She could hear the shuffle of feet, but she never stirred from her glass of brandy. It had become her drink of choice over the past few months. She had so much to drink about, or so she thought. She could smell his cologne nearing her space. Brushing the hair from her forehead, Steffy rose in her position and tried to look as unaffected as possible.
"Steffy?" His voice was low and damn near apologetic as his eyes roamed the room. She could see his every movement. "Why are you just sitting here? We were supposed to meet up, remember?"
"The files." She nodded. Her hands shuffled through the papers that adorned the couch, and she could see the confusion clouding his features. He was worried. Worried about her. She held her hands up when she located the layouts he was in pursuit of.
His hands ran over the papers before sliding them to the side. "Steffy, why are you sitting in the dark?" His voice caressed her ears like a sweet melodic symphony, and she slammed her eyes shut. She needed nothing more than to not feel the things she had been attempting to suppress. Her secret was safe as long, and she was in seclusion. There was no way to see behind the mask.
"Seems like I've been in the dark for a while. Maybe I always was."
When a shift in the weight of the couch occurred, Steffy found herself clinging to the part of her heart that had been shelved for the better part of seven years. The part she refused to let show. "Steffy." He removed the glass from her hand, and his eyes gave away the grief inside. He knew.
His fingers glided over her cheeks as the tears she refused to hide any longer cascaded down her face. He was here for her. He was the only one who could be at this point. "Bill, you should go." Her head shook as she fought the urges inside her.
"I'm not leaving." He slid closer and his arms extended as her eyes roamed his body. He looked so safe. He always did. That was their problem all these years, the safety they could find in each other.
"Bill, you have to go." Steffy tried to hold on to her bearings, but he grabbed her hand, drawing her back to him. He was here, her husband wasn't. The chilling reason why smacked her in the face as she stared into his eyes. "No," she protested. "Liam..."
"Is a damn fool," Bill cut in. "How in the hell could he do this? How could he go to her?"
Sally Spectra. Liam had taken Sally to bed, and Steffy now knew all the tawdry details of their affair. They'd almost been killed when Bill blew up the Spectra building and shared a kiss Liam discounted as nothing but a possible deathbed confession. Sally had professed her love, but Liam explained it away as friendly love. He had excuses for everything that involved Sally until the excuses ran dry.
It was as if he didn't get the woman Steffy truly was. She never backed down, and she never allowed people to get the best of her. She had a business heart that could rival any man, and Liam seemed to lack the knowledge of how truly effective she was. He didn't understand her, probably never would. She saw that now.
A late night at work held Steffy. She was consulting on a new strategy for a line that would replace the designs Sally coveted without consent, and that boiled resentment in itself. Liam had been on the committee of trying to force Steffy into false submission. She was in the middle of a very important meeting when Liam called. He wanted her home, and she needed to be at the office. She'd tried a compromise, but he'd made it impossible. The call didn't end well.
Steffy, being the consummate professional she was, stayed behind and wrapped her meeting while her father, Ridge, took an early leave to check on her ailing mother. Taylor hadn't been feeling well for the past few days, she meant to check on that as well. She had been in a melodrama of her own and had been cut off from the majority of her family outside of work. Her home life had worn her down.
On the way out of her office, Steffy called Liam back, but he didn't answer. It had been that way several nights. There was a time he used to be as dedicated to his position as she was. He used to have ambition that made her swoon. He used to... he used to love her the best he could. Now it felt as if they were faking through the motions.
She'd had a pregnancy scare a few weeks prior, and she'd hid it from him. She wasn't even sure why, but she didn't feel comfortable talking to him about it. Taylor had taken her to the appointment, and when she got the news that her period was probably late due to stress, she felt relieved. There used to be a time when the news of not being pregnant would have devastated her, but that time was long gone. What was she supposed to do with that?
Steffy made her way to her car, passing a few people along the way. Her Aunt Pam and Uncle Charlie were among those few, they stayed late most nights. She waved at them as she loaded into her car, and looked down at her cell. Still no word from Liam.
The drive home was surprisingly therapeutic. With all the confusion in her brain, Steffy had time to clear her head. She had been trying to figure out where she and Liam were going. The trust had been broken between them, but in his normal fashion, he had an excuse. He accused her of being unreasonable and jealous for no reason. She was uncomfortable with his friendship with Sally, and he couldn't see it. Maybe she was overreacting, he had fought like hell to get her back this last time, there was no way he would ruin them for that woman. She had to believe that.
The house was dark as Steffy pulled up. She dropped her bag on the living room couch and looked around. It was quiet, Liam wasn't in the front, but maybe he had already retreated to their bedroom. He did that most nights, and she would just join him whenever she made it in. Tonight she wanted to talk. She hoped they could close some of the distance separating them. She was tired of fighting. She was tired of feeling like they were opponents.
