Chapter 66

Of course. Of course, he was with Grace. He told her he needed to be alone. But it was so he could be with Grace. Why did she let this continue to happen to her?

​ “Emma, you just say the word and I will end him,” Sabrina continued. “Girl, I swear to God, I will end him so hard that no one will even know he existed.”

​ “I may take you up on that. Let me call you back.”

​ “I’ll be here,” Sabrina promised and hung up. Emma sank into the couch and let her head fall into her hands. She grabbed one of the cushions and screamed into it.

​ “I am such an idiot!” she yelled into it. Rage, betrayal, and jealousy churned within the pit of her stomach making her feel sick. He could have told her that he wanted to see Grace. Why did he have to lie? Now she looked like to stupid pathetic wife of a rich playboy who was getting cheated on. If he had just told her the truth, she wouldn’t feel so bad.

​ “Oh, stop lying to yourself,” she yelled at her herself, and hurled the pillow across the room. Even if she was his fake wife, who would want to see their husband seeking comfort from an ex? They looked so intimate in the photo, and it made Emma’s blood boil.

​ “I should call him. I should call him right now and cuss him out!” She jumped off the couch, her body jittery with fury. But what grounds did she even have to be angry on? They weren’t married for love, and they weren’t even friends. What loyalty did they have to each other? Conrad was gone. His passing was so fresh and raw on their nerves. They should be grieving him together, and he couldn’t even give her that.

​ It never failed. They would always be stuck in their dance. One step forward, ten steps back.

​ While Emma raged at the apartment, Will ignored a fourth call from Alex. The phone buzzed a fifth time and Will read a text message from Alex. “Answer me. 911,” the message read. Will rolled his eyes and called his friend back.

​ “Dude, I’ve been calling you! There is a photo of you and Grace hugging all over social media right now!”

​ “What?” Will was shocked. Grace could hear the caller and smiled at the statement.

​ “Yeah. I tried to stop her, but Sabrina called Emma. You better get home. Now.”

​ “Did you call him?” a woman’s voice screamed in the background. “Alex, I swear that better not be Will on the phone!”

​ “Shit, I’ve got to go,” Alex said. “You better handle this.” Alex hung up.

​ “Fuck,” Will swore, thinking of how angry Emma must be. He had to get home to her. He ran towards the cars.

​ “Will, wait!” Grace called behind him. Will turned around, stunned to find that he had forgotten Grace was with him. Not that long ago, Grace was the only person that mattered to him, even after she’d broken his heart. Now, someone else mattered more. Someone he never seemed to be able to get it right with.

​ “Right,” he acknowledged her. “Come on.” Will guided her to his driver and instead him to take her back to her hotel. He took one of the many cars at the home, as they were all his now. Grace tried to speak to him before he ran off, but he moved too fast. He didn’t even look back at her. He raced home, only to find that she was no where to be found.

​ “Fuck!” he yelled when he couldn’t find her. He called her over and over again. The phone would ring once, and then go to voicemail. She was purposely rejecting his calls. He ran back out to the car. Where could she could she have gone? Alex would have called him if Emma had called Sabrina to go somewhere. Maybe she went to the university? Or to her father at the hospital. The worse possibility is that she went to see Spencer. Will refused to even entertain that idea.

​ His heart raced. Every call that was rejected drove another icicle into his chest. He made a call to his security company.

​ “Yes sir,” the manager answered. “What did you need?”

​ “My wife is missing. I need you to find her. Find her and bring her home!”

​ “Yes sir!” he hung up and Will continued to try calling Emma. After the hundredth call, Emma finally answered.

​ “What?” she snapped.

​ “Where the fuck have you been?” Will’s worry manifested as anger, and he was harsher than he intended. “I’ve been calling you! I have security out looking for you! Come home!”

​ “Where did you go after the funeral, Will?” her voice was deadly calm. “Hmm? Where did you go, when you told me you needed to be alone? You lied to me, and snuck off to go be with Grace. Everything makes so much sense now. You want me to be the happy, dumb wife. The one that’s always by your side, so you can hide the fact that you’re still messing with your ex.”

​ “Oh yeah? So, you’re also going to lie and tell me you’re not with Spencer, right now? Just come home I can explain!”

​ “You’re ridiculous. That’s who you think I am? Let me solve this for you. We’re going to separate. You can be with Grace as much as you want. And then when our agreement is up, you can marry her and live happily ever after. And then we’ll never have to see each other again.” She hung up.

​ “Emma?” Will asked before realizing the line went dead. “Fuck!” he roared, and kicked his car. “Goddammit!”

​ Will’s phone rang again. He scrambled to answer it.

​ “Emma?”

​ “No, it’s me.” Grace sounded disappointed. “Sorry. Have I caused some sort of misunderstanding between you two? I don’t want to make any trouble.

​ “We’re fine, Grace. I can’t talk right now. Bye.” He hung up. Grace sulked. He’d never been short with her before. She didn’t like it.

​ Will was drained. This day kept getting worse and worse. When Emma arrived, it was well past midnight. It seemed that Will had gone.

​ “Good,” she said to herself. She moved her things into a guest room, and crawled into the bed. *I don’t care where he is,* she said to herself. She didn’t want to see him at all.

​ The next week was tense. Will eventually came back, but didn’t speak to her. Things did not go the way either of them wanted after Conrad’s funeral. And he would hate to see them this way now. Will launched himself into work. He was now the CEO of Stewart Industries and so he was busy restructuring the company. Emma busied herself with a job search and caring for her father. They did everything they could to avoid each other. Anything was better than confronting their real feelings. The atmosphere was cold, and distant between them.

​ Neither of them wanted to be the first one to break. Towards the end of the week, the design contest results were posted on the competition’s website. With everything that had been happening, she forgot all about it. To her surprise, she placed.

“Dear Miss Wells, on behalf of the International Association of Architecture, we would like to formally congratulate you. You have placed third in this year’s Design Conference Competition. Your passion and dedication have impressed our esteemed panel. It is most remarkable as all other winners are established professionals in their field. It has been many years since a new graduate has fascinated this association. We look forward to seeing your work in the future.”

​ Emma read that over and over.

​ “Well, shit.”

​