Chapter 179: The Goodbye I Had To Choose

Mia’s POV

The moment I stepped into the office, I knew everyone had already heard.

Conversations lowered as I walked past. Some people quickly looked away when I caught them staring, while others made little effort to hide their curiosity. I didn’t need to ask what they were whispering about. By now, half the country probably knew about Liam Alcaraz’s engagement to Glydel Garcia.

I kept walking with my head high.

There had been a time when whispers and judgment had been part of my everyday life. At Suncrest Academy, I had been the poor scholarship student who never belonged, the outcast girl everyone thought they had the right to judge.

I had survived that version of my life.

I would survive this too.

By the time I reached my office, my expression was composed.

“Good morning, Attorney Villaruiz,” Caroline greeted carefully.

“Good morning.” I placed my bag on my desk. “Please send me the most important documents that need my review or signature. Prioritize anything with a deadline today.”

She hesitated. “Are you sure?”

I gave her a look, and she immediately nodded.

“Of course. I’ll send everything.”

“Thank you.”

Once she left, I sat behind my desk and turned on my computer.

Work was exactly what I needed.

There was one thing I had always been good at aside from being a lawyer.

Pretending.

I could pretend I hadn’t spent most of the night crying or that seeing headlines about Liam marrying another woman hadn’t torn me apart. I could review contracts, answer emails, and sign documents as though my personal life hadn’t collapsed overnight.

For the next hour, that was exactly what I did.

I was halfway through another document when someone entered my office. Assuming it was Caroline, I kept reading until I heard my name.

“Mia.”

I looked up and found Richard Vale standing near the door. I hadn’t even heard him come in, but one look at his face was enough to weaken the armor I had spent all morning building.

Richard had known me long enough to recognize when I was pretending, and he knew enough about Liam and me to understand exactly what those headlines meant.

He walked closer and stopped across from my desk.

“Mia, I don’t know what to say, but I want you to know I’m always here for you.”

I swallowed hard and lowered my eyes to the document in front of me, fighting the tears threatening to fall.

“I’m not okay, sir,” I admitted quietly. “But rest assured, it won’t affect my work. I’ll continue handling everything expected of me.”

“That isn’t what I’m worried about.”

I looked up as he shook his head.

“Go home, Mia. Take a leave.”

“Sir, I don’t need—”

“Yes, you do.” His voice remained gentle. “Take a few days, a week, longer if necessary. I don’t care how long. Come back when you’re ready.”

“I can still work.”

“I know you can. You’ve spent years proving how competent you are. You don’t have to prove anything today.”

My throat tightened, and I couldn’t find an answer.

Richard didn’t ask what had happened or force me to talk about Liam. Before leaving, he reminded me that I had his full support and that the firm would survive without me for a few days.

I knew he meant it.

Still, I stayed at my desk after he left because going home meant being alone with my thoughts, and I wasn’t ready for that.

Apparently, I wasn’t going to get the choice.

Daniel arrived before noon.

I stared at him when Caroline showed him into my office. “What are you doing here?”

“Taking you out.”

“Dan—”

“No.”

I blinked. “No?”

“You’ve been saying no to everyone all morning, haven’t you?”

“That’s because I’m working.”

His gaze moved to the papers covering my desk. “Vale told you to take a leave.”

My eyes narrowed. “How do you know that?”

Daniel smiled innocently. “I have my sources.”

“Josh?”

“Maybe.”

I sighed.

“Come on, Mia.” His expression softened. “You don’t have to talk about anything. Just come with me.”

Normally, I would have argued, but I didn’t have the energy.

Daniel took me to his mother’s house, and the moment she saw me, she wrapped her arms around me without asking a single question. I nearly cried again, but managed to smile and hug her back.

Lunch was already waiting for us, enough food to feed twice as many people. For the first time since the previous night, I actually had an appetite.

We talked about ordinary things while we ate. Daniel’s mother told me stories about relatives I barely remembered, complained that her son didn’t visit often enough, and insisted I take another serving even after I told her I was full.

