Victoria's face twisted with fury.
That cunning little Emily—she had actually recorded everything!
Thank God she hadn't said anything more incriminating, or Emily would have had even more ammunition against her.
"What do you mean by this?" Richard demanded, his voice cold and shallow.
"I'm already married," Emily said, her chin raised. "So I'm here to collect the five hundred thousand dollars. Victoria promised it—she can't go back on her word now, can she?"
Richard's expression darkened to something ugly and unreadable.
He knew all too well what kind of family the Scott family was. And their son was still in a vegetative state—and yet she married him?
When word got out, what would people say? What would be left of his reputation?
Everyone in New York knew he, Richard, had an ex-wife and a daughter he had abandoned.
Sometimes, he genuinely wished this mother and daughter would simply disappear from his life forever.
They brought him nothing but humiliation.
"You shameless girl—let go of her!" He turned on Emily furiously.
"Shameless?" Emily smiled, the curve of her lips cold as winter glass. "Richard, you married my mother of your own free will. Did someone hold a knife to your throat and force you?"
"You were the one who cheated. You were the one who hid your affair under the guise of love! You used Victoria as your secret, then acted like a devoted husband. Do you honestly think that one word—*love*—justifies stabbing someone's heart over and over again?"
"I am so glad my mother divorced you." Emily's voice dropped, quiet and lethal. "Better to be alone than to spend one more day with a hypocrite like you."
"And don't forget—who helped build your fortune back then? If you hadn't had my mother's family connections, you'd still be nobody. Victoria only came crawling to you after you'd made your money. If she truly loved you, she would have stayed when you had nothing."
"You've been her fool for decades, and you're still blind to it." Emily's eyes swept to Victoria with open contempt. "And you—there's truly no limit to how shameless some people can be."
Richard raised his hand and struck Emily across the face.
The crack echoed through the room.
Emily's head snapped to the side. Stars burst across her vision.
Slowly, she turned back to face him.
"Those words came from your dying mother, didn't they?" Richard sneered.
"Don't you dare speak about my mother." Emily's voice shook, barely controlled.
"Why not? Look at yourself. You used to be such a quiet, well-behaved girl. And now look what she's turned you into—a wild, snarling creature just like her."
"My mother raised me beautifully." Emily straightened, meeting his gaze without flinching. "She taught me to recognize dignity—and to recognize the absence of it. You should try it sometime."
Richard raised his hand again.
A figure stepped forward without warning, blocking Emily.
"Emily."
She looked up slowly.
The man standing in front of her appeared to be in his mid-twenties, dressed in a charcoal gray suit, with a calm and composed bearing.
"Ethan?" Emily called out, uncertain.
The face in front of her matched the one she had carried in memory for years—but older now, more settled. The boy she had known had become a man.
The tip of her nose burned suddenly.
"It's me," he said, and the corner of his mouth lifted. "It's really me."
"Ethan!" Olivia appeared behind him, irritation flashing in her eyes as she saw him reaching toward Emily.
Then she turned and saw Victoria crumpled on the floor.
"Mom! What happened? Mom!" Olivia rushed to Victoria's side, and the two of them clung to each other, sobbing dramatically.
Richard glanced toward Ethan's parents, his expression stiffening with embarrassment.
"This must be little Emily, all grown up." Ethan's mother stepped forward smoothly and extracted Emily's hand from her son's grip without drawing attention to it. "How she's changed."
"Hello, Auntie," Emily said quietly.
"It seems we've come at a rather inconvenient moment." Ethan's mother turned to her husband with a practiced smile. "Didn't you say you had an important meeting this afternoon? We really should be going."
"Ah—right, I nearly forgot." Ethan's father rose from his seat and moved toward the door. "Richard, we'll come another time."
"Of course, of course. I'll visit you personally in a few days," Richard replied, his tone strained.
Ethan's mother released Emily's arm and reached for her son.
"Ethan. Let's go."
Ethan shook his mother's hand off.
He turned to Emily instead, his gaze falling on the red print blooming across her cheek. Something shifted in his expression—something raw and pained.
"Emily." His voice lowered. "What's going on? Have you been struggling all this time? Tell me. I'll protect you, I promise."
Emily stilled.
That phrase—*I'll protect you*—had lived in the safest corner of her memory since childhood.
Ethan used to say that to her all the time.
Back then, she had relied on him more than she'd ever relied on her own father.
She pressed her lips together and gently moved his hand away.
Her eyes flicked to Roland's car parked just beyond the gate. Through the window, she could see Roland watching them with barely concealed surprise.
She used every last bit of her strength to step back.
"Ethan—she's already married!" Olivia's voice rang out, sharp and triumphant. "She married a vegetative man. For money."
Ethan's eyes widened. He turned to Emily immediately, searching her face.
"Emily—is that true?"
"Yes." Emily nodded.
And then, without meaning to, her eyes filled.
She turned away before the tears could fall.
"I have things to take care of. I'll go first."
She walked quickly to the car, pulled open the door, and sat down.
"Drive," she said quietly to Roland.
Roland said nothing. He started the engine, and the car disappeared around the corner of the road.
Emily pressed her hands together in her lap, fingers locked tight.
She didn't dare look in the rearview mirror.
She was afraid of what she might see.
Some doors, once closed, were better left that way.
Everything was already decided.
There was nothing left to look back for.