so there's a rumour going around saying this website might be closing. I don't know if there's any truth to it or not. But I'd advise you to save your favourite fics and follow you favourite authors on their other platform. This fic will be available on Wattpad (I know…) & soon on AO3, same username everywhere. Just in case

a month and a half later…

Emily had picked up her old habit of going for a run every morning. She had kept running most of her pregnancy, but she hadn't returned to the beach in a while. The beach had always been the only place she could let her walls down. It was her safe space in the Hamptons, away from the Graysons and all her problems. She felt like herself, out there all alone. She didn't have to fake anything, she didn't have to think about every single detail before acting on it. All she had to do was breathe and take it in.

As she ran, Emily passed by her beach house. She hadn't been back there since the stylist redid the Manor's main bedroom. She experienced happy moments in that house, but also some of her worst. All she could do was avoid this place she had once called home. As she ran passed it, she could see a car parked in the driveway. She thought it was strange, but wasn't really in the mood to investigate it further.

As she reached the Manor, Emily slowed her pace. Allowing herself to cool down before arriving at the beach in front of her new house. She sat in one of the Adirondack chairs she had installed on the beach. As her pregnancy progressed, it had become harder for her to do the simple task of her daily life. Sitting in a chair that was lower had now become a task, something she'd only do if she knew she wouldn't move for a few moments. It was relaxing, seeing the sun rise above the ocean. It was the view she had so loved as a child, and soon she'd get to share it with her own. As the thought ran through her mind, her hand instinctively caressed her stomach. Her little miracle who hadn't moved from most of her run, probably sleeping from the rocking motion of her body, was now starting to stretch.

Emily enjoyed moments like these. For the first time since she was eight years old, she was allowing herself to relax and let go. Let go of all of it. The Graysons, her father's fate, her own fate. All of the sorrows of her life felt washed away by moments like this. They were few and far between, but they seemed to be more of an occurrence lately. She was finally going to have the thing she had dreamed of ever since the night her father had been ripped away from her: a family. She rubbed her belly, and only a few weeks separated her from that dream, from her miracle, from her child. Maybe things were finally looking up for Emily Thorne. Maybe…

Facing the ocean, Emily hadn't seen the man approach her from behind. She had let down her guard and hadn't been as aware of her surrounding as she usually was. Her ninja instincts hadn't kicked in as they usually did. The man was tall, physically fit, not as fit as Emily usually was, but under her current circumstances, he would easily overthrow her if it ever came to it. He had previously done so. But this time, he wasn't here for that. The man was wearing jeans and a grey t-shirt that had seen better days. His hair was messy. He was walking slowly towards Emily. He could observe her hair, she had pulled it back into a ponytail, but a few curls had escaped from it. The sun shined in it. God, he had loved to watch her hair shine in the sun in the mornings. For three years, she had been his dream. She was the woman he had wanted to make up to every morning of his life, but then he had learned the unbearable truth: she had lied to him. She had manipulated him, she had betrayed him. All for her seat at the socialite table. He had thought she was the love of his life, and now his hatred for her surpassed the love he had once felt.

"Emily," Daniel growled.

Startled, Emily turned her head to face the man who had called her name. Her hands instinctively clutched her swollen stomach. "Daniel", she let out, "what are you doing here?" She gazed in horror at the state of the man in front of her.

Daniel was visibly inebriated. As he walked closer to Emily, she could see his legs lurch. He seemed lost thousands of miles away. She could see the sadness on his face, and rage. But sadness was the main emotion she could read. His eyes seemed filled with tears he wasn't ready to let roll down his cheeks. The person she was facing seemed so reminiscent of the boy she had once ended her engagement with. He had the same look on his face he did the night he had confronted her, the night she had first broken his heart. Daniel seemed far from the boy she had once loved. The man she had shared years with. He was broken, and under all the hurt he had caused her, under all the hate she had for him, she still cared about him. Emily's face changed, it went from horror to heartache. She was the boy she had once loved in this broken man's body and she couldn't help but feel sad for the way he had turned out, for the man she had helped destroy.

"I want the truth. I don't want to hear any more lies coming from you," Daniel said, his voice cracking on almost every word, "Is it mine? Are you carrying my child or is it another one of your deceptions?"

"You're drunk, Daniel," was all Emily could find to utter.

