Chapter 54
Camera flashes popped in the distance, muffled by the walls of the venue. Nicolas’s hand pressed firmly against Emily’s lower back as he guided her to the waiting car. Two bodyguards followed, Cameron walking before them.
Emily exhaled. The secret was out. This chapter of their lives was finally behind them. Now, they could start a brand one. Happily.
The parking lot was surprisingly empty. When Cameron went and spoke to a valet dressed in all black, Emily realized Nicolas had arranged for it to be that way. He’d planned for them to leave together.
“Are you okay?” Nicolas whispered, his eyes scanning her face.
She opened her mouth to reply, but their heads snapped to Cameron when he stepped back in a quick flash, his arms raised with a…is that a gun?
Why was he pointing a gun at the worker?
“You’ve got some nerve showing up here.” The head bodyguard’s tone was dark.
Nicolas’s body instinctively shielded Emily, gathering her to stand behind him. Still, she poked her head out in time to catch the valet removing his black cap, a smile creeping onto his face.
Emily felt like she’d been submerged in ice water.
Damien.
Her past stalker.
His eyes locked onto her, twinkling in delight.
Slowly, his gaze trailed up to the barrier between them, Nicolas, and his jaw tightened.
“Couldn’t miss it for the world,” Damien drawled, “It’s Emily’s return to the big screen after all. And I am her biggest fan,” he referred to Cameron’s statement.
Damien looked at her again, eyes softening it into something disturbingly sweet. “Did you get my flowers, sweetheart?”
Emily froze, her stomach twisting.
The lilies and the card.
It had been him. Not Stella. Not Adrianna.
Him.
They’d only fessed up to the package and paint device.
Oh god, he did send her flowers in the past. And they always had a note attached. Maybe, subconsciously, that was why she got spooked seeing the pairing again.
The bodyguards moved, closing ranks, but Damien didn’t flinch. He took another step forward, one hand propping onto his hip as if daring them to act.
Nicolas became rigid. “Stay behind me,” he murmured to Emily, never breaking eye contact with their threat.
Her stalker’s smile widened. “I’ve been patient, Emily.
I’ve been watching—waiting. But I won’t complain.
Seeing you on stage tonight made it all worth it.
I didn’t plan for our reunion to be like this.
I wanted it to be more sentimental. Less…
startling for you. I scared you the last time and it was the last thing I wanted to do with this second chance.
But…tonight made me change my mind. I don’t see the point in me hiding in the shadows of your life anymore when he gets to be introduced center stage. ”
“Stop talking!” one of the guards barked.
For a moment, it seemed Damien might comply. Then, with a flick of his wrist, a weapon appeared, gleaming under the parking lot lights. Emily’s breath caught at seeing the pistol. Nicolas pulled her tighter against his back as the bodyguards all aimed at their target. Three against one.
“Drop the weapon or we’ll shoot,” Cameron hissed.
“Should I?” Damien cocked a brow. “I’ll consider it if you answer my question, Emmy. That’s what everyone calls you, isn’t it? So you won’t mind if I do too.”
Emily remained silent.
“You won’t talk to me? Aw, sweetheart, you’re breaking my heart over here.
” Damien pouted. “It’s nothing crazy. I just wanted to ask…
is it the money? No, that can’t be, you’re loaded.
The looks? Hmm…I don’t think I’m lacking there.
The height?” He assessed Nicolas from head to toe.
“Fuck, I admit I don’t exactly measure up.
But that isn’t all there is, is it? There has to be more.
What makes him qualified to be your husband and I’m not?
Emily, we’re the ones with actual history here. ”
She frowned. What the hell was he talking about?
“We went to Juilliard together,” he revealed.
“We weren’t close, god, I wished, but we’d shared two major classes together.
I dropped out after the second year because of that fucking tuition, but I hoped you might’ve recognized me a year later at an audition.
I was working there as a staff member. You’d always been good at remembering a face, so I was a bit disappointed, Emmy. ”
“Stop fucking calling her that,” Nicolas snapped.
