Emily's POV
After having a hot bath, I jumped onto the bed wearing just a T-shirt.
Just then, someone knocked on the door.
I thought it must be Ava, so I opened it without thinking – but there stood Damon.
His eyes slowly trailed down, watching me from head to toe.
"You…" he started, his gaze lingering at my legs. "Uh… do you want to talk about something?"
My breath caught. I immediately closed the door on his face, ran to my closet, grabbed my night pants and bra, and slipped into them in seconds. My heart was hammering in my chest as I opened the door again, hoping he was still there.
Yes. He was still standing there.
"Come in," I said, stepping aside.
He walked in casually and sat on the couch, leaning his back lazily, as though he owned the space.
I, on the other hand, chose to stand near the window — as far as I could from him.
I could sit beside him. But I was still afraid of him.
After seeing him at the party, my opinion about him had changed… but I didn't know if he felt the same about me.
Finally, I gathered courage.
"You know everything about my life," I started. "About my family, my friends, Noah… and the fact that I'm adopted. Everything. And you threatened me to marry you — and it happened, just as you wished.
"I don't know why you did that, but… I've also come to know that you weren't always this bad…"
He was listening with full attention until I mentioned our marriage. Then, his eyes hardened.
"Why do you get angry every time I mention our marriage?" I asked softly.
He turned his face away, his expression unreadable.
"Cut the crap and come to the point," he said, still not looking at me.
"If you behave like this, I can't express what I want to say!" I said, frustrated.
He sighed deeply, then looked at me. "Fine. Now tell me. What is this about?"
I turned away, gathering courage.
"I have accepted everything that's been happening in my life. I let Noah go. I accepted that I am an orphan, that my family abandoned me. And…"
I swallowed hard.
"I want to give our marriage a chance. Can I trust you?"
He immediately got up and walked toward me. His presence was overwhelming — not angry, but powerful.
"Yes, I know what everyone will think," I continued, my voice trembling. "How can I forget Noah so easily? I loved him like he was my world. But what can I do now? He left me.
"And now… I'm here. Stuck with you. I can't predict your character, Damon. You scare me, confuse me, but still… Can I trust you?"
His sharp gaze pinned me in place. His words cut through the silence.
"You… till yesterday you cried for that guy, and now suddenly you want to give this marriage a chance?"
"You know when our loved ones leave us," I said softly, "our mind accepts it… but our heart doesn't.
"For what happened yesterday… even my heart finally accepted that he isn't mine anymore.
"I want a family, Damon. I have craved one since childhood. Being tied to you, I can't go anywhere else. So… I'm ready to try.
"I know I don't love you. And you don't love me. But I want to try."
He stared at me silently.
"Can I trust you?" he asked again.
"Yes," I said. "But not yet."
"Not yet?" His brows furrowed.
"Yes. I want to tell you something. Can we go to your study?"
"Why?" His tone turned serious again.
"I'll tell you there."
He grabbed my hand and led me toward his study. My heart was pounding.
This was the most familiar place in the entire villa — and tonight, it might be the scariest.
I located his locker among the books and asked him to open it.
He did, without saying a word.
I turned to him. "You know, Damon… today at the party, a man named Sam came to me. He said he's your rival. He also said there's a spy in our home, and that he knows about this file in your locker.
"You should keep it somewhere else — somewhere safer — because it's not safe anymore."
I found a black file with the letter M at the bottom corner — just as Sam had described — and picked it up.
But when I turned back toward Damon, my blood turned cold.
He was holding a gun.
Pointing at me.
My breath caught in my throat. I shivered violently and dropped the file from my hands.
But to my shock, he threw the gun on the floor — and suddenly kissed me.
Tears fell from my eyes. I couldn't even respond to his kiss.
When he finally let go, he hugged me.
Damon's POV
When she said she wanted to give our relationship a chance, giving me a whole lecture about love, my first instinct was to kill her right there.
But I waited.
I wanted to see what she would do about the file.
When she turned around and warned me about Sam, my anger melted.
I threw my gun away and kissed her. When I felt her tears, I hugged her tightly.
For the first time… I was happy that I could trust her.
Emily's POV
"I thought I was going to die just now," I whispered, still crying. "If you wanted to kill me… why did you save me that day?"
"When?" he asked, looking away.
"In the hospital. Mia saw you warning the doctors to save me, or else they'd pay with their lives. She told me about it today, after we danced together."
He didn't reply immediately.
"I thought you were betraying me… working for someone else," he finally said. "But you proved me wrong. I'm sorry, Emmi."
