Emelia's POVEven with my eyes closed, all I could see ahead was a long road of pain and misery. While the events only recently occurred, the grief of losing my child made it feel like years had gone by.I wasn't even sure that there was a light at the end of this long, dark tunnel.The only kind of warmth and comfort that I had left was my best friend, Alexis. She sat next to me as she traced soft circles on the back of my hand."Thank you," I finally managed to say after a long stretch of silence had grown between us. "For everything.""There's nothing you need to thank me for. I told you I was going to be here with you every step of the way. I just wish that this wasn't one of the steps that we had to take…""I… I don't know how I'm going to get through this.""You don't have to know right now." Alexis's tone was soft and reassuring. "Let your heart feel what it needs to, then we'll take it from there."I nodded my head and closed my eyes again. I truly had no idea what I would've d
Emelia's POV"Oh, come on, Em! Don't look at me like that." Alexis laughed. "You can't say that that isn't a good idea!"Actually, the idea was crazy! Mason said he was working for the LuxeLionness Vault, and they're THE biggest competing company against Victor's.At this point, it wasn't about Victor's feelings either. I didn't care about that. What I did care about was making the right choice.The LuxeLioness Vault was an extremely difficult company to join, and I still needed time to recover and think things over… Besides, could I really trust joining THE rival company?Still, Alexis was right—I had to think about finding another company to work for. I definitely didn't want to work for Victor, much less see him. I just wanted to cut all ties with him as quickly as I could.Maybe this could give me the opportunity to finally move on and focus on myself and my career."Well, I think it's a good idea." Mason chimed in. "I think you'd fit right in with the LuxeLioness Vault, Emelia."I
Emelia's POV"I don't want to hear anything from you, Victor. No negotiations, no questions—nothing. Just sign the papers, and let's be done with this." I told him sternly.It was honestly so exhausting to constantly be in this back and forth with him. There was nothing I wanted to hear from him.No more empty promises.No more begging.He'd made it abundantly clear that I wasn't the person who really held his heart, so what was the point in him being so adamant on us staying together?The way I saw it, our marriage shouldn't remain solely because of duty. There needed to be trust and love—neither of which were there."When are you finally going to get the hint?" Alexis sneered. "Just do as she says for once—"I held up my hand and shook my head at Alexis. As much as I appreciated her standing up for me, it needed to come from me just how serious I was about this divorce."It's fine, Alexis." I smiled at her. "I've got this. Just get the car, please."Alexis gave me a worried look but
Emelia's POV"I could be free... At the cost of making this a public fiasco." I laughed. "And to be honest, I really don't want to deal with that—nor do I want him to.""And why do we care?" Alexis scoffed. "He's an asshole! After everything he's put you through, he deserves what's coming to him!"I rolled my eyes at my bestie's mentality. Truthfully, I found her fiery attitude funny, but in this case, it would've done more harm than good in the long run."The thing is," I began to explain, "is that many of the rich families that have invested in Victor's company have ties to the court. The primary reason a lot of them also agreed to continuously support him is because of the promise of an heir. If word got out of this divorce, many of the families would pull their support.""And...?""Victor would lose EVERYTHING." I sighed. "He may have wronged me, but that doesn't mean I have to wrong him back. I just don't want to be in a marriage where I'm not respected or appreciated. I don't w
Emelia's POV"Mason?" I asked in disbelief. I almost had to rub my eyes just to be sure I wasn't hallucinating him being here.Did he know I was going to be here? Why had he shown up now?"What the hell are you doing here?" Victor growled like some feral beast. His eyes narrowed in on Mason as if he were ready to pounce."You're not the only one who knows a thing or two about hidden gems in the city, you know." Mason replied as he winked at me."Are you okay, though?" His expression changed immediately as concern threaded through his words. "He's not forcing you to do anything you're uncomfortable with, is he?"I turned to see Victor's face turn a shade of red I hadn't seen before. "Everything's fine, Mason. Just having a misunderstand is all—""Who the hell do you think you are?" Victor snapped. "This is none of your concern! So how about you mind your own damn business?!""Actually, Emelia is a part of my business, so this is my concern." Mason stepped closer to me. "Why aren't thing
Emelia’s POVI was totally confused when my best friend, Alexis, texted me and said that she saw my husband and I at a restaurant.Because I was at home currently. On the sofa. In a robe with a mask on my face.And my husband, Victor, was supposed to be at work. At least, that was what he texted me a few hours ago.Ding!Alexis: I see you and Victor in the restaurant :P You two are just the sweetest couple! Me: Um, you might wanna get your eyes checked, bestie. :P I'm at home right now!I sat my phone down and laid back against the sofa while I let my face mask settle. But my phone kept buzzing anyway.Ding! Ding!Alexis: I know what Victor looks like! But if that woman turning the back on me isn't you… there might be some trouble!Alexis: OMG!! Listen to this NOW!!Ding! It was an audio message. That made me sit up on the sofa immediately. I pressed play without hesitation."Oh, Victor, I know you still think of me.” The unknown woman's voice chimed in.“I have always been thinking
