23. Emma
23
EMMA
PLAYLIST: YOU BELONG TO ME – CAT PIERCE
S he had known it the moment one of the paparazzi or whoever they were had called “Filthy home wrecker” after her. And it was the reason Chris said what he had. She could see the headlines in tomorrow's papers.
Emma Richardson (27) Destroys DeBarra’s Marriage
No one would believe her; she was the villain, and the world would hate her. And yet, here she was, sitting in his car.
“Yes,” he answered with a whisper.
She closed her eyes for a moment. All their past conversations ran past her inner eye. Looking back, she could’ve known. He had always evaded her questions, had always tried to hide his full name and who he truly was.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because it’s just a technicality.”
“A marriage is a technicality?” she scuffed out in disbelief, rolling her eyes, what made his eyes become slits.
And although he looked as if he wanted to punish the eye-rolling, he said dismissively, “it is part of a greater plan.”
“So, I am the meat you throw into the lion’s den for your plan, wonderful. ”
“You are not. You are in the lion’s den because you didn’t listen to me.”
Fuck you.
Of course, she wouldn’t meet an honest man. They are all the same: power, secrets, and lies.
“Delilah is–” he started.
And the moment he said it, it clicked. Crazy-ass-stomach-sinking-to-the-floor-click. Accompanied by a cold shudder over her back.
Delilah DeBarra. Right hand and daughter of Richard DeBarra.
Richard DeBarra. Carl said Richard sent him, fuck.
Richard DeBarra, who was the CEO of Gamma, a megalomaniac conglomerate doing business all over the world, from food to tech to investment, while exploiting every last penny out of everyone and everything.
Only no one looked behind the beautiful marketing campaigns celebrating the company’s fake positive impact on nature and humanity with Delilah as the face of it. Like some kind of heroine, saving the world. And people worshipped her as a modern saint.
Of course, people would recognize me. Of course, I would be hunted, she groaned in her mind.
“Are you like, mental to have me post the photo? She’ll come after me, that woman knows no right or wrong.”
“That is exactly what happened.”
“So, you’re saying that some of the paparazzi were there to do – what? Grab me? Kill me?”
“Something like that, I suppose. They were too aggressive. And one of them had a gun.”
“Who would’ve guessed?” she said ironically. “Did you know before?”
“I did not expect her to pull the big guns out so soon, no.”
At least it seemed to be honest. But the realization of what was happening crouched like a lingering shadow in her, eating her slowly. There would be no going back from this.
“What kind of plan are you cooking up with her? ”
“A plan I’ve dedicated most of my life to.” His voice was calm and silent, yet somewhere in his tone was longing. A longing that gave her the chills.
“So, it was your revenge, too.”
“Could phase it like that, yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I anticipated you to run.”
“In case you didn’t notice, I ran this way. What changed?”
He considered her for a moment.
“Deis, you need to be honest with me.”
It took him a moment to answer. “Honesty above all,” he finally whispered.
A shudder ran down her spine. And she could only stare at him.
I’ve heard those words before. I’ve said them before. But it could not be, could it?
It was, in the end, just a normal sentence people use, right? But something about his look was funny. He had his head tilted and looked at her with intense curiosity.
“Yes. Honesty above all.”
He stared at her just a bit longer before he spoke again.
“I knew it the moment in the event center. Then Carl happened, but as you were the one pulling the trigger, I could be sure.”
Her heart began to race as the tension in the car sizzled through the air, bringing the sweet foreboding of a truth to be released.
“Sure of what?” What did you know?”
The pause he made let an explosive feeling of curiosity grow in her chest, up to the point where she could no longer contain it.
Say it.
Part of her knew what was going to come, and a part wanted to run far, far away because once it was out in the open, there would be no going back. And when he finally spoke, his voice was so silent and controlled.
“That you are the queen to my kingdom.”
His words hit her like the surge of a hurricane. A heat like never before exploded in her chest. The sweet sound of being cherished and wanted glowed her into an unraveling mess of longing. S he had to bite her lip to contain herself from giggling, screaming out loud and stomping her feet sillily on the ground. What she couldn’t contain was a broad smile growing on her face.
It was probably the most beautiful thing she had ever heard.
It was better than any I love you , better than any affections anyone had ever shown.
Everything was different with him.
And there she was, being consumed by him, lost for words.
He stared at her the whole time, piercing her with his eyes. It was as if they communicated without words, just by staring into each other’s soul.
“Get us home, Ed,” he said up to the front, without breaking his gaze.
Home.
His home. The home he wanted to be my home, too. It was all so intense, so out of the ordinary. But mostly, it was dangerous, thrilling, consuming. And it made her feel alive with every last one of her cells. If there had been a guy with red flags, he would have wiped a million of them right in front of her face, and she still would only see Deis’ eyes, stripping her soul to its rawest existence. Existence, which was daring, playful, living. The self she was, not because of him, but because she could be herself. The real, unmasked self. Liberated from all the weight she carried around with her.
As they turned the corner onto Deis’ street, it was like she was whirled into a different universe. Flashlights buzzed as she sat like a star behind black windows of an armored luxury car. Somewhere in that mob were people who wanted to get to her, maybe take or do whatever else to her.
“Deis, I can’t do this. This is not me.”
“They can’t see you.”
“But it won’t stop. I will never be able to be a normal person again.”
“No, you won’t, because you never were normal. Now you’ re mine, and I don’t intend to let you go, ever.”
“Not helping,” she said with a teasing voice, but she couldn’t stop herself from grinning, his words brushing over her bruised and wounded heart like silk.
He knew very well what his words did to her; his smug grin said as much.
“Listen, you’ll wonder how fast people forget. And the thing with Delilah will be handled,” he said, so causal even careless.
And as they turned into the garage, she tried to breathe all the nasty thoughts in her mind away.
“Deis,” said Ed. “Press is being released this very minute.”
“What press?” she asked him immediately, while a bad foreboding crawled up.
“Something that hopefully will get the target off your back.”
“Deis!”
“You don’t need to worry about it.”
There it was again – the not telling, the evading, the vague answers. But she would not let him. If he wanted her to be his, he would play by her rules.
So, she did something so out of her comfort zone, that it made her chest almost split in discomfort. She leaned over, climbed onto his lap, and sat down on him. From his smug but surprised look, he had not expected it. With her hands, she trailed through his hair and down his neck to his chest. Then, she leaned in onto the side of his face until her lips were next to his ear; His cock swelling against her bottom. And then she whispered into his ear with a voice she did not recognize herself.
“A true king shares everything with his queen.”