جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 66

Emily's POVThe hotel room felt smaller now.The walls were closing in around me, the floor seemed to have grown colder beneath my bare feet.Marcus stood by the window, his back to me, a dark silhouette against the Tokyo skyline. The morning sun painted everything gold, but inside I felt only gray."You were different in college," I said, my voice low. "You seemed like someone else. Someone who cared. Someone who listened.""And now?" He didn't turn around."Now I don't recognize you."He turned. His blue eyes were calm, but there was a coldness in them that chilled my spine."People change, Emily.""People don't turn into monsters overnight."He took a step toward me. I stepped back. The bed hit the back of my knees."Monster?" He repeated the word as if tasting it. "Is that how you see me?""What do you want me to see? A man who kidnapped me? Who brought me to the other side of the world against my will?""I brought you here so we could give our love a chance.""There's no love her

Nathalie's POVThe taxi moved through the streets of New York as if the driver was also in a hurry to get somewhere. I couldn't see anything. Couldn't hear anything. I just felt the weight of guilt pressing on my chest like someone was sitting on top of me."We're almost there, ma'am," said the driver, a middle-aged man with a Middle Eastern accent, his eyes glancing at the rearview mirror every now and then."Thank you," I answered, my voice coming out weaker than I wanted.My phone vibrated in my lap. Sebastian. Again. The fourth call in twenty minutes.I answered."Nathalie, finally!" His voice was breathless, worried. "Where's Emily? I've tried calling her a million times. Her phone goes straight to voicemail. Sebastian is desperate, the whole studio is falling apart.""I don't know where she is, Sebastian," I lied. The lie tasted like bile in my mouth. "She disappeared…""Nathalie?""I don't know anything, Sebastian. Sorry. I have to go."I hung up.The phone fell on the seat nex

Emily's POV The pen was still in my hand. I stared at the paper without being able to think of anything, just feeling the cold sweat running down my back. I wanted to forget all of it and run away. Behind me, the photographers wouldn't stop taking pictures. The flashes exploded one after another, lighting up the small room every second. "You have no choice, love." Marcus's voice came low, close to my ear. He smiled at the cameras, but his teeth were clenched while his hand remained on my waist. The room was stuffy. I looked at the document again. Marcus's signature was there, in the space reserved for the groom. Marcus Alexander Sterling. The handwriting was slanted, large, taking up more space than it should. The pen had marked the paper so hard that the final stroke of the last letter had lightly torn the page. My name was missing. Emily Rose Parker. "Emily Rose Parker." The judge spoke loudly, snapping me out of my daze. He was an older man, with thick glasses and a br