Chapter 7

The blond pair got the call well after midnight. She was wrapped tightly in his arms, their kiss slowly getting more forceful. Nolan's mind was still spinning, but he allowed himself to ignore it; all the questions about why, or how, or what about Jack, and let himself enjoy this moment the two shared. He'd just run his fingers through her soft hair when the loud vibrations of a cell phone interrupted them. If it was his, he'd curse himself the rest of the night, wishing he'd left it on silent or better yet, turned the damn thing off. But it was Emily's. She broke the kiss and slowly pulled away, her eyes bright despite the red encircling them. She grabbed the phone off the table and answered, keeping her other hand intertwined with his. Nolan was still recovering from their kiss, barely able to focus on her end of the conversation. She hung up and turned to him, fresh tears burning in her eyes, her voice unsure and laced with guilt.

"Ems, what's wrong?" His concerned tone was only making her pain worse.

"That was Daniel." A scowl flashed on Nolan's face. He had no right to be jealous, he supposed, but that didn't stop him. "It's-it's Charlotte. She overdosed on pills, she's in the hospital." He was up off the couch before she'd even finished her sentence, snatching their coats, and wrapping her in hers. Nolan drove in silence, Emily's face pressed against the passenger window.

"It's not your fault." He whispered softly. She shook her head; staining the glass with salty tears. He reached out and touched her arm. "She's going to be ok, I promise." It wouldn't be the first promise he'd broken.

By the time they arrived at the hospital, the news had already been delivered: Charlotte wouldn't recover. Conrad was shouting into a cell phone, clearly in the anger stage of grief, while Daniel paced back and forth in front of his sister's room in ICU, Ashley desperately trying to comfort him. He glanced up to see his ex-fiancee with Nolan, the blond billionaire's arm wrapped securely around her shoulders. His eyes narrowed into slits. His focus on anything but the death of his sister angered Emily, justifying her vengeance even more. She steeled herself and walked up to Daniel, stiffly wrapping him in her arms. She could feel Ashley's icy glare boring into her skull.

"I'm so sorry, Daniel. Did you…did you find her?" He shook his head, forgetting about Jack and now Nolan, about the pain she'd caused with their breakup.

"My dad came and got me, already calling 911 and just…panicking." She nodded understandingly. She hadn't missed the way Ashley's shirt was slipping off her shoulder, her bra only hooked on two of its hooks, and how Daniel's suit jacket was wrinkled from what looked like hands that were grabbing too tightly. Jealousy rose within her, but not for the reason people would assume. She wanted to be the one to comfort him, to change him, to bring him out of the depths of his family's deceit. The only thing Ashley was doing was pulling him further in. His choked voice snapped her back to the situation. "My dad said the TV was on in Charlotte's room, she must have just heard about…my mom. Do you know?" He looked up at her, tears streaming down his face. She nodded, and hugged him again, letting him cry into her designer coat. Over his shoulder she looked at Nolan, her eyes flitting to Ashley. He nodded and stepped quietly down the hall, pausing to take Ashley with him. The man could be rather convincing with a few words. In any case, he was glad to be away from Emily and Daniel. He may know the depth of his best friend's distrust of her ex-fiancé, but he still couldn't watch her with him. The man made Nolan sick, especially after his loyalty to his father when he found out the truth about David Clarke.

Emily stood with Daniel, stroking his back as they peered into Charlotte's room. She choked back tears at the sight of her baby sister so pale, her face emaciated, hooked up to IVs and a heart monitor. She saw the flat green line and suppressed a gasp. She wondered if this was how their father had looked, if Nolan had had to see him the way she was seeing Charlotte now. She didn't know how she could have handled that.

"Grayson family?" Charlotte's ER doctor called. Ashley quickly slunk away from Nolan and joined her ex-best friend, linking her arm with Daniel's. "I wanted to tell you how sorry I am for your loss. Charlotte's body will be released tomorrow, into the custody of her father." He nodded towards Conrad. Emily's eyes flashed with anger as they met Nolan's, knowing that he shared the same thought. Charlotte should be released into the custody of her father, her real father, because she should have had a chance to know him. He should still be alive. Conrad didn't deserve her. As if on cue, the Grayson patriarch slipped quietly passed Emily to shake the doctor's hand and then walk into the hospital room. Emily watched him stroke his daughter's hair, whispering to her. Through her rage and pain, the blonde woman spared him a few precious seconds of her sympathy; the man had lost his wife, mistress, company, and daughter in less than 24 hours. But seeing as how most of that was her fault, it did absolutely nothing to change the course that Emily had put herself on. She watched him until her eyes grew weary. Conrad was the last to leave, long after Nolan had taken Emily home and gently laid her down on her bed, covering her exhausted form with a blanket.

It was safe to say that Nolan Ross did not sleep well that night. The man tossed and turned in his king-sized bed for hours, twisting his deep mauve sheets into a tangle around his long legs. There was plenty to keep him awake: Emily's mother, Victoria and Charlotte's deaths, and that kiss…he shook his head vigorously, trying to erase that last one. He didn't regret it, not one bit. In fact, if he were being honest with himself, he'd replayed that single moment in his head about a million times during his sleepless night. But no, too much had happened. His friend was in too much pain. He knew they couldn't talk about or continue on the path that kiss may have carved for them. They had to turn their attention back to the infinity box, to Emily's revenge, back to the life she had set for herself.

