CHAPTER SEVEN

Liam Robertson's face went completely pale as he saw the two men in front of him.

Sonny Kiriakis and Paul Narita were in each other's embrace, kissing passionately.

Liam turned around and ran as fast as could.

"Li! Yo Li!" He heard a voice.

The blonde turned his head to find the black woman hollering at him.

"Li! I've been looking all over for you!" Tameka rushed to his side. She noticed the distraught look on his face. "Li, what's wrong?"

Liam quickly pulled her into a warm embrace.

"Tammy, promise me you will never leave me." Liam requested. "Promise me that you won't ever leave me. I can't afford to lose anyone else."

Tameka pulled away from the hug and cupped Liam's cheeks.

"Li, you are the best thing that's ever happened to me." Tameka laughed, "There's no way I will ever leave you!"

"Tammy!" Liam shouted as he opened his eyes. Drops of perspiration were forming all over his body. He quickly sat up and turn on the nightlight.

"It's just a dream." He massaged the bridge of his nose. He had a big day ahead of him. He was moving into his new apartment.

He looked out the window and squinted his eyes when the sun shined in his eyes.

"It's morning." He stood up from the bed and proceeded to the bathroom. He had a long day ahead of him. It was a good thing that there were plenty of furniture the previous owner didn't want so he did not need to buy much.

"It's a big day!" Liam pumped himself up. "Got to buy new bedsheets and get the men to install the wifi." Ever since he returned to New York, he had been having the same dreams which revolve around Sonny, Paul and Tameka. However, he is doing his best to ignore them and just move on.

"Got to go prepare food for Devon now." He left his room and focused on the day ahead, trying to ignore the dreams he had. Thankfully, Tamela is babysitting Devon for the whole day so he could focus entirely on the big move. That took a load off Liam's chest.

"Mr Kiriakis, would you like to take a glass of champagne?" The air stewardess asked.

"No thanks." Sonny declined.

"What about you, Mr Kiriakis?" The stewardess turned to his father.

"Sure!" Justin Kiriakis reached for the glass and took a sip before leaning back onto his chair. He looked at his boy who was sitting across him, staring out of the window. He had spent the last few days reading through Liam Robertson's food blog and watching all his videos on Youtube.

"I have to get him back." Sonny took the shirts from his closet.

"I'm going to China next week for the Shanghai Fashion Week!" Gabi barked, "Who's going to take care of Arianna?"

"My mom will stay over to take care of her." Sonny assured.

"Your mom? Really?" Gabi scoffed.

"He needs to take responsibility for his daughter, his own flesh and blood." Sonny emphasized. "I'm not going to let him shirk his responsibilities."

"You think I didn't think about that?" Gabi clenched her jaw. "When I first found out about this I was mad too! I wanted to tell you everything!"

"Then why didn't you?!" Sonny bared his teeth. "That was exactly what you should have done!" He quickly closed his suitcase, lifted it off the bed and making it stand on the ground. "If you had told me everything, we would have confronted him earlier and talked through everything!"

"Yeah, what are you going to say? I'm sorry, I'm now dating the man who ruined our marriage?" Gabi remarked sarcastically. "Do you really expect him to be okay with that? Do you really expect him to see Arianna telling him how much he loves Paul?"

Sonny was stumped, he did not know how to rebut that.

"In Arianna's eyes, her father is dead and he wanted it to be that way." Gabi informed. "If I were in his shoes right now, I would be doing the same thing."

At a loss for words, Sonny just pulled his suitcase out of his bedroom and towards the living room. Before he could head for the entrance, he saw another man entering his home.

"Chad, what are you doing here?" Sonny asked.

"Gabi told me everything." Chad informed.

"If you're here to stop me from going to New York, you can save it." Sonny said in annoyance. "Nothing's going to stop me."

"Fine! But know this, if you hurt him in any way, I will hunt you down." Chad warned.

"Sonny!" Justin called out as he snapped out from his train of thought.

"Yeah? Were you saying something?" Sonny asked, feeling disoriented.

"I was just telling you about the awesome suite we are going to stay in once we get there!" Justin exclaimed. "Do not hesitate to use the spa or ask for any massage services!" He tried to distract Sonny from all the drama he was about to face.

Sonny just continued to stare out of the window.

"Oh Sonny," Justin sighed. "We will get him back. I promise."

"I hope so." It was Sonny's turn to sigh. The only thing on his mind was to get Will Horton back.