Emelia’s POVShock hijacked my nerves as I sat there in disbelief. Victor had never lied to me before, and now all of a sudden he was?He'd never hung up on me like this before either! What was going on?It was genuinely starting to worry me with how Victor was behaving. Was everything truly okay with him? I stayed up all night as my mind ran rampant. I stressed cleaning our closet and organized every article of clothing to try and settle down, but it didn't work. It wasn't until close to midnight that Victor finally came home."Hey, I'm surprised to see you're awake." Victor hung up his coat and came to sit next to me. "Is everything alright?""I should be asking you that question. What happened earlier tonight? I was trying to call you and ask you when you'd be home and you just hung up on me."Victor took out his phone from his pocket and handed it to me. "I didn't realize that my phone was on low battery and it died."I thought about holding the power button to see if he was lyin
Emelia’s POVI stood in disbelief as Victor rushed to Lily's side. It had to have been her—his changed behavior for her matched his changed behavior for the woman from last night!Not only had he lied to me about who he was with the other night, but he completely canceled plans with his grandfather for her.What was really going on between them? Why couldn't he just tell me the truth from the start?"Lily! Is everything okay?" Victor asked, his voice laced with worry. "I got here just as soon as I could.""Everything's fine now that you're here." Lily's smile was fragile. “I was too scared, I thought I wouldn’t see you again…” her voice trembled.“I'm here with you now, and that's all that matters.” Victor held her hand tightly. “Are you alright? Are you sick? What happened?”“Hey, I'm not a kid anymore! You don't need to worry too much.” She turned into laughter."Of course I'm going to worry about you!" Victor smiled then. "I'm always going to worry when it comes to you. I swear, y
Emelia's POV"Mason?" I asked in disbelief. I almost had to rub my eyes just to be sure I wasn't hallucinating him being here.Did he know I was going to be here? Why had he shown up now?"What the hell are you doing here?" Victor growled like some feral beast. His eyes narrowed in on Mason as if he were ready to pounce."You're not the only one who knows a thing or two about hidden gems in the city, you know." Mason replied as he winked at me."Are you okay, though?" His expression changed immediately as concern threaded through his words. "He's not forcing you to do anything you're uncomfortable with, is he?"I turned to see Victor's face turn a shade of red I hadn't seen before. "Everything's fine, Mason. Just having a misunderstand is all—""Who the hell do you think you are?" Victor snapped. "This is none of your concern! So how about you mind your own damn business?!""Actually, Emelia is a part of my business, so this is my concern." Mason stepped closer to me. "Why aren't thing
Emelia's POV"I could be free... At the cost of making this a public fiasco." I laughed. "And to be honest, I really don't want to deal with that—nor do I want him to.""And why do we care?" Alexis scoffed. "He's an asshole! After everything he's put you through, he deserves what's coming to him!"I rolled my eyes at my bestie's mentality. Truthfully, I found her fiery attitude funny, but in this case, it would've done more harm than good in the long run."The thing is," I began to explain, "is that many of the rich families that have invested in Victor's company have ties to the court. The primary reason a lot of them also agreed to continuously support him is because of the promise of an heir. If word got out of this divorce, many of the families would pull their support.""And...?""Victor would lose EVERYTHING." I sighed. "He may have wronged me, but that doesn't mean I have to wrong him back. I just don't want to be in a marriage where I'm not respected or appreciated. I don't w
Emelia's POV"I don't want to hear anything from you, Victor. No negotiations, no questions—nothing. Just sign the papers, and let's be done with this." I told him sternly.It was honestly so exhausting to constantly be in this back and forth with him. There was nothing I wanted to hear from him.No more empty promises.No more begging.He'd made it abundantly clear that I wasn't the person who really held his heart, so what was the point in him being so adamant on us staying together?The way I saw it, our marriage shouldn't remain solely because of duty. There needed to be trust and love—neither of which were there."When are you finally going to get the hint?" Alexis sneered. "Just do as she says for once—"I held up my hand and shook my head at Alexis. As much as I appreciated her standing up for me, it needed to come from me just how serious I was about this divorce."It's fine, Alexis." I smiled at her. "I've got this. Just get the car, please."Alexis gave me a worried look but
