Nolan's Mansion, Hamptons

"I just can't believe it!" Shaking her head, Ava lowered the letter that Emily had written to her. Nolan had invited her, Jack and Charlotte to his mansion after he returned from the airport. "I thought we'd clarified that in our last conversation." She looked desperately at Jack. "She was even ready to seriously consider her decision to leave."

"I think if Daniel hadn't caused a Waterloo at the beach house, she would have considered her decision," Nolan interjected, raising his eyebrows.

Charlotte shook her head slowly. "I think you're wrong, because she had also written a letter to Daniel before he'd smashed the inventory into pieces. It was clearly a farewell letter. She never intended to stay."

"How do you know that?" Ava looked at her confused. "Did he tell you about it?"

Charlotte hesitated for a moment before she reached into her trouser pocket and pulled out the slightly crumpled letter. "Here, read it yourself!" She pushed the sheet of paper to Ava and then reached into her pocket again and took out the rings, which she also placed on the table.

"Ouch!" Nolan exclaimed. "It seems she is really serious about not wanting anything to do with him." He raised his head and looked at Charlotte with a thoughtful look. "Has he already read the letter?"

"Yes, he has," she confirmed. "But I doubt he understood a thing about it. When I found him in the beach house, he still wasn't able to stand on his own feet. I brought him back to the manor, and in the end I even had to ask our gardener to take him upstairs to his bedroom." She rolled her eyes. "I'm just glad my mother wasn't there that she could see in what kind of state he was."

Ava had read the letter and handed it to Jack, who shook his head.

"This is a violation of the privacy of letters," he said tightly, giving her an indignant look. "I don't think Emily would approve that we read what she privately entrusted to Daniel."

"There's not much private in it," Ava said, shrugging defensively. "Essentially, it's things we've already known."

"It reads like an exciting thriller," Charlotte interrupted suddenly and smiled embarrassed, as they all looked at her. "Well, I had no idea how she got the name Emily Thorne and why she came here at all. Shortly after she had confessed to me that she was my sister, my father was abducted. We had no time to exchange details. She had promised me that she would tell me everything about it at a later date, but it never happened. Now I know everything at least."

Nolan, who had no scruples to violate the privacy of letters, dropped the sheet of paper after reading everything. "She really didn't leave anything out." He cleared his throat. "Except that she helped her father to escape and knew beforehand what he had planned."

"If she had confessed that, she would have sent herself to her doom," Jack said. "I can understand why she wanted to protect herself and her father."

Charlotte jumped up. "It's time to go home! My dad will be released from the hospital today, and I want to be there when they learn that Emily left."

"Your mother will surely do a somersault for happiness," Nolan stated dryly, rolling his eyes.

"You brought Emily to the airport," Ava suddenly changed the subject. "I'm sure you know her address, too."

Nolan looked at her suspiciously. "Yes, I know her address," he confirmed. "I even found the place for her myself. How so?"

"We all fly to Paris and visit her!" Charlotte suggested spontaneously. "Paris is really beautiful at this time of the year. And it's fun to go shopping."

Nolan raised his eyebrows, smiling. "I hardly believe that Emily wanted to go to Paris because of the Haute Couture."

Charlotte gave him a resentful look. "I didn't mean that. But when you're there, you can make the most of the time."

Ava shared Charlotte's excitement. "That's a good idea! If Emily can't be here, we'll go to her."

Nolan raised both arms to stop their enthusiasm. "Hold your horses! Nobody said anything about visiting her. I even had to promise her that I wouldn't make contact with her until she was safe." He looked at Charlotte. "You in particular have to be extra careful, because you live with Daniel under one roof. He could, for example, listen to your phone calls or overhear when you chat with her over the Internet. By no means can he learn about her whereabouts! Just give her a few weeks to settle down."

"A few weeks?" Charlotte choked. "I already miss her."

"Me too," Ava admitted, wiping a tear from her eye. "She was my best friend. Without her, I wouldn't be here." She leaned her head against Jack's chest, who immediately pulled her closer in a hug.

