Moving On
Emily Thorne. Amanda Clarke. Those were just names for one helpless and alone little girl who had grown up to be a very powerful and determined young woman. She had thought she had given up everything in her quest for revenge. She had forsaken her name, her present, her precious people, the chance for a normal life, her very future just for the chance to make the people who had destroyed her father pay. It was worth it, she had constantly told herself, and it was her choice which was more than her father had ever gotten.
But it was not until she lost her own identity that she realized that she still had more that could be taken from her. The girl who had agreed to be Amanda Clarke for no other reason than because she believed that the original Amanda wasn't strong enough was dead. It wasn't a direct result of Emily's own plans but she had certainly – if unwillingly – brought Amanda into that situation. Charlotte ran hot and cold on her as she tried to navigate the increasingly screwed up world she had been born into but she was still secretly her sister. Jack was still angry but his worry was overriding that and she had never felt so interested in her godson. Nolan and Aiden weren't going anywhere.
Not unless the Graysons did something.
She wanted to just walk away from all of it. Perhaps it was an anticlimactic way to end it but she had never truly had a clear picture of how she wanted this to end. She thought that was why she had never just turned over proof of one or several of the Graysons various crimes to the authorities and watch them spend the rest of their lives in prison. Yes money had the power to influence these things but the Graysons weren't the only ones with money. They would suffer forever, yes, but she would no longer be doing the hurting and she wasn't ready to let go of that just yet.
But now enough was enough. She had nearly died. She had actually gotten amnesia and was forced to face that her life was sort of becoming a soap opera complete with the over the top villain who decided to kill her because she lied to him instead of just getting a divorce (or even an annulment!) like a normal person would. She was done.
She was hardly an innocent victim in this but she had been a victim of the Graysons once and in being shot she became one again. She couldn't do it anymore.
But then Victoria just had to twist the knife, didn't she? Of course she did. She was Victoria. Honestly, Emily probably would have done the same thing though her style would be more faking sympathy than gloating.
She just had to tell Emily she couldn't have children. Honestly, Emily had never really thought about children. She had never thought of the future at all until Nolan told her the truth about her father and then she was all wrapped up in her vengeance. A part of her couldn't believe that this would ever be over and she couldn't bring a child into this insane world of hers. Would she really be able to get away with everything and sail off into the sunset with…whoever? She certainly couldn't bring a Grayson child into this world. She couldn't. And with all the sex she and Daniel had been having she'd been about as careful as it was possible for someone to be.
Did she even want children? She couldn't be sure. She wanted them a lot more than she did before she had found out however. And now that was taken from her. The Graysons had stolen her children from her.
She still wanted this to be over. She couldn't live with the man that had stolen this from her and had cold-bloodedly shot her just hours after pledging his love and loyalty to her. She couldn't do it. And Daniel could only be convinced not to leave her himself for so long before he decided that if she didn't remember who shot her now she never would. But if their marriage fell apart then she'd have no window into the Grayson family. Victoria already hated her, Daniel had always been her way in, Charlotte's first loyalty was to her brother, and Conrad had been willing to betray his love for Daniel's sake.
This had to end but she wouldn't just let him get away with what he did to her. Amanda Clarke wasn't a victim anymore.
She had meant what she said earlier about how she was still weak and vulnerable from the injury and couldn't properly defend herself against the Graysons. She wouldn't put it past Victoria to have her killed or at the very least to keep her contained indefinitely once she was strong enough to move around.
So she really did the only thing she could. She called a press conference.
It was truly satisfying to see the Graysons assemble below her, a queen of the Hamptons holding court on a balcony above, all stunned that she would dare. Well they had started it, hadn't they? Victoria and Daniel looked at her with rage but Conrad was harder to read. If Daniel fell he may well get Lydia back. After everything, Emily doubted she had the self-respect to stay away from a man who would love her and then frame her for attempted murder.
This very well may be the last chance she ever had to hurt the Graysons like this so she was going to make it a good one. Then she was going to show up at every single parole hearing Daniel might ever have with a new collection of good deeds designed to make her look the saint.
"There has been much speculation as to who shot me and I want to set the record straight," Emily said calmly.
