Emma’s POV“Where are you going to, Emma?” Liam asked me as I walked down the stairs, letting out a deep breath, as he eyed the duffel bag I had slung over my left shoulder.“Away from here,” I answered him, simply, as I walked over to the front door, not before grabbing my keys from the dining table.“Omg, Emma are you leaving because of me?” Anna chirped up from behind Liam in the fakest sad voice I’d ever heard from the mouth of a female.“If you believe so, then yeah,” I said, turning back to face her and Liam.“You really don’t have to go, Emma. Anna is sorry, and I’ve offered to buy you food, so please stay,” Liam said.I scoffed.“You know, it’s funny how you keep saying that Anna is sorry and Anna feels bad and whatnot, yet I haven’t managed to hear the words ‘I’m sorry’ from Anna herself. It’s quite funny, isn’t it?” I let out a laugh as I tilted my head to the side, looking between both of them.All of a sudden, it was as though Anna was mute. Actually, it was as though both
Emma’s POV“Good morning, sweetie,” my mum greeted me as she slowly opened my bedroom door.“Morning, mum,” I smiled, softly. “Come in,” I said, gesturing for her to come over to the bed.“You look well. At least you look better than your father described last night,” she said as she laid next to me on the bed.“He told you I looked like shit, huh?” I laughed. “I’m not shocked. I know I did,” I shrugged my shoulders. “But yeah, I’m feeling much better this morning”.“That’s good. No work today?”“There is, but I just called in sick. I needed the day off,” I said.“I completely understand”.“Mhm. Where’s dad? Gone to work?” I asked.“Yeah. He left earlier today because he had somewhere to be before going into the office, so you were most likely still asleep at that time”.“Okay,” I nodded. “So how are you? Dad mentioned you were down with the flu yesterday. Are you feeling better?” I asked, placing the back of my palm on her forehead to check her temperature. “You feel a bit warm,” I s
Liam’s POVIt’s been three days since Emma was home, meaning it’s been three days since I last saw and spoke to her. Today’s Monday, though, and it’s the start of a fresh week, so she was bound to come back home today. At least I hoped she would. “Morning, babe,” Anna chirped up from behind me. It was around 7:30 a.m. and I was getting ready for work when she walked into the bathroom where I was brushing my teeth. “How did you sleep?” she asked as she snaked her arms around my waist from behind. “Short,” I responded as I spat out the toothpaste from my mouth. “Short?” she repeated, but in the form of a question. “Mhm”. “You couldn’t sleep?” “Nope”. “Is something the matter? Did I do something wrong?” she asked, pouting, as she unwrapped her arms from me. “Nothing at all,” I answered, then rinsed off my mouth and dried it with a towel. “You didn’t you anything,” I continued as I turned to face her. “I just had a lot on my mind that didn’t allow me to fall asleep early enough
Liam’s POV“Good morning,” Emma mumbled as she stepped out of her room.I had been standing by my doorway for a while trying to respond to some messages before eventually heading back into my room when Emma stepped out of hers. She had clearly just woken up and, judging from the raspiness of her voice, I had assumed she was going down to get some water to drink or something. From the look on her face, it was quite obvious she had forced that greeting out of her mouth. Like she only did it because of how close we were standing to each other, and she didn’t want to seem rude or something. “Good morning, Emma,” I greeted her back as I turned off my phone. “Hm,” she said, then made her way to leave, but I stopped her. I stretched out my hand to block her path and she stopped just a few inches from my hand. It was almost as if she made sure to avoid the hand just in time so she wouldn’t have to touch me. “Please wait,” I pleaded. She looked at me, then looked back at my hand, then lo
Emma’s POV“What do you mean I’m getting married, dad?” I question my dad, tears running down my face fast and hard. I haven’t ugly cried like this in years but right now, I didn’t care how ugly I looked. All I cared to understand was what my dad meant by I was to get married in two months.“I realize how sudden and unexpected this news comes, sweetie, but it’s what needs to be done,” he replies me, taking gentle strides towards me.I step back. Usually I like the comfort of being in my father’s arms, but not today. Maybe not ever again. Not with what he’s saying to me right now. “This is so unfair!” I shriek really loudly as I begin to pace round the living room where my mum, dad and I stood as they broke the news to me.At this point I was livid. I don’t think I’d ever been this angry before in my life, and especially towards my parents, but today I was. I was upset, confused, and especially furious at them.“How could you let this happen, mum?” I stopped pacing and faced my mum wit
Emma’s POVIt was him. Liam Henderson. My soon-to-be husband.He was the one on the other end of the phone call.“Hello, Liam,” I said in a sharp voice to show my distaste for the fact he just called me ‘love’. Usually, I like pet names. But him calling me ‘love’ in this instance irritated me to my core.“What do you want?” I asked. At this point, my parents had stepped out of the living room to give me some privacy to talk to him.“Is that any way to talk to your future husband, Emma?” He asked with such a deep, dominant voice that made my body tingle for a second.“Anyway,” he continued without giving me a chance to answer his question. “I want you to come to my office tomorrow. We have things to discuss concerning this marriage.”I was shocked. I was taken aback.There was no way he just spoke to me like that. Who does this man think he is?“I have things to do tomorrow. I can’t make it,” I replied sassily, making sure he was able to sense the attitude I was trying to pass across.
Liam’s POVIt’s been a few weeks since my dad mentioned that I had to get married to Emma Livingston.I was honestly fine with the idea of getting married, it’s not like it was going to stop me from doing the things I do on a regular. I just had to be more careful.What I didn’t understand was why my father thought it necessary to use this marriage as a debt collection method. It was crazy.“Dad, this marriage is unnecessary. He owes us money. He should pay,” I said to my father with my arms folded across my chest, sitting across from him in his home office.“We don’t need that money. You, on the other hand, need a wife. You’re beginning to attract a lot of public attention and it’s not positive. You know this and it needs to be fixed. I won’t allow your terrible public image to become an actual threat to this business,” he says pointedly.One thing about my father is that he’s always going to look out for the company first. It’s how he’s always been. He grew up poor and struggled to
Emma’s POVThe words sounded so venomous to me. Like they were filled with hate and spite.Is this man okay? I thought to myself, trying to comprehend why he was having such an attitude with me. We’ve never spoken before for Christ’s sake. So why on earth was he talking to me like we were fighting? Like I was a slave and he’s my master.There wasn’t anything that didn’t go through my head for the next couple of seconds as I tried to gather words to explain why I was late.Yes, I acknowledged the fact that I was late. But he should have acknowledged and appreciated the fact that I showed up.“Sit down,” he gestures towards the chair I was sitting on before for me to take a seat again.He walks past me to take a seat opposite me and watches me as I sit down. I don’t look at him, but I feel his eyes on me, watching my every move.“Hello, Liam,” I say to him, finally meeting his eyes. Of course, his gaze was already fixated on me.“Hello, Emma. You look lovely today,” he replied to me wit