“And you should shut the fuck up!” Damien yelled, flailing his gun at him.
Cameron’s fingers pulled closer to the trigger, his shoulders squared. “I”m giving you one last warning. Drop the fucking gun.”
Damien glared. “I still have more to say.”
“Well, we don’t want to hear it, and neither does she,” Nicolas bit out. “She doesn’t want to hear from someone who’s caused her nothing but misery. You think that what you have for her is love, but it’s not. Not even close. It's obsession.”
“You don’t know what the hell I feel,” Damien growled.
“You’re a piece of shit with a silver spoon shoved so far up your ass you don’t even realize it’s there.
What do you know about me? About how much I’ve adored her—her hard work, her kindness, her way of lighting up a room.
I didn’t want to break into her apartment.
I just wanted to be seen. I had no other choice! ”
“The police found duct tape and cords with you.”
Everyone’s head turned at the sound of Emily’s voice.
Damien’s lips parted. “Emily…you’re actually talking to me again? You’re not mad at me anymore?”
“You carried duct tape and cords with you,” she repeated louder. “You didn’t want to be seen. You wanted to hurt me, take advantage of me…and you think that’s love?”
“It is because I do. I love you, Emily!”
“Well, I hate you!”
Nicolas tried to pull her back behind him when Damien jerked like he’d been slapped, but she refused. She stood her ground, staring at the man who’d haunted her dreams.
“I hate you with every fiber of my being. I’ve thought about inflicting the same pain you’ve caused me, the same torment, paranoia, about a hundred times. But even then, it still wasn’t enough. I wish you’d just go to hell.”
Damien froze. “Do you really?” he whispered, facing scrunching up, his hold on the gun faltering.
Emily had thought about confronting him many times and now that it was happening, a surge of strength came.
She would not be a coward.
“I do.”
“Okay,” Damien nodded repeatedly as if trying to soothe himself, raising the gun.
“Have it your way. Hate me. Hate me all you want, but I’ll continue to love you.
I’ll love you until your hatred is overcome by it.
I won’t apologize for loving you. And I admit, I did bring the cords and tape in case I needed to persuade you.
I knew you’d probably fight me on that, so I came prepared.
But even that would’ve been out of love, Emmy.
I was going to make you feel good—happy. Isn’t that enough?”
Emily’s throat fought with the need to throw up.
Her mind had gone there before at its darkest point, but this felt far worse. Hearing it out loud from him felt like a goddamn nightmare.
Nicolas blocked her completely again.
Emily heard Damien’s sinister voice before the chaos broke. “Oh great, cover her. Was aiming at you anyway.”
Her breath caught at the words.
Then everything happened fast.
A boot shifted before a single shot rang through the air and echoed off the concrete walls.
Emily screamed as Nicolas whirled around, covering her. She clawed at his back, her hands checking for any signs of injury.
Oh god. Oh god. Oh god!
Had he gotten shot? She couldn’t help the bile that rose inside her stomach as her eyes frantically assessed him.
“I’m fine,” Nicolas assured her. “It’s not me. I’m fine.”
Her entire body slumped in relief.
Her eyes looked between the space of his arm to see Damien stagger, shock flashing across his face before he crumpled to the ground, weapon clattering beside him. The bullet had hit him right in the forehead.
Emily gagged, her hands clinging to Nicolas’s suit.
Her ears rang as Cameron walked over to Damien’s body, smoke curling faintly from the weapon he clutched.
Cameron kicked at it, checking for movements.
There was none.
Nicolas wrapped his arms around her tighter. “It’s over,” he whispered, eyes staying locked onto hers.
She was still staring at the lifeless figure.
“Baby, look at me,” Nicolas urged. Her eyes flickered to him, tears escaping them. “You’re okay. You’re safe now.”
He kissed the side of her hairline and her tears doubled.
Emily sobbed in her husband’s arms.
You’re safe now. You’re safe now. You’re safe now.