Emelia's POV"Tell me, Victor!" Lily screamed. "Are you really going to abandon me now?! After everything we've gone through? After everything you promised me?!"Victor fell silent and while his eyes remained on Lily, there was less conviction behind them. It was like he was regretting bringing up the truth at all.I knew what happened then—she found his weakness.She was weaponizing his guilt over her health, and had it dangled above his head like a knife. In her mind, she thought that the truth didn't matter because she knew he was duty-bound to all the promises he made to her in their past.And honestly, I figured that was what was going to be the case.Despite how many times he'd said "sorry" to me, all of his energy would go into prioritizing Lily anyway. No matter what, he showed that he cared for her enough that he'd neglect his own wife.Lily noticed Victor's troubled expression, while he wrestled with his internal struggle, as a triumphant smirk spread across her lips. She rea
Emelia's POVThe air around us grew cold, as the expression on Victor's face froze. I watched his eyes dart from me to the divorce papers, like he hadn't fully comprehended what I asked of him. Maybe he didn't think I was speaking English."You can't be serious right, Em?" Victor finally broke the tense silence. "Please, let's talk about this and be reasonable. I understand why you're upset, but I've realized the truth now. Doesn't that count for something?"I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes at him. "Like that's supposed to undo everything you've done?""I'm not trying to undo anything, Em. I admit to my mistakes. I lied to you about my relationship with Lily, and I prioritized her over you." Victor unraveled my crossed arms and took my hand in his. "It made me doubt you when I shouldn't have."I took my hand back from him. Even though he'd held me not long ago, his touch still felt so wrong. "That's not why I'm divorcing you."Victor raised a brow. "Then I don't understand…" He
Emelia's POV"I-I don't understand the question." Victor stammered. "Do I love you? Sense of duty? Grandpa's expectations?" He pushed out an exasperated, almost panicked breath of air. "What are you asking me? What are you trying to say?"The last fragile flicker of hope I had left in me was extinguished at that moment.FUCK!Why?! Why couldn't he admit his feelings for me? Did they not exist after all this time? Had I truly not held any part of his heart? Had I not made my home in it after all these years?The tightness in my chest grew and suddenly it was getting harder for me to breathe. "Get out…" My voice was strained as I struggled to hold onto my composure."Em… I—" Victor hesitated. His eyes flickered to me and then away while he tried to search for something to say."Get. OUT!" My nostrils flared as my body shook.The sound of someone barging through my door both startled and enraged me. For a moment, I thought it was Lily. I definitely wasn't in the mood for her antics and I
Emelia's POV"I accept the challenge, Trevor." My words were laced with confidence and conviction. "I can only hope to make you and myself proud with my work."Trevor's smile was wide and bright. "I have no doubts in my mind that you'll be the one to come out on top. There's a reason your design was chosen for next season's flagship after all. Even if it's Lily "managing" the project, it's yours at its core. It's nothing without you."Trevor's encouraging words were instilling me with a confidence I was sure I'd lost the night I confronted Victor about the divorce. It finally felt as if there was a new light emerging from the darkness I'd fallen into.It didn't matter if I didn't have Victor's "support." It was clear there were other people who were genuinely in my corner, and who wanted to see me succeed.Plus, I couldn't quit now. Even though I wanted to, I knew I had to endure this place for the sake of my career.I'd make my break soon."I'll be sure to email you more of the detail
Emelia's POVVictor pulled Lily inside the office and almost slammed the door shut. "Watch your tone! Do you not realize we're at work? There's no reason for you to—"Lily jerked her arm out from Victor's grasp. "Don't try and hide it!" Her voice was sharp and defiant. "I heard your conversation last night. I, for one, fully support the idea of you two getting a divorce."Her words were like a slap to my face. For a moment, I was stunned. Who the fuck did she think she was trying to air out our problems at work? No one else knew what it was I was going through and it needed to stay that way!Not to mention—it was none of her damn business anyway!"Emelia isn't good enough for you. You should've realized that a long time ago." Lily stated with confidence. "Even Aunt Bernadette was against your marriage from the very beginning! She's always been so smart; maybe you should've listened to her instead of being so stubborn and doing it on your own.""Typical." I scoffed. "You must have a six
Emelia's POV"Are you just going to stand there and stare at me like an idiot?" Lily tapped her foot against the floor impatiently. "I know you're pregnant, so don't act like you're not!"I hated having my business pried into, especially by Lily of all people. If anyone was going to know about the intimate, important details of my life, it was going to be people that I trusted. People I knew who wouldn't betray my secret or faith in them.Which Victor definitely didn't fall into that category… At least, not anymore.I shook away the thoughts and met Lily's gaze head on. "Even if I was pregnant, you definitely wouldn't be the one I'd tell. It's none of your damn business and it never will be.""So you ARE pregnant?" She took a bold step towards me."Back up if you know what's good for you!" I barked. "No, I'm not pregnant, and you're not going to trap me in this bathroom like an animal unless you want to feel my claws!"Lily narrowed her eyes at me but took a step back. "I'm watching yo
