“You are having too much fun.” Emery said without looking at Logan.
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They were back in the car, windows tinted, the city blurring outside. Logan hadn’t said much since they left. the hospital, but she could feel his amusement lingering–silent but heavy. She could also feel his eyes on her.
The amusement faded quickly.
“What is it?” she asked without turning.
His tone shifted. “Why does it bother you? Seeing him like that.”
She nced at him from the corner of her eye. His expression had changed. His posture hadn’t, but the air inside the car thickened. He was watching her too closely now.
“It doesn’t,” Emery replied tly.
Logan tilted his head slightly, eyes narrowing. “You answered that fast.”
“Because it’s true.”
“You felt nothing? No anger? No sadness?”
She looked out the window instead. The city lights were starting to blur. Her hand pressed against her stomach without thinking. What was she supposed to feel? Samuel begging, Talia losing control–none of it had moved her.
She thought back on their years together. All that time, all that effort. All wasted. Betrayed for a merger. For a family name.
If anything, she felt tired. Not the kind of tired that sleep could fix–but the kind that came from carrying too much for <i>too </i>long. Being betrayed after years of loyalty didn’t just hurt–it drained you. It made every memory feel like a mistake and every sacrifice felt wasted. She kept turning over the same questions in her head.
What if I hadn’t stayed so long?
What if I’d told him who I really was from the beginning?
Would it have changed anything?
Would he still have chosen someone else?
But none of it mattered now. The damage was already done.
Logan didn’t give her long to reflect. He leaned closer. His fingers brushed her chin and tilted her head back toward him.
She frowned. “What are you doing?”
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“You signed the contract,” he said. “You’re my wife now. It would be better if you stop thinking about other men.”
“I’m not,” Emery said. “Samuel is nothing to me.”
“You didn’t answer me earlier,” he said. “Did seeing him hurt you?”
Her eyes narrowed slightly. “Would it matter if it did? Would it matter if it didn’t?”
Logan didn’t move back. His hand stayed on her jaw, firm but not forceful. The space between them was gone now. His eyes were gold in the dark interior of the car–rich, steady, unreadable.
Emery’s heart beat louder in her ears.
She remembered the contract. Every use. Every detail.
This marriage was for their child. That was clear. But it came with expectations–y the role, ept the care, be his wife in the eyes of everyone else. She had agreed to let him protect her, to act the part, to be treated like she belonged to him.
But that didn’t mean she belonged.
The child was theirs. Everything else was negotiable.
Except for one thing–she wasn’t a surrogate. This was her child. She was the mother, and she had imed that role without hesitation.
Emery leaned closer. The air shifted again.
Their lips were inches apart now.
“I feel nothing, Mr. Hayes. But it made me curious…” she said, eyes on his. “Are you curious? Or just being nosy?”
Logan didn’t blink. His hand still cradled her jaw.
Neither of them moved.
And Emery didn’t look away.
“You are the mother of my child. Of course, I am curious about you.”
Emery didn’t blink. Her breath had stilled, and so had his. But then Logan finally spoke, his voice low and
close.
“The child feels everything the mother feels,” he said. “Hormones. Cortisol. Emotional spikes. It all affects development. Stress, fear–those things aren’t just in your head. They pass through the body. Through you. Into the baby.”
Emery raised a brow. “Thanks for the biology lecture.”
“I’m serious.”
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“I am, too,” she said, shrugging off his hand and leaning back into her seat. “I’m barely two months along. That thing in there is just a dot.”
Logan didn’t flinch. “A special dot is still a special dot.”
She stared at him.
He didn’t borate. Just sat back, adjusting the cuff of his sleeve like he’d made a perfectly rational point.
“You can’t be serious,” she muttered.
He shrugged once, unbothered. “It’s already yours. That makes it mine too. And that makes it important. Dot
or not.”
Emery rolled her eyes and turned her head toward the window again, but the corner of her mouth twitched- just barely. She hated how he said things like that. With so much certainty, like he wasn’t making it up as he
went.
Still, the words hung in the air. Heavy. Personal.
Her hand moved again to her stomach. She hadn’t even realized how often she did that now–reflex like her body already knew she wasn’t alone.
“Are you always going to be this dramatic?” she asked.
Logan tilted his head slightly. “Only when I’m right.”
She didn’t answer this time. Mostly because she couldn’t.
Emery heard Logan chuckle softly, the low sound vibrating between them. She was about to respond when the world shifted.
The tires squealed–loud, sharp, unnned. Metal groaned, and something mmed into the side of the car.
The impact threw her to the left, but she didn’t go far. Logan’s arm had already wrapped around her, yanking her toward him as the vehicle jolted violently. The seatbelt dug into her shoulder, but she barely felt it.
Her bag flew off herp and hit the dashboard. A burst of crushed receipts and her phone skidded under the
seat.
The car shuddered once more beforeing to a harsh stop. Emery’s ears rang, and her hands flew to her stomach instinctively.
“What-“Her voice cracked. “What was that?”
Logan had one arm still locked around her. His free hand was already pressing a button on the console, lowering the tinted window a few inches. The air that rushed in was filled with the sharp scent of rubber and something burning.
