POV: Asher
I stayed in the spare room, moved through the apartment slowly, measured what I could do against what my body allowed, and let the days rebuild me in increments instead of force.
By the end of the week, I was steady enough to stand longer, to walk without thinking about each step, to sit at the table with the others and not feel like I was borrowing energy I would have to repay later. It wasn’t full strength, but it was enough to recognize the shape of myself again.
“I’m going in,” I said one morning, standing in the kitchen while Jasmine poured coffee, her attention already half on me before I finished the sentence. “Not for the day. An hour. Maybe two.”
She set the cup down in front of me and looked at me directly.
“Alright,” she said after a moment. “I’ll drive you.”
There was just the adjustment of the plan to fit what I had said, and I nodded once in acknowledgment.
The drive was quiet, I leaned back against the seat, watching it pass, not needing to fill the silence.
When we pulled up to the building, Liam was already there, standing just outside the entrance with one hand in his pocket. He straightened when he saw us, his focus shifting immediately on me.
“You sure about this,” he asked as I stepped out of the car, his voice even but not casual.
“Yes,” I said. “I’m not staying long.”
He nodded, accepting it without pushing further, and Jasmine stayed back a step, her presence steady but unobtrusive as the three of us moved toward the entrance together.
We stopped before the elevator. Liam turned to me, the shift in him visible in the way his shoulders set.
“There’s something I need to say,” he said.
I didn’t interrupt him. He held my gaze, not looking away, not softening the words before he spoke them.
“I’ve been carrying something since the diagnosis,” he said. “Since before that, if I’m honest. And I haven’t said it out loud because I didn’t want to make it about me.”
He exhaled once and controlled.
“If I had kept a balance between work and family, you wouldn’t have worked yourself into this,” he continued. “I put it all on you. I stepped back. I went into my life, into my family, and I left you holding everything alone.”
The words landed exactly as he meant them.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
Jasmine didn’t move. I could feel her presence just behind us, close enough to step in if needed, far enough to let it happen without interference.
I took a breath, not because I needed time to respond.
“Liam,” I said, keeping my voice level and steady. “You made the right choice.”
He didn’t react immediately, but I saw the shift in his expression, the expectation of resistance meeting something else instead.
“What you built is alive,” I continued. “Your family. Your life. That’s not something you apologize for.”
I paused, choosing the words carefully, not to soften them.
“I spent years building things that didn’t matter,” I said. “Deals, structures, numbers that looked solid on paper and meant nothing when it came down to it.”
He held my gaze, not interrupting.
“I didn’t know how to say I wanted the same thing,” I added. “I didn’t know how to ask for it without feeling like I was giving something up.”
The silence between us shifted, not empty, but full of recognition.
Liam stepped closer then, closing the distance without hesitation, and his hand came up to the back of my neck, pulling me into him. I met him there.
Jasmine stayed where she was.
I knew without looking that she was watching, just holding the space for it to happen.
When we pulled back, nothing needed to be added.
“Let’s go up,” Liam said.
We stepped into the elevator together, and let the moment settle without adding anything to it, the shift between us complete enough that words would have only made it smaller.
The office felt the same.
That was the first thing I noticed when I stepped inside. My desk was as I had left it, the files organized, the screens dark until I touched them.
I sat down slowly, testing the movement without making it obvious, and opened what needed to be opened.
Liam stayed nearby, his attention divided between his own work and the fact that I was there. Jasmine didn’t stay long. She made sure I was settled, and then left without making it an event.
For an hour, maybe a little more, I worked.
Not at full capacity, but enough to feel the rhythm come back. My body held up. My focus held. That was all I needed from it.
When I stood again, there was no protest from my balance, no immediate fatigue pulling me back down.
“That’s enough,” Liam said, already watching me.
“It is,” I agreed and didn’t argue about it.
We didn’t push it further, letting the hour be exactly what it was meant to be before closing things down and heading out together. We headed to the apartment.
When we pulled up to the building, Liam’s phone rang.
He glanced at the screen, his expression shifting slightly before he answered.
“Yes.”
I watched him as he listened, the change in his posture subtle but immediate, his attention sharpened.
“Alright,” he said after a moment. “Stay there.”
He ended the call, his hand still holding the phone for a second longer than necessary before lowering it.
“Who was that,” Jasmine asked, her voice calm but direct.
“My secretary,” he said, his gaze moving between us. “Our father is at the office.”
The words settled into the space without needing emphasis.
“He’s asking to see one of us,” Liam added. “Says he has something to say.”
I had already turned toward him before he finished.
“Two of us,” I said looking at Liam.
He nodded once. “Both.”
Jasmine looked at me, then at Liam, her expression steady, already moving past the question into the decision.
I opened the car door.
“We go,” I said. “All of us.”
I stepped out, the air hitting sharper than it had a moment ago, and turned back toward them.
“I want him to see us together.”