Daniel looked every inch the condemned man. His general air of feeling sorry for himself was so much more appealing when he wore it when she knew he was being framed for Tyler's murder.
"I really can't believe that it's come to this. I can't believe I was shot on my wedding day," Emily said, shaking her head in disbelief. This was the kind of moment she dreamed of. "And most of all I can't believe that the man who tried to kill me was Daniel Grayson."
The reporters went wild.
Daniel sat down right where he was standing.
Victoria's reaction was a little more dramatic. Her hands clenched and her eyes flashed. "How dare you! My son did nothing of the sort."
Right then, Emily knew she made the right choice. Her original plan was to frame Victoria for her murder and watch her rot away in prison for the rest of her life while she sat on a beach somewhere sipping drinks with Aiden and occasional houseguest Nolan. But this was better.
Victoria hadn't shot her. She wouldn't, either, because at the end of the day Victoria wasn't a violent person. She didn't disapprove of violence, exactly, and certainly wouldn't stop others from committing it on her behalf but she very rarely committed these acts herself. Only when Daniel needed protecting. It always came down to protecting Daniel, didn't it? It was why she wasn't protesting her innocence louder. She would gladly go to prison to save her beloved son from that fate.
Sorry, Victoria, but revenge against you can't be tailored to your preferences. And Daniel really was guilty. That was the best part. He had destroyed his own life with his stupid, drunken impulse. There was really no one else Victoria had to blame. Oh, she could try to blame Emily and she would but if Daniel and Aiden hadn't interfered Victoria never would have shot her. The whole world would know she was a fraud and she would be thrown out of society and possibly facing criminal charges if Victoria could think of anything to stick on her but she never would have been shot.
"I understand that this is difficult for you to accept, Victoria, and I'm sorry. I believe you that you truly do believe that but I was there and I finally remember what happened. I wasn't shot in the back. I was told when I had amnesia that part of it was psychological. I didn't feel safe and I needed to make an emotional connection with someone before I could remember and now I understand why. I loved your son, Victoria, and he tried to have me killed on our wedding day. I'm sorry you have to find out like this but I couldn't risk doing anything else when I'm living under the same roof as a man who wants me dead even now," Emily said, projecting as much sincerity into her voice as she could manage. It wasn't easy as she wasn't in the habit of sounding sincere around Victoria but it was important.
"Mrs. Grayson, why would your husband shoot you?" one of the reporters shouted.
Emily looked down. "I didn't exactly get the chance to ask him. I don't even know why he had a gun in the first place! I mean, we were on our honeymoon cruise. Did he expect we were going to be attacked by pirates?"
"But what happened?" another reporter called out. "Did he say anything to you?"
"What happened was I got my period," Emily said. "Or at least I thought I did. There was blood and I saw it and so I went outside with Daniel because, as the father, I thought he should know. I guess it's possible to bleed while pregnant but I didn't know that at the time. I thought that I must have gotten a false positive or had a miscarriage or something. But Daniel…well Daniel thought otherwise."
"What do you mean?" the same reporter asked.
"Daniel recently ran into an old flame of his and they started spending time together. But we were getting married and then there was the baby and there was really no chance of anything happening with them again," Emily said. "I firmly believe that Daniel never cheated on me. But he got…he got crazy. He started calling me a liar and accusing me of trying to trap him in a marriage. He said I faked the whole thing and that I was ruining his life and then he just took out a gun and shot me!"
There was a flurry of questions after that and Emily kept her eyes right on Victoria as she answered them all.
When things calmed down slightly, she said, "And I'm afraid that isn't the worst of it. Victoria recently showed me medical records proving that Daniel shooting me has left me unable to have children at all. I wasn't pregnant so he made sure that I could never be."
Things took a very long time to calm down after that and Emily was exhausted and desperate to get off her feet by the time the press had enough. She had made further splashes by refusing to stay in the Grayson manor one more hour, citing fear for her safety, and left with the press. All she had wanted was to go home but that was too close to the Graysons and technically Lydia's or something even if she was currently on the run so she went to Nolan's.
Aiden and Jack both came over and stayed the whole night. She had vaguely thought it would be painful to see Carl but it was actually strangely comforting.
The next day she went to go see Daniel in jail. She intended to make sure that he didn't get bail but the arraignment wasn't just yet.
