Liam was really very moody, as if he was on his period, and his silence was uncomfortable. They were already on the road when Lana broke the silence.

  "You two know each other, I guess. I think I at least need to know what's going on between you two. I mean, she said, you have some kind of grudge with her? I'm really confused. Are you…… uhm…… related with Gilbert also somehow?" Lana pried in.

  "I'm not connected with him in any way, and it's best if you don't poke your nosy ears in this matter and also you need not to know a thing," Liam simply answered with a frown!

  'Grumpy!' Lana mused and started thinking about what she should do to clear her doubts.

  Here Liam was grateful that Lana's mobile phone rang, making the latter get engaged in the conversation on the mobile phone instead of asking him about Gale.

  'Gale……' Liam mused.

  She looked so pitiful in that miserable state. Why did he even rush there to help her? Was it because he still had some feelings for her? Liam slightly shook his head on that thought and he knew the real reason was that he knew her so well and believed in her innocence, because of their past relationship.

  Not only this, but in any circumstance he would be the first person to believe in Gale's innocence. She was a very naive girl, afraid of even the sight of blood flowing from a small insignificant wound of anyone that killing a person was totally absurd.

  That memory in his mind was still fresh when he accidentally got his finger cut once while walking with her on the streets of the city where he met her, and she almost fainted when she saw the blood on his hands. She had a kind of phobia of seeing blood.

  He didn't have to remind himself how he despised Gale, but seeing such an honest girl paying for a crime she did not commit made his heart feel unsettled. His hatred could definitely not be more important than her life.

  The day when it all happened, he was shocked to the core of his heart and was not able to concentrate on his work for the whole day. This was a very high profile case and the news channel showed Gale in a very negative light. Given the circumstances they were found in, she was definitely going to be punished strongly. He collected the details within a day and read the case thoroughly.

  He knew how difficult her case would be, but he wanted to save her, he had to save her. She was the woman he had loved all his life. Losing her almost cost him his life then, but seeing her happy with her chosen path put his heart at ease.

  Yet the wound was deep and it took years to heal up, and even though it had healed the scar remained even till today, brutally reminding him of his past and making it hard for him to trust another woman or to fall in love ever again. The pain he experienced before… he couldn't take the risk of experiencing the same pain again.

  He could not trust any women from that day on.

  He released a deep sigh and gave Lana a quick glance from the corner of his eyes. His thoughts now drifted towards Lana and he realised how similar they both were and were probably alike in many ways if taken for a closer look. They both belonged to rich business families, yet they wanted to make their mark in the legal world. They were both very calculative and enjoyed teasing each other in many ways. Also… She despised men, and he despised women… both were strangely having so many emotional glitches similarly.

  Despised women? Was it really like that? Or clearly was that before Lana came into his life……

  He certainly did not detest Lana. As much as he hated it but that was a fact he could not hide. He was drawn towards her, but he should stay behind his barriers and guard himself well or else he would end up in another pain of loving a woman.

  They went back to the office. He had a brief discussion with Lana about the case and the interview she took of Gale.

  'So what's the real deal between you and Gale?' How Lana wished she could straightforwardly ask Liam after the briefing. But she contemplated imagining Liam answering her to mind her own business since his relationship with Gale got nothing to do with the case they were working with.

  Lana twisted her face and scolded herself inwardly for being such a nosy body, so she chose to excuse herself from Liam without asking more about Gale and him and went back to her room.

  She became so busy that she no longer pondered about Liam and Gale's connection besides the fact that Liam seemed to be uncomfortable telling her about the grudge Gale was referring to. So she gave her galloping mind a little rest since it did not involve Gale's murder case, anyway.