For a little while, life almost felt normal.

There were no reporters, no engagement announcements, no Lucinda or Glydel, and no Liam being forced to choose between his dying father and me.

There was only lunch with people who cared about me.

Afterward, Daniel and I sat outside while his mother cleaned up despite both of us offering to help.

“Dan, thank you for today,” I said. “But you didn’t need to take leave from work just to stay with me.”

“Yes, I did.”

“No, you didn’t.”

He leaned back in his chair. “Do you remember what I told you the first time Liam left?”

I looked at him.

“I told you I would always be here for you, no matter what happened.”

My chest tightened.

Daniel’s expression grew serious. “I know Liam loves you, Mia. I’ve never doubted that. But his family has always been the thorn in your relationship. Eight years ago, it was his mother and everything surrounding them. Now it’s his father.”

I lowered my gaze to my hands.

“I know I have no right to tell you what decision to make, and I’m not going to,” he continued. “I just want you to be happy, Mia. Whatever that looks like.”

“Thank you, Dan.”

My voice broke, and the tears I had been holding back all morning finally fell.

Daniel immediately pulled me into his arms, and I closed my eyes against his shoulder.

For one fleeting moment, a thought I hadn’t allowed myself to entertain in years slipped into my mind.

What if I had chosen Daniel back then?

Would my life have been easier? Would I have been happier?

I pushed the thought away almost immediately.

It was unfair to him. Daniel deserved more than becoming the man I wondered about whenever loving Liam became too painful. He was one of my closest friends, and I refused to turn his loyalty into an escape from a broken heart.

“I want to be happy too, Dan,” I whispered when I finally pulled away. “I just don’t know how to do that without Liam.”

Daniel stayed quiet.

“I love him. That’s why this hurts so much. I understand why he said yes. I know what his father means to him.”

“Understanding his decision doesn’t mean it hurts any less.”

“I know.” I wiped my cheeks. “But I need to decide what happens now. I can’t keep doing this to myself, and I can’t let Liam spend whatever time his father has left fighting with him because of me.”

I looked at Daniel.

“I really need you this time, Dan.”

He reached for my hand and squeezed it.

“I’m not going anywhere. I’ll always be here for you.”

Then his mouth curved into a teasing smile.

“As friends, obviously.”

A laugh escaped me through my tears.

“Idiot.”

“There. At least I made you laugh.”

“You’re still an idiot.”

“I can live with that.”

Daniel dropped me off later that afternoon and made me promise to call if I needed anything. Once I was alone inside my place, however, the silence forced me to face what I had been avoiding.

My gaze fell to the engagement ring on my finger.

Liam hadn’t accepted our breakup the night before, perhaps because I had said it while I was devastated or because neither of us had been ready to accept that everything we had planned could disappear so quickly.

But I couldn’t keep delaying the inevitable.

I needed to return the ring and make him understand that I meant what I had said.

Before I could lose my courage, I picked up my phone and called him.

He answered almost immediately.

“Mia?”

The sound of his voice nearly destroyed my resolve. My throat tightened, and every sentence I had rehearsed disappeared.

“We need to talk.”

That was all I managed before ending the call.

I couldn’t trust myself to stay on the line. If he asked what was wrong or told me he needed to see me, I might lose the courage to go through with this.

With trembling fingers, I texted him the location.

Then I left before I could change my mind.

Liam was already waiting when I arrived.

The moment I saw him, my heart ached.

He looked exhausted, with shadows beneath his eyes and pain written across his face. For one terrible second, every part of me wanted to run to him, forget everything that had happened, and tell him we would somehow find another way.

Then I thought about Rafael.

A father who might have only months left with his son.

And Liam, trapped between the man who had raised him and the woman he loved.

I couldn’t ask him to spend whatever time remained fighting a war with his father because of me.

My fingers curled around the ring.

Liam finally noticed me, and his expression changed as he started walking toward me.

I forced myself to stay where I was.

No matter how much this was going to hurt, I had asked him here for one reason.

This time, I was going to make our goodbye official.