Long distance

Liam

Third person's POV

Liam woke up with a start, like he has been waking up for the past several months.

He could not count the last time he had a decent night rest without having to bother about a nightmare.

Before he could dwell on what this nightmare was about, his phone rang and he rubbed his face before reaching for it on the bedside table where it was plugged in to the socket to charge.

"Hello," he greeted in a low voice, his morning voice.

The voice that replied him was too cheery and he rolled his eyes.

"Good morning big brother, did I wake you up?" The voice on the other side greeted cheerily, knowing too well that she had woken him up.

Liam swore quietly, sure he loves his sister but she can be a pain in his life.

"Zoe I thought we talked about this, no calls unless it's an emergency."

"Sure sure," the voice came again and he could imagine her rolling her eyes at him.

"This better be one hell of an emergency then."

"It's not really an emergency though, I just called to let you know that I have fixed the breach on our security wall but you might want to rewrite the whole coding just in case."

"That's it?" Liam's voice came out incredulously, like he could not believe that his sister had called him this early just to tell him this when he had workers that could easily work this out.

"Tell Cole to get started on it then," he replied her after some time and he heard her sigh.

'great, now her serious business mode is on' he thought sarcastically.

"That is the thing Liam, the breach was from someone working in our company, I don't think you need to risk this. If anyone really get through that security then all of your works will be gone, just like that."

"You said the breach was from within?" Liam asked in an incredulous tone but this time with a whole other meaning.

"You heard me the first time."

"Now is not the time to get sassy with me," Liam growled as he got up from the bed and started pacing around.

"Right."

"Do you have any idea who it might be?" Liam asked and his sister laughed like he just asked the most dumbest question.

Okay, maybe he just did ask the most dumbest question.

"If I knew, that would have been my opening line," she replied and he took a long breath in.

That he knows, Zoe never keeps a secret from him.

"But, I don't want to sound it that I know the breach is an inside work, so as not to alert whoever the person is to know that I'm looking and I'm aware of the brewing betrayal but you need to rewrite the security codes and fast, two weeks tops." Zoe concluded and Liam knew from the tone of her voice that she meant business.

"I will try," he replied in a tired voice as he pinched his forehead.

"I know you escaped to Malibu for a vacation, but this is really important brother. I promise not to disturb you after this is done."

Liam smiled wryly, like his sister could see him.

"You and I know that you will fail on that promise."

Zoe giggled, "sure, I just love making promises and breaking them later."

"By the way I'll send the codes I used in fixing the breach in case you need a reference to break it down and all that stuff."

"Thank you and Zoe, don't let anyone, I mean anyone know that we are rewriting this."

Zoe snorted, "that is the whole point, isn't it?" She asked in dry humor but Liam was sure that she understood what he meant.

They both exchanged friendly banters before Zoe finally hung up on him with the excuse of running late.

Liam knew that was a lie, her girlfriend works at his firm too and he knows that she usually stop by Zoe's apartment every morning before work.

She ended the call because Sandy came in, he had heard her too and she needed an excuse to get off the phone quickly, not that he minded.

He wasn't really a big fan of starting off vacation mornings with a pressing work call.

"There goes my plans of checking the beach out," he said wistfully as he tried to set himself into his morning office mode.

On cue, his MacBook chimed and he knew that his sister must have sent the email to him.

Liam took his laptop and sat on the edge of the bed, he opened the email and glanced at it once.

"I need coffee for this," he muttered to himself as he closed his mail tab and opened up his browser.

Quickly he typed 'nearest cafe to me'. So many searches popped up but he was particularly invested in the one that was right across the beach, on some kind of hill overlooking the beach.

"Well, who said I can't kill two birds with a stone?" he murmured to himself, referring to his earlier plan of going to the beach to observe.

Liam closed his laptop and stood up to prepare for the day, if he's lucky enough and he likes the cafe, he might turn a little corner to his office for the time being, until he makes sure his company data was secured.

Liam strolled into the bathroom and took a good look at himself, he could see the dark circles under his eyes.

He brought out his toothbrush and toothpaste, squeezed out some paste on the brush and began brushing his teeth.

Liam had thought that if he could get away from all the noise of New York City and also the heartache, maybe his nightmares will stop.

Obviously that plan is not going so well but he has only spent a night here, maybe he needs more time to adjust to the environment here.

He spat into the sink and rinsed his mouth, splattering some water on his face before looking at his reflection in the mirror.

"Twenty seven, Tech billionaire, one of the most eligible bachelors in Brooklyn, rumored playboy, yet you still have nightmares from a bad relationship," Liam looked at himself in the mirror and laughed, before jumping into the shower.