Emelia's POV"Oh, come on, Em! Don't look at me like that." Alexis laughed. "You can't say that that isn't a good idea!"Actually, the idea was crazy! Mason said he was working for the LuxeLionness Vault, and they're THE biggest competing company against Victor's.At this point, it wasn't about Victor's feelings either. I didn't care about that. What I did care about was making the right choice.The LuxeLioness Vault was an extremely difficult company to join, and I still needed time to recover and think things over… Besides, could I really trust joining THE rival company?Still, Alexis was right—I had to think about finding another company to work for. I definitely didn't want to work for Victor, much less see him. I just wanted to cut all ties with him as quickly as I could.Maybe this could give me the opportunity to finally move on and focus on myself and my career."Well, I think it's a good idea." Mason chimed in. "I think you'd fit right in with the LuxeLioness Vault, Emelia."I
Emelia's POVEven with my eyes closed, all I could see ahead was a long road of pain and misery. While the events only recently occurred, the grief of losing my child made it feel like years had gone by.I wasn't even sure that there was a light at the end of this long, dark tunnel.The only kind of warmth and comfort that I had left was my best friend, Alexis. She sat next to me as she traced soft circles on the back of my hand."Thank you," I finally managed to say after a long stretch of silence had grown between us. "For everything.""There's nothing you need to thank me for. I told you I was going to be here with you every step of the way. I just wish that this wasn't one of the steps that we had to take…""I… I don't know how I'm going to get through this.""You don't have to know right now." Alexis's tone was soft and reassuring. "Let your heart feel what it needs to, then we'll take it from there."I nodded my head and closed my eyes again. I truly had no idea what I would've d
Victor's POV"Tell me the truth, Lily. I won't accept anything less." I stood up and faced her. My voice was low, almost to the point that it sounded dangerous.After everything Emelia told me, it was almost too hard to stomach looking at Lily now. It was almost like I wasn't looking at my best friend—but a total stranger."What do you want to know?" Lily's voice trembled slightly, but she was still able to keep relatively calm."You knew Emelia was pregnant, right?""I-I mean, yeah, but—""So why did you lie to me? Why did you tell me it was her who pushed you down the stairs?" I interrupted her, not wanting to hear her excuses.Lily was hesitant then, but not for too long where it'd piss me off even more. "I mean, I didn't know for long—""DON'T BULLSHIT ME!"She flinched away. "I-I swear! I just found out! Same as you... I had my suspicions because of how emotional—""Watch. Your. Mouth." I snarled."I-I mean s-she'd been so sick, a-and I saw her run into the bathroom to throw up!"
Emelia's POVSeeing the pain reflected in Victor's eyes and feeling it as his hand trembled in mine gave me an odd sense of satisfaction. As heartless as that made me seem, at that moment, I didn't care. At the end of the day, this child was also his. This pain and suffering shouldn't have just been mine to feel. After what he put me through, he needed to feel this, too. He needed to feel the emptiness and sorrow that I did—to understand how his mistreatment of me cost us the life of our child.I just wished it was enough to bring the child back to me. I wanted nothing more than to shower them with the love and affection they deserved. It filled me with even more rage knowing how I'd been robbed of the beauties of motherhood.When I looked up to meet Victor's gaze, I saw a multitude of emotions flicker through the blue eyes I once loved. Pain. Sadness. Anger. It was the most emotion I'd ever seen him display.Suddenly and without warning, Victor paced back towards the wall and punched
Victor's POV"Due to the fall your wife endured, since Miss Emelia was only ten weeks along, the severity of this situation was far more dire." The doctor began to explain. "Amniotic ruptures lead to infection, and fetal distress, but in the worst case scenario, they can lead to miscarriage.""M-miscarriage?" My eyes widened as I darted from Emelia, to the paperwork, and to the doctor. "W-what do you mean by that? What are you saying?""Your wife was pregnant. My team and I did everything we could to save that baby, but… we weren't able to save it." Dr. Williams stated.My world stopped at that moment; everything stood in a cold stillness that froze me at my core.The news hit me like a bombshell; the details shredded my heart into a million pieces. When I'd checked Lily into the hospital, I had every intention of confronting Emelia and getting to the bottom of what happened back at the office.This was the last thing that I expected out of this encounter.I could only stand there and
Emelia's POV"How could I be so heartless?" I yelled back, the pain in my chest tightening to the point where I couldn't even breathe. "How can you even look at me and say those words?!"Victor's accusatory question felt like he'd thrown a dagger at my already bruised and shattered heart. I'd just lost my damn child! Was he out of his mind?! How could he do this to me while I was going through the worst pain of my life?"Don't act like you're innocent in all this!" Victor fired back. His anger was palpable as heat radiated off his body. "Lily's leg is broken because of you!""And that's what you believe? Is that what Lily said happened? Can Lily never lie to you? How about the time she lied to you while we were gone on our trip to Blasdell? Did you forget about that?!" I fired the questions in rapid succession like they were bullets—and Victor was my mark.His face flushed red. "I was only doing what I thought I needed to! I thought her injuries were serious then! Just like now… Can yo