"Don't," Daniel's voice cracked, "I deserve to know."

"I wouldn't lie about that" Emily said, her voice softer than before.

"You did once," Daniel reminded her, she could see his face wince with the pain of that memory. The one lie that had destroyed him, somewhat more than the others. "I told you I was all in."

"What do I have to gain from it now?" She questioned.

He knew she was right. A Grayson baby now wouldn't bring her anything. His family had fallen, they had lost their fortune and their standing in society. If anything, bearing a Grayson child would torpedo her own reputation. For the first time that morning, Daniel let himself look down at his ex-wife's growing abdomen. Their history apart, she was the image of his dreams. She carried within her his child. The fruit of their relationship, of their combined love and hatred for each other. As Daniel observed her, he was reminded of all he had lost at her hands, of all the deceptions she had been the architect of. He swallowed hard. His eyes looked into her. She had been observing his face as he'd observed her midsection. For the first time in a long time, he could see behind the walls, behind the facade she had presented herself as, he could see the women he had loved, the woman he still had affection for even as he had tried his hardest to let go of it.

Maybe it was a moment of weakness, maybe she pitied him or maybe she simply wanted to repent for the hurt she had caused the year before, but Emily stood up. Daniel didn't move, he was too drunk to act as fast as Emily did, even as she was slowed by pregnancy. Emily took Daniel's hand. He shuttered under her touch, he hadn't felt it in what seemed like an infinity ago. She placed his hand on her stomach where her child was now kicking. As if they knew their father was in proximity.

Daniel felt it. His child. Their child, something he had once hoped for, something he had once thought was certainly in his future. And there they were. The baby kicked harder to his contact.

"She's a fighter, you know," Emily said, observing her ex's face as she maintained his hands on her bump.

"She?" Daniel said in an inquisitive tone.

"It's a girl," Emily confirmed.

He could hear the smile in her voice, but he was too shocked to look at her. The little notes her voice had hit as she delivered this news to him, she knew it well. He hadn't heard it since their first summer. Then he knew. What she was saying was true. This wasn't the Emily of their last two years. The woman who was telling him he was going to have a daughter was the same one he'd fallen in love with that first summer, the one he had tried so hard to get back. As he felt his child move, Daniel also remembered all Emily had done. All he had to suffer through because of her. The woman who was standing in front of him wasn't the one who he'd fallen in love with that first summer. No. This woman, this Emily had made him suffer, this Emily had manipulated him for two years until he cracked. Until he did the unthinkable and shot her. He'd been in a state similar to this one when he used that firearm against his bride who he had wed just hours prior. This was no longer the woman he had promised to spend his life making as happy as she'd made him. She was a manipulative liar. She was the enemy.

Emily had observed Daniel's face change from pure happiness to what she could only conclude was contempt. She knew he'd soon turn from a happy man to one capable of anything.

"Daniel," Emily called his name, trying to keep him at the moment. She should've known from his state that his temper could change at any moment. "Daniel."

He lifted his head and looked at her. "No," he practically yelled, "you're lying, again. That's all you've ever done."

She could feel the animosity in his voice.

"I'm not letting you make a fool of me once again." As he said that, he pushed aside her hand, freeing himself from her, from the idea that this child was his. That he was having a daughter.

"You're drunk, you can't think right," Emily said, trying to calm him down.

"Yes, I'm drunk. Might you want to know why?" Daniel said, channelling as much hostility as he could in his voice, "Because my ex-wife showed up to my family home to not only tell me she was now the owner of it but to tell me once again that she was pregnant with my child which didn't turn out to be true the last time. And if my memory is right, it didn't end up well for you."

Maybe it was desperation, maybe he was holding on to the last bit of normalcy he knew of. Hating her had become part of him in the past six months. He could trace all the bad things that had happened to him back to her. And he wasn't ready to let go of it yet.

Now, Emily didn't feel like she had to repent for anything. She hurt him, that she was sure of, but so had he. And she was no longer feeling like letting go of that anger could do her any good. After all, her hatred of the Graysons had fuelled her for the past decade.

"You don't get to play the victim, Daniel." Emily said as she stepped away from him, "You shot me. You shot me and left me to die. You see those scars?" Emily lifted her shirt up, exposing her flesh, exposing her growing bump and the scars the bullets that had pierced her skin last August had caused. "You did this. You, not me. I never once retaliated for this. I'm the one who almost died because of you."

