Chapter 3
Marcus took us to the penthouse in Tribeca that my family kept for emergencies.
I'd never stayed there before. I'd always refused the help, the money, the protection. I'd wanted to prove I could make it on my own with Nathan, that love was enough.
Stupid.
So incredibly stupid.
Grace slept on the massive couch, wrapped in a cashmere blanket, while Marcus made tea in the gourmet kitchen. The city lights sparkled below us—a world that had kept turning while mine had just shattered.
“Senator Carter is on his way,” Marcus said, setting a mug in front of me. “And William is flying back from London tonight. They want to be here.”
My throat tightened.
“I didn't want to drag all of you into this,” I said. “I just—when Grace started crying, I lost it.”
Marcus sat beside me. His expression was softer now, the dangerous edge replaced by brotherly concern.
“Emily,” he said. “You are our sister. Grace is our niece. There is no 'dragging us into it.' When someone hurts you, they hurt all of us. That's how this family works. You should have told us who he really was years ago.”
I looked down at my hands.
“I thought I knew him,” I whispered. “When we met, he was just a kid from Brooklyn, working three jobs to put himself through business school. He had nothing. No family, no money, no connections. I loved him because he was hungry and kind and he made me feel like I was enough, even when I was just Emily Reed, the girl from Albany.”
I paused, swallowing the lump in my throat.
“I never told him about the Carters because I wanted him to love me for me. Not for my name. Not for my family's money. I wanted to be sure. So I became Emily Reed. I got a job teaching at a public school in Queens. I lived in a tiny apartment. And for a year, it was real. He was real.”
“What changed?” Marcus asked.
I laughed bitterly.
“He graduated. He started his company. And suddenly, he needed more than a teacher's wife. He needed investors. He needed credibility. That's when he met Victoria Hayes. Her father is Richard Hayes—you know, the old money from the Upper East Side. Partner at the biggest law firm in the city. Connections everywhere.”
I traced the rim of my mug.
“Nathan told me Victoria was just a business associate. That her father was crucial to his first big contract. I believed him. For seven years, I believed him. He worked late. He traveled. He missed birthdays, recitals, holidays. Always 'business.' Always 'important meetings.' And I stayed home with Grace, telling myself that one day, when the company was stable, we'd have our life back.”
Marcus's jaw tightened.
“And all that time,” he said, “he was living a double life. Married to her. Raising their son. Telling her you were dead.”
The door opened.
My eldest brother, James—Senator Carter—walked in, still in his suit, his face grim. He was the most composed of us, the one who always had a plan, the one who spoke to presidents and kings as if they were equals.
But when he saw me, his face crumpled.
He crossed the room in three strides and pulled me into a hug.
“Oh, Emily,” he said, his voice thick. “Marcus told me. I'm so sorry. We should have been there. We should have known.”
I hugged him back, and for the first time since the hotel, I let myself cry—not the quiet, controlled tears I'd shed in front of Grace, but the ugly, gasping sobs of a woman who'd just realized her entire adult life was a lie.
James held me until I stopped. Then he knelt beside the couch, brushing a strand of hair from Grace's sleeping face.
“Has Nathan tried to call?” he asked.
I nodded, pulling out my phone. Twenty-three missed calls. All from Nathan. Dozens of texts.
Emily please. Let me explain.
It was a mistake. I never meant for you to find out this way.
Grace is my world. You both are.
Don't let Marcus destroy everything. We can fix this.
I showed the texts to James. He read them, his expression growing colder with each one.
“He thinks this is a business problem,” James said. “Something he can negotiate. Something he can fix with an apology.”
“That's exactly what he thinks,” Marcus said. “I already pulled all our funding. By noon tomorrow, Brooks International will be in free fall. His stock will crash. His investors will pull out. His banks will call their loans.”
James nodded, pulling out his own phone.
“I've already made some calls,” he said. “The SEC is opening an investigation into Brooks International's accounting practices. I have it on good authority there are... irregularities. The IRS will be auditing his personal returns for the last decade. And the city is revoking his real estate licenses—all those developments he's been bragging about? They're dead in the water.”
