Liam didn't knock.
He never did when he was angry.
The glass doors to Grace office swung open, and she looked up from her desk, startled but not surprised. His jaw was tight. His eyes, usually so calculating, were stormy and unguarded.
"You should've told me," he said, closing the doors behind him
Grace leaned back slowly, schooling her expression. "Told you what?"
"That your father threatened to cut your funding," Liam said, stepping closer. "That you stood there and let him dangle your entire firm over your head like a leash."
Maya of course or someone had leaked it or maybe someone in the Governor's inner circle still had a conscience.
Grace stood. "It's none of your business, Liam ."
"The hell it isn't," he snapped. "You're putting everything on the line for a project with my name on it. For me and you think I'd want you to go down with me?"
"I'm not going down," she said, her voice steady. "And I'm not doing it for you. I'm doing it because it's the right thing"
He stopped in front of her desk, hands braced against the polished wood "You're lying. You're doing it because you care. About this city. About me."
The silence between them pulsed.
Grace's heart beat faster, a mix of fury and fear rising up. "I care about the work. Don't twist this."
Liam leaned in, eyes searching hers. "Grace . I know what this costs you. And I'm not going to sit by while you burn your life to the ground just to prove a point"
She laughed sharply . "You're not letting me do anything but I made my choice and I knew what the fallout would be, and I made it anyway."
"I know," he said, voice lower now, strained. "That's why I'm here. Because I can't let you stand in front of a bullet meant for me."
"You think this is noble, that you get to 'protect' me by pulling away?" she asked, stepping around the desk, closer to him. "You don't get to make that call. You don't get to be the man who kisses me and walks away the next."
Liam looked at her like she was both his salvation and his undoing. "I don't want to walk away," he said roughly. "But if staying means watching you lose everything then maybe I have to."
Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Do you want me to regret choosing you?"
His jaw clenched. "I want you to have the freedom to choose anything."
"I did." She stepped closer, until they were inches apart. "And I chose this. I chose you. Don't insult me by acting like I don't know what I'm doing."
Liam reached for her hand then, tentative like touching her might collapse the steel wall she'd built between them. She let him.
"I didn't think anyone would ever fight for me," he said, voice raw. "Not like this. Not when it mattered."
Grace looked up at him, heart aching. "Then maybe it's time you stop fighting me."
A long beat passed.
Then he pulled her into his arms not rough, not desperate. Just certain.
Like it was the only thing that made sense.
And for a moment, everything outside that room ,the media, the pressure, her father's threats all fell away.
They stood there, tangled in each other, and neither said the words.
But they were closer than ever to meaning them.