Chapter 52 The glass wall
Chapter 52: The Glass Wall (Liam’s POV)
The glass was cold against my forehead as I pressed the paper against the window. I watched Elena’s face through the pane. She looked like a ghost of the girl I had kissed in the library. Her eyes were sunken, and she looked so fragile I felt like the wind might blow her away.
She was shaking her head, her eyes darting toward the ceiling, toward where my father was likely sitting in his leather chair, sipping bourbon and feeling like a god. She was terrified. And seeing her like that made my blood boil.
I didn't move. I kept the paper pressed there.
I love you. I’m not giving up.
She read it. I saw her lips tremble. For a second, she reached out, her fingers almost touching the glass where my hand was. The chemistry was still there, humming through the barrier between us. I could feel it pulling at me, making me want to smash the window just to hold her.
Then, she pulled back. She grabbed a marker and a scrap of paper from her desk. She wrote something quickly and held it up.
Go away, Liam. You’ll kill us both.
I shook my head and flipped my paper over. I had written on both sides.
I don’t care about the money. I don’t care about the name. Just tell me you love me too.
Elena looked at the words, and a tear finally rolled down her cheek. She didn't write anything this time. She just looked at me, her eyes full of a deep, agonizing sadness. She mouthed the words: No. Go away.
I tapped on the glass again, more insistently this time. I needed to hear it. I needed her to tell me that all of this—the studying, the fighting, the threats—meant something.
Suddenly, she threw the window open just an inch. The cold night air rushed out, carrying the scent of her vanilla perfume.
"Liam, stop it!" she hissed, her voice barely a whisper. "He has cameras. He has people. Do you want my mom to go to jail?"
"He’s not looking right now," I whispered back, leaning into the gap. "Elena, I can’t do this. I can’t sit across from you in that library and pretend I don't want to burn the world down for you. Just say it. Say you love me."
"I can't say that," she said, her voice breaking. "Because it doesn't matter. Love doesn't pay the rent, Liam. Love doesn't stop the police from planting evidence. You live in a fairy tale where the prince saves the day. I live in the basement. In my world, the prince is the one holding the keys to the cell."
"I'm not my father!" I snapped, my voice getting too loud.
"Shh!" she panicked, looking at the door. "You aren't him yet. But you will be. You'll take the merger. You'll take the hockey contract. And you'll forget the girl who taught you about the French Revolution."
"Never," I said. "I'll walk away from all of it tonight if you tell me to."
Elena looked at me, and for a moment, I thought she might actually say it. I thought she might reach out and pull me into that small, cramped room. But then her face went cold again. The mask was back.
"I don't love you, Liam," she said.
The words felt like a physical blow to the stomach. I felt the air leave my lungs. "You're lying."
"I'm not," she said, though she couldn't look me in the eye. "I liked the attention. I liked feeling like I was special for a minute. But look at where we are. I'm begging for my mother's life while you're playing Romeo in the dark. It’s not love. It’s a burden. Now go."
"Elena—"
"Go!" she whispered harshly. "If you ever cared about me, you'll stay away. Pass the test tomorrow so I can keep my scholarship, and then never look at me again."
She slammed the window shut and pulled the heavy curtain across it.
I stood there in the dark, the paper still crumpled in my hand. The silence of the estate felt like it was crushing me. I looked at the dark curtain and realized she was right about one thing—I was playing a game, but she was fighting a war.
I walked away from the basement, my heart feeling like a lead weight in my chest.
The next morning, the school was buzzing. It was the day of the final. The "big one."
I walked into the classroom, and the first person I saw was Elena. She was sitting in the front row, her head down, her books already packed away. She didn't look up when I walked in. She didn't look up when Chloe sat down next to me and draped an arm over my shoulder.
"You ready, babe?" Chloe whispered, her voice full of fake sweetness. "I heard you’ve been studying so hard. It would be a shame if all that work went to waste."
I shoved her arm off. "Don't touch me, Chloe."
"Ouch," she giggled, but her eyes were sharp. "Still moody? Don't worry. After today, everything goes back to normal. No more tutors. No more basements."
I didn't answer. I looked at the back of Elena’s head. I wanted to scream. I wanted to tell the whole room that I loved the girl in the front row. But I remembered the look on her face last night. I remembered her "I don't love you."
Mr. Henderson walked in and started handing out the papers. The room went silent.
"This is it," Henderson said. "Two hours. No talking. If I see your eyes wander, you fail. Start now."
I flipped the paper over. My mind was a mess of dates and names, but beneath it all was Elena’s voice. The Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1919. Napoleon fell at Waterloo. I started writing. I wrote until my hand cramped. Every answer I gave was for her. Every correct date was a brick in the wall I was building to keep her safe. If I got a 100, my father had no reason to touch her.
Halfway through the test, I looked up. Elena was already finished. She was staring out the window, her expression blank. She looked like she was already gone.
I finished five minutes before the bell. I walked up to the desk and handed my paper to Henderson. He looked at me, then at the paper, and gave me a slow nod.
I walked out of the room, but I didn't go to my locker. I waited in the hallway.
A few minutes later, Elena walked out. Maya was right behind her, looking like a bodyguard. Elena saw me and tried to walk past, her cane clicking rapidly on the tile.
"Elena, wait," I said, stepping in her way.
"I told you to stay away," she said, her voice trembling.
"I did the test," I said. "I aced it. I know I did. You're safe now. He can't kick you out."
"Good," she said, not looking at me. "Then we're done. Thank you for the paycheck, Liam. Have a nice life."
She pushed past me. Maya stopped for a second, looking at me with a mix of pity and frustration.
"She’s trying to save you too, Liam," Maya whispered. "Don't you get it? If she loves you, she loses everything. If she hates you, she survives. What do you think a girl like her is going to choose?"
Maya followed her down the hall, leaving me standing there alone.
I watched them go, but as I turned to walk the other way, I saw Chloe standing by the water fountain. She was holding her phone, and she was smiling—that same wicked smile she had when she was about to destroy someone.
"You really should check the school blog, Liam," she said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "It seems someone found a recording of your 'tutor' talking to her friend Maya. It’s quite juicy. Something about how she's been 'playing the rich boy' to get her mom a permanent spot on the estate."
My heart stopped. I pulled out my phone and hit the link. It was a voice recording. It sounded exactly like Elena.
"He's so easy to manipulate," the voice said. "One kiss and he'll do whatever I say. I just need to keep him on the hook until the merger is signed. Then my mom and I are set for life."
I looked down the hall at Elena’s retreating back. My brain told me it was a fake, another one of Chloe’s tricks. But the voice... the voice was perfect.