Light to Her Darkness

Chapter 7

Emma's POV

His words were ingrained into my mind. A deep terror settled into me the moment his eyes touched mine. I felt the promise of his to my bones. I knew that this time I would not be able to leave. Or maybe I would not be able to enter the picture. My eyes teared up at the thought that there can be a possibility that he will take my Lily from me. 

There is no indication of him doing anything questionable till now but knowing him, he will stop at nothing. I don't want to keep him away from Lily, she needs him as much as he needs her. But if that means I'm being erased from the picture I will not have that. Maybe I was reading wrong and he just wants to spend more time with her. But I cannot risk it. I cannot risk losing Lily after losing everything. She is all I have.

I walked through the massive doors of Cromwell&Sanders Enterprise; goosebumps rose on my body as I recall seeing the same infrastructure after almost a year. 

I reached Cassie's desk and asked, "Hi Cassie. Would you let Adrian know that I'm here? I want to meet him and it's a little urgent." Her eyes widened in shock when she saw that it was me. 

"Oh wow... Emma." Her blue eyes widened and I could see the confusion lingering on her face. She tucked her brown hair behind her ears and blinked away her confusion as she straightened up. Not knowing what to do, I gave her a tight smile.

I could understand her confusion. It wasn't hidden that we had a breakup. In fact, it was one of the messiest break-ups one could ever witness.

"Sure, just give me a minute." She picked up the telephone and called someone whom I assume to be Adrian of course. I looked down at my shoes not knowing what to do while she phoned Adrian. 

"Mr. Cromwell. There is Emma here wanting to meet you and says it's urgent." She said in an utterly professional voice while I waited for the answer. "Alright, sir."

"He is waiting for you in his office. You remember the way, don't you?" I nodded and thanked her while I carried myself to his office. By looking at the vast infrastructure of the building, it was easy to say I was intimidated. Everything about Adrian intimidated me. 

I swallowed the lump forming in my throat and took a final left toward his office. I have to get this over with. I can't live in fear that at any second, he will do something. It's been a week since his 'unintended threat'.

I took a deep breath, mustered up some courage, and raised my fist to knock on his door. "Come." He commanded in a deep voice which sent a thrill down my spine.

What is wrong with me? Why does he always have this effect on me?

Why do I have to be so weak?

I shook my thoughts away and turned the knob while entering his office. And there he was, sitting in his chair dominating every little thing in here, including me. He was sitting there like it was his territory and he was the king. Technically it was. Though it didn't help the fear that was building in my guts.

Get a hold of yourself, Emma!

"Is Lily okay?" His concern for Lily has always managed to soften me.

"Yeah," I said while nodding.

"Yeah, she's fine."

"Then what the hell are you doing here?" his sudden change in demeanor should have shocked me if I didn't know him better.

"Adrian." I sighed taking a few steps ahead.

"Is it a good time to talk?" I asked while fidgeting my hands. He narrowed his and gave a stern nod. I walked hesitantly toward him and sat on one of the two visiting chairs.

"Did I tell you to set your ass on my chair?'' I closed my eyes absorbing his insult. I should've known better. I knew something like this would happen. I knew he'd find something to humiliate me.

"Adrian, please just hear me out," I pleaded as I looked at his angry face. 

"Get up," he snarled making me shiver to the bones. My throat dried up and my gut twisted in a knot as I looked at his angry face. 

I'm here for Lily. And I won't leave until I'm sure my Lily is safe. 

"I'm trying to be civil here," I said trying but failing to contain the anger from my voice.

"Get up or get out!" Anger washed over me as I looked at him while gritting my teeth. I banged m fit on his desk as I stood up. I leaned forward as the words came out of my mouth,

"Listen to me, Mr. Cromwell, I hate to break it to your sorry ass but I'm not taking orders from you right now... You might as well get this into your thick skull that whatever the fuck you're planning to do to take Lily from me, I'm not letting that happen."

He looked into my eyes as if searching for something. A small smirk touched his lips as he said,

"Well, Ms. Parkar, how naïve of you to think that you even have a say in it. Because last time I checked, I'm still in charge."

He stood up while I straightened my back to at least try to look as confident as I can no matter the turmoil running inside my stomach. He took steps slowly while coming towards me as if he was a predator coming to catch his prey. When he was close to me, I was backed up by his desk making it impossible to find my way out.

His hands came towards me and I flinched waiting for his hand to connect my face but instead, I felt his cool fingers touching my face tucking the strands of my hair behind my ear. My heart thumped in my chest while I met his stare to see why he is doing this. His dark gaze shifted from my eyes to my lips while I visibly gulped. His fingers lingered on my face slightly grazing my cheeks while his other hand was brushing my arm with the faintest touch possible but surely enough to make me shudder under him.

His face came closer to mine and his lips touched the side of my neck. I moaned feeling his touch on me. His hands moved down to my waist while he placed another kiss on my earlobes making me breathe heavily.

"As I said, I'll always be in charge, Emma. I'll always be in charge whether it's your body, your soul, or your pretty little head." He whispered in my ears and my eyes widened realizing how he manipulated the whole situation and made me feel things that I shouldn't. He once again managed to play with my feelings just to prove his fucking point.

My eyes welled up at his words but I put on the brave mask to prevent him from seeing how much hurt his words had caused me.

"Even with my slightest touch, I can make you melt into a puddle." A pang of hurt slashed my chest as I no longer was able to hide the hurt from my face. His words were true and it caused me pain knowing it. Seeing my face his smirk faltered a little but he managed to cover it with another cruel smirk.

"Do you still think there is anything you could do to keep Lily from me?"

"I-I am not keeping her from you. You are very much a part of her life, Adrian. Please just don't take her from me."He leaned toward his desk and my nostrils filled with the beautiful spicy scent of his cologne. He reached for a file that was on the table and handed it to me.

"Too bad because I've already done that." I looked at him with a shocked gaze while hurriedly opening the file to see what the hell has he done.

The moment I read it I started shivering while my vision got blurred by the tears which were yet to fall. I shook my head vigorously and looked at him as a deep terror settled inside my stomach. I should've known he would do this. And deep down I knew he would but I was too ignorant about it and when I finally confronted him, it was too damn late.

"No." my voice was barely a whisper. 

"You can't do this Adrian."

"Oh well, now you see I can do this and I did it."

"You're snatching Lily's guardianship from me?"

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