For the first time, Daniel saw the scars he had caused Emily. In the few months, they had been married, he had never seen her injury. She had never let him see the most fragile part of her. And now that he was looking at it, Daniel felt sick. She was right. He was the monster. He was the man who had shot his wife on their wedding night and for what? The sight of the scars he caused shattered him.

The mix of alcohol and the sight of the wounds he had caused Emily caused him to feel sick like he was going to throw up. Daniel walked away from her. He walked away from them. Leaving Emily alone on the beach once more.

…

As the week went by, Emily felt more alone than ever in the Manor. Nolan hadn't been back since their fight. blablabla

Emily knew he was frequenting the beach club, a place he used to hate, but now seemed to favour. Emily also knew Daniel used that place to host clients or to drink after hours and God knew this man drank. Emily figured she could kill to bird with one stone. She could apologize to Nolan while tormenting Daniel Grayson.

Emily went to her closet. She rummaged through the bathing suits, looking for one that could show off her scars while being appropriate enough for the club. Then she found it. The blue bathing suit Daniel had told her he loved so much. He'd always insist she'd wear it every time they went swimming that first summer. She took out of her closet her sheer white button-up bathing suit cover-up which would pair perfectly with her bikini and her sun hat.

This wasn't revenge, no this was something more personal.

…

Emily changed into her bathing suit in the changing room of the club. She could feel the other women staring at her stomach. She knew the stares weren't about her now swollen abdomen, but about the scars that defigured her midsection. Emily had gotten used to stares growing up as David Clarke's daughter. But these were different, she didn't feel rage or hatred she felt pity. She quickly put on her cover-up and took her bag before exiting the changing room. She hadn't minded the attention she had gotten in quite some time, but this type made her feel uneasy. The scars no longer affected her. They were a trace of her past left on her body for which she never wanted to feel pitied.

Emily entered the bar. Almost everyone around her was dressed in what could only be described as casual for the Hamptons. A few women were dressed similarly to her. Daniel was sitting at one of the tables with his laptop, a drink next to it. Emily walked to the bar, leaning against it, making sure her bump and her scars were in full view.

"Have you seen Nolan Ross today?" She asked the bartender. Emily made sure to speak loud enough so Daniel could hear her.

She knew he'd seen her when she heard his cough. She knew he'd seen it. The marks those two bullets he'd shot had left on her body that night. There were also the scars left by the incisions the surgeons had made during the operation that saved her lie. Daniel had never really seen them except their last night as husband and wife and even then, they'd done it in such haste that he barely had time to look at them. He still seemed to be uncomfortable at the sight of her exposed midsection. The marks forever remind him of that fateful night on the boat where he went from tortured soul to villain.

"I haven't seen him yet," the man answered, "He did say he'd be coming in later today."

Emily thanked the bartender and walked back out of the bar. On the deck, she chose one of the lounge chairs that was in full view from the windows of the bar. She spread her towel on it, took off her cover-up and lay on the lounge chair. Her sunglasses covering her eyes, Emily turned her head to look inside the building she had just left. Through the blinds, she could see Daniel staring at her.

Emily stayed there for three hours, only moving to readjust herself or reapply sunscreen, always in a position that let Daniel enjoy the full view. She knew it was torturing him. She knew he couldn't keep himself from staring at her. Every now and then she'd look through her sunglasses to see if he had left and every time, Daniel had been staring right back at her. She could feel his stare pierce her skin. Every time she caressed her bump, she could feel him getting tense. She knew this would only hurt him more, push him even more deeply into his hatred of her, but she didn't care. She wanted him to feel it all. All of his hatred couldn't even compare to half of the hatred she felt toward him.

"Still torturing Danny boy, I see," Nolan said as he sat down on the lounge chair next to Emily.

"And we're just getting started," Emily smiled at her friend. "Nolan, I'm sorry. I overreacted. I shouldn't have talked to you the way I did last week." Emily was sincere. She had hated being alone without her trusted companion.

"And I shouldn't have pushed you to open up the way I did," Nolan replied. "What's the plan?"

…

In the evening, Emily changed into a skin-tight dress, a blue one that accentuated her midsection. She and Nolan had planned to dine at the club. This was unusual for them, they usually ate at her house, or his while plotting the Graysons' takedown. But with Daniel around and Emily's pregnancy disturbing him, the club seemed like a great place to continue to torment one of the Graysons.

