CHAPTER TWENTY ONEEmily's POVIt was the sunlight pouring from the window above me that jarred me to wakefulness. I groaned sleepily and turned over on the bed, but the sun had done its thing. I was fully awake now.Peeling my eyes open, I looked around. I was half-expecting Ethan to be somewhere close, his sea-blue eyes on me, watching me fiercely like a mother hen. However, the space beside me on the bed was cold and empty. I raised my head up, then glanced around. The rest of the room was empty too.I pushed the duvet away from me, sighing in near-sadness. This wasn't like me, to crave physical warmth or touch, especially from a man such as Ethan Brown. I might not know much about him, but from what I saw, Ethan was a man with a perfectly-carved hard emotional shell. He definitely won't be caught dead cuddling a woman on her bed, much less a woman like me.Funny thing was, I understood that to my core. I also wasn't a person to expose myself to the vulnerability of love or loving.

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.Emily's POV Immediately Ethan dashed out of the foyer, I followed closely behind him, ignoring the maid on the ground. I could hear Madame Doherty and the other maids gather around her, whispering words of comfort and solidarity to her. A small, humane part of me pulled me back towards the foyer, but I had more pressing questions.I needed to ask Ethan a lot of things. I needed to know.Ethan's back was stiff and rigid; I could see the tension in them even from this distance. He appeared to not notice that I was at his back, but when he got to the foot of the stairs, he stiffened, then halted.I stopped too, a few feet from where he stood. We stood in silence like that for a few seconds, before he spoke up. "You didn't have to stand up for her.""I have every right to." I snapped back immediately. Slowly he turned to face me. From this angle, his face looked drawn and tired. It was as though the incident that just happened had forced the last ounce of physical s

Emily's POVIt'd been one and a half months.One and a half months since Ethan had come up to my room last. One and a half months since he'd cradled me in his arms and told me I smelled good. One and a half months since I'd smelled him so close to me, since I'd felt his warm, sensual breath on my face, since he'd been inches away from kissing me.One and a half fucking months since Chloe had barged in on us!I couldn't decide what I'd felt more in that moment: shock or embarrassment. Or shame. Perhaps I'd felt a mixture of the three, and they were like a knot in the pit of my stomach, all tangled up and confusing.I'd looked into Chloe's eyes, and beyond the murderous mafia rage I'd seen in those twin pools of grey, I'd also seen true hurt. She had been pained at Ethan's act, maybe even a little heartbroken, though I doubted the Ice Princess had any heart left in her to be broken.And the thought that I'd pushed so far as to make a tough-as-nails woman like Chloe heartbroken, scared m

Ethan's POVI never saw Emily again after that scene in the dining room. If I was to be honest with myself, I'd avoided every sight of her, evading every single place in the house that I knew she would be.And the effort I took in staying away from her killed me.It was like slow torture, having to keep away from going to see her, but I needed to maintain it. I didn't want to look into those alluring eyes and see pity for me. I did not want her voice to break under the weight of her unshed tears. I did not want her to feel pain on my accountAnd what was more, I knew I wouldn't last five minutes in a room alone with her without pushing every rational thought aside and kissing her senseless.In one fit of rage, I'd lashed out at my mother, unleashing over two decades worth of pain and anger at her. I'd seen th careful facade slip from her eyes as I'd spoken, seen the regret behind her stoic look. I knew she was sorry for being so hard on me growing up, but she hadn't apologized. She ne

Emily pov: I couldn't believe this was happening, I had just survived a fall and I was lucky enough, my baby was still intact, now this? Chloe kept moving forward as I drew backwards in fear placing my hands on my belly. I was scared, I was scared of having to lose my child. "Please, don't come any closer" I begged. "Who do you think you are? Who the hell did you think you are?" Chloe said, clenching her fist angry."I am nobody, nobody, '' I said in tears, if saying this could save me and my baby, it was worth it."Ethan is only with you because of this thing you call a child. He's treating you well just because that's his first child , his blood. But without it, you are nothing but a lowly dirty bitch" she said glaring at me.Her words gave me goosebumps, her aim was to get rid of my child. I couldn't let this happen, I had to fight. She had a wicked smile on her face, looking very proud and sinister "What are you planning to do? Scream? You can scream all you want but I can assu