5 months later…
She didn't know what was drawing her back to that place. At first, she told herself it was to one-up Victoria once again, to take one more thing from her. But that wasn't it. Maybe, Jack, her childhood crush turned best friend's widower. No, that couldn't be it. She tried justifying it as one last summer of revenge, but the truth was much darker and she wasn't ready to admit it to herself yet…
Emily hadn't set foot back in the Hamptons in five months. She had tied all the loose ends before committing Victoria to the looney bin. And now she was coming back for her final revenge. One last thing had to still be taken away from the Graysons. The state had seized all of their assets, all but one that had remained in Victoria's name. One she no longer could afford with her bank account drained. Emily had bought it three months prior. She could've claimed it then and there, but she had waited for her situation to show for her last bow. After all, the only person who still lived in that mansion was her ex-husband. The man she had once loved, then despised, then pitied and who she now hated with a passion, well mostly. He had after all given her the biggest gift of all.
Emily unlocked the door to her beach house. Everything was still just as it was the night she left. All her furniture was covered in drapes to keep the dust from settling in. Everything was still as she had left it, except one. The couch she had found Aiden on had been replaced. It was the one piece of furniture that hadn't been covered, Emily guessed it must have been placed there in the last 24 hours as no dust had settled on it. The person who had done so left a note on the new piece. She sat on her new couch and opened the little white car.
To keep bad memories at bay
Emily knew this had to be Nolan's doing. Since he had learned about her condition, Nolan had done everything to keep Emily at peace. He knew she needed his help more than ever even if she continued to lie to herself.
"Thank you, Nolan," she whispered to herself.
She had indeed feared coming back to this place only to be shattered by the memory of that evening when she had lost the person she loved. The person she had planned a future with, to have children with. With this thought, Emily rubbed her belly. She hated having these thoughts knowing the child she was carrying wasn't Aiden's. She had questioned herself a lot at the beginning of her pregnancy. Could she really love a child who had been conceived with the person she hated? But at the end of the day, this was her only chance to have what she had always dreamed of: a family.
Daniel had been made aware that he would have to vacate Grayson Manor by the end of the week. He had already been graciously offered to stay 3 months following the sale of his home. Some company had bought the damned house, probably more for the land than the structure in itself. He had then expected to be thrown out of his childhood home in the following weeks if not days, but the buyer had offered for him to stay until he could come in person. And that time had come. Daniel had been patiently waiting for most of the day for the new owner of Grayson Manor. He expected them to show up at any moment now. He had never particularly liked this home that had been his mother's prized possession. But now that he was leaving it, he felt nostalgic. At least now this cursed place would be someone else's problem.
Emily had driven to the manor for once. She had chosen the path from where Daniel wouldn't be able to see her before she was ready to show herself. As she walked up the stairs to the front door, Emily made sure that not one single piece of fabric was out of place. She was going to put on a show and she was ready to make her entrance and shatter Daniel's little world. This was the last nail in the coffin of what was once the great Grayson dynasty.
A knock on the door brought Daniel back to the present. This was it. He was finally meeting the mystery man who had taken an interest in his home. Daniel looked around one last time at this empty house which would now be someone else's property. He opened the big red door and to his surprise stood his ex-wife. Daniel's face immediately formed into a grimace. He had thought her gone for good. Was the humiliation at the hands of himself and his mother last summer not been enough for her?
"What the hell are you doing here?" He said as he immediately turned around, leaving the door open for her to walk into the former Grayson Manor. He couldn't care less about his ex-wife coming into what would soon be his former residence. He knew that as soon as the new buyer arrived, she'd have to vacate the property and he'd be rid of her. He had never intended to have her answer his question. "Came the gloat?" Daniel went directly to the last piece of furniture in the house, his father's bar kart where he had placed two glasses and a bottle of scotch he had intended to open to celebrate the transaction. Now Daniel needed a drink. If he had to endure one more discussion with the woman who had destroyed his life, he could allow himself to open that bottle.
Emily stepped down the stairs as she observed her ex-husband. Daniel swallowed the content of his glass in one gulp. An amused smile appeared on her face, this would be oh so much more fun than what she had imagined. She had walked up to his level, a bit slower than usual due to her condition, and she set down documents on the cart for him and took a few steps back to enjoy the view of the show. Seeing Daniel's reaction was the cherry on top.
"No, I'm here to take possession of the house." A smile of victory formed on her face. The shocked look on Daniel's face satisfied her. It was poetic that she was the one to kick him out of his childhood home after he had himself thrown her out last summer. She was taking the last emblem from his life of glory after he had taken so much from her.
Daniel seized the document and started reading them. He knew she was right, but he had to find a loophole, something to keep her from this house. He didn't want to keep it, but he also couldn't stand the idea of her possessing it. He hated her, he loathed her.
"You'll see everything is legal." She said as she stepped closer to him, pointing to his signature on one of the numerous pages. "You even signed it."
"No, I sold the Manor to a development company. This cannot be right." Daniel still denied it.
"Well, as you'll be able to read, the only shareholder in the company who bought the house is me. Which means Grayson Manor belongs to me now." Emily rested her hand on her stomach, she knew what was about to happen next and she was going to enjoy every moment of it.
Daniel turned, ready to face his ex-wife. Ready to throw everything he had at this woman he couldn't believe he had ever loved. "You..." he started, but as he faced her, looking at her for the first time since she had crossed the threshold of the Manor, Daniel was shocked. Emily stood there, a smile on her face as her arms framed perfectly her growing figure. Emily was pregnant. She looked good, better than Daniel would've wanted to admit. He hated that this vile woman still had an effect on him. At that moment, he was thrown back to last summer, when Emily had announced they were going to have a child, he hadn't been happy at that moment, then on their wedding day, when he learned the truth and his world shattered, he had thought he had taken her chance of carrying a child. That's what the doctors had told his mother, that's what every doctor Emily had seen while they were still married had confirmed.