She ran into Sara in the parking lot. Fortunately there wasn't any press around because Sara appeared to want to make a scene.
"You bitch!" Sara spat. She looked like she wanted to hit Emily but thankfully refrained.
Emily raised her eyebrow. "Excuse me? Daniel shot me and got arrested for it and you're mad at me?"
"Well this is an extreme example of blame the victim," Nolan muttered.
"Daniel told me what you did," Sara said, glaring at her.
"What did he tell you?" Emily asked. "And why would you even believe it when he's clearly just trying to justify his attempted murder?"
"I know Danny and he never would have shot anyone," Sara insisted.
"Didn't he paralyze you?" Emily asked innocently.
"That's not the same thing at all! He's changed and it was an accident."
"If it makes you feel any better, I'm pretty sure he was drunk when he 'accidentally' shot me, too," Emily said brightly.
"He told me that you were psychotic," Sara told her, her eyes burning. "He said that you faked a pregnancy just so you could trap him in a marriage."
Emily nodded. "Ah, that. He told me that, too. In fact, I told the world that that was what he thought. He took the fact I thought I lost the baby or maybe wasn't pregnant after all and decided that that must mean I was trying to trap him into marriage. If you'll recall, the way that everyone found out I was pregnant in the first place was when the press mobbed my car when I was going to my first ultrasound and I never rescheduled it."
"Oh, it is so easy to claim that after the fact!"
"Well it's true," Emily said. "I never did see a doctor. And please, Sara. I tried to trap Daniel into marriage? If I had actually had a baby then I could see that working but how is Daniel trapped when I'm not pregnant? If he hadn't have shot me what was stopping him from getting an annulment or a divorce if he had to and then running off to play happily ever after with you?"
Sara blinked rapidly, apparently having not thought of that. "You wouldn't have let him go."
"I wouldn't have had a choice," Emily said. "Maybe I could have made the divorce ugly but if both parties had to agree to a divorce then divorce would be a rare thing indeed and no man would be able to leave his wife for his secretary. Besides, I have more money than Daniel so I doubt I could have gotten any alimony. Maybe I would have gotten something in the divorce settlement but his lawyers are just as good as mine."
"I don't know why you're doing this to him," Sara said, shaking her head in horror. "You're evil."
"You're deluded," Emily said coldly. "I really did love Daniel but then he tried to kill me. Even if he were right and I set the whole thing up to force him to marry me – which I didn't – then that does not justify what he did. This isn't the 1800s. Divorces aren't that big of a deal and they're really not much of a scandal anymore. If you really want to be with a man who would try to kill someone over so little of a thing…I simply don't understand it and I want nothing to do with him. You want him, you are welcome to him. I just really hope it's not you next time and you don't have a miraculous rescue like I did with that fisherman."
"I love Danny and he loves me and I know that you couldn't be more wrong about him," Sara said angrily. "He didn't do this. He wouldn't."
"Why, because he said so?" Emily asked rhetorically. "I clearly didn't shoot myself, Sara. Do you really think that I would love him or maybe even just want him for whatever reason badly enough to fake a pregnancy and then to let the person who really tried to kill me get away with it while throwing Daniel under the bus and losing him?"
Sara just gaped at her. "You're evil," she said again before storming off.
"She's not the brightest, is she?" Nolan asked sardonically as she left.
"She's not wrong about the faked pregnancy and I understand that it must have been pretty jarring for Daniel to see me showing my true colors to Victoria but that doesn't let him off the hook or make her any less of an idiot for believing him blindly about any of this," Emily said flatly. "Now let's go see Daniel and then be done with this."
"You could still go on an exotic vacation when you're done with this," Nolan suggested. "In fact, I encourage it. You deserve it after all of this."
Emily smiled. "Oh, I have been looking forward to one. The Hamptons may have plenty of beachfront property but it's always bit rather tainted for me. I'll have to wait until I heal up, though. And get Mason out."
"I'd be tempted to just leave him in there if I were you," Nolan told her. "But I suppose you'll need something to read on that beach."
The police weren't eager to let her see Daniel but she just looked so sad and weak that they didn't have the heart to keep her out though they did insist on having someone in the room to hear what they were talking about. Well that was fine. She wasn't giving anything away to Daniel even if it seemed like he couldn't use the information to hurt her. She had learned that lesson when she had taunted Victoria. Nolan waited outside.
