CHAPTER 21: WHAT VIVIAN WANTS

Vivian Cross showed up at Emma's gallery on a Tuesday afternoon.

Emma didn't recognize her at first. She was smaller than she'd been at the manor, frailer. But her eyes were the same. Cold and assessing.

"Ms. Chen," Vivian said. "Or should I say, Ms. Vale now that you're not married to my grandson?"

Emma set down the painting she'd been hanging.

"Can I help you?" Emma asked, keeping her voice professional.

"You can tell me why you destroyed my family," Vivian said. "Why you came into our home and tore everything apart."

Emma turned to face her completely.

"I didn't destroy your family," Emma said. "Your family did that on its own."

Vivian laughed, but it sounded like breaking glass.

"My husband built an empire," Vivian said. "My son continued it. Richard protected it. And you and Damien brought it all down."

"Richard killed Katherine," Emma said calmly. "And you helped him cover it up. That's not something I did. That's something you chose."

Vivian's face went white.

"You don't know anything about what I chose or why," Vivian said.

"Then tell me," Emma said. "Why did you help him?"

Vivian moved to one of Emma's paintings. The dark one. The one about the manor and the pressure and the suffocation.

"My family has been the most powerful in this city for three generations," Vivian said. "We built things. We created things. And then Katherine came along and threatened to destroy it all because of her morals."

"So you protected Richard instead of justice," Emma said.

"I protected my family," Vivian replied. "Which is more than you did for yours. Your brother gambled away millions and you forgave him."

Emma flinched at that because it was true.

"That's different," Emma said.

"Is it?" Vivian asked. "Or are we all just protecting the people we love in whatever way we know how?"

She turned to leave, then paused at the gallery door.

"Damien is weak," she said. "He always has been. And you've made him weaker by making him feel guilty about things that aren't his fault."

"He's learning to be human," Emma said. "That's not weakness."

Vivian smiled sadly.

"That's exactly what weakness looks like, dear," Vivian said. "Compassion. Vulnerability. Guilt. These are the things that destroy empires."

She left without another word.

Emma stood alone in her gallery, understanding that some people could never be reached. Some people would always believe that power and control were better than honesty and love.

She called Damien immediately.

"Your grandmother just showed up at my gallery," Emma said when he answered.

"What?" Damien's voice changed. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Emma said. "But Damien, she said something. She said something that doesn't make sense."

"What did she say?" Damien asked.

"She said I made you weaker," Emma said. "She said that compassion and vulnerability are destroying you."

Damien was quiet for a moment.

"That sounds like her," he said finally.

"But that's not what's bothering me," Emma continued. "What's bothering me is that she knew things. About us. About what we've been doing. About how we've been trying to rebuild the company."

"How would she know that?" Damien asked.

"I don't know," Emma said. "But Damien, she seemed like she was trying to warn me. Like she was trying to tell me something."

"Warn you about what?" Damien asked.

Emma didn't have an answer to that.

"Come over," Damien said. "We need to talk about this."

Two hours later, Emma was sitting on Damien's couch telling him everything Vivian had said. Every word. Every look. Every implication.

Damien listened without interrupting. When she finished, he stood and walked to his office.

He came back with a folder.

"I've been having her monitored," he said quietly.

Emma looked at him. "What?"

"After everything with Richard," Damien explained, "I hired investigators to look into my grandmother's finances. I wanted to know if she was involved in any of his schemes."

"And?" Emma asked.

"And I found something," Damien said. He opened the folder and spread papers across the table.

Bank transfers. Large ones. Made over the past six months. All going to accounts that didn't belong to Vivian.

"Where's the money going?" Emma asked.

"I don't know yet," Damien said. "But it's millions, Emma. Millions moving through accounts that are hidden."

Emma felt something cold slide down her spine.

"Damien, what if she's..."

"Planning something?" Damien finished. "I know."

He pulled out another document. This one made Emma's blood go cold.

It was a plane ticket. Under an assumed name. Leaving the country in three days.

"She's running," Emma whispered.

"Or she's preparing to run," Damien said. "Which means she knows we're getting close to something."

Emma thought about what Vivian had said. About weakness. About compassion destroying empires. About how Damien was getting softer.

"She was testing you," Emma said. "When she came to the gallery. She was seeing if you'd figured out what she was doing."

Damien nodded slowly.

"And now she knows we know," he said. "Which means she's going to move faster."

Emma's phone buzzed. A text from an unknown number.

She opened it and her breath caught.

It was a photo. Of her. Sleeping in Damien's apartment. Taken from outside the window.

The message below it read: Stop looking for answers or I'll make sure you regret it.

Emma showed Damien the phone without speaking.

His face went completely still.

"Call the police," he said. His voice was ice. "Now. We're calling the police right now."

But Emma was already looking at the timestamp on the photo. It was taken last night. While they were sleeping.

Someone had been watching them. Someone had gotten close enough to their bedroom window to take a photograph.

And that someone, Emma understood with absolute certainty, was Vivian Cross.

Damien called the police immediately. They sent officers within minutes. Emma showed them the photo, showed them the message. The detective's face went serious. "We need to bring her in for questioning," he said. Damien nodded, but something in his expression had changed. He was angry now. Protective and ready to destroy anyone who threatened Emma. And that frightened her more than Vivian's threat ever could