Chapter 111

[ 938 words ]

Emilia’s POV

His face was dark and serious. “Leighton is sick. He’s been asking for you. What are you going to do about it?”

Leighton was a good kid. But being pushed like this, over and over, I just felt tired.

“Have you taken him to see a doctor?”

“Yes. It’s useless. The doctor said it’s a mental issue. Can’t be cured with medicine.”

“I’ll visit him this weekend.”

“Visit?” Richie’s voice turned hard. “You’re just going to visit? You don’t plan to stay?”

“Things here aren’t settled yet. Once they are…”

“I’m giving you ten days to settle them.” His tone was like steel. “My patience is wearing thin. This is the final deadline. Don’t blame me for being heartless after that.”

Ten days.

Linda had given me seven.

Two different deadlines, two different threats, both closing in on me like walls in a shrinking room.

I wanted to scream. To tell him to go to hell, to tell Linda to shove her recording pen where the sun doesn’t shine. But I swallowed it all down.

“Fine,” I said quietly. “You can go now.”

I turned and walked away before he could say anything else.

My mind was spinning, trying to figure out a plan, trying to find some way out of this mess.

It was all pressing down on me, suffocating.

I walked straight into someone.

The impact was solid, jarring. Strong hands caught my shoulders, steadying me before I could stumble backward.

I looked up.

Sebastian.

The moonlight lit up his face. His green eyes were dark as they looked at me, focused and intense. For a moment, time seemed to slow. His jaw clenched slightly. A strand of black hair had fallen across his forehead. And that familiar scent of cedar and mint washed over me, calming me even when everything else felt like it was falling apart.

“Why haven’t you gone inside yet?” I asked, flustered.

His gaze shifted past me, toward the gate where Richie’s figure was disappearing into the night. “Was your relative here to borrow money again?”

“Yes.”

I couldn’t quite meet his eyes.

“Where is he from?” Sebastian asked. “Henry Taylor isn’t wealthy, but he doesn’t have relatives this desperate, does he?”

“He’s from my mother’s side.”

“Ah.” He nodded slowly, his expression hard to read. “Then why don’t you just lend it to him?”

“He’s a gambler. He won’t pay it back.”

“It must be annoying, having him show up all the time. Just lend it to him next time so he’ll leave you alone.”

“When there’s a first time, there’s a second. It’ll never stop.”

“True.” Sebastian paused. “If he comes again, let me handle it. You don’t have to deal with him yourself.”

I took a shaky breath. “No. I can handle it.”

But could I? Could I really handle any of this?

I barely slept that night.

Seven days. Ten days. What difference did it make when I had no solution?

Around two in the morning, I gave up on sleep entirely. I got out of bed, pulled on a robe, and knocked on Sebastian’s door.

“Come in.” His voice was muffled through the door.

I pushed it open. Sebastian was sitting up in bed.

He looked up when I entered, and his expression shifted to worry.

“Emilia? What’s wrong?”

For a moment, I just stood there, words stuck in my throat. Then I crossed the room and sat on the edge of his bed.

He studied me carefully, then patted the space beside him. “Sit. Talk to me.”

I sat, my hands twisting together in my lap. My heart was racing.

“Can you really never like me?”

This was pathetic. I was being pathetic. I’d walked away from Brandon the second I found out about his betrayal, never looked back. I’d never begged anyone to love me.

But this was different. This was Sebastian.

Sebastian went completely still.

His eyes met mine, and for just a second, I saw something raw flash across his face. Pain. Deep, aching pain that made my chest hurt.

His jaw clenched. He opened his mouth as if to speak, then closed it again.

The silence stretched between us, heavy and suffocating.

His eyebrows came together, like he was in pain. His green eyes darkened, and I could have sworn I saw them get watery for just a moment before he looked away.

And in that silence, I understood.

If he could love me… if he could just say yes, if he could choose me without hesitation… I wouldn’t be afraid of Linda or Richie or anyone else. I’d face them all, fight them all, burn every bridge if it meant staying by his side.

But Sebastian’s pained expression told me everything I needed to know.

He couldn’t give me that.

I smiled bitterly and stood up. “Forget it. If it’s that hard to answer, don’t. Pretend I never asked.”

“Emilia…”

“It’s fine.” I cut him off gently, heading toward the door. “Really. It’s fine.”

I closed the door behind me before he could say anything else.

The moment I was back in my room, alone in the darkness, the tears came.

I pressed my hand over my mouth to muffle the sound, sliding down against the door until I was sitting on the floor.

If my mother could see me now, she’d be so disappointed. She’d taught me to be strong, to never beg for scraps of affection from anyone. And here I was, crying over a man who couldn’t or wouldn’t love me back.

I was falling apart, and I had no idea how to stop it.

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