Chapter 16
A few hours later, I woke up and rubbed my very tired eyes. It looks like the sun was just setting. I suddenly feel Liam’s strong arms wrap around my waist.
“Hi” I whisper while turning over to face him.
He brushes his lips over mine, “Hi”.
Suddenly a tap on my door, and we both looked.
“Come in”.
“Hey, guys. Uhm… maybe one of you should come down here. Sydney and Noah are screaming at each other in the yard, and she might actually murder him. Would be a shame,” Dad says, shutting the door with a wink.
I glance at him, smirking. “Do we let her kill him or intervene?”
“Well, as tempting as that sounds… probably save him,” Liam replies, grabbing my hand.
“Ugh… fine,” I sigh, rolling my eyes.
We get out of bed and make our way downstairs, slowly realizing we’re walking straight into a war zone.
“Seriously, guys, I think she’s going to kill him,” my dad mutters, pointing out the window. “You need to de-escalate this before the cops get called.”
The sound of their shouting cuts through the morning air, and I already know this isn’t going to be simple.
We walk outside just to hear Sydney scream, “And you let me be nice to her, the other woman! Do you know how humiliating that is for me?”
I let out a sharp laugh, more disbelief than humor. “The other woman? Are you kidding me right now?”
“You knew,” Sydney snaps, eyes wild. “You knew about us and still smiled in my face!”
“No,” I say flatly, stepping forward, but Liam’s arm tightens around my waist, holding me back. “I didn’t know about you because he didn’t tell either of us the truth.”
“Noah–” Sydney whips around on him. “Is that true?”
Noah looks wrecked, running his hands through his hair. “Sydney… I didn’t tell you about Bella because I didn’t think it mattered anymore. I never thought you two would meet.”
“That makes it worse!” she screams.
Liam shifts in front of me, his body fully shielding mine now. “You’re not yelling at her,” he says calmly, but there’s an edge to his voice that makes Sydney pause. “She didn’t cheat. She didn’t lie. If you want someone to be mad at, it’s him.”
Sydney scoffs. “Oh, of course you’d say that.”
“I’m saying it because it’s true,” Liam fires back. “And because she’s not taking the fall for a mess she didn’t make.”
I step out from behind him despite his resistance. “I was in love with him too,” I say, voice shaking but steady. “I had no idea you existed. And trust me, finding out like this was humiliating for me too.”
Sydney’s face falters for just a second, realizing we are on the same page.
Noah finally steps forward, voice breaking. “I screwed this up. Both of you deserved honesty, and I failed you.”
Silence falls heavy between us.
I exhale slowly. “You don’t get to pit us against each other. Not after everything.”
Liam’s hand finds mine again, firm, grounding. “This ends now,” he says. “We’re all done screaming.”
Sydney looks between us, then at Noah, tears welling despite her anger. “I can’t do this,” she mutters.
She turns and walks back toward the house.
Noah doesn’t follow her right away. He looks at me, guilt written all over his face. “I’m sorry,” he says quietly.
I nod once. “I know.”
Liam squeezes my hand and leans down, his voice low and unmistakably possessive. “You okay?”
I swallow, nodding again. “Yeah. I am now.”
And for the first time since stepping outside, I believe it.
Noah has never claimed any of his wrong doings in his entire life. He was a professional gaslighter, and manipulator and it was always somebody else's fault. However, at this moment, he finally owned up to it, in front of the two people who he hurt the most.
As his best friend, I was so proud of him. But as the other woman, though, fuck him.
“Sydney, you need to apologize to Isabel,” Liam cuts through my thoughts.
“No. Fuck you… and Isabel… and Noah,” she snaps, voice breaking. “You all betrayed me. Especially you, Liam. You’re supposed to be my family.” Her shoulders slump, and tears streak down her face.
Those words struck him like a stake to the heart-you could see it etched across his face. She had every right to be angry; I’d feel the same if Gabriel had done something like this.
Liam looked at me, but all he saw in my eyes was hurt and betrayal.
“You knew this the whole time… you were lying to me?” she demanded, searching his face for answers.
“Get your stuff, we’re leaving. This is not a conversation for here”
He turns to look at my dad, “Henry, thank you for today and for the lattes”.
My dad just nods.
Sydney started walking toward his car while Liam and I headed inside to grab his things from my room.
I sank into the chair at the outdoor table on the back patio. Suddenly, a sharp, stabbing pain shot through my right side. I rested my head on the table, wincing. Ugh… I thought birth control was supposed to help this.