"At a loss for words?" She questioned him. "Well, isn't this a first?" She took a few steps forward, coming closer and closer to him. "Yes, I was surprised too as I was under the impression I could no longer have children of my own." Emily got right under his nose and took the papers from his hands while maintaining eye contact. "Looks like your gift to humanity was meaningless." Emily had never forgotten those words he uttered to her the night Sarah had left him.
Daniel stood there for a few seconds longer, absorbing what he had just learned. He was trying to comprehend what was happening before his eyes. Emily was glowing and gloating. He hated to admit it, but he was still attracted to her, and seeing her like this, bearing a child made him wish it hadn't all been a lie. What he would've done for it to have been all true. But it wasn't and it had never been. All their relationship ever had ever been was a ploy for Emily to get higher in the socialite circles, she'd used him to advance in the Hamptons society.
Then it clicked. He had nothing to do here anymore. This home wasn't his, he didn't have to stand there and talk to her. He could avoid his feelings if he'd just leave. She could have the cursed Manor, she could have the socialite life, she could have it all, he didn't care. She no longer was his problem, she was someone else's.
Daniel took a step back. "I pity the poor soul who knocked you up, he has no idea what's coming." Daniel took his thing and walked to the door, Emily followed a few steps behind.
"Oh, but Daniel," Emily said as she grabbed the door and gave him an empty smile. "No one could pity you."
Daniel kept walking, exiting his old home. thinking about what she had just said. It couldn't, it wasn't possible. Daniel had tried so hard to forget that night, to convince himself he hadn't dared to sleep with her again. He had thought her sterile, he hadn't even thought about protection. He had been in such a hurry to consummate his divorce, that he hadn't even thought about the possible outcomes. "It's impossible..." he said as he looked back at her.
"Is it?" She asked as she closed the door on him.
Her first day back in the Hamptons had gone just as she had hoped.
"It's done," Emily said.
She had officially taken the pièce de resistance of the Graysons' life. The Manor was no longer theirs, and they would never see it again as it had previously existed. In a few months, it would be fully renovated and far from what the Graysons' had made it.
"Plans have been drawn up, they start tomorrow," Nolan said at the other end Emily could hear the satisfaction in his voice. The final step of their plan had been accomplished, now the Graysons were and had nothing. They no longer reigned on the Hamptons."Thank you, Nolan," Emily acknowledged the gesture her friend had made earlier, she didn't need to say why, he knew.
When she'd told him of her plan to buy Grayson Manor, Nolan thought it would be her final move, the one before she finally released herself from the persona of Emily Thorne, but as the days went by and as Emily's desire to stay in the home grew, Nolan realized, much to his dismay, that she had cemented herself in Emily Thorne's identity. She no longer knew how to be Amanda, she had lost herself in this battle against the Graysons, and Nolan worried she'd never find herself again.
Emily had confirmed an interview to show off the new look of the house, something he knew she wouldn't be doing had she had every intention to leave this socialite life behind. In the four months since she had lost Aiden, it seemed as if Emily had lost the final goal: leaving that life behind and finally living her own. As she spent more and more days playing Emily in the Hamptons, Nolan was scared she'd never let herself out, her real self. Amanda.
Nolan knew the only way to make Emily face the truth was to confront her. He knew it would be hard as she'd gone deeper and deeper into her persona as the years had passed. She was now stuck in this character she had created for a single goal she had since achieved, he had to make her see it. He knew if he didn't, he'd regret it in the long run.
"What do you think of this room? I think it's missing something. I need everything to be picture-perfect before that photographer comes by. The article is going to be marking the debut of my return to socialite life." Emily asked Nolan as she showed off the new study.
"Em, we need to talk about this interview."
"Don't worry, with Victoria gone, no one is going to suspect a thing. I know I tried to stay out of the public eye during most of my time here, but now is a time to celebrate." She rambled on.
"And what if you took that article as a way to finally come out? What if you finally told the world who you are. Tell them David's daughter lives on."
"Why would I do that Nolan? Get out," Emily told him as she walked away.
She went up to her bedroom, had she been in her normal condition, she would've run and Nolan wouldn't have had the time to catch up to her.
"I have been here since the beginning, but you shut me out. Just like you're shutting me out now. Why? Because you're ashamed, or in denial? Either way Em, you're scaring the hell outta me. Maybe it's time for an intervention. To force you to be who you really are. What if I went and told the journalist that Amanda Clarke is alive and well?" Nolan said, pleading with Emily.
"And everyone she loved is dead. The Graysons killed them all. They left me nothing to go back to Nolan. This is all I have left." She replied. As she said that, she put her right hand on her growing bump. She was implying that the Manor was the only thing she possessed, but she also had this child to look forward to, if only they weren't a Grayson.
"That's why you can't let go of Emily Thorne? Ems.." Nolan looked at his friend, sadness filling his face.Emily couldn't bear to be looked at like that.
He pitied her and she hated it.
"I told you to get out," Emily said as she took a step back and slammed the door on her best friend.
She pushed her back against the door, falling to the ground. She was now sitting, her left hand on her belly and the left against her mouth, trying to mask the sound of her cries. She didn't want to be pitied, she'd rather be alone than pitied. Emily had chosen this life, and now she had to embrace it.
Finally posting the second part of this fanfic. I hope you liked it!
Thank you for reading and until next chapter!