"Okay, the LCD TV is on the coffee table." Liam stood in the middle of the living room, giving out orders to the movers. "I will like this lamp right on my study desk." He told another mover carrying the lamp.

Liam turned his head to the entrance and saw two more movers carrying in a mic stand with a microphone on top of it.

"Careful with that!" Liam rushed towards the two men and snatch the mic stand from them.

The two men stared at him in shock. "Whoa, you okay?"

"I'm sorry," Liam apologized, "this is my late wife's microphone. She took this mic and mic stand everywhere she performed. It means a lot to me." He bowed his head in embarrassment.

The movers left the apartment and went downstairs to grab a few more boxes.

"I need to put this somewhere safe." Liam proceeded to his bedroom.

"Here we are!" Justin Kiriakis unlocked the door to their suite. "Man this place looks good!" He proceeded towards the window. "And would you look at the view! It's stunning!"

Sonny trailed behind him, back slouching, dragging his suitcase to the window.

Looking at his son, Justin placed his hand on his shoulder, "Son, take a shower and take a nap, it's been a long flight. When we wake up, let's go get some dinner."

Sonny nodded his head and pulled his luggage to the bedroom.

Justin stared at his son, looking forlorn. He exhaled through his nose.

"This is just the beginning…" Justin worried. He has no idea how this will turn out, but he knew it won't be easy.

"Here is your bill." The mover passed Liam Robertson the receipt.

"Thanks so much for everything!" The blonde said his goodbyes and closed the door. "Wow! That was a tiring day!" He heaved a sigh of relief before proceeding back to his bedroom. He looked out the window and look at the streets of Queens.

"This is a really good view." Liam remarked. He could see the sun setting from his window. "I could get used to this." Within minutes, he began introspecting his life. Thoughts of New York, his son and the rest of his family came to mind. He smiled at the thought of them. Soon his mind drifted towards the rough times of his life. Memories of Jackson Kiriakis came running through his mind. He soon recalled the night he left Salem.

"Congratulations." Liam complimented. "You solved the puzzle."

Sonny Kiriakis took a step back. Liam Robertson was no longer the fear-stricken. He was admitting who he truly was.

"You knew this entire time, didn't you?" Sonny questioned.

"Does it matter?" Liam shrugged his shoulders as innocently as possible. "What difference does it make?"

Liam felt an icy sensation in his heart while his hands started trembling. If he were truly honest with himself, he had no idea where he got the courage to confess everything and get away scot-free. Aside from getting strangled by Ben Weston, confronting both Sonny and Paul was the scariest thing he had ever encountered.

"Why the hell am I thinking about that night all of the sudden?" Liam curled his hand into a fist and hit his chest repeatedly. "It's over! They are both out of your life forever! That awful past of yours is over." Liam shook his head vigorously, trying to shake those memories of Salem out of his head and out of his life.

Thankfully, his cellphone rang before his thoughts could go any deeper.

"Hello?" Liam answered.

"Yo homie! Where you at?!" Alfonso asked.

"Just finished with the move." Liam replied.

"Get your ass over here!" Alfonso hollered. "We've started this party without you!"

"Be right there in a minute." Liam put down the cellphone.

"Ugh, what time is it?" Justin Kiriakis rubbed his eyes and sat up. He took his cellphone from the bedside table and checked the time.

"Gosh it's late, Sonny why didn't you wake me up?" He yelled. "Sonny?" He got out of bed and went to the living room. "Where did he go?"

"Everybody, I would like you all to raise your glass for the man responsible for The LT!" Alfonso Rodriguez announced. "It's because of this man, you guys have jobs. It's because of this man, that I was able to become your new boss when I was fired from my last job. I'm very proud to call this man, my best friend! Bottoms up to Liam!"

"Cheers!" They all said in unison as everyone raised their glass before downing their bottles of beer.

"Hey! You are the man of the hour!" A waitress effused, "Who thinks he should give a speech?"

"Speech speech speech speech!" The rest of staff chanted.

"Alright alright!" Liam relented. "Ok, let's see." He scratched his head as he thought about what to say.

"Okay, Corona Avenue." Sonny Kiriakis followed google maps on his cellphone. "I'm close!" When he finally looked up and away from the phone, he saw the restaurant with the sign 'The LT' right before his very eyes.

"I've found it!" Sonny beamed. He rushed towards the signboard and wanted to open the door but before he could enter, he saw the sign on the door.

"Closed for a private function." Sonny read it out loud. He went to the glass panel and saw a group of people laughing and drinking away. His eyes widened when he saw the blonde chef standing with a glass of beer in his hand.