"We miss her all," Nolan said softly. "But a promise is a promise. And I respect the fact that she needs distance."

Charlotte nodded and lowered her head sorrowfully. "I understand it, even though she breaks my heart," she said softly. "I've lost not only my friend and ally, but also my sister and my nephew."

"And Daniel his son," Jack tossed in.

Nolan looked at him in surprise. "Since when do you feel sorry for him?"

Jack ran through his hair and sighed, before answering the question. "Since I found him unconscious and bleeding between destroyed furniture and broken glass," he admitted. "How desperate must he have been to drink himself into oblivion?"

"Daniel has never been able to deal with problems," Charlotte said hesitantly. "It's not the first time he was drunk. And I'm afraid now that Emily has left him and taken Julian with her, he won't be sober anymore." She looked at Jack. "You're right. It will kill him when he learns that she left him with the baby."

"Have we cleared up everything now?" Nolan looked questioningly around. "No contact with Emily!" He repeated again. "She will get in touch with us if she's ready." He looked at Charlotte again. "And no word to Daniel or to your parents! When they ask where Emily went, you just say you have no idea."

"Actually, I have no idea," she said, rolling her eyes. "There are over 2 million people living in Paris. Not so easy to find someone who doesn't want to be found. "

"Even the word 'Paris' shouldn't pass your lips!" Nolan warned.

"She has a new ID, I suppose?" Ava asked.

Nolan nodded. "But I won't tell you. All in good time. When she makes contact with us, you will know everything."

"All right." Ava rose with a sigh. "I will try to be patient. If she calls you, will you let us know at once?"

Nolan nodded. "Of course. I will also tell her how all of you miss her."

Charlotte took the letter and the rings and put them back in her pocket. "I have to return this before he wakes up. He mustn't know that I read the letter."

"We'll bring you home," Ava offered, opening the door. They said good bye and left Nolan with his own thoughts. Emily hadn't mentioned his name in her farewell letter to Daniel once, but it was not just Aiden who had helped her to take revenge. It was due to him that she started her vendetta against the Graysons in the first place after reading her father's diaries. "There is still a secret that he doesn't know," he muttered to himself. "And I promise that it will keep our secret forever."

Paris, France

Emily made her first walk, after a flight of eight hours and landing safely in Paris, to the hairdresser. A fresh start also included a new haircut, so she let her long curly hair shorten by a few inches and opted for some darker nuances of her hair color. She wanted to be perfectly prepared for her new life. But she lacked the right enthusiasm. She missed her friends and her old life. She took a taxi to the address that Nolan had given to her and rang the doorbell. While she was waiting, she looked along the street which was almost empty at this time. The apartment, in which she would live from now on, was in a suburb of Paris, a few miles away from the city center. An ideal place to hide. Hadn't Nolan mentioned to her that the young woman was also on the run? Still lost in thought, the door suddenly opened and she looked in a young woman's face with long, reddish hair, who smiled at her.

"Hi, I'm Julia. You're Allison, I suppose?"

Emily reached for her hand and smiled as well. "Call me Ally."

Emily liked Julia straight away and apparently this feeling was mutual, because the young woman answered her questions eagerly and led her through the apartment and showed her where she would be staying from now on. Everyone had their own room, but they would share the living room and the kitchen. When Emily looked around in her new room, she couldn't help comparing it to her room in the juvie. It was small and practically furnished, with a baby cot and a changing table, which stood in a corner of the room, a bed, wardrobe and a table and a chair in the middle. She was not used to live that confined. The rooms in the beach house were four times as large, open, bright and friendly. There wasn't even a balcony or a garden. For the first time, Emily had doubts whether it had been such a good idea to leave her home in a hurry and live together with someone she barely knew. But she had no choice. Daniel had threatened to take Julian away from her. What could she have done but escape? She had kept her credit card, but she also knew she couldn't use it, unbeknownst to Daniel. So she was forced to live modestly, with the cash money she had at her disposal. Which also meant that she needed a job. She had learned from Julia that she was working as a chambermaid at the Hotel Bellevue. A job that didn't bring much money but fed her and her little daughter Jill and allowed her to pay the rent for the apartment.