As she ventured further through the house, she could hear soft music playing and giggled a little. He was setting the ambiance. She thought they hadn't been on the same page for a while, but here he was, proving her wrong. Steffy took a deep breath and pushed their bedroom door open. As her eyes focused on the room, her back hit the closest wall. This couldn't be right.
Liam's hands, tangled in Sally's hair.
Sally's legs wrapped around Liam's waist.
Liam's mouth roaming Sally's neck.
Sally's hands squeezing as Liam caressed her clothed body.
Steffy's breath shortened. The life felt as if it was slipping out of her. Her chest beat profusely. Her palms clammed up. As her left hand ran through her hair, her wedding ring got caught, and she snatched it free. A few strands of hair came off with it as she lunged the ring at Liam's back. He was now aware of her presence, and she flicked the light switch.
"How long?"
"Steffy," Liam pleaded. "I was waiting for you. I put on this music and Sally just stopped by. I didn't mean for this to happen. You just didn't... you didn't come home when I called. You don't understand..."
"Oh, but I do," Steffy growled as her hands instinctively balled. She had been right. She knew it now, and he was the same waffling liar he had always been. He claimed to have this moral compass that was better than most. He had tried to make her feel bad about it at times, but here he was cheating in their bed.
"Steffy," Liam held his hand out, and she shook him off.
"Don't touch me." He hopped from the bed, wiping his lips along the way, and she sidestepped him. Either he lost his balance, or she pushed him, she couldn't be sure, but he was on the ground, and her eyes locked with the red-headed charity case in her bed. "I'm going to kill you."
With strength she wasn't aware she still possessed, Steffy reached to the bed and pulled Sally by the hair, dropping her on the floor. "Get the hell out." While both Sally and Liam just looked at her, she said it louder and hit the wall. "Right now! Both of you get out. I never want to see you again!"
Liam left that night. It had been weeks, and she still hadn't spoken to him. She had her lawyer drop off divorce papers that he hadn't signed. She was beyond ready to put things behind her, but he was stalling. He told her parents it was because he loved her, but maybe it had something to do with what she stood to gain. The last divorce she was generous. She let him leave with everything he brought in. This time, she wanted to bleed him dry. His position on the Spencer board, the majority of his stocks in Spencer, the cliff house, even though she never planned to live there again, and half of his net worth. She was sure she would get it. She had proof of his infidelity.
"Apparently, Bill, I wasn't enough. I was never home, and when I was, I wasn't forgiving his royal highness as fast as I should have. I didn't look past his hypocrisy in a manner befitting the pedestal he placed himself on. I was too cocky in believing that he would never cross this line. I was too trusting by believing that I could continue to be the woman he married without having to cower to his lack of ambition."
"He's my son, Steffy. I never said he was perfect, but I know he..."
"He doesn't love me. He loves who he wants me to be. When we got together, he pulled me out of that tub, and I looked at him like a savior. He craved that part of me that was weak because it made him feel stronger. Now that I'm together and aware of who I am, he wants the broken girl he fished from that tub. I can't be her. I won't."
"What would you like to be?"
"Myself, Bill. I want to be the woman who can have her self-worth and a man that gets that. I want him to be secure in himself enough to know that I'd never leave his side. He should never want to change me."
"You want to be accepted?"
"I don't want it. I need it. It's what I require. Any man that gets me needs to really get me."
Bill was silent for a few seconds and then nodded. "I get you. More than anyone, I understand that need."
"Well, then we're on the same page."
"So about this divorce, Steffy." Bill pulled out a few papers and laid them in her lap. "It's not going to work."
"Oh?" Her voice perked up as her body slid into an upright position. She'd wondered when he would come for her. "What part?"
"Steffy, it's excessive. You would leave Liam with virtually nothing."
"Well then I guess you, and he will have to figure out how to start from the ground up, Bill. I want everything listed, and actually," she paused as a slow smile crept onto her lips. "His car. Add that to the list. I believe I picked that out."
Steffy stood and picked up the blanket that had been draped over her legs as she ascended the stairs to her upstairs bedroom in the loft she had acquired since leaving Liam. "Steffy," Bill called out to her.
"Let yourself out. I'll see you at the office tomorrow. We have those women coming by, remember?"
"How could I forget?" Bill huffed. "The La Bella Mafia twins."
Steffy chuckled at his name for them and shrugged. "They're going to make you money. You love that, right? I thought it was your first love." As she settled into the confines of her room, she downed the last of her drink and folded her blanket as she took a seat on the bed. Her phone was lit up, she noticed. A text from Liam. While she ignored his latest attempt at reconciliation, she pulled the sheets back and climbed into her comfy bed. She'd sleep alone tonight, but at least she'd be content in the knowledge that she was with the person who loved her most in the world and not settling for being her husband's consolation.