"Will…" Sonny called out, placing one hand on the glass panel. "I have never seen him so happy in a long time. He looks good like this!"

"Okay… I don't really know what to say so I will just whatever comes to my mind." Liam laughed. "First of all, I want to thank you all for planning this welcome back party! I have missed you guys so much. I also want to say sorry for leaving you guys and even considered closing down the restaurant." He apologized.

"Don't worry Li, we knew why you had to leave! What's most important is now that you're back!" Another waiter interjected, hoping to take away Liam's guilt.

"You know, I thought that if I left New York, I would be able to remove all the sorrow and sadness that I have felt over Tameka's loss. But when I reach Illinois, I realized that I had a new set of problems." Liam declared.

Sonny noticed everyone were now on their seats, listening to the blonde attentively.

"When I was in Illinois, I had to take care of Devon all on my own. I had no one to do it for me." Liam confessed. "Aside from that," Liam took inhaled deeply, "I realized that leaving New York was the biggest mistake of my life."

Sonny's heart sank. "What did he just say?"

"I realized how unappreciative I was." Liam stated. "When Tameka died, every single one of you had been so supportive of me! You guys were willing to let me grieve over my loss. Both you and Tameka's family were willing to let me leave."

Alfonso and the rest of the crew felt their heartstrings being pulled.

"But when I was in Illinois, do you know what I was thinking about? I was thinking about whether Alfonso is doing a good job. I was missing the smell of feta cheese in the kitchen. I missed the daily squabbles between Kirsty and Ruth."

The two waitresses rolled their eyes.

"I asked myself, why did I ever leave New York in the first place?" Liam continued. "My family and friends are right here. This is where I should be. So yeah, that's when I decided to return to New York. To reunite with you guys, my family."

Everyone sitting gave a huge applause when Liam end his speech.

Sonny Kiriakis felt his blood pressure rising. He was getting angry.

"My family? You call them your family?" The brunette curled his hand into a ball.

"Well said Li!" Alfonso approached him and placed his hand over Liam's shoulder. "We're glad you're back too!"

"Hey Li!" Ruth called, "Why don't you sing for us?"

"What? No!" Liam shook his head. "Why the sudden request?"

"Oh cut the bull Liam!" Kirsty shot him down jokingly, "We saw your video on Youtube and let me just say, you got me SHOOK!"

"Yeah, we all saw that video!" Alfonso teased. "Come on sing for us!"

"Yeah! Sing for us!" The rest began echoing after Alfonso.

"Alright alright!" Liam gave in. "Terrell, drop a beat."

The waiter began tapping a slow and steady rhythm on the table.

"Sounding good!" Liam nodded in synchronization as he prepared to sing.

I believe every lie that I ever told

Paid for every heart that I ever stole

I played my cards and I didn't fold

Well it ain't that hard when you got soul

Liam began snapping his fingers. In just seconds, the rest follow suit and snapped along.

Somewhere I heard that life is a test

I been through the worst but I still give my best

God made my mold different from the rest

Then he broke that mold so I know I'm blessed

"Yeah, this is my life. This is where I belong." Liam affirmed. "I made it through everything to get to this point. I earned it.

Stand up now and face the sun

Won't hide my tail or turn and run

It's time to do what must be done

Be a king when kingdom comes

"Salem is a terrible past. I have to stop dwelling on that mess. I must start focusing on the future. Especially for Devon's sake." Thoughts ran through his head. "Will Horton is dead, you are now a new person. Remember that!"

Well you can tell everybody

Yeah you can tell everybody

Go ahead and tell everybody

I'm the man, I'm the man, I'm the man

Yes I am, yes I am, yes I am

I'm the man, I'm the man, I'm the man

Everyone applauded when the performance ended as Liam bowed.

Sonny Kiriakis ripped his eyes away from the restaurant and stomped off.

"Here I was thinking how miserable you were when you first gotten your memories back. But here you are drinking and laughing away!" Sonny's jaw tensed up. "While I spent the past six years thinking about you, you were having the time of your life!" He took out on the lamppost but punching it.

"Will Horton, you wished you never leave New York? From here on out, your life will be miserable!" Sonny Kiriakis promised.

A/N: Ok that's it for now! Things are about to get UGLY! I hope you guys get to stay tuned!

Song is 'The Man' by Aloe Blacc. I chose this song because I thought it shows Will/Liam's determination to move on with life! :D

As always please review! :D