Mag-log inMarcus's POV The hotel suite was silent except for the distant hum of Tokyo waking up outside the window. The sun was rising over the city, painting the sky in shades of orange and pink that should have been beautiful. I didn't notice. My eyes were on her. Emily stood by the window, her arms wrapped around her body, her back to me. She hadn't moved in minutes. Maybe hours. The blue dress she wore was wrinkled from the flight, her hair messy, her shoulders tense. "Emily," I called. She didn't turn. Didn't move. Didn't even acknowledge I had spoken. "Emily, please." Nothing. Just the rigid line of her spine, the way her fingers dug into her own arms. "What do you want, Marcus?" Her voice was flat. Cold. She still didn't turn around. "I want to talk." "We've talked." "We've yelled. We've accused. We've hurt each other." I took a step closer. She didn't move away, but her shoulders tightened. That was something. That was nothing. "We've never really talked." "Because there's
Arthur's POVThe phone rang for the tenth time in the last hour. Maybe the fifteenth. I had lost count. Each unanswered call was a punch to the gut, a cold fist tightening around my chest.Straight to voicemail.Every time."Emily, where are you?" I muttered, ending the call and immediately dialing again. "Pick up. Please pick up."Nothing.I threw the phone onto the sofa. It bounced once, landed on the cushion, and slid to the edge, threatening to fall. I didn't care.The mansion's living room was huge, cold, impersonal. Crystal chandeliers, marble floors, paintings worth more than most people's annual salaries. Nothing mattered. Everything felt like a cage.She hadn't shown up at the café.She hadn't answered my message.She hadn't come to the meeting point we had arranged.Where are you, Emily?I grabbed my coat. The black fabric was heavy in my hands, but I put it on anyway. The keys to the car were on the side table, next to a vase of fresh flowers that Vivienne must have ordered
Marcus's POV"No," she said. Her voice came out in a thread of strength that broke and died before reaching me. I squeezed her arm tighter. She whimpered. "No, Marcus. I'm not going. I'm not going anywhere with you.""Yes, you are.""Let go of me.""No.""Don't force me…""Force you to what?" My thumb slid over the skin of her shoulder, feeling her flesh tremble beneath my touch. "Force you to come with the father of your child? Force you to give our baby a future?""Let go of me, Marcus.""Are you going to fight? Are you going to scream? Are you going to call the police?"Tears streamed down her face. One. Two. Three. They fell on her blue dress, making small dark stains on the fabric."Please," she whispered. Her chin trembled. The strength she had shown seconds before had vanished, replaced by raw, primal panic. "Please, don't do this. Not here. Not now.""Here is the perfect place." I pulled her against me. Her body pressed against mine. I felt her slightly rounded belly push agai
Marcus's POVThe computer screen glowed in the dim light of the hotel room. The bluish light cast shadows on the beige walls, drawing irregular lines that looked like the cages where I felt trapped.The cursor blinked. Impatient. My hands trembled slightly – not from fear, but from a cold rage consuming me from within.I opened the email.The work order was signed by Arthur Sterling. My father. The man who brought me into the world, who gave me his blood, his name, his legacy. The same man who now wanted to exile me to Japan like a stray dog being thrown a bone far from home."Marcus is to assume management of the Asian branch effective immediately. Indefinite period."I read the sentence once. Then again. Then again.The blood rushed to my head. I clenched my fists over the keyboard."Is that what you want, father?" I murmured, my voice coming out in an icy whisper. "Then that's what you'll get."I closed the laptop with a dry snap. The sound echoed through the empty room like a warn
Emily's POV The silence between the three of them was unbearable. Nathalie stood with her arms crossed over her chest, her dark eyes fixed on Chloe as if she wanted to pierce her. Chloe didn't back down. Chin up, arms also crossed, her green eyes shining with silent defiance. I was in the middle, like a rope being pulled from both sides. "Let me see if I understand," Nathalie began, her voice calmer than I expected. Which made her more frightening. "I come into my own house at three in the morning, after a hellish day, and find a stranger sitting on my sofa." She stepped forward. Chloe didn't move. "And this same stranger has the nerve to talk shit about my life?" "Look, sorry," Chloe replied, uncrossing her arms and gesturing with her hands. "But you showed up here with no manners at all. You didn't say hello, you didn't ask how we were, you didn't say a single word of welcome. You just started attacking." "I don't need to justify myself to you. You're the one in my house."
Emily's POV"Chloe… have you been carrying this alone?"She shrugged. But her shoulders didn't lift with ease. They rose slowly, heavily, as if the weight of years was pressing down on them."Who could I tell? Who would believe me?" Her voice cracked on the last word. "My mother pretends not to see. She's been pretending for years. Anthony is just a child. And you… you were there, but I didn't know if I could trust you.""And now?""Now I know." She turned to face me fully. The tears had dried completely, leaving only dark tracks on her cheeks. "I know you're the most confusing, contradictory, frighteningly human person I've ever met."Her lips trembled, but her chin stayed firm."And I know that, despite everything, you're on my side. Aren't you?""I am.""Then listen carefully." She reached out and grabbed my hand. Her fingers were cold, almost icy. But her grip was firm, unshakeable. "I just wanted a family that loved me. That's all. A family that looked at me and saw a daughter, n
Emily's POVHis hand closed around mine. Firm. Warm. Certain."Come with me," he said.It wasn't a question. It wasn't an order. Something in between. Something that made my legs move before my brain could process it.We ran.Through the empty hallway. Past the boarding gates. Past the confused loo
Emily's POVThe silence after Arthur's "no" was more deafening than any scream.Vivienne dropped her glass. The red wine spread across the white tablecloth like blood. Claire sat with her mouth half-open, her fork suspended in the air. Marcus turned red, a color that rose from his neck to the roots
Emily's POV"IF I LOOK AT YOU AGAIN, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU."Claire's scream echoed off the stone walls. Blood streamed from her nose, ran down her chin, dripped onto her dress stained red.She turned. Her high heels clicked on the terrace floor. Her dress flew behind her.Before disappearing into
Emily's POV"Arthur," Vivienne said. Her voice trembled for the first time. "How dare you embarrass me in front of everyone here? This whore ruined our main model's face and you're defending her?"Arthur didn't move. His dark eyes met Vivienne's blue ones."I don't believe Parker did this to that g







