Chapter 2
But my heart died tonight when Charlotte stood there in my robe and asked if I wanted it back.
I slipped the wedding ring off my ring finger.
The ring was tight on my knuckle and made me slightly uncomfortable.
Three years ago, at the very beginning, it symbolized the agreement. Later, I connected the meaning of home with it. Now, it was nothing but metal.
I set the ring down next to the agreement.
You don't need to send me the last payment. I've already had my lawyer draw up a waiver. My father's medical bills are all settled, I said.
Alexander's gaze faltered for a moment.
"Who paid for it?" he asked.
"That's none of your business, Mr. Ford," I replied.
He didn't like it when I called him that.
I saw his Adam's apple twitch, as if he was about to snap.
But Charlotte spoke up first. "Emma, you're so bold now. Is there someone else out there for you?"
After she said that, her gaze lingered on my ring.
"Well, that's just how it goes. A stand-in always needs an escape route," she added.
Alexander looked at me.
He didn't ask if my finger hurt or if I'd ever been wronged all these years.
He just asked, "What exactly do you want?"
I'd lost count of how many times I'd waited for him to ask me that.
When Charlotte first mailed her photos from overseas to the Ford Manor, I hoped he'd ask.
When the Ford relatives called me nothing but a fallen heiress at a family dinner, I waited for him to ask.
When Sophie passed away, he rushed off in the middle of the night to see Charlotte. He claimed she was sick abroad and left me to say goodbye to Sophie all alone. At that time, I still waited for him to ask.
In the end, I realized he knew all along. He just thought that since I took the Ford family's money, I should swallow every bit of their cold treatment.
"I want freedom. Sign it," I said.
Alexander pressed his pen down on the table, making a faint sound.
"I have a meeting tomorrow. Go cool off for the night in the guest room," he said.
He turned to leave. I called out to him.
"Alexander, I've scheduled an appointment at the county clerk's office for nine tomorrow morning. If you don't show up, I'll have my lawyer file a lawsuit," I said.
He finally turned back, anger flashing in his eyes.
"I dare you," he said.
I bent down and grabbed my suitcase.
As the wheels rolled over the plush rug by the master bedroom door, I heard Charlotte let out a soft laugh.
"Alex, she is just like I used to be, " she said.
Alexander didn't say a word. Neither did I look back.
As I stepped out of the Ford Manor, the winter night air hit me hard.
Franklin Woods, the driver, stood by the car, hesitating before asking, "Mrs. Ford, where would you like to go?"
"You don't have to call me that anymore," I said.
I put my suitcase in the trunk and gave him an address.
The address was my grandfather's old workshop.
Alexander always thought that in these three years, all I'd picked up was flower arranging, cooking, and putting on a smile at Ford family parties.
He had no idea that every night he was on the phone with Charlotte. I was down in the basement, restoring my grandfather's old engravings.
He also didn't know that the up-and-coming designer "Elara", the one overseas buyers kept chasing for her next collection, was actually me, Emma Harper, the woman he thought couldn't survive without the Ford family.
As the car pulled out of the gated community, my phone rang.
The caller ID showed it was David Harper.
"Have you got out?" David asked.
"Yeah, I'm out," I said.
"The workshop lights are on for you. The lawyer confirmed everything, and I'll go with you to the county clerk's office tomorrow. Also, I'll have the opposition materials for the Oakhurst Jewelers' old trademark ready tonight," David said.
Staring at my blurry reflection in the car window, I said, "Okay."
David paused for a moment, then lowered his voice. "Emma, don't look back."
I gripped my phone tighter.
"Never again," I said.