As planned, Daniel was still at the bar, sitting next to a blonde woman whose back was turned to Nolan and Emily, but who would only be Margaux. As Daniel saw them make their entrance, he took his glass and chugged it, fixing Emily while doing so. Maybe Margaux was used to her boyfriend's weird behaviour as she didn't turn to take a look at the person her boyfriend was staring at. Emily had learned from Nolan that Daniel was still seeing Margaux. Although the rumour was she wasn't the only woman he was sharing his bed with which was something Margaux seemed to be unaware of or chose to ignore.

What was clear to Emily was that her very presence seemed to disturb her ex-husband.

Later, when Margaux made her way to the bathroom, Emily feigned that she also needed to go. When exiting the stalls, Emily met Margaux at the sinks. The latter side-eying the former. Maybe Daniel hadn't shared the news of her pregnancy with his girlfriend much less his impending fatherhood.

"How is Voulez going?" Emily initiated the conversation.

"Quite well," Margaux responded politely, "I heard you were giving an exclusive to our competitor about the new renovations at the Manor. Quite deceiving knowing our history."

Emily smiled politely, feigning to care about said history.

"It's precisely knowing our history that I chose to go with someone else. I hope you won't hold it against me. Business is business and I wouldn't want to mix it with a personal matter."

"I thought we put our personal matter behind us," Margaux replied, a fake smile on her lips, "After all, it has been over seven months since your divorce and as I can see, you've clearly moved on."

And now was Emily's shot. She could blow up Daniel's personal life just as he had blown her life apart.

"Daniel hasn't told you, as he?" Emily questioned.

"Told me what exactly?" Now Margaux was annoyed. What else had Daniel hidden from her? What did Emily, the ex-wife he despised, know that she did not?

"Daniel is the father. This baby is his." Emily told the french woman.

"That's not possible," Margaux uttered trying to keep her composure, "He would've told me if anything had happened, he would've told me. He said you'd never been together again after the wedding," She tried to convince herself.

"Would he?" Emily asked her. "Does he really tell you everything? Did he tell you that on the night he signed the divorce papers he came to my house? That he and I slept together?"

Margaux was visibly shaken by the news her boyfriend had kept hidden from her. "Putain d'enculer," She said, "Non, mais il va me le faire payer ce fils de pute."

Margaux exited the bathroom, not saying another word to Emily. When she herself left the bathroom, she could hear Margaux berating Daniel in her native tongue. "Tu n'es qu'un salaud, tu le sais ça? Non, mais qui fait ça? Putain! J'ai l'aire de quoi là moi? Tu ne pouvais pas garder ta bite pour toi pour une seule nuit? Avec elle en plus? Non mais quel putain d'enfoiré!"

Maybe it was cruel, maybe she shouldn't have said it to Margaux at that exact moment, but her problems last year with Daniel had shown up just as she'd arrived in town. This was mild compared to what she had previously done to those who had wronged her. And Daniel deserved it.

Nolan had sat at the table closest to the exit o the club Emily walked past Daniel and Margaux fighting to go join him. The pair observed the couple from their table. Daniel seemed to try to control the narrative, to explain his actions and the reason why he had chosen to keep it from Margaux, but she seemed to have none of it. As she picked up her purse and jacket to leave, Daniel grabbed her arm, trying to make her stay, but she pushed him away. She walked away from their table, Daniel trying his best to catch up to her. As she passed by Emily and Nolan, Margaux did her best to ignore them. As Daniel was getting closer, Emily's satisfied look intensified. It had not been lost on Daniel that this had been some type of plan Nolan and Emily had set up.

"Really mature, Emily," he said to her, "What else should I have excepted from you?"

Daniel caught up to his girlfriend outside, and both started screaming at each other, from inside Emily couldn't understand what they were saying and to be honest, she didn't really care. Daniel had been the last one of a long list of people she had gone after for revenge, this only felt more personal. It wasn't to avenge her father, this time it was for herself.

…

Emily was at the manor the following day when she heard the doorbell ring. She opened the door, knowing well enough that it couldn't be anyone in her close circle as they would've walked right in. The door swung open to reveal the dark stature of her ex-husband.