"Do you think they would hire me, too?" Emily asked, as the idea, working as a maid as well had formed in her mind.

"Why not?" The young woman shrugged. "They are always looking for capable staff. It's best to come with me. My shift starts in two hours. Until then, you can rest a bit."

"And what about Julian?" Emily looked skeptically at her sleeping son.

"Just take him with you," Julia suggested. "The good thing is that the hotel has its own daycare center. I'm always the first to bring Jill in the morning before I change and start my work. When I have a shift in the evening, a neighbor is looking after Jill. But you can say that you only want to work the morning shift."

Emily had to smile at the idea of working as a maid. She wondered what Victoria would think about that her daughter-in-law, who still was a Grayson, was doing work beneath her dignity. But she couldn't be picky about a job. "Agreed!" She said, sealing the deal to start her new life as a staff member in a hotel.

Grayson Manor, Hamptons

"She left you?" Victoria repeated as if she couldn't quite believe what her son had just told her. "'Why?"

"No idea." He shrugged helplessly, then pulled out Emily's letter, which he handed to his mother.

Charlotte, who was sitting with her parents and Daniel at the evening table, tried not to show that this news was no surprise to her. She had actually managed to smuggle the letter and rings back into his room before Daniel had finally awakened from his drunkenness.

As Victoria read the lines, her mouth twitched into a triumphant smile. "I told you, didn't I!" She said to Daniel. "She just used you to take her revenge on us. But you didn't listen. Now you have to live with the consequences. But be glad that you got rid of her!"

"She left me and took off with Julian!"

Charlotte rolled her eyes. Since he'd called the hospital and had learned that the little boy had been picked up by his mother early in the morning, he licked his wounds and pretended that it was only Emily's fault that he felt bad now. As if he had been completely unaware that she would take the plunge to leave him. "You don't know why she left you?" She said, shaking her head. "You threatened to take away the baby and even questioned the validity of your marriage! No wonder she saw no other way out than to get away from here!" Did she actually see something like remorse in her brother's eyes? Did he have a conscience after all? But she was not finished yet. "And you put the beach house into shatters, which probably was the final straw for her!"

"What did you do?" Conrad interrupted, looking at his son, bewildered. "I'm just 24 hours away, and in the meantime, the world is going under!"

"I didn't mean to," Daniel said ruefully. "I was pretty drunk, and..." He stopped and reached for his head. "I can't remember anything at all." Something Charlotte had mentioned earlier made him pause suddenly. "Wait a minute, did you just say Emily saw what I did?"

She nodded. "She just came in when Jack treated your wounds. She saw what you did with her own eyes. I think it only confirmed her decision to leave you."

Groaning in frustration, he ruffled his hair. "I really didn't mean to do it," he said again. "I was just so mad at her that she'd lied to me the entire time."

"And that's why you threatened her to take the baby away, demanded a divorce and destroyed your home?" Charlotte looked at him in disbelief. "Just because you were mad? You are really incorrigible, Daniel! You always shift the blame on others! But it's only your fault that she left you with Julian!" She pushed back the chair with force that it scraped over the floor. "I lost my appetite! I'll be at my room."

"Let her go," said Victoria, who had been a silent listener up until now. "She will calm down soon."

"I'll call my private investigator and ask him for help," Conrad added to the conversation and rose from his chair. "Don't worry, son," he said to Daniel, patting his shoulder softly. "We'll find them."

Victoria rose after Daniel had also left the table and had followed his father in his study. "What a shame!" She muttered. "I was hoping we'd get rid of her permanently." She sighed stagy, then left the dining room to go upstairs to her room.


Thanks for reading and all the nice comments! I really appreciate that you still like my work of fiction. :) I will try to make the chapters a little longer. But it's a lot of work to write a new chapter and to translate it almost at the same time. ;) The timespan between the updates will be longer then.