Daniel looked almost at peace. No doubt he had talked himself around where he was being noble and he had been perfectly in the right.
He didn't look happy to see her, though. "Emily. What do you want?"
"I ran into Sara on my way out," she said, ignoring the question.
He tensed. "You better not have done anything to her. She's an innocent and she doesn't deserve-"
"She's an idiot is what she is," Emily interrupted. "She believes everything you say no matter how crazy it is. But no, I didn't touch her and I wouldn't. I'm not that kind of person and naivety isn't a crime."
Daniel snorted at that. "Oh, aren't you now? What's crazy, Emily, is you deciding to invent a pregnancy to make me stay with you!"
"Where is this even coming from?" Emily demanded. "The first I heard that I needed a baby to convince my fiancé not leave me was from Sara five minutes ago!"
Daniel looked disgusted. "Oh, don't give me that! You knew I was going to break it off and stay with Sara."
"I knew nothing of the sort! Your mother told me that you two were having an affair and I was trying to make my peace with that because I loved you but you said nothing happened and you were going to stop seeing her and I believed you. Am I the bad guy now because you were lying and I didn't see it?" Emily demanded.
"That day, the day you told me you were pregnant. I came over to end things with you so that Sara and I could really be together. Neither of us wanted her to be Lydia. And then you told me you were pregnant and obviously all that changed."
"Well, Daniel, that's really lousy timing but you never actually said any of that," Emily pointed out. "I'm not a psychic. I really did believe that I was pregnant. I never would have let you stay with me if I had known it was only because of the baby. I have more self-respect than that and I'm not obsessed with the idea of a child needing to grow up with his biological parents married. I think you and Sara and me and…whoever would have been much better for a child than me loving you and you growing to resent me because you couldn't be with her!"
Daniel laughed harshly. "So, what, you're a victim now?"
Emily stared at him. "Yes. Because you shot me. Tell me why in the world you couldn't have reacted like a sane individual when you found out I wasn't pregnant? Even if you wanted to divorce me immediately it would have been better than trying to kill me. In what world is that acceptable? I knew what people said about the Graysons but I never thought you could be that man."
"I was drunk. I wasn't thinking. You're clearly fine," Daniel said disinterestedly.
"I can never have children!"
Daniel gazed apathetically at her. "Sterilizing you was my gift to the world."
Emily closed her eyes and took some papers from her purse and passed them to Daniel.
"What this?" he asked, looking at them. "Divorce papers?"
"You didn't really think I'd stay with you after you tried to kill me, did you?" Emily asked rhetorically. "I wanted to get an annulment and have this whole mess legally never having happened but I looked into New York statute and the closest we could come is if we proved that one of us married the other under duress or through fraudulent means. I don't think I have a case that I didn't know you were a murderer, especially with your being arrested for Tyler's murder two years ago and me getting a false positive on a pregnancy test is hardly fraud or duress for you. So plain old divorce it is."
"Honestly, Emily, I'm surprised you'd let anything tear you away from this family you've fought so hard to get into," Daniel said spitefully.
"Daniel…I wanted to marry you because I loved you. I thought I'd proven that with every secret I let you keep and every time I stood by you through times of trouble. I knew you were drawn to Sara again because you two had history and no sense of closure but I really did think you chose me. But then I find out that me not being pregnant after all means that you'd think that little of me?" Emily demanded. "It could so quickly kill all your love for me? You're clearly not the man I thought you were and it wouldn't matter if I were penniless. I wouldn't stay married to you now if my life depended on it."
"You can play the victim all you like but we both know the truth," Daniel said darkly. "You're psychotic."
Emily stood up to go but paused and looked back one more time at him. "The truth about what? That's the problem, Daniel. Even if you were completely accurate about how it played you still took a woman who manipulated you into marrying her when she was already your fiancé and tried to kill her. If you were right about me and we wanted to tally up who was more in the wrong in our relationship, attempted murder trumps a couple of lies any day. And what you're saying never even happened!"
"It's not just a couple of lies!" Daniel roared. "Sara tried to kill herself!"
