His Beautiful Addiction

Tiana shut the door behind her, leaning weakly on it, after some time she slumped to the floor, her eyes gazing emptily.

She had thought that hugging Liam would quench her thirst for Nicklaus but the reverse was the case, it just doubled.

Hugging him made her want Nicklaus more, memories of him came flashing back, so much that she felt her insides about to explode;

Tiana lifted her hand to her chest and rubbed on it, slow pants left her lips as her head fell between her legs;

I miss him…

This was the first time she had let herself believe it, she had always missed him but this was the first time she had accepted it.

Tiana sat there for the longest time before she forced herself up and went to bed.

…

''Hey! Good morning;'' Tiana held her phone against her ear as she prepared scotched eggs for breakfast;

''Tiana, good morning, how are you this morning? Hope you slept well? '' Liam asked, his tone energetic;

''Yeah, I did, thanks to you. '' although that wasn't exactly true because that night was no different;

 ''I'm glad you slept well; I hope you are relieved now? ''

Tiana swallowed; ''ye…ah… ''

''Great, I just called to check on you… ''

"Thanks… ''

Tiana replied and the call grew silent; she stopped cooking and stepped away from the cooker, as though contemplating a decision;

''Alright, I'll let you prepare for… ''

''Liam… '' Tiana cut him off, her hand gripping the counter;

''I thought about what you said last night; '' She paused, as though wanting to get his full attention;

''… And I've decided to go along with it; I don't love you, but I'm willing to give this a chance, to know if it might work between us. I… I don't want to lead you on in any way, that's why I'm making it clear to you, and if it doesn't work, we'll call it off if that is okay by you… '’

She swallowed; she wasn't sure if this was a perfect choice but at that moment, she had run out of options.

''Okay, we'll do that, ''

Tiana's hands fisted and she nodded;

''Thank you… ''

''Yeah, and right, I have a charity gala to attend tomorrow, can you be my date? That's if you don't mind… ''

''Sure, no problem; ''

''Alright, I'll pick you up tomorrow, let me leave you to prepare for work, we'll talk later. ''

"' Right, bye '' Tiana held the phone to her ear for the longest time after the call had ended, before she slowly dropped it to the counter.

Why was she having a bad feeling about this?

There was clearly nothing wrong in going out with Liam, but why was she feeling like it was not the right thing to do?

…

''Michael dear, since you're very busy at the company and there's still a lot to do, Liam would go to the charity gala in your stead,'' Catherine spoke as they sat in the dining table having breakfast.

Michael gripped his cutleries harder as his eyes rose to Catherine as her words filtered into his ears; he stared at her for a moment and then shifted his gaze to Liam briefly;

Liam was eating casually as though it was no news, it was clear that she had discussed this with him before because he appeared carefree;

He swallowed; he had been suspecting that there was something wrong about their closeness, although she had said that he was her sister's son, they looked closer than that. Even though at first glance, there was no resemblance between them, on a closer look, Liam had some of Catherine's features.

Maybe because he was her sister's son; they were bound to have some similar features, but Michael could not get the gut-feeling off his mind, no matter how much he tried.

Ever since Liam came into the family, Catherine had been very distant with him, treating him more like what he really was_ an adopted child.

’’'Is that okay with you, Michael?''

Catherine called, cutting him off from his thoughts; Michael glanced at her again and his eyes met her pointed gaze, the gaze that said 'I'm asking politely but you don't have a choice'

He nodded; ''Yes, Liam can go, I have a lot to do at the company after all. ''

He let out a small smile and Catherine nodded; ''Good, and I saw that our stocks have been doing well this week; you're doing a good job, Michael. ''

''I'm just doing what I have to do. ''

Nicklaus Howells had acquired a large number of stocks from their company but surprisingly, she had kept mute about it. It was strange, he knew his mother, in the past, when he did stuff like this, she didn't waste time to act, but this time… she was strangely quiet.

He didn't know why the two companies were at loggerheads, he had asked her and she always swept it under. He knew there was something he didn't know, something they were hiding from him, from the appearance of Liam to the issue between the companies, everything looked vague and it seemed only him was in the dark about all of this.

He didn't know why, but he felt like a pawn in her hands. Like some toy, she was fond of and when she got tired of him, she was going to dispose of him.

Michael watched Catherine wipe her mouth with the serviette and stand up from the table;

''Liam, come to my study when you are done eating. ''

She spoke as she walked out in calm steps.

The dining room became awkwardly quiet. He and Liam had never had a decent conversation before. Liam only talked to him when it was necessary, he didn't know why he was sure he had not done anything to him.

These past days, this house had been very stuffy for him, he had wanted to move out long ago but Catherine had refused; she had told him to stay and keep her company but now, it was obvious she didn't need his company anymore.

He was going to leave…