That was why he wasn't surprised when she showed up at his house at 6 A.M. And not only in his house; she had cracked his top-notch security system and made her way to his bedroom, where he sat on his perfectly creased bed, laptop rested on his thighs. She took in the sight of him, with his hair messed and eyes red from lack of sleep.

"Morning, sunshine," He said softly. She missed the sarcasm that would have laced that comment last summer.

"Morning," She whispered quietly, suddenly shy. She glanced at her left ring finger to twist the diamond as a nervous habit, but paused when she realized it wasn't there. Because she and Daniel had broken up. Because she'd kissed Jack. But then Amanda had come back, pregnant. But then she'd kissed Nolan. Her mind started spinning with recent events in her life as she walked into the man's bedroom and sat beside him, staring at the laptop. He tried to close it but wasn't quick enough. "Are you watching the video?" Her tone was too loud, too high to be casual. "Let me see that! Nolan, you can't watch it without me. I have to know, more than anyone!" He gripped her elbow slowly, as she realized her heart was racing. She was too on edge, too shaken up to be Emily Thorne at the moment. He had to be her rock, her stability now.

"Ems…relax, please, ok?" She nodded complacently. "I just wanted to scan it with my Nolcorp software, see if I missed anything." She leaned in closer as the scan completed, returning his screen to the paused video. She stared at the back of the white-haired man's head, replaying her last encounter with him, unconsciously running her tongue over her cut lip. Nolan tried not to stare at the movement of her lips, a shiver running down his spine. Suddenly, a realization began to dawn on Emily.

"You must have gotten that from your mother." She whispered. He turned to her with a puzzled face.

"What?" She ignored him, her mind needing to work out the theory before she could explain it. Nolan waited, watching her face tense as her brain calculated. The woman was brilliant, determined, and deceptive. He loved watching her work and being a part of that work.

"Nolan, he knew. The white-haired man knew about my mother." He resisted the urge to snort sarcastically, but couldn't lay off the comment.

"Thank you, o brilliant fortune teller." At her sour reaction, he added, "Ems, he's in the video. Obviously he knew, Victoria told him." The woman shook her head, gripping his hands urgently.

"No, no, I mean…I think he tried to tell me. He said, 'You're a hell of a fighter. You must have gotten that from your mother.' It was such a weird thing to say, like he was taunting me." Her teeth grit at the idea. "I thought he was just…mocking my father, calling him weak. And helpless." Nolan's face twisted into a scowl. The white-haired man was not his favorite person in the world anyway, but his insult of David strengthened Nolan's hatred.

"Ems, you think he was trying to tell you the truth? Why would he do that?" She shook her head.

"I have absolutely no idea. But we have to find out. We have to track him down again." His eyes widened in shock.

"You want to go face to face again with the man who did this?" He pointed at their beat-up faces, scars that wouldn't heal for a couple more weeks at least.

"Yes! Nolan, he knows and he was mocking me. Or trying to tell me. Either way, I can't let that go. I have to find him."

"For another reason, too…" Nolan muttered.

"What?" He paused, then turned to face her dead on.

"Ems, think about it. That plane Victoria was on had enough witnesses and information to destroy the white-haired man and his whole organization. He got desperate." He didn't need to say any more. She had considered the possibility late last night, during a fretful sleep of her own.

"It wouldn't be the first time." She murmured bitterly. "He said he was leaving for the airport, I guess we know why." He nodded. "See, that's why we have to find him!"

"Emily. You just found out that Charlotte's dead, your mother's alive, and Victoria and all her evidence exploded in a plane crash. And now you're going to track down the man whom you nearly killed 2 days ago?" His voice was incredulous, his tone clearly indicating that in his mind it was a stupid idea.

"Yes. Yes, I will do it. And I will do it alone if you won't come with me." She snapped harshly and stood from the bed. He sighed, glancing up at her determined face. He hated her in that moment. Hated that she preyed upon his weakness for her, hating it because he knew she had those same feelings, which she'd exposed last night with their kiss. But like all the other times she'd looked at him with contempt and pushed him away, he came back with a resigned,

"Fine, Ems. I'll help you." She turned, a soft but knowing smile playing on her lips.

"Of course. You promised me as much last night." He raised a teasing eyebrow.

"You want to talk about last night?" She stepped back into the room, her determination and control returned. She was close enough for him to feel her steady breath on his face. She leaned closer, and for a moment he allowed himself to imagine it would happen for the second time. He could already taste her lips and feel her warmth enveloping him. But her reaction was pure Emily Thorne, not at all the woman from last night.

"No." She said, voice cold. Death, pain, weakness, shock; last night had been a flood of emotions she'd rather not revisit until she'd taken care of business. He smiled, relishing the strength in her voice and her stance. Her demeanor softened enough to allow him to take her arm and lead her back to the computer to start their research.