THE HEIR'S REVENGE

Chapter 13:

When I was done with class, I.was headed to the car waiting for me. That was when I saw her even before she saw me. 

Emily Clarke. 

She had always assumed that she was the one watching, that she was the one moving through rooms,listening to the conversations. She was also calculative and she always acted fast, so she thought that she knew more than a lot of people. 

She'd use someone and pretend like she was innocent, so a lot of people fell into her trap. They didn't notice. 

I had noticed then but I just didn't have the strength to do anything about it. 

She was standing near the east entrance of the humanities building, close to where I always passed. Did she know that I always take that path? 

She was dressed carefully, not the expensive clothes she wore while she held onto Daniel in that restaurant. Her blonde hair was let down instead of being styled. 

It was obvious she had dressed for this conversation. 

I kept walking even when she knew I'd see her. 

“Ethan.” 

I didn't stop but I slowed down, giving her a chance to walk towards me. I didn't think she would but she fell into step beside me. "Can we talk?"

"You're already talking."

"Properly. Please." She touched my arm lightly, then pulled her hand back when I looked at it. "Just give me five minutes. That's all I'm asking."

I glanced at her once, then faced forward again. "Walk with me."

It was a cold morning and the outdoor seating was empty and I liked it. Someone called out a greeting to me from across the quad. It was one of Anderson's junior contacts from the corporation who had apparently attended this university, and word had begun to spread in ways I hadn't entirely controlled yet.

Emma had noticed the greeting but didn't say anything. 

"How have you been?" she asked.

"Fine."

“You don't look surprised.” She said, “To see me.” She finished.

“Why should I be?” I asked, not caring about her feelings for the first time.

"You look.." She paused, recalibrating. "..different. Since everything happened."

"Like you said, things changed."

"I know." Her voice had become lower than I ever taught or imagined. “And that's why I'm here. Let's talk about it.” 

I said nothing. What more could I say?

The silence was an invitation and she took it.

“I need you to understand that my marriage with Daniel isn't what you think.”

I glanced at her. Confused.

"I know how it looked," she continued. "I know what I said to you that day. But I was scared, Ethan. I was scared and I said things I didn't mean because I didn't know how else to handle it." She exhaled, breathing deeply. 

Was this an act to get to me? Wasn't she taking it too far?

“You know how Daniel and his family can be. You know Victoria. They pressured me into this marriage. I'm sorry, Ethan.”

She let that sit for a moment. Let me absorb it.

I kept my face neutral and my pace even.

"I still care about you," Emma said. "I never stopped caring about you.” She was almost close to tears. “You know that what we had was real.”

We passed the library steps. A group of students parted around us without looking up from their phones.

"You said I couldn't give you the life you wanted," I said.

"I know. I was wrong."

"You said I was broke. That I was the unwanted son. That I'd never be able to give you anything worth having."

Each sentence was like an arrow to my heart. 

“You know me well enough, Ethan. I was performing. You know that I always perform when I'm scared. You knew me better than anyone.”

That was true. 

I did know that about her.

I also knew she was capable of performing when she wanted something and not when she was afraid. 

"And Daniel?" I asked. “Does he even know that you are here?” 

“That marriage is not good.” She looked away. “You must have heard too. He's not the man I know. When the money isn't there again, he's just an angry man.” 

I still didn't know what I should do with that information. “I'm sorry to hear that.” I said. 

She glared at me and for a second, I saw something flash across her face. She hadn't expected that I'd say that. 

We got to a bench near a fountain at the centre of the school. I sat down and she joined me too. 

“Ethan, I've been thinking about you.” She paused. “A lot.” 

“What have you been thinking about?” 

“About us, about what could have been if things had gone differently.” She paused again. “..and what we could still have, if you let me.” 

“Go on.”

She took this as encouragement and continued talking. 

“I know that I hurt you.” She said, “I hurt you deeply and it's not like I'm asking you to forget it. I'm just asking for a chance to make everything right.” 

I nodded, saying nothing. I was waiting for something. 

“I thought about your mother and what she meant to you. I know that the necklace she left for you, I know what it means.” 

There it was.

I had been waiting for it, and there it was, arriving exactly when I expected it to, dressed up in the language of sentiment and apology.

She continued: "I was wondering…and you can absolutely say no, I'll understand completely.. but I thought, if you were ever willing to think about forgiveness, about giving us another chance at something real... maybe the necklace could be a symbol of that. Of starting over. Something I could keep close, to remind me of what matters." She tilted her head slightly. "It would mean so much to me. Not because of what it's worth. Because of what it represents."

I was quiet for a while. There was simply nothing to think about. 

Then I said: "That's a beautiful story, Emma."

She blinked. "What?"