Emelia's POV"Me? Starting my own business?" I had to repeat the words back to Alexis just to make sure that's what she meant to say.Alexis laughed at my confusion. "Oh, no need to act too humble.""That's not it!" I playfully hit her. "It's just… I don't know. I've never thought about that before. It's one thing to work for another company, but owning one? That requires a little more elbow grease."Honestly, starting my own company hadn't been something that I gave much thought to. Mostly because I was too busy making sure my family and I had food on our table and a roof over our heads… After having been on survival mode for so long, even after I'd married Victor, it didn't occur to me that that was even a possibility.Plus, the thought of being a CEO of anything made me a little wary and uncomfortable. It was a lot of pressure to deal with the inner-workings of making sure a company stayed afloat.I wasn't even sure if I could handle it.Almost as if Alexis had read my mind, she re
Emelia's POVThe man's eyebrows shot up as if he weren't expecting to see me. He excused himself from whomever he was speaking to and made his way towards me with an eagerness that could only be read from his eyes.His features only confirmed that it definitely was Mason that I was looking at."What a pleasant surprise." He greeted me warmly. "I wasn't expecting to see you here.""The same can be said for you." I returned his smile. "Are you enjoying the showcase? The art and jewelry are beautiful.""Oh, absolutely. Everyone did such a splendid job. It's events like these that show you that there are diamonds in the dirt if you're patient enough to look for them."I nodded his head. "Oh, I can agree with you on that for sure. How have you been?""I've been good, thank you for asking. Although, I should be asking you that." Mason gave me a worried look. "Last we spoke, I know you weren't in a good state. You also don't seem to be looking particularly well now."I couldn't lie—his concer
Emelia's POV"Mason?" I asked in disbelief. I almost had to rub my eyes just to be sure I wasn't hallucinating him being here.Did he know I was going to be here? Why had he shown up now?"What the hell are you doing here?" Victor growled like some feral beast. His eyes narrowed in on Mason as if he were ready to pounce."You're not the only one who knows a thing or two about hidden gems in the city, you know." Mason replied as he winked at me."Are you okay, though?" His expression changed immediately as concern threaded through his words. "He's not forcing you to do anything you're uncomfortable with, is he?"I turned to see Victor's face turn a shade of red I hadn't seen before. "Everything's fine, Mason. Just having a misunderstand is all—""Who the hell do you think you are?" Victor snapped. "This is none of your concern! So how about you mind your own damn business?!""Actually, Emelia is a part of my business, so this is my concern." Mason stepped closer to me. "Why aren't thing
Emelia's POV"I could be free... At the cost of making this a public fiasco." I laughed. "And to be honest, I really don't want to deal with that—nor do I want him to.""And why do we care?" Alexis scoffed. "He's an asshole! After everything he's put you through, he deserves what's coming to him!"I rolled my eyes at my bestie's mentality. Truthfully, I found her fiery attitude funny, but in this case, it would've done more harm than good in the long run."The thing is," I began to explain, "is that many of the rich families that have invested in Victor's company have ties to the court. The primary reason a lot of them also agreed to continuously support him is because of the promise of an heir. If word got out of this divorce, many of the families would pull their support.""And...?""Victor would lose EVERYTHING." I sighed. "He may have wronged me, but that doesn't mean I have to wrong him back. I just don't want to be in a marriage where I'm not respected or appreciated. I don't w
Emelia's POV"I don't want to hear anything from you, Victor. No negotiations, no questions—nothing. Just sign the papers, and let's be done with this." I told him sternly.It was honestly so exhausting to constantly be in this back and forth with him. There was nothing I wanted to hear from him.No more empty promises.No more begging.He'd made it abundantly clear that I wasn't the person who really held his heart, so what was the point in him being so adamant on us staying together?The way I saw it, our marriage shouldn't remain solely because of duty. There needed to be trust and love—neither of which were there."When are you finally going to get the hint?" Alexis sneered. "Just do as she says for once—"I held up my hand and shook my head at Alexis. As much as I appreciated her standing up for me, it needed to come from me just how serious I was about this divorce."It's fine, Alexis." I smiled at her. "I've got this. Just get the car, please."Alexis gave me a worried look but
