The Forbidden Throb (Emma and Daniel) novel Chapter 56

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Chapter 56

Nicholas’s POV:

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I spotted her the moment I turned the corner.

Emma. Standing on the curb in her professional clothes, one hand raised to hail a cab, her profile sharp against the afternoon sun.

My hands tightened on the steering wheel.

Finally.

Since the makeup ball, she’d been a ghost. No calls returned, no texts answered, no trace of her anywhere I looked. Days of feeling like I was losing my goddamn mind while she just… disappeared.

And then Tom’s text days ago: Saw Emma getting dropped off at her dorm. Luxury sedan. Looked expensive.

The image had been burning in my mind ever since. Emma, climbing out of some stranger’s car. Emma, who’d claimed she had a boyfriend at that stupi party.

I’d even swallowed my pride and called Daniel yesterday, asked him to check the buyer list for that model–limited edition, couldn’t be that many in Bos He had the connections, the resources.

But he’d refused. Flat out.

I pulled the Porsche up to the curb and killed the engine, climbing out before I could second–guess myself.

“Emma!”

She turned at the sound of her name, and I watched her entire body go rigid.

Perfect.

I stalked toward her, my boots hitting the pavement harder than necessary. “Where the hell have you been?`

She didn’t answer. Just turned back to the street, scanning for a cab like I wasn’t even there.

The dismissal hit me like a slap.

I’m talking to you,‘ I said, stopping a few feet away. My voice came out sharper than I intended. ‘You can’t just ignore me forever.

Still nothing. Her face remained impassive, her attention fixed on the traffic.

Like I’m invisible. Like I’m nothing.

Something hot and ugly twisted in my chest.

‘Emma-

“If you have something to say, say it. Her voice was flat. Cold. She still hadn’t looked at me. Otherwise, I have a class to get to.

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Chapter 56

I stood there, the words I’d rehearsed on the drive over suddenly lodged in my throat.

She was different. This wasn’t the Emma who used to smile at me across coffee shops, who’d laugh at my jokes even when they weren t funny, wh when I texted that I was running late.

This Emma wouldn’t even meet my eyes.

For a split second, something uncomfortably close to regret twisted in my chest.

“I just want to talk, I managed, hating how defensive I sounded.

“Then talk.”

The coldness in her tone made my jaw clench.

Part of me wanted to demand answers. To ask if the boyfriend she’d mentioned at the party was real or just another attempt to make me jealous. To

confront her about Tom’s report of seeing her climb out of some luxury car the other night.

Is she really being kept by someone? Did she move on that fast?

But the questions stuck. Because beneath the anger, beneath the wounded pride, there was something else. Something I didn’t want to examine too cl

I’d come here to mock her. To throw her apparent downgrade in her face, maybe make her feel as off–balance as she’d made me feel.

But standing here, watching her treat me like a stranger, all I felt was… hollow.

“Where are you going?” I heard myself ask instead.

Emma’s lips pressed into a thin line. “That’s none of your business.”

‘I can give you a ride. The offer came out before I could stop it. “Wherever you’re going.”

For the first time, she actually looked at me. Her blue–green eyes were distant, unreadable.

“No, thank you.”

“Come on.” I gestured to the Porsche, trying to inject some levity into my voice. ‘You seriously turning down a ride in this?

Her gaze flicked to the car, then back to me. “I don’t understand what you want from me.”

Neither do I.

The thought caught me off guard.

The street around us was getting busier. Rush hour. Cars behind my Porsche started honking, the sound sharp and insistent in the air.

I grabbed Emma’s hand before she could walk away. “Either you get in yourself, or I’m carrying you. Your choice

Her eyes widened slightly–the first real reaction I’d gotten from her.

Chapter 56

She glanced at the growing line of traffic, the curious pedestrians, the phones definitely pointed our way now

“Fine,” she said through gritted teeth.

I moved to open the passenger door, but she sidestepped me, pulling her hand free and walking around to the back door instead

I paused, hand on the door handle. “What?”

“The passenger seat belongs to Megan.” Her voice was matter–of–fact, clinical. ‘I’m not interested in that kind of drama.

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