THE HEIR'S REVENGE

chapter 27

I didn't see Emma.

Maybe because I wasn't interested in seeing anyone like her or anyone who looked like her.

She didn't look like Emma Clarke who always took care of her skin, the one whose dresses always looked like the ones in hot celebrity shows.

She was sitting on the bench like every normal person, only that she wasn't normal. Not Emma Clarke.

It was Brandon that had seen her. We were crossing the quad after my morning lecture. Brandon as usual was carrying my laptop bag.

She was sitting on her coat, her hands on her laps, the exact expression of someone who has been waiting for a while.

She looked different.

Not in a good way but different anyways.

I spent one second confirming it before I decided to change direction. I didn't understand why she looked so unkempt even when she lived with Daniel.

She was wearing just an ordinary black coat, her hair parked in a ponytail without any particular attention.

Something was wrong.

“Give me a few minutes.” I turned to Brandon who nodded and stopped walking without asking anything. I'd notice how loyal he was the past few weeks.

I walked over to her and stood. She looked up when she heard someone's footsteps. She had been patiently looking across the whole school and had seen me a walk across to her.

She looked nervous when I sat down on the bench, not beside her but at a distance. I left a little space between us.

She waited before speaking.

“I know you don't want to see me but I'm here.”

“I know.” There was no other response I could think of.

She nodded in a calm way like she had expected the cold response.

She looked across the empty garden. Something told me that she was still deciding whether to say what she wanted or not.

“I heard something just a few nights ago and l need you to know.”

I didn't say anything to her, I just listened. I hoped this wouldn't be like the other time.

“Daniel came home later than usual. I was in bed but not asleep so he wasn't aware that I was awake. I noticed that he had come in with his mother, Victoria. This wasn't the first time she came home with him, so I didn't suspect a thing.” She paused. “They were in his study which was close to our bedroom and the wall isn't as thick as it should be. Daniel doesn't tell me things anymore just like he didn't tell me his mother was coming.”

I looked up at her waiting to hear the conclusion of the story.

“I heard them through the wall,” she continued. “Not every single word but I heard enough. Victoria was talking about Lily's school.”

I was still.

“She was busy analysing and I heard your name too. She was reviewing some plans and the approach was too analytical. She said something about the approach being too direct. I wasn't stupid. I knew she was behind Lily's school attack.”

I took a deep breath.

“She said that Lilly was the most effective leverage to get to you. That was exactly what she said.” Emma paused. She had the same seriousness that I knew about. “She said the priority now was to find out your address. She said it would give them an edge.”

Victoria.

I guess she already knew that I caught on with her plans with Curtis and Doyle as well.

“Did she say how she was going to do all of that?” I asked Emma but she nodded.

“Not specifically.”

After I'd left the Pierce household I've never seen Victoria Pierce with my eyes so I didn't know why she wanted so badly to get me.

“She talked about the necklace as well. She said you were stupid and you didn't know the value that it carried.”

“How long were they talking for?”

“For forty five minutes in total.”

I touched the necklace through my shirt without deciding to. It was my own mother's little gift to me but it seemed like people like Victoria knew something I didn't know.

“Victoria said you were becoming a problem and that you were getting too bold than normal.” A brief pause. “I heard the thing about Sophia so I think she's passed off about it.”

I noted it.

“They finished around Midnight and that was when Victoria left and Daniel came to bed. Of course, he didn't know that I heard anything.

I looked at Emma, she was staring at the bare garden with the expression of someone who wanted peace but was finding it difficult to have.

"Emma." I said her name without particular warmth or coldness. Just to bring her attention back. "Why are you telling me this?"

She looked at me.

“Victoria is going too far by using a five year old child as leverage.” She said that directly without waiting.

I held her gaze.

“The child she talked about had lost her parents and from what I heard, had no one except you. Who in their right senses would use a child as leverage.”

I was quiet for a moment.

Was that really her only reason for doing this?

“You know that this could be dangerous right? You know that if Daniel finds out that you are here, then that is a huge problem.”

“Yes. I know.”

“Then why are you doing this?”

"Because"I've done things I'm not proud of, Ethan. I know that. I know you know that. But I heard that and I couldn't just … " She stopped. Started again. "I couldn't just leave it there."

I was quiet for a moment.

I believed her. Not totally but I believed a part of her story. Victoria was really plotting and I should do something about it before it gets too late.

Emma Clarke was so complex that I totally didn't know what she was thinking. I'd known her to be a goal getter, someone that when she wanted something was willing to go Miles for it.

But she loved children.

I believed that she was doing this, at least part of the reason. When we were together, she always had a soft spot for kids and I knew it.

Even if everything else about Emma was a lie, that part was real. I knew that myself.