"You wanted to say something," Emily noted.Crap! Lucas slapped his forehead in frustration as he tried to think of a way to cover up, "I'm sure he'd be better than Denver, I mean he thought his wise to clear his name despite the fact people don't know him," he heaved a deep sigh, the lie had come in handy and good enough for Emily not to notice anything strange.There was silent from Emily's end and Lucas had to look at the phone screen to make sure she was still on the line, "You know I never thought about that, I was just happy that at least the image of Belcraft group was still a little bit intact even though Denver is doing his best to break it," she said."Yeah, Emily…" Lucas began, he exhaled and continued, "I don't want you to worry about–" he was cut off track by her sigh, still he continued, "I don't want you worrying over someone like Denver, I know what you felt for him was real. Too bad he was too stupid to notice it," he said.Emily hesitated for a while at the other end

Emily's hands trembled slightly as the guard led her to the topmost floor of the hotel. The guard stopped in front of the elevator that led to the penthouse."You may go in ma'am," he ushered her in and stepped aside for her to enter.She held her breath, "Thank you…" she said as the guard gave her a slight nod and stood till the door of the elevator jammed.As she made her way to meet with the masked heir, she silently prayed that everything turned out well. Emily's mind suddenly drifted to Lucas, she should have kept a friend posted about her whereabouts that way it'll be easy to find her if things went wrong– and for some reason, Emily wasn't so scared that anything would go wrong.She brought out her phone and typed a text, she thought against it and cleared the message. This was her cross she and she was going to carry it, she chosen to come for the date, whatever comes after should be her responsibility and moreover Lucas had a whole lot to deal with and another fact that he'd b

Days quickly rolled by, with Emily taking in all the harsh treatment her father and stepmother and sister meted out to her. The punishment didn't quite hurt anymore, not when her heart was heavy with the thought of the masked heir– the similarities between him and Lucas was too much.It's just the scar Emily. A little voice taunted in her head. But still, she couldn't bring herself to let go of the intuitive thought. She made a mental note, to look closely at Lucas, she was already suspecting him, majorly for the fact that no two persons could have the same scar on the same spot.This time, before she left for college, she made sure to hide the gifts she'd received from the heir– she didn't want to get into trouble with her father or anyone else."Have you tidy up the garden and scrubbed the floor?" Her stepmother asked as she made her way to the door.Emily spun around to face her stepmother who had a scowl on her face. She nodded, "Yes ma'am…I have done everything around the house?"

"Pick up…""Huh?"Lucas tilted his head at the phone."Oh yeah…" Emily sucked in a breath and brought the phone to her ears slowly. Her hands trembled with fear."You useless filth…what took you so long to pick up," her stepmother cussed at her as soon as she picked.Why did her heart bleed because of her stepmother's words? She thought she'd built a wall made of steel around her that made her immune to their spiteful words."I'm sorry…" she apologized, even though she did absolutely nothing to apologize for.Her stepmother's scoffed filled her ears, "Come back home this instant!"Emily removed the phone from her ears and stared at the screen unbelievably, looked at Lucas, back to the screen before she placed the phone back on her ears."But—" she was about to defend herself when her stepmother angrily cut in with a dry laugh."How dare you try to counter my words?"Emily shook her head, "I'm not…I'm not…""Enough!"Emily's stomach lurched, she'd taken in everything and silently wishe

Claire's gaze went from Emily to the man and back to Emily. What the hell is going on? She questioned herself. Who was the masked man that had showed in front of her house unannounced and had asked for Emily? To make matters worse, Emily didn't act surprised when she saw him– that only meant one thing…they knew each other.Emily would act like she was innocent and couldn't even hurt a fly, but here she was moving around with men Claire wouldn't even sit at the same table with. Claire cussed at Emily inside her heart, she dared not speak it in the presence of this stranger. He might be masked and had the features of someone that would be devilishly handsome but that's not to be in denial of the aura his presence brought.He looked every shade of cruel and mean. Like one who wouldn't think twice before striking anyone who stood in his path and Emily definitely didn't want to be that person who'd take his wrath."Claire honey, is everything okay?" Her mother's voice sounded from the back