Chapter Twelve

The car's sleek hum fell silent as Liam pulled up to the curb, the world outside the tinted glass a stark contrast to the curated boardrooms and marble galas they usually occupied. Grace looked out the window, brow furrowing

This wasn't D.C. gloss, It was the kind of neighborhood people drove through with their doors locked.

Faded paint,Chain-link fences rusting into themselves. Shoes hung from power lines like memories someone didn't want to forget or couldn't.

"Why are we here" she asked as he stepped out

"Come see," Liam said.

She hesitated only a moment before following. The wind cut through her coat, not cruel, but sharp enough to make her feel fully awake. They walked down the uneven sidewalk in silence. Just the click of her heels and the crunch of broken leaves beneath their feet.

He stopped in front of a weather-beaten duplex. It was modest even that was generous. Paint peeled in strips down the sides. A crooked porch sagged with the weight of time. But Liam didn't look at it with shame. He looked at it like a secret he was finally ready to share.

"This" he said, pointing up at a window on the second floor "was home"

Grace followed his gaze. The window was boarded now, but she could imagine a boy behind it alone, maybe cold, watching the world with hungry eyes.

"I used to trace city skylines in the condensation," he said, almost to himself. "Manhattan, Dubai,Hong Kong, I told myself I'd build something cleaner, sleeker. Something no one could ignore."

He glanced at her, as if bracing for judgment.

She didn't speak. Not yet.

"I hated this place when I left," he continued. "Swore I'd never come back. I thought ambition meant erasure , burying the past so deep no one could use it against me."

Grace finally spoke. "But it didn't go away."

He shook his head. "It clung to me. In every success. Every deal. Even when I'm standing in a penthouse overlooking the city, I still hear this place. I still feel it."

They stood in silence, a strange intimacy between them. Not romantic. Not yet. But heavy with unspoken things.

"My mom," Liam said after a pause, "was the toughest woman I've ever known. Three jobs. No complaints. She didn't care about tech, or capital, or smart cities. She cared about heat in the winter. Food on the table. Getting me and my sister the best she could "

Grace's eyes softened. "Did she?"

"Barely. She died the year after I dropped out of college to build Vale Systems." He cleared his throat. "Never saw what I built. Never got out of here."

A beat passed.

"I'm sorry," Grace said

He nodded, jaw clenched. "The irony is I built this empire thinking I was honoring her. But somewhere along the way, I forgot why I started. I built for scale. For power. For investors. Not for people like her."

"And now you're bulldozing places like this to put up steel towers," she said, not unkindly.

"Yeah," he said. "And it's eating me alive."

Grace stepped closer, voice quiet. "Why show me this?"

"Because you're the only person who ever looked at me and didn't see a headline or a threat. You saw the flaws. You called them out. And you're still here"

She studied him this man who commanded empires, who silenced rooms with a glance. And now he was standing in front of a broken duplex, stripped bare.

"I'm tired of being a symbol," he said, voice low. "I want to be real , even if it costs me."

"That's not what most men like you say."

"I'm not most men," he replied.

"No," she agreed. "You're not"

The wind picked up, tossing her hair across her face. Liam reached out instinctively to brush it back, his fingers brushing her cheek light, reverent. The touch lingered just long enough to cross the line between casual and something else entirely.

But he pulled his hand away before she could read too far into it.

"You brought me here for honesty," she said. "So here's mine. I came into this thinking you were just another man with too much money and not enough conscience."

"And now?"

"Now I think… you're a man who's trying to rewrite his story. But you're terrified of losing control."

Liam gave a quiet, almost broken laugh. "Terrified doesn't begin to cover it"

Grace looked back at the house. "Then maybe it's time to stop controlling and start listening. You can't rebuild this neighborhood with blueprints and buzzwords. You have to talk to the people still living here. You have to let them in. Let them shape what comes next."

"I was hoping you'd help me with that," he said.

She turned to him. "I'm not your PR fairy godmother, Liam ."

"I'm not asking you to be." His voice softened. "I'm asking you to be my partner. Not just in the project. In the part that matters."

Her heart skipped. There it was again that terrifying pull. Not about business. Not even about legacy. Something closer

"This doesn't leave this street" she said.

He nodded. "Off the record."

She studied him a moment longer, then looked away toward the cracked window above them. A boy once looked out from that glass, dreaming of skyscrapers. Now, the man he became was looking back.

" and your sister?" Grace asked

" Mia is currently in Eldor University , majoring in Civil Engineering" with slight pride as he speaks

"She most be a clever one"

"Yes she is"

.