Marcus's POV Cont'd

She was crying harder now, and her whole body was shaking. "Don't. Don't make this into something it's not."

"What if it already is something more?"

"It can't be. You're his brother. You lied to me about everything. You used me like I was nothing."

"I'm protecting you. I swear I am."

"From what, exactly? The truth?" She laughed, but it sounded bitter and broken. "Too late for that. I already know the truth."

"From them. From Ryan and Sophia and my father and everyone else who wants to break you down into nothing." I finally reached out and touched her, just my fingers on her cheek, catching the tears that kept falling. "I know what they do to people like us. People who feel too much and trust too easily."

"You don't feel anything at all. You're exactly like them. Cold and cruel."

"You're right. I was like that." I cupped her face in both of my hands. "Until you came into my life and changed everything."

"Marcus, this isn't—"

"That kiss wasn't fake. The way I feel when you smile isn't fake. This isn't fake." I kissed her then, not because I was trying to show her off or get revenge on Ryan, just because I needed to. She tasted like champagne and tears and everything I'd been missing for ten years.

For one moment, she kissed me back. Her hands grabbed my shirt and pulled me closer. Then she suddenly shoved me away with both hands.

"No. I can't do this. Not with Ryan's brother. Not with someone who lies as easily as he breathes."

"Emma, please listen to me—"

"Take me home. To my own home. I'll find a hotel."

"You're staying at the penthouse. That was the deal."

"The deal's off, Marcus. I'm done being your pawn in whatever game you're playing."

"You were never a pawn. I would never do that to you."

"Wasn't I, though?" She wrapped her arms around herself like she was cold. "You needed someone to hurt Ryan with. I was convenient. I was available. I was already broken."

"You're not broken."

"I am now." She looked directly into my eyes, and I watched the walls start to go up. The same walls I'd built around myself ten years ago when my family destroyed me. "Congratulations. You're exactly like your family after all."

The words hit me like physical blows. I wanted to argue with her and make her understand that I wasn't like them. But maybe she was right. Maybe I was exactly what my father had made me into. Cold and empty inside. Calculating in everything I did. Incapable of real love without causing destruction.

"I'll have James take you wherever you want to go," I said very quietly.

"I'll find my own cab. I don't need your help."

"Emma—"

"We're done, Marcus. Whatever this was between us, it's over now."

She walked past me, and this time I let her go without trying to stop her. But I followed at a distance, making sure she got safely into a cab on the street. Making sure Ryan or Sophia didn't somehow find her before she got away.

My phone buzzed a few minutes later. It was James: "Sir? Ms. Chen just checked into the Fairmont Hotel. Used the card you gave her."

"Make sure she's in the penthouse suite. Give her whatever she needs. Money, food, anything at all."

"And what about tomorrow, sir?"

Tomorrow, Ryan would walk into his office and find out that his entire world was ending. Tomorrow, the board would learn about his embezzlement. Tomorrow, everything would burn down like I'd planned. But tonight, I stood alone in a garden where Emma had cried because of something I'd done, and I wondered if destroying Ryan was worth losing the only good thing that had walked into my life in ten years.

My phone rang suddenly. The number was unknown, but I answered anyway.

"Hello, brother," Ryan's slurred voice came through the speaker. He was clearly drunk. "Heard you're back in town. Heard you're fucking my wife."

"Your ex-wife. And what Emma and I do is none of your business anymore."

"Everything about Emma is my business. She's my wife."

"Not anymore. Sign the divorce papers and walk away while you still can."

"Or what? You'll steal another company? Take another woman?" He laughed. "You already took everything ten years ago."

"I took nothing. You and Father stole my life."

"We saved you from yourself. You were getting too big, too proud. Someone needed to teach you humility."

"Is that what you call it?"

"That's what Father calls it." His voice dropped. "You know what I call it? Justice. You always had everything. Mom loved you more. You were smarter, stronger, better at everything. So yeah, I helped Father take you down. And I'd do it again."

"Except this time, I'm taking you down."

"You can try. But Emma will never choose you when she knows the truth."

"What truth?"

"That you're the reason her father died."

The world stopped. "What are you talking about?"

"Chen Industries. The hostile takeover eight years ago. The one that bankrupted David Chen and gave him a heart attack?" Ryan's laugh was ugly. "That was your company. Different name, same tactics."

No. That wasn't possible. I'd researched Emma's background, but not that far back. Not before her marriage.

"You're lying."

"Google it. Chen Industries versus Apex Acquisitions. Your shell company." He was enjoying this. "Emma doesn't know, does she? That the man playing her savior is the same man who destroyed her father?"

I hung up. Pulled out my phone. Searched.

And there it was. Chen Industries. David Chen. Hostile takeover by Apex Acquisitions, one of my first shell companies. The old man had fought hard but lost everything. Dead of a heart attack two months later, leaving his daughter with nothing but debt.

Leaving Emma with nothing.

I'd destroyed her father. Led to his death. Created the vulnerability that let Ryan prey on her in the first place.

The phone slipped from my numb fingers.

Emma was right. I was exactly like my family. I destroyed everything I touched.

Even her.

Especially her.