“What just happened?” I asked, still trying to process everything.
“I… I’m sorry. That wasn’t supposed to go like that,” he began, his voice hesitant.
“Well, at least you owned up to your shit for once,” I muttered.
Noah knelt in front of me and took my hands.
“Bella, this was all on me. You are not to blame at all. These were my choices, and I hurt both of you.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me Liam was Sydney’s stepbrother? Why did you beg me to come back when Sydney was still in the picture? Oh my God, Cori… I have to go over there and explain myself,” I mumbled.
“I didn’t think it was my place,” Noah admitted.
“I knew the first time I met him– at Olivia’s party.
I knew who he was, and he knew who I was.
I don’t think it clicked for either of us until that night, but yeah…
we knew each other. And I probably should stop over there too… Bob’s going to kill me,” he grumbled.
“Yeah… you’re lucky you’re still alive,” a booming voice interrupted. Dad.
“Were you here the whole time?” I asked, stunned.
“Yeah. I just needed to make sure Noah wasn’t up to any funny business-and for once, he wasn’t. I’m proud of both of you, kid. So now… you both go explain yourselves.”
“Isabel, talk to that idiot of a boyfriend of yours. And honestly… if it ends with you not having that boyfriend anymore, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if he stopped coming around here.” He shrugged and walked away.
You know what, my dad was right. He didn’t even tell me he knew Noah for months. So why am I the bad guy here?
Fuck this day.
“He’s right, Noah. We both need to go over there and lay everything out… and then I need to talk to Liam.” I slapped his shoulder as I stood up.
We drove to Liam’s house in complete silence. My hands shook the entire way-was it fear of the unknown, adrenaline, or the stabbing pain that kept breaking my focus? I couldn’t tell.
“You ready?” Noah asked as he pulled into their driveway.
“Not even a little. I could honestly throw up,” I admitted.
We walked up to the door and knocked. Cori opened it.
“Cori, I need to explain everything from my point of view. Please… just five minutes, and then I’ll go,” I begged before she could even speak.
“Okay, come on in. Noah… the nerve you have-” Cori muttered, clearly annoyed. “Sit at the table. I’ll get everyone else.”
I sat down, my hands instantly sweating, like I was being interrogated by the police. I couldn’t even look at Noah, not with how angry I was at him. Bob, Liam, and Cori soon joined us at the table.
I couldn’t even look at Liam without feeling repulsed.
“I came here to clear my name,” I began, my voice shaky.
“I don’t know what Noah said to Sydney, and I don’t know their history.
I only know what happened to me. I was in love with a boy who betrayed me in the worst way…
and it turns out Sydney was the other woman.
Then I loved a boy who let all of this happen without saying a word.
Today… today the air was cleared, and I honestly don’t know how to feel.
Everything is happening at once, like a whirlwind.
I’m angry, and I’m just as hurt as Sydney.
I feel her betrayal down to my core, and I wish things weren’t like this.
I wish things were different-but they’re not. ”
I stopped and swallowed the hot lump in my throat. Tears stung my eyes, and one slid down my cheek.
“Honey, why didn’t you tell us you knew him?” Cori asked, gently grabbing my hand and rubbing it. Liam’s eyes stayed glued to the floor.
“I didn’t want to ruin our first impression. I really wanted you guys to like me. I liked Liam a lot, and I didn’t want anything to get in the way of that. I still didn’t know the full extent of Noah and Sydney’s relationship until you told me,” I said, pulling my hand back.
“I was going to talk to Liam about it this weekend at the beach house. We planned to tell you together-but then Brad got in the wreck, and… well, the rest is history.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to erase the image of Liam’s face when they left. He had looked so catatonic, lost in his own world. He hadn’t even acknowledged me.
“Well, honey, thank you for telling us your truth. It takes a lot of courage to clear your name,” Bob said, smiling warmly.
“You were hurt in this too,” Cori added, squeezing my hand again. “We’re very proud of you for coming to us right away. Thank you for that.”
“There are a lot of questions I know you have for Noah – questions I can’t answer. So I’m going to give you some time with him. Thank you for listening,” I said, glancing at Liam. He remained expressionless, staring at the floor.
I walked out of the house and sank onto the steps.
My side throbbed relentlessly, and curling up into a ball was the only thing that eased the pain, even a little.
Tears streamed down my face, and I couldn’t tell if it was from the physical agony or the betrayal of two people who had promised they’d never hurt me.
Then, I heard the door creak open.
Silence.