I blinked, stunned.
"Emmi?"
"What? You don't like that name?" he asked.
"No, I like it… but why 'Emmi'?"
He gave me a small smirk. "I don't know. I just… wanted to call you that."
The tension in the room slowly shifted into something softer.
"As I told you earlier, you know everything about my life," I said, my voice steadier now. "But you didn't know about Sam. I brought you here to prove myself — because if I just told you randomly, you wouldn't believe me."
He cupped my face gently. Tears slid down my cheeks as I continued:
"When I told you I wanted to try… I was serious. I want to be loyal to you. I take every small thing seriously — but this is marriage, Damon. Our lives.
"I just want peace. And a happy family."
He pulled me by my waist until I was flush against him.
"Damon… what are—"
He kissed me again.
This time, I kissed him back.
His hands roamed across my body, and my legs went weak. My heart was racing, my head spinning.
But suddenly, I stopped him, pushing lightly at his chest.
"What happened?" he asked, confused. "You just accepted me as your husband — then what's wrong now?"
"I know," I said softly, "but I want to take things slow. Not like this. Not tonight."
He loosened his grip, wiping my tears with his thumb.
"Go and sleep," he said gently. "We can discuss this tomorrow."
When I reached the door, I heard him say behind me:
"Don't lock your door."
I glared at him.
"Not for what you're thinking," he added quickly, smirking.
I shook my head and left.
If he touches me again, I swear I'll kick him, I thought before going to my room.
This time, I left the lights on — and eventually, I fell asleep.
Damon's POV
After Emmi left my study, I called Sam and asked him to meet me at the casino.
Alex and I reached one of our casinos. I located Sam in a VIP room — he was busy enjoying his hot chick for the night.
We approached him, and my one glare was enough to make that slut leave immediately.
"Don't spoil my night…" Sam said, rolling his eyes.
I told him everything about what happened, but he was still not convinced that Emmi was a good person I could trust.
"You know," I said, leaning back in my chair, "after Maria… I didn't stop at a single woman. But now, I want to see how many days I can stay with her. Maybe one week… one month… one year?"
We three laughed at that.
"But don't break her if she starts to love you," Alex said seriously in the middle of our laughter. "If she loves you, then you have to tell her about Maria — and you have to forget about her."
Maria was like a sister to Alex, and now that he was seeing some other woman in her place, it made him uncomfortable around Emmi.
"Yes, bossss!" Sam commented with a smirk at Alex's words.
We three drank together and then went to our homes.
I was walking toward my room but stopped when I saw Emmi's door.
I had told her not to lock it, so I wanted to check.
When I saw it unlocked, I smirked.
"She has guts to believe me," I whispered and quietly went inside her room.
She looked like a sleeping beauty.
I reached her bed and saw her face covered with her hair.
I slowly sat on the bed and brushed her hair away from her face — but she was sweating and trembling in her sleep.
"Emmi… Emmi…" I called her name softly, but she didn't open her eyes.
"Emmi…" I called again and gently patted her cheek.
She opened her eyes suddenly and gasped, as if she had seen a ghost.
Was she really this scared to sleep alone?
Her eyes were red — she had been crying in her dream.
I gave her some water to calm down. She was breathing heavily, like she had just run a marathon.
I hugged her.
"Emmi… I'm here. Nothing happened, okay? That was just a dream…" I said softly.
She hugged me tightly, needing to feel safe.
"Are you like this every day?" I asked.
She nodded.
"Tomorrow we will go see a doctor. Since when are you like this?" I asked, but she stayed quiet.
"Emmi? Since when? Since you moved here?" I asked again, this time with concern.
She shook her head and finally spoke.
"When I was 7 years old… I had a fight with the neighbor's kid, and my mom locked me in a room for 10 days. Since then, I've been afraid to be alone at night."
At 7 years old?!
I was raging with anger. How could an adult treat a child like that?
"Your father or brother didn't come to rescue you?" I asked.
"It was during vacation," she replied. "Dad took Jack on a trip, but Mom didn't allow me to go out. I was alone that whole time."
I silently swore to myself that I would show that old lady how it feels to be locked alone in a dark room.
I hugged Emmi for a while, and soon she was sleeping peacefully.
I looked down at her.
Can I love this woman in my arms?
No.
I can — and will — only love Maria, even if she is not with me right now.
But then my mind echoed back at me:
Then why did you try to save her? Why did you marry her? Why did you swear to punish the person who treated her badly in the past?
I didn't have an answer.
Watching the woman in my arms, I eventually fell asleep with Emmi in her room.