The CEO's Secret Baby

CHAPTER 6

Daniel's office took on a much more serious look that day. That is to say, strained, considering the number of windows allowing in natural light that reached almost to the ceiling. Emily sat across from Daniel, her fingers fluttering over her lap, tense. There were hints that his perfect facade was starting to chip away: the once tidy desk was now littered with contracts and paperwork, and a glass of whiskey was left unfinished.

Daniel had not spoken to anyone since Ava's visit earlier in the day, but the aftershocks of his encounter reached as far as she was nowhere near him. He sat in his chair, looking out at the skyline, as if the answers to all his problems were mere inches beyond the edge of his seat.

In a soft, low tone, Emily said, "Daniel, we need to talk about it."

He looked up into hers, his face shut down, eyes hooded. "There is nothing to be said on the whole earth."

About anything, someone can always say something. You've said nothing since she came through the door and now she's here, trying to push a hole between us. She's here, Ava.

Daniel's jaw clenched and his knuckles went white as he gripped the desk edge tightly. "I am attending to it."

Emily nodded her head in denial. "No, you're escaping from it. If that is the case, you are excluding me.

He said, in a tone that sounded slightly irritated in his voice, "I'm protecting you." You'll never know how much Ava means and why. She's the one who

"Is it not dangerous?" Emily reproached him with a heightened voice. You are old friends! But the more you keep me in the dark, the farther she'll get on in catching up with us. You're afraid I'm too fragile to hear the truth but to be shut out of this business would be a worse pain.

In a surge of adrenaline, Daniel sprang to his feet, walked confidently to the window, ran a hand through his hair, and sat back down. Tension was riding him on the silent war he was fighting, which she was unable to perceive, even though he was sitting with his back to her at the moment. Determined to cross their divide, Emily rose from her chair.

"Daniel, please," she said in a lower, deeper whisper. "Whatever hold Ava has over you, or whatever she might be trying to do, we can face it together," she carried on. But for this, I do need to know the details.

But now there was something more, something deeper, something haunting. He turned smoothly, his eyes locking onto mine, but his face said so much more. Ava-she's not just a potential danger. She knows things. About my history. This concerns me. And then, of course, there was the fact that if she wanted to, she could ruin everything.

Emily felt her heartbeat in her chest. "What are you trying to say? Everything? Could it be that she knows this will be even more disappointing than anything she has tried before?

Daniel did not say anything for a while since the confession was too heavy. Ava was part of a contract before ever meeting you, well, before any of this happened. That would not only ruin my reputation but also the legacy that my whole family has worked so hard to establish over the years.

Emily leaned into him, her eyes widening with proximity. What kind of deal?

"I-" The breath visibly caught in the hollow of his throat. Ava's father helped me acquire Sterling Corporation right before I was about to lose everything. But the terms of that contract were illegal. If someone finds out, I could lose everything I have struggled to build and have Sterling Corporation reduced to ashes in one fell swoop.

The room was closing in on them from all sides. She tried to process what Daniel had just said, but the weight of it all settled into her chest like a rock.

She raised her voice to a whisper, almost as if she was afraid to ask, "Does Ava have proof?"

Daniel gave a nod heavy with resignation. "That's enough for her. Then, if I don't play along with what she wants."

A knot tied itself in Emily's stomach. She's going to turn you in.

"I thought I could handle her. Leave her alone. But she is relentless. She's got you hostage now that you're a part of the mess.

The pieces started falling into place in her mind as her brain tried to process it like a jigsaw. Instead of wanting to get back together, Ava was manipulating Daniel through his best-kept and darkest secret to give herself power over him in the process, over her.

"What does she want?" Emily asked, horrified.

Daniel's eyes turned even darker. She's begging me to come back. She wants me to feel that without her something terrible will happen. And if she doesn't get her way, she will destroy everything that means anything in my life. Us."

Emily struggled for breath as her throat closed. Seriously, this is just ridiculous. She cannot force you to—

Bitter, Daniel said, "She does believe that she can." Further, she said, "And I've been trying to keep you out of it, to figure out how to attempt to stop her without including you in this mess." I have been trying to keep you out of it.

She stood there, the tension between them amping up. She knew Daniel was carrying this burden and the oppressive worry Ava had for him, but even more so, she felt the gulf building between them. Ava wanted Daniel to push her away, which is precisely what he did in trying to protect her.

Emily got even grimmer. "Oppose her to succeed. She thinks she knows or can pull off is not of any importance. Together we will figure out how to beat her."

She had Daniel's attention, and the barriers he had built around him began to fall. "I want you to avoid taking some kind of danger, Emily.

"I'm already into it, Daniel. Together, we are. We can only lose if we give in to her grip over us.

With a long silence from both, Daniel bent over to take her hand, pulling her closer. "You have no idea what you're getting into."

Emily leaned back, her hand on his chest, her heartbeat racing. "I know exactly what I am going to have to put up with. Furthermore, I am not going to back off."

A loud knock on the office door resounded before any one of them could say anything. They froze in their motions. With a strained expression on her face, Daniel's assistant entered.

She said in a quivering voice, "There is someone here to see you, Mr. Sterling." Who? That's Ava.

I felt like Emily's life left her body, her blood frozen. This visit to Daniel's office sounded to me like a power play since it had never happened; Ava was never sent to his office. A feeling was there that some decisive clash was nearing.

Daniel's fingers around Emily's hand clamped tight. "Send her in," he ordered in an inflexible, glacial tone.

When the door opened, Ava all but bounced inside. With her pale blue eyes, Ava took stock of the scenario unfolding before her. A languid, knowing smile hooked her lips, and Emily could see the sparkle that reflected a killer.

"Well, this isn't going to be fun at all," Ava said with mock sweetness.