“Stay still,” he said as he gently released her. “Don’t move.”
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“I’m fine,” she said quickly, brushing her hair away from her face. Her heart pounded against her chest. “Just tell me what happened.”
The driver’s door opened. Logan stepped out without answering.
Emery sat up straighter and nced toward the street through the now–unobstructed window. A silver sedan had crashed into their left rear side. Its front end was crumpled, smoke rising from the hood. The other driver hadn’t moved yet. Someone across the street shouted.
A horn kept ring in the distance.
Logan stood by the impact zone, examining the damage with narrowed eyes. His hand was already pulling his phone from his coat.
“Are we being followed?” she asked.
He didn’t answer. He tapped his screen, eyes sharp as he scanned the street.
Emery forced herself to stay seated. Her chest rose and fell too fast. She looked down at her stomach, then ran a hand along the seatbelt mark across her side. No pain. No bleeding. No dizziness.
“Emery,” Logan called, not taking his eyes off the street. “Are you hurt anywhere?”
“No,” she answered, louder this time. “I’m okay. Just shaken.”
Another voice joined them–one of Logan’s men, possibly the one who had been driving the car ahead. He was already speaking into an earpiece and circling the crash site.
Logan said something she couldn’t hear, then looked back at her through the open door.
“Get out. We’re switching cars.”
She nodded. No argument. Her legs felt tight as she climbed out, and the cool air pped against her cheeks.
But Logan didn’t let her stand alone. His hand found the small of her back, guiding her quickly toward another ck SUV that had stopped behind theirs. The door was already open.
“Do you think it was intentional?” she asked, still ncing back at the damaged car.
“Probably,” he said. “But we’ll find out soon.”
Emery stepped into the new car, her mind still catching up. Her pulse hadn’t returned to normal. The baby.
She ced a hand on her stomach again.
Logan slid in after her. The new driver already had the vehicle in motion before the door was fully closed.
Neither of them said anything for a moment.
Then Logan spoke, his voice low and even.
“We’re tightening security.”
Emery stared ahead, her fingers tightening slightly over the edge of her seat.
“What’s going on?” she asked, but Logan didn’t answer.
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He was already dialing someone. His phone was pressed to his ear, his other hand casually resting on the center console. Outside, the city blurred past, the vehicle moving faster now. The engine hummed lower, heavier.
Emery watched Logan. His jaw had tensed again. She could hear someone speaking on the other end of the line, though she couldn’t make out what.
Then the driver spoke.
“We’ve got a tail. ck van, two cars back. No tes.”
Emery twisted slightly in her seat, just enough to nce behind them. The vehicle in question was there. in. Unmarked. But the way it kept a perfect distance, not too close, not too far–it was obvious.
Logan didn’t react much. He only muttered, “Lose them.”
The driver nodded once and changednes.
<i>The </i>vehicle jerked left, speed picking up. Horns red behind them. Emery didn’t flinch.
“Don’t panic,” Logan said to her, his voice even.
She turned her head toward him, brows lifting slightly. “Do I look like I’m panicking?”
Logan didn’t answer right away. He looked at her for a long second, then leaned in and clicked her seatbelt tighter. After that, he slipped his arm around her and pulled her closer to his side.
“Then tell me what this is,” Emery said. “If you’re not with the mafia or the Russians, what exactly are we doing right now<i>?</i>”
Logan didn’t blink. “Nothing illegal. But some people don’t like powerful strangers in their city.”
“Powerful strangers,” she repeated, eyeing him. “That’s how you define yourself now?”
“It’s urate.”
The SUV swerved again. Emery held the door handle with one hand and steadied herself with the other across her stomach.
The driver took a sharp right. Another vehicle cut them off for a second but then braked hard and pulled aside, likely one of Logan’s men. Emery couldn’t be sure.
Her breathing stayed even. She had never been in a car chase before. This didn’t feel like something a hotel
CEO dealt with.
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“You said you run a hospitality empire,” she said, her voice dry. “Do your resortse with armed escorts too?”
Logan let out a breath. Not quite a sigh. “They do now.”
The driver nced into the rearview mirror. “Still on us. They’re not backing off.”
Logan tapped another button on his phone and muttered something into it. Emery didn’t understand thenguage. It wasn’t English.
“Who are you calling?”
“Backup,” Logan said.
She looked at him again. “This isn’t normal.”
“Neither are you,” he said.
She blinked. “Excuse me?”
“You’re sitting in the middle of a high–speed pursuit, pregnant, calm, and still arguing. You think I’m the only one who’s abnormal here?”
Emery opened her mouth, closed it, and then looked back out the window. He wasn’t wrong.
The SUV made another sharp turn, then veered into a side alley that opened toward a less crowded avenue. Tires screeched, but their driver kept control.
The ck van didn’t follow.
Logan held her tighter. “We’ll be out of this in five minutes. Stay alert.”
She nodded once, still watching the mirror.
Emery didn’t ask any more questions. Not yet.
But she would. As soon as this car stopped, she wanted answers. All of them.
曲
AD
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