Emily blinked. She was surprised by that but perhaps not as much as she ought to have been. "Because her ex-boyfriend got married? This is my fault, I take it?"
"Don't trivialize this," Daniel growled. "If you hadn't-"
"There's no law saying you have to marry someone you knock up," Emily cut in. "And if she's that unstable then I think we know who's to blame for that. Hopefully she looks at this and realizes what a blessing it was that you two broke up but, having met her, I'm not optimistic."
A few days later Conrad came to see her.
Aiden insisted on taking a gun and setting up a sniper position upstairs and while Emily thought it was a little unnecessary (Conrad, too, preferred not to do such things himself and wasn't the self-sacrificial type) she understood his need to be certain of her safety.
"Conrad," Emily said, not needing to fake her surprise. "I can't say that I expected to see you here after I got your son arrested for attempted murder."
"My son got himself arrested for attempted murder by attempting to murder you," Conrad said dismissively.
Emily just stared at him in confusion. Was he trying to play her? Victoria certainly wasn't trying. What happened to the Conrad Grayson who would do anything to protect his son? She couldn't trust this.
"Oh, I'm afraid I'm coming off a little bit callous," Conrad said apologetically. "Daniel's always been…difficult. Long before you and Daniel met he paralyzed Sara. He had a really bad drinking problem. There's a reason we all thought he could have killed Tyler. My son ousted me from my own company and we know what he did to Mr. Ross' company. And now he shot you and was willing to place the blame on poor Lydia?" He shook his head. "I love my son, Emily, but enough is really enough. He is out of control and he needs help and if he doesn't start having to face the consequences for actions now then I fear he never will. It may be too late already."
"I'm sorry," Emily offered.
"Oh, it's not your fault, Emily. You're the victim here. I am relieved that Lydia has been cleared though, much as I love her, in a way I wish that it really had been her. It's a difficult thing to face when you look at your son and see what he's become," Conrad said heavily. "Victoria's livid, of course, and blaming you but she's not even trying to deny it. She thinks I'm being terribly unsupportive, of course, but when did 'supportive' mean letting your children get away with literal murder?"
It was all very good what Conrad was saying. She didn't disagree with it. If he had been anyone else she might have believed it. Or maybe he really was sick of Daniel's weakness and his crimes and happy to have Lydia back. Why he wanted her back was anyone's guess but she was pretty and adored him and that must be a nice change from the toxic mess he had with Victoria. His motivations didn't matter since she would never let her guard down around this man and she wasn't planning on staying connected to him once Daniel was safely sentenced.
"I'm glad you see it that way," Emily said. "It's been difficult to face some of the people who think I had it coming or that I should have just died or kept my mouth shut and not been so mean to Daniel by telling people that he did, in fact, try to kill me."
"Daniel's never been one to take responsibility for his actions," Conrad said dismissively. "And he never appreciates the sacrifices anyone else has to make for him. Did you know that he told me that his whole life has been a sacrifice? Sometimes I do wonder what version of reality he exists in. I wish I had understood how bad it had gotten before he nearly killed you. And I'm truly sorry about your…prognosis."
Emily managed a smile. "Thank you. That means a lot."
"Victoria has been telling an interesting story about you and I wouldn't be surprised if she tried to tell it to the media though I don't think they'd be interested," he said. "Or at least not unless their angle was the desperation and possible derangement of Victoria Grayson."
Emily leaned back in her seat. "Oh?"
"She keeps telling me you're a grifter. Well, that's no surprise. She's been saying that for years. She seems to think she's found bank statements revealing that you are not, in fact, particularly wealthy," Conrad revealed, looking more amused than anything else.
"And you don't believe her?" Emily asked.
"How could I?" Conrad asked rhetorically. "The story doesn't hold water. You can't be after our money and status as our status has been at some real lows at some points during your relationship with Daniel and there were a few months when we were all but penniless and yet there you stayed. And if you had no money then how is it you managed to buy Mr. Ross such a nice house as well as all the other ways you spend your money like you'll never run out?"
"I imagine Victoria thinks that's why I have no money," Emily said dryly.
"Then she should know from her own exploits with her art exhibit that there's always a way to get what you want in these circles," Conrad said. "I had hoped that this family could stay off the front pages for anything darker than your wedding for a few weeks but hopefully this is the last of it."
