance and I need some privacy!"

There it was. His first real slip of loyalty back in my direction. But only because he needed me now.

Tessa froze. She was going to start crying again. "I don't want to repeat it," Liam said. His tone left no room for argument.

I put my arms around my chest and looked at what was happening like an onlooker. Sometimes, I really admire my acting skills and endurance.

I was in the middle of the storm, yet somehow detached watching as if from outside my own skin. Tessa silently turned away and ran barefoot up the stairs.

This time she didn't make a sound. I couldn't even hear the door slam.

"Brinna, you know the Plutocrat Federation doesn't allow any family conflict until the merger is over, right?" Liam turned to me.

"Of course, I do! After all the business you and I have been involved in, I won't forget the rules!" I said.

The Plutocrat Federation is made up of representatives of the six families who work together to deal with business conflicts. The rules they make are strict, and every family must obey them.

Families that don't follow the rules will be kicked out of the Federation and become lone wolves who have lost their pack. Not only does he have to face attacks of his own kind, but he also worries about attacks from other races -- government departments.

"Worst of all, there are eyewitnesses who say our men fired first! Whoever fires first will be found guilty! Fucking Vladimir it must be a trick," said Liam, pounding his fist on the table.

Vladimir, when the name came to mind here. My heart gave a sudden beat. His fingertips and the scent of his kiss still haunted my memory, and it made my stomach tighten.

"Brinna, do you hear what I'm saying?" Said Liam impatiently. "What the hell are we going to do about this?"

I came back to my senses and thought about it.

"I think you should get some rest now. If the Federation thinks it's our fault, they'll send you a notice. But there's nothing right now, is there?"

"If we had been notified, it would have been too late.

We would have been kicked out of the bidding and merger. You know I had to win this business," Liam said dejectedly, "I can't lose to the Logan Family! No way!"

Before Liam took over Hartford, they had lost too much business. Liam, the new head of the Hartford family, wants to change, but his competitive spirit makes him cranky. I have been around him to calm his emotions, and faced every problem with him. We were fiancées for so long, and were also partners.

But now, we're not!