Divorced Heiress Married Her Brother’s Friend

Chapter 2 An Unexpected Encounter

Sophia’s POV

As the club lights flickered around me, the thumping bass resonated with the pounding in my head. I swayed, having downed my third—or was it fourth vodka tonic? A cacophony of conversations blended with the pulsating music, exactly what I needed. I needed to lose myself in the chaos, let the alcohol and music wash away the mess of the past few days.

I continued toward the dance floor, letting the crowd swallow me up. I spun with my eyes closed. Maybe if I twirled fast enough, I could leave everything behind—the pain, the anger, the overwhelming disappointment.

As I whirled, my foot caught on something, and I stumbled. I braced myself to faceplant onto the club’s sticky floor when a pair of strong arms caught me from behind, steadying me.

For a brief moment, I felt a surge of tension, as it had been a long time since any man had touched me besides Max.

Slowly, I lifted my head, my eyes going wide. A handsome man with a head of dark hair and piercing deep blue eyes was pressed against me. He wore a black button-down shirt and dark jeans that hugged his muscular thighs and ass, more mature and sexy than I remembered, I had to admit.

"Liam?" I nearly had to shout over the deafening thump of the bass. I blinked hard, certain I must be hallucinating.

Liam Richards was my brother’s best friend and my former crush. What was he doing here? At this club? The last time I saw him was...oh god, was it really five years ago? At that disastrous family dinner when I announced my engagement to Maxwell.

The painful memory assaulted me again, and my steps faltered as my cheeks flushed.

"Sophia. Are you okay?" Liam leaned in, his lips brushing my ear as he asked in concern, having to get close to be heard over the thumping music. I could feel my blood ignite at his breath, and I swallowed hard, trying to put some distance between us so I could breathe normally.

Liam seemed to sense this wasn’t the place for conversation as he took my hand to lead me off the dance floor, but another hand clamped roughly onto my arm, yanking me away from him.

I stumbled, nearly losing my balance as I whirled to face a red-faced Maxwell.

"What the f**k are you doing?" he snarled, his fingers digging painfully into my skin. "Acting like a goddamn w***e, throwing yourself at every man you see?"

I wrenched my arm free, my anger reigniting at his words. "You dare touch me! You forgot, it’s you who wanted this divorce after you f****d your plastic toy." I hissed.

The alcohol had completely burned off, leaving me shaking. This bastard, how dare he accuse me? He was the one who cheated!

Maxwell glared between Liam and me, furious. "But you haven’t signed the papers yet, Sophia. We’re still married. Or did you forget that when you were throwing yourself at this man?"

I was stunned by Max’s audacity, standing there glaring at me like a jealous husband! As the one who betrayed our marriage, he still treated me like his property, how dare he? Unless he wanted this divorce just for show, to appease Scarlett? No! I had clearly seen them f*****g!

The memory made my stomach churn again. I needed to get out of here, or I ended up hurling my wineglass at his face, but his w***e mistook my nausea for guilt and hurried over, enveloped in a cloud of cheap perfume, positioning herself between us. She hissed like a snake, "Max, I told you your dutiful wife was just an act. She’s a slut through and through!"

She looked me up and down, then continued, "I bet she’s been sleeping around more than once. If you’d just signed those papers yesterday, then today she’d be free to f**k every guy in this bar. I bet Max wouldn’t mind at all if you flirted with any man here. Would you, Max?"

Before she could finish, I slapped her hard across the face. How dare she imply I was like her, sleeping with married men! I clearly saw her nose cave in as she immediately shrieked, "You b***h! You hit me! Do you know who I am?"

"Yeah, a walking, talking advertisement for plastic surgery gone wrong," Liam said amusedly. I couldn’t help but laugh, not expecting the usually aloof Liam to have such a biting tongue, which only further enraged Scarlett.

Not one to back down, Scarlett puffed up like an angry peacock, sneering at Liam, "Listen here, you nobody. I could ruin you with one phone call."

"The only thing that statement reveals is how disconnected from reality you truly are. Believe me, everything about you is as fake as that nose job."

"Max!" Scarlett turned to him, pleading for his help.

"How dare you let your gigolo insult my new fiancée, you worthless orphan!" Maxwell was incensed again, but before things could escalate further, two burly security guards suddenly stepped between us.

"Is there a problem here?" one of them asked in a tone that made it clear there better not be.

Scarlett shot me a look, then feigned confusion to the guards. "Why yes, I’ve noticed there are two gatecrashers here." She pointed at Liam and me. "I’m sure these two scum snuck in without tickets."

With that, she and Max smirked at us, clearly expecting us to be tossed out.

The guard stared at them. "That’s none of my business. I’ve been instructed to remove you two."

"What?!" Scarlett shrieked in disbelief, pointing at Maxwell. "Do you know how wealthy this man is? You dare?!"

Maxwell immediately puffed out his chest obligingly.

"Listen here," the larger of the two burly security guards immediately grabbed Maxwell, "If you and your girlfriend refuse our polite suggestion, I believe you’ll be picking her nose up off the floor rather than seeing it on her face."

I saw Maxwell and Scarlett’s faces change color. More and more people were surrounding us, and I was certain they must have overheard our argument as they began circling Scarlett and Max, sneering with disdain. Max and Scarlett had no choice but to leave immediately, but as they departed, Max still warned me, "You w***e, your behavior disgusts me. I’ll make sure you don’t get a single penny from me after this divorce!"

I wasn’t interested in Max’s money. If he knew my true identity, he would realize I was telling the truth.

There had been enough drama tonight. Maxwell was no longer someone I cared about.

Now I needed to figure out why Liam was here.

As we finally made it out onto the street, I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. The earlier adrenaline was starting to fade, but I still felt shaky and drained.

I turned to Liam. "Thank you for standing up for me. You didn’t have to do that," I said softly, looking up into those incredible blue eyes.

Liam smiled, then leaned in close...so close I could feel his warm breath on my ear.

"Oh, I think you can do better than this, Sophia. Is your gratitude just lip service?"

A shiver ran down my spine as a wave of heat flooded my belly. I opened my mouth, not understanding what he meant, when my phone rang—