CHAPTER 82: THE TRUTH
The hospital room felt too small suddenly, the walls pressing in. William's eyes were already closing from exhaustion and painkillers but I couldn't leave. Not yet.
"Kate, you need rest too." Tina touched my shoulder. "The baby—"
"I know." I stood up slowly, everything aching. "Five more minutes."
Jeremy and Emma had left to start coordinating our trip to Mr Howard's. The detective was gone. It was just us and the steady beep of William's monitors.
A knock at the door. Liam stood there, his face doing something I'd never seen before. He looked wrecked.
"Can I come in?" His voice came out rough.
"Of course." I frowned. "Liam, what's wrong?"
He stepped inside and closed the door behind him. Wouldn't meet my eyes. Just stared at William sleeping in that hospital bed.
"There's something I need to tell you both." He swallowed hard. "Something I should have said months ago."
William's eyes cracked open. "Liam?"
"I'm sorry boss." Liam's hands clenched at his sides. "I'm so sorry."
My heart started pounding. "What are you talking about?"
"Gabrielle." The name came out like a confession. "I knew about her. About what she was planning."
The room went dead silent except for those monitors beeping.
"What?" William tried to sit up but couldn't. "Liam, what did you do?"
"She approached me six months ago." Liam finally looked at us and I saw genuine pain in his eyes. "Said she had information about the SE, about Carlos, about everything you were investigating. She wanted to help bring them down."
"And you believed her?" I couldn't keep the betrayal out of my voice.
"At first yeah." He ran a hand through his hair. "She seemed sincere Kate. Said she still cared about William even after everything, that she wanted to protect him. And the information she gave me, it was good. Real. It helped us track Carlos's movements."
"So you worked with her." William's voice had gone cold. "Behind my back."
"I know how it sounds—"
"It sounds like you betrayed me." William's monitors started beeping faster. "You were feeding her information this whole time?"
"No." Liam stepped closer. "That's the thing. The more I worked with her, the more I realized something was off. She'd ask questions that had nothing to do with Carlos. Wanted to know about Kate's schedule, about security at the mansion, about your routines."
My stomach turned. "You knew she was planning something."
"I suspected." Liam's voice cracked. "So I cut her off three weeks ago. Told her I was done, that if she contacted me again I'd tell William everything. She threatened me, said she'd make sure you both knew I'd been working with her."
"So you kept quiet to save yourself." Tina's voice cut like ice from where she stood by the window.
"I kept quiet because I was trying to figure out what she was really after." Liam turned to her. "And because I'm an idiot who thought I could handle it alone."
"You should have told me." William's jaw clenched. "The second you suspected something you should have come to me."
"I know."
"I trusted you Liam. You're not just my employee, you're my friend. My brother."
"I know." Tears actually showed in Liam's eyes. "And I failed you. Both of you. If that snake had—" His voice broke completely. "If Kate had died because I didn't speak up sooner, I would never forgive myself."
The monitors beeped their steady rhythm. Nobody moved.
"Why are you telling us now?" I asked finally.
"Because I can't keep lying." Liam looked at me. "And because whatever's coming next, you need to know the truth. All of it. Even if it means you never trust me again."
William closed his eyes. I could see him processing, calculating, trying to separate emotion from strategy like he always did.
"Did you give her any information that put Kate in danger?" His voice was carefully controlled.
"No. I swear on everything I love, I never told her anything that could be used to hurt either of you."
"But you didn't stop her either."
"I tried. But I should have tried harder." Liam met William's eyes. "I should have put a bullet in her the second I knew she was a threat. And I'll spend the rest of my life making up for that mistake."
Silence stretched out. The machines kept beeping. Somewhere down the hall a nurse laughed at something.
"Get out." William's voice was flat.
"William—" I started.
"I need to think Kate. And I can't do that with him standing here." He finally looked at Liam. "Go. We'll talk about this later."
Liam nodded and headed for the door. His hand was on the handle when William spoke again.
"Liam?"
"Yeah boss?"
"Thank you for telling the truth. Even if it was too late."
Liam's shoulders shook once then he was gone.
I turned to William. "You're not seriously going to fire him?"
"I don't know what I'm going to do." He rubbed his face with his good hand. "Part of me wants to throw him out. But part of me understands why he didn't come forward sooner."
"He was trying to protect you in his own stupid way."
"Doesn't make it right."
"No." I sat back down beside him. "But it makes it human. And honestly? After everything we've been through, I'm too tired to lose someone else."
William looked at me. Really looked. "You want me to forgive him?"
"I want you to do whatever feels right. But William, he came clean when he didn't have to. That has to count for something."
"Maybe." He closed his eyes again. "Or maybe I'm just too drugged up to think straight right now."
"Rest. We'll figure it out later."
I kissed his forehead and stepped into the hallway. Liam stood at the far end, his back against the wall, looking like someone had kicked him in the chest.
"He'll come around." I said it even though I wasn't sure it was true.
"I don't deserve it if he does." Liam wouldn't look at me. "I put you in danger Kate. That's unforgivable."
"You also saved my life more times than I can count." I touched his arm. "Mistakes don't erase everything else."
Before he could respond, Tina appeared from the elevator, spotted us, and stormed over with murder in her eyes.
"You." She pointed at Liam. "Come with me. Now."
"Tina—" I started.
"Not you." She grabbed Liam's arm and dragged him toward an empty waiting room. "Him."
I followed anyway because this I had to see.
The second the door closed Tina smacked Liam across the back of his head.
"Ow! What the—"
"That's for being an idiot." She hit him again. "And that's for almost getting my best friend killed."
"Okay, I deserved that." Liam rubbed his head. "Can you stop hitting me now?"
"Not yet." But she didn't hit him again. Just stood there breathing hard, her hands shaking. "Why didn't you tell anyone? Why did you have to play hero by yourself?"
"Because I thought I could fix it." Liam's voice went quiet. "I thought if I could figure out what Gabrielle really wanted, I could stop it before anyone got hurt."
"But people did get hurt." Tina's voice cracked. "William is in there with snake venom in his system. Kate almost died. And you—" She shoved his chest. "You almost destroyed everything because you were too proud to ask for help."
"I know." Liam caught her hands. "I know Tina. And I'll spend the rest of my life making it right."
"You better." She pulled her hands away. "Because if you pull something like this again I'll do more than smack your head."
"Noted."
They stood there staring at each other. The air between them felt charged somehow, like right before a storm breaks.
"Where are you going?" Tina asked suddenly. "After this. After Mr Howard's. Where do you go?"
"Nowhere." Liam stepped closer. "I'm staying. Here. With you. If you'll let me."
Tina's eyes widened. "Liam—"
"I mean it." He cupped her face. "I've been an idiot about a lot of things but not about this. Not about you."
"We're in the middle of a crisis. This is terrible timing."
"Life is terrible timing." He smiled but it looked sad. "Clark messed you up. I get that. But I'm not him Tina. I'm not going to hurt you."
"You already did." But her voice had gone soft. "By keeping secrets."
"Then let me make it up to you." He leaned closer. "Starting now. Starting with being completely honest. I'm in love with you. Have been for months. And I'm done pretending I'm not."
Tina made a sound between a laugh and a sob. "You're insane."
"Probably." He brushed a tear off her cheek. "But I'm your kind of insane."
She kissed him.
Not gentle or tentative but hard and desperate like she'd been holding back for too long. Liam wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back with everything he had.
I backed out of the room quietly and closed the door.
At least something good was coming out of this mess.
My phone buzzed. A text from Mr Howard with just four words that made my blood run cold.
"They're coming for you."