He had abandoned Khloe in the center of the ballroom to follow Olivia.
He had referred to Olivia as his wife.
Then he had questioned whether the babies were his loudly enough for strangers to hear.
Each moment had been his choice.
None had been Olivia’s performance.
A movement beyond the opposite end of the corridor caught Liam’s attention.
His expression changed again.
A man had appeared near the side exit.
He had been waiting away from the ballroom, exactly as Olivia had asked him to.
He was known enough that Liam recognized him immediately.
So did several photographers.
Another billionaire.
Not an assistant.
Not a lawyer.
Not security.
The man Olivia was now seeing.
He did not rush toward her or turn the moment into a confrontation.
He simply met Olivia’s eyes from across the corridor and waited.
Something in her face softened.
It was tiny.
Liam saw it anyway.
That expression hurt him more visibly than the pregnancy had.
Because Liam remembered receiving that look when there had been no cameras, no penthouse, no company valuation, and no model hanging from his arm.
Back when Olivia’s relief at seeing him had been automatic.
The billionaire approached only when Olivia gave a small nod.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
“Yes,” Olivia said.
One word.
But her shoulders dropped, as though she no longer had to hold the entire evening by herself.
Liam stood so quickly the scan nearly slipped from his hand.
“You brought him?”
Olivia looked at him.
“He came with me.”
“To this?”
“To a gala, Liam.”
Khloe’s eyes narrowed.
Liam ignored her again.
“How long has this been going on?”
Olivia’s expression changed from patience to disbelief.
“You left me for someone else, and you’re asking me that?”
“That is not what I asked.”
“No.
What you asked was whether you still have the right to inspect my life after removing me from yours.”
The billionaire beside Olivia remained silent.
He did not threaten Liam.
He did not claim Olivia.
He did not need to.
His restraint made Liam’s jealousy look louder.
Liam glanced at him, then at Olivia’s stomach.
The calculation on his face was painfully obvious.
He was trying to assemble a version of reality in which he had not lost anything permanent.
Perhaps Olivia was lonely.
Perhaps the new relationship was temporary.
Perhaps the pregnancy would somehow pull her back toward him.
Perhaps the family he had once imagined could still reorganize itself around his wishes.
Olivia saw the thoughts arrive before he spoke.