I stared at him.
“You did all that in an hour?”
James gave me a grim smile. “You'd be surprised what a senator can accomplish when he's motivated. And for you, Em? For Grace? There are no limits.”
My phone buzzed again.
Another text from Nathan.
They're freezing my accounts. The banks won't return my calls. Emily, please. Call off your brothers. We can work this out. For Grace.
I showed them.
Marcus laughed—a harsh, cold sound.
“Now he wants to talk about Grace,” he said. “Funny how that works. When he had everything, Grace was the secret daughter he hid in Queens. Now that he's losing it all, suddenly she's the most important thing in the world.”
My phone rang.
Nathan's name flashed on the screen.
I stared at it for a long moment. Then I hit answer and put it on speaker.
“Emily!” Nathan's voice was frantic, breathless. “Thank God. You have to stop them. James just had the city pull my development permits. Marcus has killed all my funding. My CFO just called—there's an SEC investigation. They're going to destroy everything I've built!”
“Good,” I said, my voice flat.
There was a pause.
“Emily, don't be like this,” he said, trying to sound reasonable. “I know I messed up. I know I made mistakes. But destroying my company won't fix anything. Think of Grace—what will she have if I'm ruined?”
“Grace has me,” I said. “She has my brothers. She has a family that actually loves her, that doesn't hide her away like a dirty secret. You made your choices, Nathan. You chose Victoria. You chose Oliver. You chose your empire over us, every single day for seven years. Now you get to live with the consequences.”
“Emily, wait—”
I hung up.
I blocked his number.
Then I sat back, my hands shaking.
James squeezed my shoulder.
“You did the right thing,” he said.
“Did I?” I whispered. “I just destroyed the father of my child. What do I tell Grace when she asks where Daddy is? What do I say when she wants to see him?”
Marcus leaned forward.
“You tell her the truth,” he said. “Not all of it—she's six. But you tell her that Daddy made bad choices. That he hurt Mommy. That sometimes, even when you love someone, you have to walk away because they won't stop hurting you.”
He looked at Grace, sleeping peacefully.
“And you tell her that no matter what, she has us. She has three uncles who will burn the world down before they let anyone hurt her again.”
My phone buzzed once more.
Not Nathan.
An unknown number.
I opened it.
Emily. This is Victoria. We need to talk. Not about Nathan. About our children. Call me when you're ready.
I stared at the text.
Our children.
She had Oliver. I had Grace.
Two children. Same father. Worlds apart.
I looked up at my brothers.
“Victoria just texted,” I said. “She wants to talk.”
James's eyes narrowed. “Don't do it, Em. She's Hayes. Her family is as dangerous as ours, just in different ways. She'll try to manipulate you. She'll try to get Nathan out of this.”
Marcus nodded. “He's probably sitting right next to her, telling her what to say.”
I thought about Oliver.
Ten years old. Same father as Grace. He'd been at the hotel too. He'd seen everything. He'd heard Nathan called out as a liar, a bigamist. His world had shattered tonight too.
And Grace... she kept asking about the other boy. The other son.
“Maybe I should,” I said slowly. “Not for Nathan. For the kids. They're the innocent ones in all this. Whatever happens between us adults, Oliver and Grace shouldn't have to pay for their father's mistakes.”
James and Marcus exchanged a look.
“Fine,” James said. “But not alone. You meet her in a public place. Marcus will be nearby. We'll have people watching. If she so much as blinks wrong—”
“I know,” I said.
I looked out the window at the city that never slept.
Somewhere out there, Nathan was watching his life's work crumble to dust. Victoria was probably plotting how to save whatever she could. And two innocent children were sleeping, unaware that their worlds had just changed forever.
I thought about the girl I'd been eight years ago—bright, hopeful, ready to take on the world with the man she loved. I thought about the life I'd imagined. The house with the white picket fence. The family dinners. The anniversaries.
All of it was ashes now.
But as I looked at Grace, sleeping so peacefully, and at my brothers—willing to destroy empires for me—I realized something.
The life I'd imagined was built on lies.
But the family I had right here?
May you like
That was real.
And that was enough.
