Chapter 18: The Bluntest Refusal
The dining room went silent as Liam stood at the head of the table, his hands resting lightly on the back of his chair. He didn't sit down. He didn't even look at the wine the steward had poured for him. He looked at Sandra, whose smile was beginning to flicker, and then at his father.
"No," Liam said. The word was small, but it carried the weight of a falling guillotine.
"Liam?" his father barked, his face reddening. "What are you talking about? We've reached an agreement. Sandra is from a top-tier family, she is educated, she is—"
"She is a child in a grown woman's body," Liam interrupted, his voice calm and devastatingly clear. "I met this woman three days ago. She spent ten minutes screaming at a security guard over a piece of plastic. She has no grace, no humility, and quite frankly, Chief Adenuga, your daughter is an embarrassment to your name."
Sandra gasped, her face turning a deep shade of crimson. Her father stood up, his fists clenched. "How dare you! You are insulting my daughter in my presence!"
"I am stating a fact," Liam replied, turning his gaze back to his father. "If you want a merger, Father, buy his company. But do not expect me to marry a woman who values her phone more than her dignity. This dinner is over." He turned on his heel and walked out, ignoring his father's coughing fit and Sandra's indignant sobs. As he stepped into the night air, he felt a surge of adrenaline he hadn't felt in years. He had burned a bridge, and for the first time, the fire felt good. He needed to get away. He needed to go somewhere where no one knew his name or his father's expectations.
"David," Liam said as he got into the back of the car. "Take me to that place you mentioned. The one with the masks."