Emily’s POV

"Let him come," Daniel had whispered into my hair.

The sun had barely risen over the trees, casting long, golden beams across the timber floors of the hidden living room. Daniel’s thumb stroked my shoulder, trying to soothe the fierce tremor running through my spine.

"He's going to ruin you, Daniel," I sobbed, clutching the front of his grey t-shirt. "My dad... he hates my mother, but he hates you more. He thinks you took advantage of me!"

"Noah Carter doesn't think," Daniel said coldly, his silver eyes fixed on the forest outside the floor-to-ceiling windows. "He reacts. He abandoned you eleven years ago to hurt Victoria, and...