Chapter 175: Date With Vanessa PT.5 [FIXED!]

They talked for a long while after that, working through the actual shape of what Liam needed — someone who understood contracts, liability, the legal architecture of standing up a firm from nothing. Vanessa leaned into it fully, her earlier shock settling into something sharper, more focused, the version of her that clearly thrived on structure and strategy.

"Okay," she said, pulling a small notepad from her bag without even thinking about it, old habits from years of client meetings. "If I’m doing this properly, I need to know what you’re actually envisioning. Litigation-focused? Corporate? Are you trying to compete directly with Harlan, or carve out something different?"

"Different," Liam said immediately. "I don’t want to just be a smaller version of what I left. I want something that actually treats clients like people instead of billable hours."

"That’s idealistic."

"Maybe. But it’s the whole point."

Vanessa studied him for a moment, something almost admiring flickering behind her eyes before she caught herself and looked back down at her notes. "Alright. Idealistic, client-focused, building from the ground up. That’s a lot of infrastructure work before you even take your first case."

"I know. That’s why I need you specifically."

They went back and forth like that for a while, Liam laying out his vision in pieces, Vanessa pulling it apart and reassembling it into something more practical — timelines, licensing requirements, the actual bones of what a functioning firm needed before it could call itself one. She was thorough, meticulous, catching details Liam hadn’t even considered yet.

"You’d need someone handling compliance from day one," she said at one point. "Not after you’re operational. Before."

"Noted."

"And malpractice insurance isn’t optional, no matter how confident you feel."

"Also noted."

Eventually, the conversation shifted toward the actual terms — what role she’d take, what compensation looked like starting out. Liam laid out a number, watching her face carefully as he said it.

Vanessa blinked. "That’s... lower than what I’m making now."

"I know." Liam didn’t flinch from it. "It’s a starting offer. Early-stage startup pay, basically. It’ll grow fast once we’re operational, but right now I can’t justify matching your current salary when we don’t even have clients yet."

She sat with that for a moment, clearly running the numbers in her head, weighing risk against whatever instinct had been quietly building in her over the last hour.

"You do realize that’s a significant pay cut to walk away from a stable position for."

"I do."

"And you’re asking me to make that jump based on... what, exactly? A building and a folder of paperwork?"

"Based on the fact that I bought that building in cash, essentially, with money I didn’t have a few weeks ago," Liam said evenly. "I know how that sounds. I know it doesn’t add up on paper. But I’m telling you, this is real, and it’s only getting bigger from here."

Vanessa studied him for a long, quiet moment, something calculating but genuinely impressed settling into her expression. A twenty-five-year-old, fired from his firm months ago, had apparently crossed into outright millionaire territory while she wasn’t looking. Whatever the explanation was, the proof was sitting right there in black and white on the table between them.

"Fine," she said finally, extending her hand across the table. "Starter salary. But I expect that number moving fast once this thing actually gets off the ground."

"Deal." Liam shook her hand, feeling something settle into place.

Vanessa pulled her hand back, masking just how impressed she actually was behind a composed, professional nod, even as something warmer flickered quietly underneath it.

-

Carla dropped the check at the table with a polite smile, and Liam had his card on the tray before Vanessa could even reach for her clutch.

"I invited you," he said, before she could protest. "Business expense, technically."

"Technically," she repeated, eyebrow raised, but she let it go.

They lingered a few minutes longer, tying off the loose ends. Vanessa would stay at Harlan for now — no sudden resignation, nothing that would tip off Mrs. Harriet or, worse, Arthur. She’d hand in her notice the moment Liam’s firm was actually operational, licensed, and ready to take its first client.

"That’s smart," Liam said, nodding. "No reason to burn the bridge before the new one’s built. Take your time, handle it however you need to."

"You’re not worried I’ll change my mind?"

"No." He said it simply, no hesitation at all. "You shook on it."

Something in the certainty of that made her look away first.

They stepped out into the cool night air, the street quieter now, the warm glow of The Amber Fork fading behind them. Liam opened the passenger door, and as she moved to step in, his hand settled lightly against the small of her back, guiding her down into the seat.

It was barely anything. A second, maybe less. But a shiver rolled straight up Vanessa’s spine, the good kind, the kind that made her forget for a moment what she’d been about to say.

He shut the door, rounded the car, and slid into the driver’s seat. He didn’t start the engine.

Instead, he turned and looked at her. Directly. Steadily. No phone, no distraction, nothing between them but the dim glow of the streetlight filtering through the windshield.

