Chapter 11

Steffy made her way to her kitchen with the intention of making breakfast for her and her husband. She was going through the movements, lost in the memories of the previous night. Actually, she was going over the memories of the last couple of weeks. Liam's simple act of joining her in Paris had changed their lives for the best. They were now going to move on with their lives, together with their little family and they couldn't be happier.

She paused in the middle of the kitchen. She may not have paid attention to what she was doing but she was sure that there was nothing edible in the cupboards or the fridge. Two weeks out of town, it was bound to happen. They should have thought of asking Bill to take care of it. Now they would have to go out for breakfast.

Having made a little cup of coffee for herself, Steffy seeped it while moving to the living room area. She would have loved to get back in bed with Liam but there was too much to do and it wouldn't leave her mind.

Taking a seat on the couch, she was about to reach for her laptop when there was a knock at the door. She starred at it blankly: it was awfully early for anyone to come and visit them on their first day back. She moved to answer it anyway, not suspecting the surprise waiting for her on the other side.

"Hope!"

"Steffy! What are you doing here?"

"I am where I'm supposed to be." She scowled when the blonde shouldered her way into the house, uninvited. "The real question is: what are you doing here?"

"Aren't you supposed to be in Paris with Ridge?"

Steffy looked at her, bemused. "That was two weeks ago and he's doing perfectly fine, thank you. As a matter of fact, I came back yesterday night. It's nice of you to come and visit me."

Hope's gaze finally settled on the tall brunette. "Don't flatter yourself, Steffy. I came to see Liam."

"And I didn't expect anything else from you. Liam is still in bed. I see you're blind to everything but him, as always; so much so that you don't recognize sarcasm when you hear it."

"I'm not blind to your manipulations, Steffy. I'm sure that's why you're here: to get Liam back into you clutches."

Steffy lifted her eyebrows at that, not the least bit impressed. "I don't need to get him back into anything, Hope. We're together and I live with him, in this same house."

"Only because he couldn't be with me after Rick's lies."

Although Hope's tone was rising, Steffy had no intention of stooping to that level. She had done nothing after all. "Rick may have lied about that night, Hope but you were the one that chose to believe him over Liam."

"And you couldn't wait to take advantage of his vulnerable state of course! As soon as you learned that we weren't together anymore, you went straight to him."

"Hope, I think you're mistaking me for someone else: I don't take your left-overs. Liam and you didn't work out, he needed a friend and I was there, simple."

Hope snorted. "Friends, right."

"Yes friends. Believe it or not Hope but Liam and I are friends before anything. We don't have secrets and don't have any hidden expectations from each other, other than what we've already set beforehand."

Hope scoffed again. "You, not hiding anything? Don't make me laugh!"

"It's the truth. But it doesn't matter because I don't have to justify myself to you. My life with Liam is none of your business!"

"Of course it is when you took him from me!"

Steffy rolled her eyes. "We're back to that, are we? Ok, open your ears and listen up: I took nothing from you! Liam was a free man when we got together and still is."

"You call this being free when you've tied him to you and are keeping him from the woman he really loves? If you really wanted him free and happy you'd let him go."

Steffy groaned. The other woman was hearing nothing of what she was saying. "Liam is here because he chose to and he loves me, Hope. No one has chained him to the bed, he can leave whenever he wants!"

"You say that but we both know that Liam is a man of his word. He doesn't like leaving someone once he's committed himself!"

"Exactly, Hope: he's committed to me!"

"Oh, don't play games with me, Steffy! You know perfectly well what I'm saying!"

Steffy growled. For a second there she thought the blonde had gotten it but she was wrong. "Give it up, Hope. Liam is with me now and he doesn't want to be with anyone else."

"We'll see who he chooses to be with once I've talked to him."

Clearly, she was delusional, Steffy thought. "But don't you get it? There is no choice to be done. There hasn't been for a long time now."

"That's what you think but I'm going to prove you wrong!"

That was it for Steffy. She trusted Liam but the fact that Hope was so willing to go after him, in their own house while she was there was the last blow.

"I see you're showing your true colors, showing here and ready to shamelessly go after a man who's already committed and living with someone else!"

The blonde whirled around, shooting her come back. "It seems to me that the only way to beat you is to stoop to your level. You've taken him from me time and time again but I won't stand for it this time!"

"Oh will you stop with that nonsense! You had your time Hope, you blew it!"

The next thing Steffy knew, Hope gave a cry and then she was falling onto the coffee table, front down. She tried to brace herself with her hands as much as she could, barely succeeding.

"Hope!"