All Chapters of Claiming Emery : Chapter 1 - Chapter 5

My legs wouldn’t stop trembling, no matter how tightly I pressed them together. My fingers kept tapping against the velvet box beside me, restless and unable to stay still. I inhaled slowly, trying to calm the nervous energy crawling under my skin, then looked down at the box.It was small, wrapped in soft black velvet and tied with a satin ribbon I had redone three times before leaving the store.Inside, it held a gold-plated rattle I bought an hour ago from a boutique downtown. There wasn’t a card or bouquet of flowers—just this tiny gift and the hope that it might spark something good again.Hope that maybe—just maybe—this child would bring us back to the beginning.“Surprise him,” my best friend had said over the phone. “Make it sweet. Remind him why he chose you.”But deep down, I wasn’t sure he even remembered why he had.My phone buzzed in my lap, pulling me from my thoughts. I reached for it quickly, expecting a promotional text or another message from my mother reminding me

I hadn’t left the penthouse in four days.I didn’t need to. Killian’s place sat above the city like it was built to defy gravity—above the noise, above the gossip, above the ashes of my life.No reporters camped out front. No curious neighbors. Just silence. Stillness. Glass walls that watched the city breathe beneath my bare feet.Each morning, I woke up and made tea I never drank. I wandered across the cold stone floors, circled the same rooms like they might offer clarity if I passed them enough times. I stared out at the skyline until my vision blurred and my thoughts drifted into nothing.And every time I passed the teddy bear on the couch, something inside me twisted so hard I thought I’d tear in half.The silence didn’t scare me.It was the only thing that made sense anymore.Killian gave me space and that was what I appreciated the most.He didn’t ask questions. Didn’t offer or give any unwanted pity. Just presence quiet which was ConstanceThe sound of ice clinking in a glass

The senator's wife gaped stunned at Killian's declaration. She gazes straight into my eyes, searching — maybe for definition. Confusion. Disagreement It was all a game, and the winner goes home with the highest price, and failure was not an option on my plate Time stood still, and in the den of power-hungry elite donors, I could feel their gaze on me, curious. Jealousy. Pity. And we are all part of the game — I guess Killian's hand on my shoulders was firm, warm, shielding me from the younger elite women nearby, their gaze was sharp with unspoken envy “Fiancée” As a wave of silence hung in the air, his words echoed in my ears like a foreign language, and my sensory system highlighted at their overwhelming gaze on me, the blossoming scent of orchid thickened, mixed with freshly printed money This was the plan for a fake engagement but the plan wasn't fully formulated. Maybe it was but I wasn't aware. Yes, we had agreed to a fake engagement, but not today. Not here There was no