"That was a productive meeting," Liam said.

"Mhm," Vanessa managed.

That was all. One syllable. And Liam knew, watching her, that he had her exactly where he wanted. It was in everything she wasn’t saying — the way her eyes narrowed slightly, trying to read him, the way her fingers tightened around her clutch, the shallow rise of her chest like her heart was working harder than it needed to. She didn’t want the night to end.

It didn’t have to.

Slowly, deliberately, Liam rested his hand on her lap.

Vanessa froze. Completely. For weeks she’d been the one testing the waters — the lingering looks at the office, the carefully chosen words, the green dress tonight. He’d always seemed just slightly out of reach, polite, unreadable. This was the first time he’d made a move that left no room for interpretation.

"Hey, you," Liam said softly, a small smile tugging at his lips.

She bit the inside of her cheek, trying and failing to contain the sheepish smile spreading across her face. "Hey."

The car felt smaller suddenly. Quieter. She could hear the faint tick of the engine cooling, the distant hum of traffic two streets over, her own pulse loud in her ears.

"Would Penina mind," Liam asked, not bothering to dress it up, "if you spent the rest of the night out?"

He knew how close these two were, the fact that Penina went out of her way to introduce herself was proof of that, and Liam didn’t mind this whatsoever.

The question landed like a dropped glass in a silent room because this only implied one thing in that moment.

That was going back to his place for just one thing.

Vanessa opened her mouth but quickly closed it. She’d imagined this. More than once, if she was honest. Lying awake, replaying their conversations, wondering what it would take for him to finally look at her the way he was looking at her now. She’d known — some part of her had known since she picked out what was underneath this dress — that tonight might end exactly like this.

So why was her heart suddenly pounding like she was nineteen again?

"I—" she started, then stopped, glancing down at his hand still resting on her lap.

Liam noticed the hesitation. He didn’t push. Instead, he lifted his hand away, slowly, unhurried, settling it back on the steering wheel. No sulking, no pressure, no shift in his expression. Just space.

He understood the cost of moving too fast. Pushing now would turn something she wanted into something she felt cornered into, and that wasn’t what he was after.

"No rush," he said quietly, eyes still on her. "Take a second."

The absence of his hand somehow felt louder than its presence had. Vanessa stared at the dashboard, then at him, then back at her clutch, where her phone sat buzzing faintly — Penina, no doubt, demanding updates.

She didn’t reach for it.

"Liam," she said finally, her voice softer than she meant it to be.

"Yeah?"

She held his gaze for a long, charged moment, the question still hanging unanswered in the air between them.

"Yes," Vanessa said finally. "Penina won’t mind. I’ll text her."

Liam didn’t start the car. He just looked at her, head tilted slightly.

"You sure? Because that didn’t sound like a yes. That sounded like someone talking themselves into something."

"It’s not that." She exhaled, fingers fidgeting with the clasp of her clutch. "I’m just... nervous."

"Nervous about what?"

Vanessa let out a small, self-conscious laugh, looking anywhere but at him. "Because I’ve thought about this. A lot, actually. More than I’d ever want to admit out loud." She pressed her lips together, cheeks warming. "It’s embarrassing, honestly, how attracted I am to you."

For a moment, the car was completely silent.

Then Liam smiled — slow, unhurried, a grin spreading across his face that he made no effort to hide.

"Is that so?"

"Don’t," Vanessa groaned, covering her face with one hand. "Don’t look at me like that."

"Like what?"

"Like you just won something."

"Maybe I did." He leaned back against his seat, still watching her, clearly enjoying this far more than he should. "So how long is ’a lot’?"

"I’m not answering that."

"That long, huh?"

She dropped her hand and shot him a look, half-annoyed, half-laughing. "You know what the worst part is? I could never tell if you were even interested. Not once. You’d give me these little moments — the way you’d look at me sometimes, or say something that felt like it meant more — and then the next day you’d act completely normal. Professional. Like nothing happened."

"And that drove you crazy."

"Yes, it drove me crazy!" She threw her hands up slightly. "I spent weeks overanalyzing every conversation. Penina got sick of hearing about it."

Liam chuckled, low and warm, and reached over to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear, his fingers lingering just a second longer than necessary.

"Well," he said quietly, "let me clear that up for you, then."

Vanessa held perfectly still, her breath catching, waiting for whatever came next.

Liam just smiled, turned the key, and the engine hummed to life.