Emelia's POV"Oh, come on, Em! Don't look at me like that." Alexis laughed. "You can't say that that isn't a good idea!"Actually, the idea was crazy! Mason said he was working for the LuxeLionness Vault, and they're THE biggest competing company against Victor's.At this point, it wasn't about Victor's feelings either. I didn't care about that. What I did care about was making the right choice.The LuxeLioness Vault was an extremely difficult company to join, and I still needed time to recover and think things over… Besides, could I really trust joining THE rival company?Still, Alexis was right—I had to think about finding another company to work for. I definitely didn't want to work for Victor, much less see him. I just wanted to cut all ties with him as quickly as I could.Maybe this could give me the opportunity to finally move on and focus on myself and my career."Well, I think it's a good idea." Mason chimed in. "I think you'd fit right in with the LuxeLioness Vault, Emelia."I
Emelia's POVEven with my eyes closed, all I could see ahead was a long road of pain and misery. While the events only recently occurred, the grief of losing my child made it feel like years had gone by.I wasn't even sure that there was a light at the end of this long, dark tunnel.The only kind of warmth and comfort that I had left was my best friend, Alexis. She sat next to me as she traced soft circles on the back of my hand."Thank you," I finally managed to say after a long stretch of silence had grown between us. "For everything.""There's nothing you need to thank me for. I told you I was going to be here with you every step of the way. I just wish that this wasn't one of the steps that we had to take…""I… I don't know how I'm going to get through this.""You don't have to know right now." Alexis's tone was soft and reassuring. "Let your heart feel what it needs to, then we'll take it from there."I nodded my head and closed my eyes again. I truly had no idea what I would've d
Victor's POV"Tell me the truth, Lily. I won't accept anything less." I stood up and faced her. My voice was low, almost to the point that it sounded dangerous.After everything Emelia told me, it was almost too hard to stomach looking at Lily now. It was almost like I wasn't looking at my best friend—but a total stranger."What do you want to know?" Lily's voice trembled slightly, but she was still able to keep relatively calm."You knew Emelia was pregnant, right?""I-I mean, yeah, but—""So why did you lie to me? Why did you tell me it was her who pushed you down the stairs?" I interrupted her, not wanting to hear her excuses.Lily was hesitant then, but not for too long where it'd piss me off even more. "I mean, I didn't know for long—""DON'T BULLSHIT ME!"She flinched away. "I-I swear! I just found out! Same as you... I had my suspicions because of how emotional—""Watch. Your. Mouth." I snarled."I-I mean s-she'd been so sick, a-and I saw her run into the bathroom to throw up!"
Emelia's POVSeeing the pain reflected in Victor's eyes and feeling it as his hand trembled in mine gave me an odd sense of satisfaction. As heartless as that made me seem, at that moment, I didn't care. At the end of the day, this child was also his. This pain and suffering shouldn't have just been mine to feel. After what he put me through, he needed to feel this, too. He needed to feel the emptiness and sorrow that I did—to understand how his mistreatment of me cost us the life of our child.I just wished it was enough to bring the child back to me. I wanted nothing more than to shower them with the love and affection they deserved. It filled me with even more rage knowing how I'd been robbed of the beauties of motherhood.When I looked up to meet Victor's gaze, I saw a multitude of emotions flicker through the blue eyes I once loved. Pain. Sadness. Anger. It was the most emotion I'd ever seen him display.Suddenly and without warning, Victor paced back towards the wall and punched
Victor's POV"Due to the fall your wife endured, since Miss Emelia was only ten weeks along, the severity of this situation was far more dire." The doctor began to explain. "Amniotic ruptures lead to infection, and fetal distress, but in the worst case scenario, they can lead to miscarriage.""M-miscarriage?" My eyes widened as I darted from Emelia, to the paperwork, and to the doctor. "W-what do you mean by that? What are you saying?""Your wife was pregnant. My team and I did everything we could to save that baby, but… we weren't able to save it." Dr. Williams stated.My world stopped at that moment; everything stood in a cold stillness that froze me at my core.The news hit me like a bombshell; the details shredded my heart into a million pieces. When I'd checked Lily into the hospital, I had every intention of confronting Emelia and getting to the bottom of what happened back at the office.This was the last thing that I expected out of this encounter.I could only stand there and
Emelia's POV"How could I be so heartless?" I yelled back, the pain in my chest tightening to the point where I couldn't even breathe. "How can you even look at me and say those words?!"Victor's accusatory question felt like he'd thrown a dagger at my already bruised and shattered heart. I'd just lost my damn child! Was he out of his mind?! How could he do this to me while I was going through the worst pain of my life?"Don't act like you're innocent in all this!" Victor fired back. His anger was palpable as heat radiated off his body. "Lily's leg is broken because of you!""And that's what you believe? Is that what Lily said happened? Can Lily never lie to you? How about the time she lied to you while we were gone on our trip to Blasdell? Did you forget about that?!" I fired the questions in rapid succession like they were bullets—and Victor was my mark.His face flushed red. "I was only doing what I thought I needed to! I thought her injuries were serious then! Just like now… Can yo