Chapter Two

Noah couldn't believe it. What the hell was Emma doing here?

Tonight was one of the happiest he's ever been in a very long time. When he received a text from an unknown number claiming to be Veronica and that she was back in the country, he had refused to believe it.

The last time he heard from Veronica was years ago when she broke up with him after he'd asked her to elope with him so he could escape his arranged marriage. She had left the country the very next day, breaking his heart and turning him into a cold, resentful shell of a man.

But tonight, seeing her face again, it felt like a dream come true. He felt alive for the first time in years. He was finally happy, sitting with his arms wrapped around her, surrounding themselves with their mutual friends.

Until Emma ruined it.

"Emma," he called, caught so off guard he forgot to hide behind the carefully constructed walls of his usual cold indifference, and for a second his frustration hitched as he took in his wife.

She was beautifully clad in a short lacy black dress that flaunted a figure he never allowed himself to notice before. Not even tonight, when she had come to him in a silk robe. The crimson light of the lounge caught her dark hair, framing a face that was devoid of its usual soft, hesitant warmth. She looked striking. She looked cold. And she looked completely like a stranger.

Noah's grip on the leather sofa tightened. A strange, uninvited prickle of irritation flared in his gut, not just because she had broken his peace, but because she had never looked at him with the kind of burning defiance that was currently flashing in her eyes.

She had been planning something for tonight, he knew it. And had it been Veronica's call to meet up with a couple of friends hadn't come, he knew he would've succumbed to the temptation his wife presented and finally crossed the line he had spent years enforcing between them.

The quiet was broken when Emma hummed, shifting her eyes away from him to focus on Liam, who suddenly found his glass very interesting to look at. "Well, Liam? I believe you were saying something?"

Liam choked on his drink, His face flushed as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand trying to find his voice under the weight of Emma's glare. "I—what? No, I—we were just..." He stammered, his usual confidence nonexistent.

Being caught red-handed by the very person he was tearing apart stripped away every ounce of his arrogance. "I was just... making a comment about the charity galas. It wasn't... I didn't mean it like that, Emma."

"Then how exactly did you mean it, Liam?" Emma asked, taking a slow step forward into the room. The absolute lack of hesitation in her posture made him shrink back further into the leather cushions. "Please, enlighten me on which part of degrading my mother's dignity was supposed to be a compliment."

"I... it was a joke," Liam muttered, his voice dropping into a defensive, pathetic whine as he desperately tried to backpedal. "Just a joke. Everyone's drunk. I didn't know you were standing there."

"Then be funnier next time," Emma blinked, unimpressed.

Realizing he couldn't laugh his way out of this one, Liam muttered unhappily, "What else do you want from me? I already apologized. Jeez, talk to your wife, man."

"Alright, alright," Noah said, it had gone on long enough. He turned to Emma, his annoyance returning. But he had played the game so well in public that despite what he felt inside, he could give her a soft indulgent smile, the warmth meant entirely for the benefit of the audience in the room. "You came out tonight too? Why didn't you tell me?"

Emma looked at Noah as if he grew two heads. Seriously? Even after the disrespect his friends showed her, which he allowed by the way, he still wanted to continue the charade that his very audience obviously didn't even believe?

It was sickening. The hypocrisy of it almost suffocating.

"Come on, Em, they've all been friends for many years," Noah continued, his voice dropping into that smooth, low baritone that always managed to soothe reporters and shareholders alike. He stepped closer, reaching out to wrap an arm around her waist, and pulling her against his side."They were really just joking. They didn't mean any harm. Forgive him, okay?"

For the first time since their wedding day, Emma felt intensely uncomfortable from Noah's touch. His touch felt like a false claim of ownership over a woman he couldn't even bare  to look at in the dark of his own home.

With a sharp, deliberate movement, Emma twisted out of his grasp, stepping backward until his arm hung empty in the air.

Noah's indulgent smile twitched. A flash of surprise, followed quickly by a flicker of irritation, crossed his dark eyes. He wasn't used to her resisting him, let alone in front of a room full of the people whose opinions he valued most.

He cleared his throat, trying to smooth over the rejection before anyone could comment. "Come on, I'll have someone drive you home early so you can rest. It's getting pretty late, and clearly you've been drinking. Tomorrow, I'll even bid for that gemstone you liked at the Chalini auction as a gift, alright?" 

