Liam’s Pov
"NOAH!" My voice tore from my throat, pain forgotten in the rush of betrayal and rage. "NOAH, GET DOWN HERE NOW!"
I heard hurried footsteps on the stairs, and then Noah appeared, a manila folder in his hand. "What? What’s wrong?"
I pointed a shaking finger at his phone, still lit up on the table. "What the fuck is that? Are you screwing my wife?"
Noah’s eyes darted to his phone, then back to . "What are you talking about?" he asked, but there was sothing in his tone...a defensive note that hadn’t been there before.
"Don’t play dumb with ," I snarled, struggling to my feet. "I saw the ssage. I saw the picture. How long has this been going on? Was she cheating on with you while accusing of the sa thing?"
Noah’s jaw tightened. "You need to calm down, Liam. You’re jumping to conclusions."
"Am I?" I was in his face now, ignoring the protests of my injured body. "Then explain to why my wife is telling you she misses
you. Explain to why she’s your fucking profile picture!"
"Because we’re friends," Noah said evenly. "Sothing you wouldn’t understand since you’ve never bothered to be a friend to anyone, including ."
The calm in his voice only enraged further. With a growl of fury, I lashed out, slapping him hard across the face. "You fucking traitor!"
Noah’s head snapped to the side with the force of the blow. For a mont, he stood perfectly still, a red mark blooming on his cheek. When he turned back to , his eyes had darkened dangerously.
"Don’t ever do that again," he warned, his voice low.
"Or what?" I taunted, beyond reason now. "What will you do, Noah? Tell Diane? Oh wait, I forgot—you’re already whispering sweet nothings in her ear!"
I swung again, but this ti Noah was ready. He caught my wrist mid-air, twisting until I gasped in pain.
"I said, don’t do that again," he repeated, releasing with enough force that I stumbled backward.
"You know what?" I spat, rubbing my wrist. "You two deserve each other. The loyal friend and the faithful wife—what a perfect match. Was this the plan all along? Destroy so you could have her?"
Sothing snapped in Noah’s expression. "You destroyed yourself, Liam! You threw away the best thing that ever happened to you because you couldn’t keep it in your pants for five minutes. Diane was nothing but good to you, and how did you repay her? By sleeping with her sister!"
"So you admit it then? You’ve wanted her all along?"
Noah laughed, a harsh, humorless sound. "You really don’t get it, do you? Diane and I are friends—actual friends. Sothing you wouldn’t recognize if it bit you on the ass. When you decided to publicly humiliate her, soone had to be there for her. When you tried to cut her off financially, soone had to help her fight back. That soone was ."
"So noble," I sneered. "Saint Noah, always ready to step in where he’s not wanted."
His eyes flashed. "Diane wanted my help. She needed soone she could trust, soone who wouldn’t betray her like you did."
The implication that I had been the only one to break faith was the final straw. With a roar of rage, I launched myself at him, fist connecting with his jaw in a satisfying crack. Pain shot through my knuckles, but I didn’t care. All I wanted was to make him hurt as much as I was hurting.
Noah staggered back, touching his split lip with an expression of disbelief. Then his face hardened into sothing I’d never seen before—a cold fury that transford my mild-mannered friend into a stranger.
"You want to do this? Fine," he growled. "Let’s do this."
What followed was brutal and fast. Noah had always been the more athletic of the two of us, regularly hitting the gym. His first punch caught in the stomach, driving the air from my lungs and sending to my knees. The second connected with my already bruised face, stars exploding behind my eyes.
I tried to fight back, landing a few glancing blows, but it was like trying to stop a freight train with a paper shield. Noah’s next punch sent sprawling across the coffee table, glass shattering beneath as we crashed to the floor.
"Stop," I gasped, blood filling my mouth. "Noah, stop."
But he was beyond listening now, months of pent-up anger finding release in each devastating blow. "You never loved her," he panted, gripping the front of my shirt. "I’ve sat there and listened to you complain about her for years. How boring she was. How she didn’t excite you anymore. How marriage was a mistake."
