Chapter 50 #2
Emily looked up to see Nicolas. Relief loosened her chest. Tears pricked her eyes.
God, she felt like she hadn’t missed him more than now.
Cameron and the other bodyguard stood flanking her chair, one on each side, their presence forming a barrier that left little space for any doubt that they were here to protect her.
“Step away from her.”
“Nicolas,” Jake growled. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
If looks could kill, Jake would’ve been six feet under.
“You don’t need to concern yourself with why I’m here. What you do need to know is that if you ever raise your hand like that again, prepare to never be able to use it.”
Jake glanced between them, his eyes boring into Emily. “Is it him?”
His face reddened at her silence, and a wild glint flickered in his eyes.
“Emily, you’ve got to be kidding me. You’ve.
Got. To. Be. Fucking. Kidding. Me. Him?!
Are you serious? Please tell me you’re not serious.
” His chest rose rapidly. “Is it because you know I hate him? Is that why you did this? I can’t fucking believe you! ” he spat angrily.
Nicolas gave him a hard look. “Why? Surprised her taste has improved?”
Jake’s jaw tightened. “No, I’d expect nothing less from an opportunistic bitch like her.”
“Vaffanculo.”
At the harsh tone, Jake flinched, but his mouth kept running. “Did you get to fuck her?”
“None of your fucking business.”
A cruel laugh left him. “I take it you did considering you’re defending her like this.” His cold eyes found her. “Wow, Emily, you really deserve actress of the fucking year. You gave him in a couple of months what you refused to give me for years.”
“One more word,” Nicolas said tightly. “If one more word comes out of your mouth you won’t be able to speak through it for at least a week.”
The bodyguards shifted toward Jake, nailing down Nicolas’s promise. He didn’t dare speak again.
“Call her anything like you did earlier or talk about her choice of giving her body, and I swear to god, you won’t get the chance to worry about my bodyguards because I’ll fuck you up myself.
You should be grateful that I don’t want to get my hands dirty from the likes of you, but trust me when I say I’m not completely averse to it if it involves my woman. ”
Jake bristled, but still said nothing.
To be fair, it was smart of him. Nicolas sounded terrifying.
He spared him one last deadly stare before taking Emily’s hand in his own. “Let’s go, my love.”
As they walked past Jake, her eyes trailed up to see Stella standing in the hallway.
Just when things couldn’t get any worse…
Stella’s body shook, nails digging painfully into the palm of her hands. “You planned everything?”
Emily sighed. “I wasn’t planning for a full reunion, but it’s such a pleasure to see you too, Stella.”
“I asked you if you planned all of this!” she shrieked and tried to grab her, but Nicolas’s body blocked Stella.
“I would suggest you rethink what you just tried to do.”
Stella looked up him. “Oh.” Her voice dropped. “This is new.”
Nicolas sized her up. “Move.”
She scoffed. “Excuse me?”
“I said move,” he repeated. “Or I’ll move you. You don’t get to talk to her. Much less look at her from this point onward. And you sure as hell don’t get to touch what’s mine.”
Stella winced like she’d just been slapped.
Emily saw it, the exact moment it hit her. That flicker of panic behind the eyes, the way her mouth opened like she was about to speak but couldn’t find the words. Stella was slowly realizing the truth: she hadn’t been winning. Not even close.
She thought she was clever, thought Emily was just another casualty in her little game. But Emily had been pulling the strings all along, letting her bask in the illusion of control.
And now? That illusion was crumbling.
Stella was so upset she lunged herself across Nicolas’s arms.
Emily pulled him out of the way, not wanting him to react in a way they’d both regret.
Stella’s knees scraped the floors with a screech as she fell. It didn’t take long before she looked up with hateful eyes.
“Did you still just—”
Emily gripped Nicolas and shook her head at him. He reluctantly let it go. As she turned so they could leave, Stella let out a wail. Emily turned around in time to see her holding her belly and crying.
“I think I’ve seen this film before,” Emily said sardonically.
It was only when she saw the trail of blood coming from between Stella’s legs, her eyes widened in shock. “What the…”
“Oh my God,” Stella whispered, panicked. With urgent eyes, she was clawing at her legs in fear of what was happening. “No, no, no!”
At her outburst, Jake came clambering, and his eyes tore open when he saw her.
“What did you do?!” He seethed, turning to both her and Nicolas.
Emily bristled. “I didn’t—”
“Jake!” Stella’s pained cry interrupted their face-off. He was crouching beside her within a second.
Emily’s heart thumped within her ears. She was sick to her stomach.
“Do something, Jake! Do something!” Stella cried desperately grabbing at his collar as the tears flooded her face.
“I don’t—I can’t…” His voice fractured mid-sentence, words slipping through the cracks of his shock. He stood paralyzed, eyes locked on the pool of blood encircling her.
“Get her up!”
Jake’s eyes found Emily’s, pupils shaking in fear.
She walked toward him and before he knew it, Emily’s hand shook his shoulders roughly. “If you don’t want to lose your baby, I advise you to wake the hell up,” she growled at him.
Jake’s eyes blinked incessantly at her. He swallowed and shakily took ahold of Stella.
Emily glanced over at Nicolas, who had already dialed for an ambulance based on the voice on the speakerphone. “Help him get her downstairs,” he ordered his bodyguards after hanging up.
Emily took the lead and held the elevator open. With the rest of them in it, it was full.
Stella was full-on crying now and her hands grabbed at her belly desperately. “I don’t want to lose my baby,” she sobbed. “Please don’t let me lose my baby, Jake.”
Jake was a shaking mess, unable to reply.
It came as a relief when the doors finally opened, and they had made it to the ground floor. The EMTs raced over to Stella and placed her carefully on a stretcher.
Jake hopped into the vehicle beside the paramedics, face fully zoned out.
When Emily saw, she turned to Nicolas.
He saw the look in her eye and knew what it meant.
They followed behind the ambulance and went to the hospital.