Rejected Heiress, Reigning Queen novel Chapter 282

Emma froze in her tracks, her eyes wide with shock. Panic flared in her chest as she stared at her phone screen—she had just dialed Carter's number.

Her brain short-circuited. With a trembling finger, she hurriedly ended the call.

"Stop joking around."

She genuinely believed Travis was just trying to get a rise out of her.

But Travis stood up, closed the distance between them in three long strides, and yanked her back into the room. Just as Carter turned back toward the entrance, Travis slammed the door shut.

Carter stood alone on the porch, a suffocating wave of anxiety wrapping around his throat.

Inside, Travis pressed Emma firmly against the door, his eyes burning with an intense, desperate sincerity. "I'm not joking. I love you, Emma. I always have."

Emma was utterly paralyzed.

She had always known Travis possessed a fierce, overbearing need to protect her, but she had always attributed it to the constant dangers they faced during their time abroad.

"Come back overseas with me. Let's just go home. Please?"

Travis's eyes held a devout, pleading vulnerability. He wanted things exactly as they used to be—just the two of them, with no outsiders intruding on their bond.

Emma shook her head, the motion small but absolute. "You're my friend. You've always been like a brother to me."

She had never harbored an ounce of romantic affection for him. In her eyes, Travis and Julian occupied the exact same platonic space in her heart.

The absolute certainty in her rejection shattered his composure. He couldn't comprehend why he wasn't enough for her.

His grip on her wrists tightened. "Do you have any idea how much trouble you've run into since you came back? Why won't you just leave? I can handle whatever mess is keeping you here. Or is it that you just can't bear to leave Carter?

"I don't get it. What is so goddamn special about him? He can't even protect you! He lets his family walk all over you, so why do you keep choosing him?"

Emma opened her mouth to argue, the truth of her lineage burning on her tongue, but she forced the words down.

Travis was too reckless. If he acted on impulse and dragged the Lockwood family into this, she might get officially recognized, but the mastermind behind the hospital switch would slip back into the shadows forever.

All the suffering she, Gillian, and her mother had endured would be for absolutely nothing.

Swallowing her defensive retort, Emma met his frantic gaze with icy calm.

"Let go of me, or I'm calling Julian."

The threat hit Travis like a physical blow. The frantic desperation in his eyes morphed into utter disbelief.

She wouldn't even offer him a single word of explanation.

His eyes were bloodshot as he stared at her for a long, agonizing moment. Finally, he released her wrists, turning his back to her in rigid defiance. "Just go."

Emma pulled the door open and hurried out. Carter was waiting by the entrance, but her mind was in such a chaotic spiral that she completely missed the pale, anxious tension gripping his features.

"Let's go."

Emma knew her decision was brutal, but leaving the door cracked open to false hope would only trap him in a vicious cycle of heartbreak.

Julian sighed over the line. He didn't exactly agree with her methods, especially since her current situation was a powder keg. Sending her best bodyguard away right now left her incredibly vulnerable.

But he also knew there was no changing her mind. "Alright. Whatever you say."

Emma ended the call and finally turned to Carter.

"What were you going to say earlier?"

Carter looked at her. Travis had just confessed his love and was immediately banished from the country for it. If Carter laid his cards on the table and got rejected, it would probably expedite their divorce and sever their alliance entirely.

He pressed his lips together, his hard-won courage dissolving into thin air.

"Are you hungry?" he asked instead, retreating behind a wall of casual concern. If someone with Travis's history couldn't win her over, what made him think he stood a chance?

He didn't dare entertain a shred of foolish hope.

While a profoundly disgruntled Travis boarded a private jet out of the country, Tobias Turner summoned Gillian Lockwood to his private villa in Garrison City.

Gillian sat straddling Tobias, her skin glistening with the sheen of their passion.

Tobias's hands mapped the delicate curve of her waist, a wicked smirk playing on his lips.

"With Travis out of the picture, there's a lovely little crack forming in Emma and Carter's relationship. I suggest you take full advantage of it."