Chapter 92
Emerald found a way to be still and quiet, even while she sat in her empty restaurant. Since he left - he, meaning her son, Lake - she had not been able to bring herself to lift a single cutlery off any table. Perhaps, she should have asked at least one cleaner to wait behind. But there was only little she could blame herself for. After all, she did not know that the day would end with her son telling her he wanted nothing to do with her, and her falling to a chair with tears running down her eyelids.
His voice still echoed in her ears, she could still see the sizzling hatred in his eyes, burning with a fiery red and burnt orange flame that threatened to consume him and everything around him. She had melted at his stare. For more than twenty years, she had prepared over fourteen speeches to recite when they finally met. But the moment she looked at him, all those words disappeared. Emerald found herself tongue-tied, unable to utter even a single word.
All the times she had imagined embracing him and crying into his shoulders, all her dreams of a happy reunion, everything had been shattered right in front of her eyes, and it did not take two minutes.
Alas, Emerald gave up on her pity party and pushed her chair backward. She rose from the chair and picked up the dollar bills on the table, stuffing them into her pocket. She was able to clear the table and clean up the kitchen before she brought her books and calculator to a table and settled comfortably into it. In order not to think, she had to keep her mind busy. And to keep her mind busy, she had to work.
She was halfway done with the day's work when she heard a car pull up in her driveway. It was able to hear the car's noise, especially now that the restaurant was eerily quiet. Emerald did not rise, or look at the window. Whoever the person was, he or she had to be able to read before being allowed to drive such an expensive car. So, when he or she saw the "closed" sign on the door, Emerald was sure they would leave.
However, she was wrong, very wrong. She heard the hinges of her door crack, strong feet collided with the tempered glass of her doors, and the doors flung open. Emerald turned sharply, panic seized her chest with brute force before she sprang up from her seat.
Emerald clutched the pen in her right palm, it would be handy in stabbing the neck of whoever had dared to rob her. But, this was no robbery, not at all. Emerald only realized the truth when the young man dressed in black stepped into the
room.
However, that was not what caused the pen to fall from her hand. The next person to step into the room was a man she knew too well. Clad in a black long-sleeve and trousers as dark as his eyes and heart, he walked majestically into the room, like he owned the place.
Emerald's heart shrunk in her chest. She felt and saw her shoulders fall with disappointment, while her heart continued to thunder in her chest. This could not be real, she had to be dreaming.
Alpha Cole stared down at the woman. He watched her shaky hands grip the surface of the table behind her. He shook his head and forced a chuckle, while his eyes drank in the sight of the restaurant.
With an air-conditioned room, classical chandeliers, a rich mahogany table, and an interesting wine bar, it was typical three-star material. When he was done taking his eyes on a short tour of the room, he returned his gaze to her.
"You know, I never thought I'll see those ocean-blue eyes of yours again. That sunny blonde hair, as golden as daylight. Till today, I wonder why your name is Emerald and not Sapphire." Alpha Cole started. He continued to walk toward her until he stopped abruptly, right in the middle of the room.
Emerald stayed glued to the table she hid behind, she did not dare move, not even the smallest inch.
"I would not bother myself with asking why you are here, Emerald. I am only here because I have one thing to say. The next time I drive this street, this restaurant should have been sold and you should have disappeared." Alpha Cole's tone was calm, although he was everything besides calm.
Seeing her stand in front of him was an insult to his pride, and his ego. Her blank face reminded him of the woman who had chosen an ordinary man over him, again!
Emerald shook her head firmly. Tears were beginning to well up in her eyes, but she swallowed them back, even though the lump in her throat nearly choked her.
"You cannot do that, Cole. You cannot make me leave my son." Emerald bit back. If there was any time to fight against her ex-husband's tyranny, it was now.
Alpha Cole blinked twice at her before he threw his head back in mock laughter. His loud laughter echoed in the room, and even the man behind him could not help but chuckle.
"I cannot make you leave your son? You seem to be forgetting something, Emerald. When you first left him, left me, to be with your lover, I did not influence that. I never asked you to leave him, Emerald, you chose to do it yourself. You have done it before, do it again." The last statement was accompanied by a stiff glare, one that Emerald replied to with a chuckle.
"Is that what you told him?" She found herself letting go of the table. Something she did not quite understand sent her walking towards the former Alpha. She wanted to stop, but the anger in her heart won't let her.
"Did you not tell him of all the times you maltreated me? All the times you pushed me away and treated me like I was nothing when all I ever wanted to do was to care for you?" She did not stop walking until she was standing merely three feet away from him.
Even though her heart continuously pounded against the muscular walls of her chest, she stood still. At this point, she had absolutely nothing to lose.
"You filled my son's head with lies about me, but not once did you try to tell him the truth about you!" Now, she was screaming at the top of her voice. Pent-up anger and frustration from all the years she had wasted, away from her son, came flooding back to her mind with the swift rush of wind only she could feel.
"Do you have any idea what it felt like for me? To be away from my son for more than two decades?! More than twenty fucking years, Cole?! Do you have any idea?! I did not chase him, I only stayed around, hoping and praying that he would find me one day because I could never get the guts to walk up to him by myself. I never planned to speak or say anything!"
Whatever resolve she had managed to muster was shattered to dust once the alpha rushed to her and gripped her by her right hand. Emerald closed her eyes as she winced in pain, she tightened her eyelids and dug her teeth into her lower lips.
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Cole's onyx eyes burnt with hatred, worse than the one she had seen in their son's, Lake's.
She hoped to the goddess that he had not become the son of his father.
"Good. And it had better remain that way. The moment he gets even a sniff of you..." He leaned into the base of her neck.
"You run." His hot breath fanned her neck, causing her skin to crawl.
"We don't need to keep doing this, Cole..."
"But we do!" He yelled out in anger, his grip on her wrist tightened.
"We signed a contract, we had an agreement and you would not dare to double-cross me, Emerald. You know me, you know that I don't bluff. If Lake ever finds out who you are..." He pulled her closer to his chest and caught her throat in his free hand.
He clasped his hand around it and her eyes opened widely, she was struggling to breathe.
"I'll kill you, Emerald. You know I will."