Another punch punctuated each accusation. "I watched her try everything to make you happy. I watched her make excuses for you when you missed anniversaries, birthdays, dinners with her family. I watched her defend you to everyone who could see what an asshole you were!"
I tried to cover my face, but Noah batted my hands away. "And all along, I kept wondering: why her? Why did she have to fall for soone like you? Soone who could never appreciate what he had?"
"You’re in love with her," I realized aloud, tasting blood with each word. "You always have been."
Noah froze, fist raised for another blow. For a mont, neither of us moved, the accusation hanging between us like a live wire.
"Yes," he finally admitted, his voice barely audible. "I’ve loved her from the mont you introduced us. But I respected your relationship. I kept my distance. I was your friend, Liam. Your brother."
He released , sitting back on his heels. "And I watched you throw it all away. For what? For Sophie? For Natasha? For whoever the flavor of the month was? You had everything I ever wanted, and you didn’t even want it!"
The confession shook to my core. All these years, Noah had harbored feelings for Diane, and I’d never noticed. Or maybe I hadn’t wanted to notice.
"So this is your revenge?" I asked, struggling to sit up. "Turning my wife against ? Making her into this... this monster who’s trying to destroy ?"
Noah shook his head, a sad smile playing at his bloodied lips. "Diane did that all on her own. Turns out when you push soone far enough, when you betray them completely, they learn to fight back. She didn’t need to teach her that."
He stood up, looking down at with a mixture of pity and disgust. "But you know what? After what you’ve done to today, after the accusations you’ve thrown at ? I’m done holding back. I’m going to fight for her, Liam. I’m going to show her what it’s like to be with soone who actually values her. I’m going to love her, support her, treat her like the incredible woman she is."
"She won’t want you," I said, the words feeling hollow even as I spoke them. "She doesn’t trust n anymore, thanks to ."
"Maybe not," Noah acknowledged. "But I’m willing to wait. I’m willing to earn her trust, to show her that not all n are like you. And even if she never sees as more than a friend, that’s enough. Because unlike you, I understand that loving soone ans wanting their happiness, even if you’re not the source of it."
He gathered his briefcase and phone, tucking the folder under his arm. "You had it all, Liam. A wife who loved you, a friend who would have died for you, a company most people only dream of building. And you threw it away because you were bored. Because you thought you deserved more. Because your ego couldn’t handle the idea that soone else might have contributed to your success."
His words cut deeper than his fists had, laying bare truths I’d been running from for months.
"You’re going to end up alone," Noah continued, his voice softer now. "Not because Diane left you. Not because I’m walking away. But because you’ve never learned how to value anything beyond yourself. And eventually, that hollow feeling inside you? It’s going to consu everything until there’s nothing left."
He walked to the door, pausing with his hand on the knob. "Goodbye, Liam. I truly hope you find whatever it is you’re looking for. But I won’t be around to see it."
And then he was gone, leaving alone among the ruins of my living room, bleeding from wounds both visible and hidden.
I don’t know how long I sat there, surrounded by broken glass. Minutes or hours could have passed as I replayed Noah’s words, each one striking with renewed force. You had it all. You’re going to end up alone. You never learned how to value anything beyond yourself.
Was he right? Had I been the architect of my own destruction all along? The thought was too terrible to contemplate, and yet I couldn’t escape it. Like a drowning man reviewing his life in his final monts, I saw with sudden, horrifying clarity the path that had led here.
The affairs that had seed so justified in the mont. The lies I’d told myself about Diane. The way I’d taken Noah’s loyalty for granted. The ruthless ambition that had driven to success while simultaneously hollowing out from within.
For the first ti in my adult life, I felt truly, devastatingly alone. No wife to call. No best friend to turn to. Just the broken man in the broken room, facing the broken pieces of the life he’d destroyed.
And in that mont of complete desolation, I did sothing I hadn’t done since I was a child.
I wept.
I cried because for the first ti, I understood with perfect clarity what Noah had been trying to tell .
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