Mag-log inThe room had already started celebrating.That was what broke her.Not the announcement. Not Ian’s face. Not even Scott sitting frozen in his chair like someone had cut the wires keeping him upright.It was the sound of it. Polite applause, chairs shifting, voices warming toward Ian like he’d just delivered a quarterly dividend instead of dismantling a man’s entire life in sixty seconds.And Margaret.Margaret’s expression wasn’t triumph exactly. It was tidier than that. The look of someone watching a spill get cleaned up. Satisfied that the mess was handled.Emily felt the floor tilt slightly beneath her.She wanted to disappear into it. She wanted it to open up and swallow her whole. She’d been sitting at this table as Mrs. Scott Hunter, board member by Hilda’s hand, and now the entire room knew exactly what that marriage was worth.A contract.A transaction.She felt every eye that wasn’t looking at her directly.Scott hadn’t moved.So Emily moved.She stood, took his hand, and pu
The ceiling was white.Scott stared at it for a long moment, trying to place it.Not his ceiling.Hospital.He turned his head. The movement sent a dull throb through his skull.Emily was asleep in the chair beside his bed, her head tilted, her hair falling across her face.Then she stirred, like she sensed him. Her eyes opened.She saw him and was on her feet before he could blink.“Scott—” Her hands were on his face, his arms, checking him like she needed to confirm he was real. “Hey. Hi. You’re okay.”“I’m—” His voice came out wrong. Dry and scraped hollow. “What happened?”“It’s okay. Everything’s fine.”“Nate—” The memory came back in pieces. Struggling. A hand on his arm. Emily screaming. “Nate was—”“He’s not here. He’s not a threat.” Emily’s voice was steady but her eyes were glassy. “Scott, listen to me. Nate broke into the mansion. He injected you with a sedative. A powerful one.” She paused. “Gerry’s men shot him while he was trying to flee.”Scott processed this slowly.“
Susan Wells POV——-Jane was spiraling.“This was ill-thought out from the beginning.” Jane’s voice was sharp, pitched higher than usual. “I said it was a bad idea, and now Nate is—”“You didn’t say anything,” Susan cut in flatly.“I thought it!”“Thinking doesn’t count.”“Hey!” Jane turned on her, eyes blazing. “You came up with this. You sat at that table and suggested we drug a man in his sleep. This is your mess.”Susan didn’t flinch.Patricia raised a hand, cutting them both off.“Enough.”Her voice was cold. Clinical.“Nate was a weak link,” Patricia said simply. “Weak links break. That’s what they do.”Jane’s head snapped toward her.“That weak link is my brother,” Jane said. “He’s in a coma with a bullet in his back that almost killed him.”Patricia stared at her.“Yes,” Patricia said. “And?”Jane cracked.“Are you serious?” Jane’s voice dropped dangerously low. “Are you actually—”“Jane—”“No.” Jane stood. “That’s my brother lying in that hospital bed you old bat! And you’re
“Emily—EMILY!”Scott’s voice tore Emily from sleep.Her eyes shot open.Scott was struggling with someone—Nate.Nate’s hand was on Scott’s arm, pulling away—What the hell?Emily screamed.The sound ripped from her throat, raw and screeching.Nate’s head whipped toward her.Then he bolted.Scott lunged after him, stumbling off the bed—And collapsed.His body hit the floor hard.“SCOTT!”Emily scrambled to his side, dropping to her knees.“Scott—Scott, wake up—”His eyes were half-open, unfocused.His chest rose and fell, but shallow.“Scott, please—”Nothing.Emily screamed again, louder this time.So loud she thought her lungs might explode.So loud she thought she might pass out from the force of it.The door burst open.Gerry rushed in, his face tight with alarm.He dropped to Scott’s side, pressing two fingers to his neck.Emily’s heart stopped.“He’s alive,” Gerry said.Emily’s breath shuddered out of her.“But his pulse is weak.” Gerry looked up at her. “Call 911. Now.”Emily
Nate Sullivan POV-----The gas pump clicked off.Nate pulled the nozzle out and hung it back on the pump.His phone rang.Jane.He reached for it—“Hey!” A gas station attendant shouted from across the lot. “No phone calls near the pumps!”Nate looked at him, then at his phone.“Fuck off,” he muttered under his breath.He walked away from the bike, toward the edge of the lot, and answered.“What?”“Where are you?” Jane’s voice was sharp.“Gas station. Filling up.”“Nate—” She paused. “I’m worried.”Nate rolled his eyes. “You’re always worried.”“Because you’re a knucklehead who volunteered for something you shouldn’t have.”“I’m fine, Jane.”“It’s too dangerous going back there. You barely got away last time.”“That was different.”“How?”“I wasn’t prepared. This time I am.”Jane sighed on the other end. “You’re being reckless.”“I’m not,” Nate corrected. “Mia’s already texting me to come over. She has no idea. I’ve got this.”Silence.Then Jane’s voice, low and threatening. “You bet
“We should get to the bottom of who wrote those articles and sue them,” Scott said, his voice sharp. “It’s outrageous.”“Scott—” Paul’s voice came through the phone, measured and calm. “I understand you’re upset, but suing the press right now will not improve your reputation. If anything, it’ll make you look defensive.”“I am defensive,” Scott snapped. “They’re calling me a murderer.”“I know.” Paul paused. “But the hearing is in two days. You need to be in New York tomorrow. That’s what matters right now.”Scott exhaled sharply, his jaw tight.“I’ll be there.”“Good. We’ll go over everything when you arrive.”Scott hung up without another word.He dropped his phone on the desk and rubbed his face with both hands.Emily’s hand touched his back, warm and steady.She rubbed slow circles between his shoulder blades.“You okay?” she asked softly.Scott let out a humorless laugh. “No.”“You will be.”He turned to look at her. “You don’t have to be here, you know. You should be at work.”Em
“You kissed him four times!” Rosa said, shocked. “Three!” Rosa shot Emily a quick glance before returning her eyes to the road. “Like that matters!” Emily knew it didn’t. Every time she got in a room with Scott— She shook the thought away. “It’s never happening again,” Emily said. “Mm-hmm.
Emily rushed into her office building.Nadine stood nervously at her office entrance.“She’s inside.”“How is she?”Nadine’s expression said everything.Emily had kept Sophia Delgado—CEO of Everdale Pottery—waiting over thirty minutes.She adjusted Rosa’s dress and entered. Nadine followed.Sophia
“Scott is Ian’s half-brother and also rightful heir to the Hunter Legacy.” Her throat tightened. “He’s new in town.” Confusion flickered across her parents’ faces. She had no better way to explain it. “Scott, this is my mom and dad—Ruth and Thomas Everson.” She looked at Scott from the corner of
“Do I have to repeat myself?” Scott’s gaze bore into the guard. “Or does he have to do it for you?” He gestured to Gerry. Gerry moved his arms from his sides and locked them in front, a silent threat. The guard released Emily’s arm. It was too late to play it cool—the whole lobby was watching







