I told myself it was just an act of kindness, especially since Liam had recently helped me out.


    Besides, Ineeded to get information about the Wiley Corporation from him.


    Liam held me for about three or four minutes before letting go. He offered a smile, but it didn''t reach his almond-shaped eyes.


    "You must think I''m pathetic, don''t you?" he asked


    I stayed silent, my lips pursed together. He sat down in the chair beside me, eyes fixed on the floor, and said in a self-deprecating tone, "Go ahead andugh. I know I look ridiculous."


    Liam wasn''t supposed to be like this. He used to be charming, amorous, arrogant, and overflowing with self-confidence. He had both the charisma and the means to back it up. He should have been a leopard prowling the grasnds, not the defeated creature he had be.


    I looked down at his bowed head and asked, "What happened?"


    "Do you want to hear about it? Lam replied, lifting his gaze to meet mine.


    I met his eyes and nodded. The night was long, and so was Liam''s story. I learned why he and Erhan had be bitter rivals and how the grudges from the previous generation had been passed down.Ccontent ? exclusive by N?/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    Liam''s mother and Ethan''s father were ssmates, Sarah had a crush on fodas since their freshman year of college, but he was already in a rtionship at the time. Unable to confess her feelings, she carried along regret. Despite longing for him throughout their college years, she never had the chance to confess her feelings. After graduation, Judas married Julia. However, their marriage was a business arrangement, and Julia never loved podas. She had only agreed to the marriage under pressure from tan. Over time, Judas grew to love his wife, and Julia decided to make their marriage work after discovering she was


    pregnant with Ethan


    When she was three months pregnant, her first love returned


    Tom between her feelings for him and hermitment to Ethan, she was on the verge of leaving Ethan. However, Judas, who had be her partner, confined her to their home. During this period, Sarah reconnected with Judas. Unable to resist temptation, Sarah and Judas began a brief affair, but a few monthster, Julia passed away due toplications during childbirth.


    Overwhelmed by guilt, Judas ended his rtionship with Sarah, who had be increasingly obsessed with him.


    Afterward, she married Liam''s father, Daniel, but she never truly loved him. Eventually, she began having affairs, and their marriage became increasingly strained. Liam, caught in the middle, became acasualty of their unhappiness. It was almost down when the story finally came to an end, I had never known this secret before, and everything felt so confusing Then it hit me that Liam and Ethan were about the same age


    Could they be


    I nced at Liam. My thoughts toyed with the possibility that they might be half-brothers. Noticing my hesitation, Lium smiled knowingly


    "Ethan and Laren''t rted by blood," he said.