"The story you just told me." I leaned back against the bench, relaxed, looking at her the way you look at something you're studying at a comfortable distance. “I loved that you had to make up that wonderful story and you know the part about the necklace. That's the part I love.”

The colour moved in her face. She opened her mouth.

-----------------------

“You are right. You perform not only when you are scared but when you want something.” I looked at her directly. "Your family lost money in a bad investment three years before you met me. That's when you started dating up. You were patient and you were smart about it, and I was the closest accessible entry point to the Pierce family while you were working out how to get Daniel's attention. I know that now. I probably knew it before, somewhere under everything, but I didn't want to look at it."

She simply glared at me in silence. That softness that was there, was now replaced with something tighter and uncertain. 

“And about the necklace,” I said. “My mother's necklace, the one you called worthless jewelry. How come it became valuable to you? Who changed your mind?”

She stood up, obviously angry. This was the version that emerged when the softer version didn't work. "You don't know what you're talking about."

“I need you to understand that you can't manipulate me, Emma.” I smiled pleasantly. “Not anymore.”

“You talk back now?” 

“I have to or people like you will use me.”

“Ethan, it doesn't have to be like this. We can settle this, the right way.” She sat down back. 

This wasn't the usual Emma I was used to. The Emma I knew didn't beg, she didn't fight. She was just manipulative. 

“I think you should go home.” I said, not caring what said or did. “Tell your husband that the necklace isn't available.” 

“Ethan, I didn't say I was here for the necklace..” 

“Yes, that's exactly what you said. That's what you mean. You are here for it and I'm sorry I can't share that with you.” I turned to her. “You know, after all this while, you still haven't changed. Not even one bit.” 

She glared at me like she was trying to understand what I meant. 

“I was hoping you would pretend for a while that you were here for me, for my heart. That might have been believable if you had cried a little bit too but instead you showed your true self.” 

“I'm here for you, Ethan. I don't love Daniel, how many times do you need me to tell you?” 

“Just the many times you humiliated me in front of him.” I looked at her widened eyes. “Yes, say it in front of him. Tell me in his presence that you don't love him. Then, maybe I can believe you.” 

“You know..” She started to stutter. 

“Oh, you can't?”

“That's not like that.” She took a deep breath. “Okay… I'll do that. Anything to prove to you that I mean my words.” 

I sighed. 

Didn't I really want to play this game with Emma? She was the kind of girl that would do anything to get what she wanted. 

Now, I wondered why she was suddenly interested in the necklace after she had insulted me so much in the past because of it.

I didn't want to play games, not with Emma. She could walk back into my life with her manipulations and tricks.

"I think you should go home," I said. "Like I said, tell Daniel the necklace isn't available and will never be available. And I'd like you to pass this information to Victoria.” I sat up. “Tell her that whatever she thinks is in her best interest right now, they should reconsider carefully. 

She stared at me.

I looked back at her blankly. 

I wasn't angry. I was cool. What I felt was much more useful than anger. I felt clarity, happiness that I was finally seeing these people for what they are. 

For years, it seemed like they had used my brain and I couldn't do anything else but nod whenever they said something. 

I was pathetic then and did anything for them, hoping they'd love me. That pitiful young man was dead, replaced by a man who knew what he wanted.

I had loved Emma Clarke, I had believed that she would love me one day. I had spent so many years being grateful that she accepted someone like me that I didn't see that these people were using me. 

I was not that person anymore. 

Never.

"Goodbye, Emma," I said.

She said nothing but she stood up and walked away with the posture of someone who had been insulted. I knew this wasn't over. For Emma to walk away from a fight meant that it was far from being over. 

I watched her go but I knew we'd meet again. She was going to work on another plot to get to me. 

Then I looked at the empty fountain basin. The pigeon that had flown down here to watch us had lost interest and left.

I reached down and touched the necklace my mother was giving me. She had given it to me when I was a child and had warned me to keep it carefully. She said that one day I'd need it and she might not be here. 

Keep it close, she had said. It's all I have to give you.

It meant so much to her but she gave it to me. She herself didn't know what it was. She didn't know that it was the key to a trust fund or a Blackwell heirloom or anything close to that. This was the only thing she had when things got messy and she decided to pass it down to me.

No one was going to take it.

Giving it out meant that I was giving out my mother. I stood up from the bench and picked up my bag.

Henry had called me to remind me of the meeting with Anderson in an hour. The pharmaceutical filing was still sitting in my bag, annotated in the margins with questions I'd written at two in the morning with a pen running low on ink. 

I'd taken Lily to school this morning and by now she must be in her classroom probably explaining something important about rabbits to Mia. 

I smiled. She didn't ask me to wait for her or come pick her and I was glad she didn't. 

I had things to do.

I walked back across the quad toward the main building, and I did not look back.

Emma Clark didn't have as much space as she had before in my mind and I was glad about that.