"You had no right," Daniel said loudly as he waltz inside. He hadn't even taken a second to look at her. He was a man on a mission and he'd be heard.

"Oh please Daniel, come in," Emily said in a sarcastic tone, completely ignoring her ex's sentiments. "What can I do for you today?"

In his fury, Daniel hadn't stopped walking. He'd gone straight to what used to be his mother's sitting room. He realized in his moment that he had not been back since the night Emily had come back to the Hamptons. The manor, his home, had changed. Enough for him to be startled by it. He'd never seen it this way. The first floor of the manor had always seemed cold to him, picture perfect and exactly the image his mother had tried so hard for their family to project. Now it was different, it felt warm somehow. Less warm than Emily's beach house, but it felt more authentic. It still felt staged but also welcoming. Something he hadn't felt for this house in a long time.

"You had no right to tell Margaux about this the way you did," Daniel was furious, he wasn't yelling, but you could feel in the tone of his voice that he was losing it every second that passed by.

"She had to know, Daniel," Emily said with a fake sweet innocent voice. "You still hadn't told her and it's been weeks. It's not like I lied about it."

This seemed to enrage him even more. "It was my information to tell. I would've told her eventually, I just needed the right time" He said, his jaw tightening at every word.

"And you'd be left with the same outcome," Emily stepped closer to Daniel. "She's not mad because I told her and not you, she's mad because you didn't tell her as soon as you found out. She had a right to know, if not from you then me."

"And now you've ruined the only good thing in my life." He said.

Emily took a few steps, she was now close enough to feel him breathe. She looked straight into his eyes before going down to his lips, then his messy tie. She'd done it for him a hundred times, what was one more? She knew Daniel hated being this close to her but knowing this satisfied her. Her hands reached for his tie. He grabbed her right arm with his left. "Will you just let me do it, it won't kill you, you know?"

Daniel let go. He watched her face as she redid his tie as she'd done a hundred times before. It felt weird now. It used to be something he felt was so intimate, a demonstration of the love she had for him. correction, the love he thought she had for him, he wasn't sure it had even been reel. She still had the same focus she'd before, the same fondness could be seen on her face. When they weren't focused on hating each other, neither of them seemed to despise the other that much. Circonstene had brought them against each other.

When she ended the last knot, Emily rested her hands on his chest, straightening the fold of his dress shirt. Daniel grabbed her hand, maintaining it in place over his heart. Emily lifted her head to look at him.

"Emily, I…" Daniel started.

That's when they heard it. A man clearing his throat.

"I'm sorry, I should've called. It's just that Nolan told me you were accepting visitors which I can clearly see now," That voice could only belong to one man.

"Jack!" Emily turned around to welcome her friend.

That's when she realized she'd never told him about her pregnancy. She had never planned to keep it from him for this long, or for him to find out this way which was ironic regarding her current conversation with Daniel. She saw Jack's eyes fixed on her growing stomach. His mouth opened in shock. He had for sure never expected this when he'd decided to invite himself into her residence.

"You're," Jack swallowed, hoping it would help this new information be processed better. "you're pregnant?"

"I.." Emily was trying to figure out what to say.

"I'm the father," Daniel announced in a fake overjoyed voice. Daniel wrapped his hands around Emily's waist, resting his hands on her bump, caressing it. "Finally the family we've been dreaming of." He continued.

Jack's face changed, he went from confusion to disgust. Could Emily really be having Daniel's baby? Even just the thought of that made him want to vomit.

"I shouldn't have come," Jack said as he walked back to the door. "I'll call in advance next time. Bye Emily. Daniel." His voice broke.

Emily stood there, in Daniel's embrace as she watched Jack walk away.

As soon as the door closed behind him, the atmosphere changed. It now felt cold in this big manor.

"Seems like I'm not the only one keeping your situation a secret," Daniel whispered into her ears as he let go of her.

I hope you enjoyed it. I would've taken another 7 months to update but I broke my ankle so I had time to write it since I could not work.

translation of Margaux's insult towards Daniel:

"Fucking fucker. He's gonna pay this motherfucker."

"You're a bastard, you know that? No but who does that? Fuck! What do I look like? You couldn't keep your dick to yourself for one night? With her too? No, but what a fucking fucker."

it's prettier in French if you ask me.

Also these insult are from France, if I'd used my native Quebec insults, it would've been way more colourful.