Chapter 6: The Widening Crack

The loud bang of the door Emma had slammed shut right in front of his face did not make Zane back away. Instead of leaving with his pride wounded, the top actor's ego flared even more fiercely. The sting of such a blunt and painful rejection ignited an overwhelming possessive urge within him.

Emma's room door had not even been fully locked when Zane shoved it open from the outside. He strode inside with ragged breaths, the commanding aura he always carried in public now suffocating within the confines of the small hotel room. Without wasting another second, he grabbed Emma by the wrist and spun her around with a forceful yank until her back hit the door she had just closed.

"Let go, Zane!" Emma hissed, her eyes blazing with restrained anger.

"What's wrong with you, Emma?!" Zane demanded, his voice trembling low as he struggled to contain the storm of emotions threatening to explode. His grip around her wrist tightened even more, as though he feared that if he loosened it for even a second, this woman would disappear from his life forever. "What's gotten into you tonight? Huh?!"

Emma let out a bitter laugh, a hollow sound that struck Zane's ears with heartbreaking sadness. She did not struggle the way she usually would; she simply looked at him with eyes that had lost every trace of the admiration they once held.

"What's wrong? You're asking me what's wrong?"

"Yes! You never treat me this coldly!" Zane shouted, his face hardening with frustration. His jaw clenched as the memory of Emma pushing him away in the hallway earlier replayed in his mind. "You always..."

"You always what, Zane?" Emma cut him off sharply, her voice rising an octave and piercing straight through his ego. "Always humiliate myself in front of you? Always beg for your attention? Always act sweet and pretend to forget every woman you've slept with just so you wouldn't leave me? Is that what you want?"

Zane froze.

Emma's words struck him squarely in the chest. It was true. For the past seven years, Emma had been his safest harbor. No matter how many times his name appeared in the media alongside other actresses, Emma was always there in their apartment, preparing warm water and welcoming him with a warm embrace as though nothing had happened. Zane had grown accustomed to Emma's unquestioning acceptance. He had come to see her loyalty as something absolute, something that would never disappear.

"I'm tired, Zane. I'm really tired," Emma whispered, her breathing becoming uneven as the tightness in her chest slowly crept back.

"Emma!" Zane exclaimed, gripping both of her shoulders in frustration. "Why are you acting like this? Why are you making such a big deal out of something we've already made clear? We agreed from the very beginning that our relationship would stay this way, okay? We need each other, we're comfortable together, and I've always provided everything you need. A relationship without complicated commitments... this is what's best for us!"

To Zane, the word "marriage" was a terrifying shackle, something he refused to touch. And he believed that by giving Emma luxury and sharing his bed with her, it was more than enough to keep her by his side forever.

Emma looked at the man she had loved so deeply with eyes that grew dimmer by the second. Zane's words that night became the clearest proof that her seven years of sacrifice had never been worth more than satisfying his needs. Her head, still slightly dizzy from the lingering effects of the alcohol, felt even heavier.

With every bit of strength she had left, Emma jerked herself free, knocking Zane's hands off her shoulders. The distance between them widened once again, creating an invisible chasm far too deep to cross.

"Enough. I'm tired," Emma said, her voice flat and cold again, as cold as the ice water that had been poured over her face an hour earlier. She turned her back on Zane and walked toward the edge of the bed, refusing to look at his handsome face anymore. "You should leave now. If you're looking for warmth tonight, you should go find Violet Iris. I'm sure she'll be more than happy to satisfy you."

The name Violet coming from Emma's lips sounded like a slap across Zane's face. He clenched his fists tightly. His anger, his wounded pride, and his frustration at being unable to control the situation caused his rationality to vanish.

"Emma!" Zane roared, his voice thundering through the hotel room.

Emma did not move. She remained seated on the edge of the bed with her back to him, her posture rigid.

"Fine! If that's what you want!" Zane shouted in fury.

He turned around with heavy, angry strides, grabbed the doorknob, stormed out of Emma's room, and slammed the door with such force that the deafening bang shook the walls.

The moment the sound of Zane's footsteps faded into the hallway, the wall Emma had built around herself collapsed instantly.

Her shoulders, which had remained so rigid just moments ago, slumped in exhaustion. She drew her knees to her chest, buried her face against them, and finally allowed the tears she had been holding back to fall in silence. Her body trembled violently in the suffocating stillness of the hotel room. The pain in her chest felt so real, as though her heart were being sliced into thin pieces by reality itself.

Seven wasted years.

Seven years devoted to a man who had never seen her as anything more than a source of comfort.

Yet amid her silent sobs, the image of the mirror in Room 6009's bathroom suddenly flashed through her mind. The reflection of herself filled with determination, the memory of the mysterious and powerful middle-aged man named Lucas Moura Blackwood, and the blind dating application that had already recorded all of her information.

Emma roughly wiped away her tears with the back of her hand. Her breathing was still uneven, but the sorrow in her tear-filled eyes slowly hardened into determination.

"Be patient, Emma... Stay strong," Emma whispered to herself, her voice hoarse yet firm. "There are still twenty-three days left."

Twenty-three days.

That was all that remained of the one-month wager she had given Zane. Three final weeks before the Match-Prime application would process all of her data and match her with a complete stranger for a contract marriage. Emma swore that if, within those twenty-three days, Zane did not come crawling back on his knees to apologize and bring her a real wedding ring, then she would truly walk away.

She would let that marriage contract carry her as far away from Zane as possible and transform herself from an obedient assistant into the woman who would make Zane regret every inch of his foolishness for the rest of his life.