“We haven’t seen each other in five years, and the first thing you send me is a picture of a pregnancy test? In a text message?” Mary stared at Emery, her expression cold. “Have youpletely lost your mind?”


    “Grandma-”


    “Don’t you ‘Grandma’ me,” Mary snapped, taking a breath as she closed her eyes for a brief moment. “This isn’t a joke, Emery. This is your future we’re talking about. You don’t throw something like this out casually.”


    Emery pressed her lips together, saying nothing. Her grandmother had always been strict, but she also knew Mary cared deeply, even if it didn’t always show the right way.


    Mary stepped closer, eyes narrowing. “And don’t stand there and pretend this was some ident. I know you better than that. This has your fingerprints all over it.” She pointed toward the dining room. “So go ahead-tell me. Why are you trying to humiliate your father in front of his guests?”


    Emery pressed her lips together. “He’s been trying to marry me off since I was eighteen,” she said.


    Her grandparents had always known. They had fought with Adam about it more than once. It was one of the reasons her grandfather pushed her to go back to school. He framed it as wanting her to gain more qualifications, to better support the Be heir. But Emery had always understood the truth. He wanted her away from Adam. And the only way to do that was to keep her somewhere distant, buried in degrees and far from home.


    “I’m sorry…” Emery muttered.


    Seeing her like this, Mary let out a sigh. “Let’s not talk about it. You knew I would never allow you to marry someone you do not like.” Her grandmother made a deliberate pause. “That is why you don’t have to lie to me. I know that pregnancy is not real. I—” she let out another sigh. However, before she could say anything else, the door of the room opened.


    Adam rushed in, followed by James and Deana.


    “Mother, why did youe?” Adam asked. “What you did earlier-” Adam red at Emery. “And you, go back to your room, youngdy. I need to have a conversation with your grandmother!”


    Emery took a deep breath. She wanted to inform her grandmother that the pregnancy was real, but she wasn’t nning on doing it in front of Adam. “Fine,” she said. She didn’t wait for anyone’s response as she rushed out of her grandmother’s room and went to her own room. She knew that her father would start another fight with her grandmother, and being caught in the crossfire wouldn’t be too good for her child.


    Besides, she needed to prepare her clothes so she could leave with her grandmother tonight.


    This time, the maids outside her room were no longer there. She walked inside and locked the door. The moment she got in, a smirk appeared on her face. Her grandmother was right. This had been her scheme. She wanted her grandmother toe and save her. The only way to do that was to send her that pic of her pregnancy test. And she was right. At least, her gamble paid off.


    “Hm?” Emery froze. A shadow flickered at the edge of her vision. She spun around-


    And gasped.


    Someone was there.


    Her heart jumped to her throat.


    She staggered back, her heel catching the rug’s edge. The world tilted.


    Then-


    CRACK.


    She hit the floor hard, the impact knocking the air from her lungs.


    “What the-”


    “No wonder you’re hiding from the father of your child,” a voice said. “Turns out your family is just as messy as mine.”


    Her eyes widened. She whipped her head toward the window. It was closed-locked from the inside. She scrambled backward on the floor, her heart pounding in her ears, until her gazended on him.


    Logan.


    He was standing near the window, his brown eyes watching her without flinching. He wasn’t even trying to hide the fact that he was here. One hand still in his coat pocket, the other extended toward her.


    She looked at the hand, then at him.


    “How did you get in here?” she asked, voice unsteady. What the heck was this man doing here?


    Logan tilted his head slightly. “That’s what you want to know first?”


    “Yes!” Emery pushed herself up a little but didn’t take his hand. “The window’s locked. The door was shut. No one came in- how did you-” she paused, her eyes narrowing. “You climbed up, didn’t you? How did you avoid the guards?”


    “You’re not scared?” he asked. Logan didn’t deny it. Instead, he moved closer and crouched down in front of her, resting his elbow on one knee. “You text your grandmother a photo of a pregnancy test, get half your household in chaos, and disappear from every one of my trackers. And then you ask me how I got in?”


    Emery opened her mouth, then closed it. What is this man doing? She swallowed. “What-what are you doing? Why should I be… scared?” she asked. The fear actually hit herst. When she saw him, she didn’t feel anything aside from being curious. Yet now, she just realized that this man… actually knew where she was! He even mentioned trackers.


    The realization made her eyes widen. Was he some sort of criminal? Was he here to— Her hand instinctively went to her stomach as if she were trying to hide it from the man before her.


    “What do you think?” he asked.


    When Emery said nothing, Logan smirked, and then in one swift motion, he leaned forward and scooped her up from the floor. Her eyes widened, and she shoved at his chest.


    “Put me down!”


    “Stop moving,” he said. “You’ll hurt the baby.”


    That shut her up fast. Her hands froze against him, her body tensing. Logan didn’t say anything else. He walked to the bed and lowered her onto the mattress, careful and deliberate, as if she’d break like a fragile doll.


    That didn’t sit well with her but she chose not to move, scared that if might hurt her child.


    Emery blinked, still processing what had just happened. He lingered a second too long before standing up, and the moment he stepped back, she pushed herself upright and sat on the edge of the bed.


    “What are you doing here?” she asked. “How did you even know I was here? And this-this is trespassing. I could call the cops.”


    Campter 24


    10 vouchers


    Logan didn’t react. He walked over to the chair across from her bed, sat down, and crossed one leg over the other like he had all the time in the world.


    “And tell them what?” he asked. “That the father of your childe to see you?”


    Emery clenched her jaw. That smirk on his face-she hated it.