Before Emma could reply to his words, Veronica stood up from the couch and came up to them, naturally standing next to Noah, and directly in front of Emma.

She was even prettier up close. She was taller and leaner than Emma, and was overall quite intimidating.

"If you want to be angry, please be angry at me," Veronica whispered, her fingers lightly brushing Noah's sleeve as if seeking protection. "It's entirely my fault. I came back so late tonight and they all insisted on welcoming me. Don't argue with Noah because of this."

With an elegant, unhurried motion Veronica picked up a freshly poured glass of wine from the table and extended it toward Emma, a small smirk on her mouth. "Let's just drink and forget about it, okay? I just want you two to make up."

Emma stood completely still, her gaze dropping to the glass before rising to lock onto Veronica's face. She didn't lift a finger. She left the glass hanging in the tense space between them.

"This has nothing to do with you," Emma said, her voice flat, "You don't need to apologize to me."

Veronica's smirk only got wider, and Emma got the impression that was exactly what Veronica wanted her to do. Veronica's hands shook deliberately at her dismissal and she shrank back against Noah's side, looking up at him with a helpless, heartbroken expression. "Noah... she misunderstood me, right? I really didn't mean anything by it."

Noah's face hardened instantly. The fake warmth he had maintained for the room vanished immediately, replaced by a deep, familiar scowl as he glared down at his wife. "She means well, Emma. Why do you have to go out of your way to embarrass her?"

Looking at him standing there defending the woman who had broken his heart and abandoned him years ago, while actively trampling over the wife who had spent years trying to piece him back together, Emma felt something inside her go completely numb.

The gap between them wasn't just a physical distance anymore. It was a vast, impossible canyon, and she was finally exhausted from trying to build a bridge all by herself. He would never see her the way she wanted him to. He would never love her. And worst of all, he would never respect her.

The anger that had been keeping Emma upright, the rush of adrenaline that had pushed her through the door, suddenly evaporated leaving her feeling entirely hollow. Looking at Noah, she realized there was no point in shouting. There was no point in demanding respect from someone who genuinely didn't believe she was owed any.

"I should go," Emma muttered softly, "Leah must be wondering where I am."

Noah opened his mouth to snap a retort but the sudden, complete absence of fight in her eyes caught him entirely off guard. He didn't know why she mellowed, especially after her explosiveness earlier but he should be glad she was calm and seeing reason now, but her change in attitude only made him feel deeply uncomfortable and he wasn't sure why.

"It really was so nice to finally see you, Emma," Veronica said, her tone smooth and full of fake sweetness. "Don't be too upset with Liam and the others, they can be too childish sometimes. Alright then, goodbye Emma, I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of each other from now on."

Emma almost rolled her eyes at the obvious message in her words, but she didn't want to give the other woman the satisfaction of a reaction. She only nodded wordlessly and turned to leave, without another glance at Noah, Liam or the other occupants of the room.

She walked back to where Leah was, who took one look at her pale, vacant face and the stillness in her eyes, and immediately set down her glass. "Emma? Oh my god, what happened? You look like you've seen a ghost?"

"Worse," Emma whispered, her voice entirely flat. "Noah is here. In the private VIP corridor. He's with his friends... and the ex."

Leah's jaw dropped, her face instantly flushing with an explosive, protective rage. "He's what?! That absolute piece of trash walked out on you to see her?!" She slammed her hand on the table, already beginning to stand up. "Show me which room. I swear to god, I am going to tear him apart—"

"No, Leah, don't," Emma said softly, reaching out to gently catch her friend's wrist. The sheer lack of fight in her touch made Leah freeze. "It's over. I'm not fighting for someone who doesn't even think I'm worth defending. Please... just take me out of here."

She left her car at the lounge and the two of them took a taxi to Leah's place where she took a shower and promptly passed out on her couch, too exhausted to do much of anything.

The next morning, Emma was jolted awake by the loud, persistent ringing of her phone. Her stomach dropping into a cold knot when she saw the caller ID.

It was her mother.

"Emma, darling! Good morning!" her mother's vibrant, joyful voice echoed loudly through the speaker before Emma could even utter a greeting.

"Are you on your way yet? The caterers just arrived, and the courtyard looks absolutely spectacular! Tell me, when will you arrive? Is Noah coming with you today, or is he driving separately?"

Emma's breath caught in her throat. The housewarming party.

Shit!