Andrew Pov:

I hadn’t seen Emilie in over a year.

Not since the night she disappeared without warning, leaving nothing but an aching silence in her place. I told myself I’d moved on. Buried the memories. Convinced myself that she didn’t matter.

I was wrong.

I was fucking wrong.

I never moved on. Emilie is a part of me that I can't let go. It's like she took a piece of me, cause no matter what I did or do, she's always on my mind.

But still I lied to myself that I didn't need her. That she and I won't be together.

And then, once more, I was wrong.

Because today, I saw her again.

She was the first person I saw as I walked into the house.

The glass in her hand trembled slightly. Her eyes widened—not in happiness or even anger. Just shock. Like she’d seen a ghost. Or maybe she had hoped never to see me again.

“What the hell…” I whispered, the words barely audible.

She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. No excuses. No fake smiles. No welcome home. Nothing.

The weight of disbelief settled on my chest like a brick. “What are you doing here?”

"I see you guys have met." Said Irina, as she walked downstairs.

"Andrew" she called out calmly.

"Emilie here, is your father's property." Irina said

"How? What do you mean by property?" To Emilie. " I thought you… were gone. I thought that something happened to you…. What did Irina mean by property?"

"Your father's wife." Irina added.

I turned to Emilie, fury replacing the confusion. “You married him? You. Married. Milo?”

She met my gaze for the first time. “It wasn’t about love, Andrew. It was…..”

“Don’t.” My voice turned to ice. “Don’t even try to explain it.” I laughed hysterically.

My first love, the only girl I've ever loved, my ex girlfriend and the one girl I can't seem to get off my mind is now married to my father?

This…. This I never imagined.

“I had no choice.”

“Bred! Bred, Émi! (Bullshit! Bullshit Emi!). You fucking had a choice. What stopped you from running to me? What stopped you from asking me for help. You …. You chose to run to my father.”

I took a step closer and she stepped back, her hand reaching for the wall like she needed something to lean on.

“You think I don’t know who he is? What he does?” I hissed. “You think marrying him was your only option?”

“It was the only way to save my father.”

I stared at her.

She continued, quieter now. “He was going to lose everything, Andrew. They would’ve ruined him. Killed him, maybe. I made a deal with Milo Petrov. He has the power you don't have. He was my only option”

I scoffed. “Of all people, him?”

“I didn’t have time to think. I just... I did what I had to do.”

“And slept in his bed.”

Her eyes flared. “I never said that.”

“Oh, so you sleep in separate rooms? Does that make it better?”

Her silence was answer enough.

She flinched. “You think I wanted this?”

“I think you let it happen.”

Her jaw clenched. “You have no idea what I’ve been through.”

“Then explain it to me!” I snapped. “Explain why the woman I trusted, who said she loved me, vanished only to show up as my father’s fucking possession.”

The silence between us felt like a blade.

Her eyes filled, but she didn’t let the tears fall.

“I didn’t come here to hurt you,” she said, voice barely audible. “But I won’t apologize for surviving.”

“Is that what you call this?” I spat. “Survival?”

She took a shaky breath, then stepped toward me.

“I’m not the same girl you knew,” she said. “And you’re not the boy who kissed me behind the cathedral and promised me a future. We don’t belong to each other anymore.”

I shook my head, heart pounding. “Don’t say that.”

“It’s true.”

“I don’t believe you,” I whispered.

She looked away.

Irina stepped between us, her voice stern for once. “That’s enough. This isn’t helping anyone.”

I turned away, clenching my fists. My heart thundered in my chest, part rage, part heartbreak.

“I left to build something,” I muttered. “To make a name outside of this family. And I come back to this?”

“You didn’t write,” Emilie said, barely audible. “Not once. You vanished too.”

I turned back to her. “There was no way to reach you. Is that what gave you the right to marry him?”

“You weren’t coming back.”

“You didn’t wait long to assume that.”

Her throat bobbed. “It was six months.”

“I would’ve come back. For you.”

The words left me before I could stop them. Emilie flinched. Irina’s eyes widened.

"I'm out of here." Irina said as she went back upstairs.

Silence again.

I ran a hand through my hair, suddenly too exhausted to stay in the same room. “Where is he?”

“Out,” Emi said softly. “He’ll be back late.”

I nodded slowly.

“Good,” I muttered. “Let him find me here. You still love me. Right?"

"I…. I" She couldn't find the right word to utter

"Don’t stand there and tell me you feel nothing.”

Her eyes snapped to mine, full of unspoken pain. “What I feel doesn’t matter anymore.”

“Yes, it does,” I said, stepping closer. “Because I still see you, Emilie. Even under the lies and dresses. I see the girl who used to laugh at my stupid jokes and sneak me pastries from the kitchen.”

“I’m not her anymore,” she whispered.

“Then tell me you don’t love me,” I challenged. “Look me in the eye and say it.”

Her lips parted, but no words came.

Instead, she turned away.

That was answer enough.

As I walked away from that balcony, something inside me cracked open.

It wasn’t just jealousy. It was betrayal. It was fury.

And beneath it all, it was heartbreak.

Because deep down, I knew I’d just lost the only person I ever truly loved.

And worse?

She hadn’t been stolen.

She had chosen to stay.

And without another word, I turned and walked toward my old room, every step heavier than the last.