"I hope that you're right. Daniel may have tried to kill me but that doesn't mean I want you all to suffer," Emily told him. "How's Charlotte?"
Conrad sighed. "About as well as can be expected. She idolizes Daniel and this has just devastated her. I don't think she'll do anything stupid but I'm keeping an eye on her. I think it might be time to break our Grayson ban on therapy. Victoria managed with a therapist quite nicely until that little mix-up so we'll just have to make sure this one knows better than to try and record her sessions. I don't want my daughter turning out like her brother."
"Neither do I," Emily said emphatically.
Conrad stood up. "Well, I'm sure I've taken up enough of your time. As friendly as we've always been, it can't be easy to see the father of the man who tried to kill you right now. Just know that my thoughts and prayers are with you."
Emily smiled and slowly walked him to the door. "Thank you. Goodbye, Conrad."
"Goodbye, Emily."
With that he was gone.
"Do you think he means it?" Aiden asked once Conrad was gone, taking the steps two at a time.
Emily shook her head. "I don't know. He seems awfully…chipper."
"Maybe he and Daniel had a falling out," Nolan suggested, following Nolan downstairs as well.
"I might be able to see that if Conrad really does care about Lydia or if Daniel was as 'ungrateful' as Conrad says he can be," Emily said thoughtfully. "But who cares? It's not my problem. Not anymore."
Aiden frowned in confusion. "You're not really going to just let it go, are you?"
"What's wrong?" Emily asked rhetorically. "Last year you couldn't wait for me to run away with you and forget about this whole vengeance thing."
"I still want you to move on and be happy," Aiden assured her. "I just worry about where this is coming from."
Emily sighed. "Aiden, I was shot and nearly killed and now I can never have children."
Aiden drew back. "That was real? I thought you just said that to make Daniel look worse."
"It's true," Emily said grimly.
"Or at least Victoria says it's true," Nolan corrected. "She will, of course, be getting other medical opinions before she accepts defeat."
Emily hesitated. "Look, Aiden, I understand if you don't want to-"
"No."
"Aiden, you don't even know what I was about to say," Emily protested.
"I know exactly what you were going to say. No 'I'm leaving you for your own good because I can't give you children' crap, okay? If I'm willing to stick with you during your seemingly endless quest to take down the Graysons even when this is the last thing I think you should be doing then there is nothing that will convince me that you and I don't belong together. Nothing. If we can have children someday, whether through adoption or a surrogate or the damage isn't as bad as you thought, then fine. If not then that's fine too. All that is secondary. I've got you, Emily, and I'm not giving that up for anything."
"Remind me to take notes," Nolan muttered.
Emily couldn't help but smile at that. "I know. I'm sorry. But it does bother me and I just…I've had enough. I can't do this anymore. Daniel's being punished for what he did to me and I can't imagine a better punishment for Victoria."
"But what about Conrad?" Nolan asked. "He is the one who started all this by laundering the money and then choosing your father to frame in the first place."
"I do wish he'd be a little bit more upset about Daniel's arrest," Emily said wistfully. "But I did turn him and Victoria into all-out enemies, add Patrick to the mix, send Daniel spiraling downwards, faked a death sentence for him, got him to resign as governor, prevent him from ever selling the house, help destroy his fine social standing, let him know Charlotte wasn't his…I've done a lot to him."
"I do hope you're not blaming yourself for what Daniel became," Aiden said. "I've heard he hasn't always been so cold-blooded but it's not your fault this happened."
Emily shook her head. "I'm not blaming myself. Maybe I wonder what it would have been like if I hadn't entered the picture. I feel like he just didn't stand a chance. I tried to get him to do the right thing, especially when it came to clearing my father, but he wasn't interested. He is a Grayson, after all, and always so weak. But then, even if I hadn't come back he would still have the same parents and the warning signs were all there."
"Jack's not going to think it's enough," Nolan warned. "Especially since he seems to be quite sanguine about all of it."
"I know," Emily said. "But I can't do this anymore. At least for now. But who knows? Mason might 'just happen' to hear the truth about the Grayson bomb and Declan's death. And he will be clearing my father's name. Let's see Conrad stay serene after that."