The Choices We Make (Revenge)

New Life

Grayson Manor, Hamptons

It was very early in the morning when Emily snuck silently on tiptoes down the stairs. If someone would catch her now, her plan to meet Nolan, would be ruined. Beforehand, she had made sure that everyone was still asleep before she got dressed to follow her purpose. She opened the front door and then ran until she reached Nolan's villa. Relieved, she realized that he was already waiting for her.

"You came," he said, greeting her, and offered her a lounger at his huge swimming pool.

"Of course I came," she replied, somewhat puzzled and made herself comfortable. "I want answers."

"I'm not sure what I should tell you," he said hesitantly.

"All you know," she suggested.

"That's a lot." He lifted his eyebrows. "Well, let's start with Aiden ..." He cleared his throat. "about your question from yesterday ... yeah, you two were a couple."

She nodded. "I thought so."

"You did? I didn't say anything to you yesterday," he said, surprised.

"Exactly. What you didn't say confirmed my suspicions." She looked at him, frowning. "I wanted to run away with him, right?" She saw his nod and continued. "How so?"

Nolan took a deep breath. "You really want to know? Well, then I have to start all over again ... "

And he told her about David Clarke, her father, and that the Graysons had been responsible for his imprisonment and later murder. She learned of her desire to take revenge and how she and Emily Thorne had changed their identities. He also told her how she had wormed her way into Daniel's family, and that he and Aiden, whom she knew from Rebun Island, had helped her. When he had finished speaking, she sat there as if paralyzed.

"Emily, are you okay?" Nolan asked, looking worriedly at her.

She shook her head slightly and looked at him. "It's as if you had told me the story of a super-exciting thriller," she said softly. "I can't believe it's my story, my life."

"You really can't remember anything?" He asked, frowning.

"No." She shook her head. "Nothing at all."

"What are you going to do with this information?"

"I don't know." She shrugged. "Do I want to do anything with it at all? I don't feel that way anymore. I don't have a desire for revenge. I just want to know who hated me so much that he or she shot me." She looked up at him. "Do you know who it was?"

He shook his head. "I'd like to help you, but no. Conrad Grayson's mistress, Lydia Davis, left the country shortly thereafter. It is rumored that she was the shooter."

"Do you believe that?"

He shrugged. "My bet was on Victoria. But she has an alibi because she was below deck when they heard the gunshot."

"That was the plan, right? To frame Victoria for murder?" She tried to reproduce details from his story.

"Yes, that was the plan. You should fake your death and put the blame on Victoria. With that you wanted to destroy the Graysons once and for all."

"Seems that didn't go according to plan," she said bitterly.

He nodded. "No, not exactly. Someone was quicker."

"My God, what kind of person I have been! No wonder someone wanted to kill me." She looked at him thoughtfully. "I still can't believe I really intended to leave Daniel."

He looked at her sympathetically. "You really have feelings for him, haven't you?"

She nodded hesitantly. "Is it that obvious?"

"I'm a good observer." He smiled. "Yes, it is obvious. And if you ask me, I'm sure he has feelings for you too."

"Was anything real?" She asked.

Nolan nodded. "Yes, at the very beginning of your relationship. You really loved him, though you weren't aware of it." He scratched his forehead thoughtfully. "Your teacher and mentor, Takeda, had known it." He looked at her waist. "The baby you're expecting," he began hesitantly. "It's Daniel's, isn't it?"

She nodded. "That's the reason why I don't want to be the Emily or better Amanda I was before. I want to have an honest relationship with Daniel." She looked at him wide-eyed. "He was always honest with me, wasn't he?"

Nolan looked at her thoughtfully for a moment before he answered. "Well, if you want to know if he cheated on you .."

She nodded.

"Well, there was a girl he knew from before, Sara," he began. "I don't know how serious it was. He broke up with her after you had told him that you were pregnant."

She placed her hand on her stomach. "I lied to him knowingly?" She asked incredulously.

Nolan nodded in agreement. "You gave him a fake ultrasound image to make it believable."

"And it was not a lie," she said softly, looking up at him. "I was really pregnant."

"Yes, but you didn't know it then," Nolan said. "Maybe everything would have been different if you had known. I think that Aiden wouldn't have had a problem raising a child that was not his own because he really loved you, but I think you had a problem with that." He stopped in the middle of the sentence and looked at her thoughtfully. "After losing your father so soon, you wouldn't have been able to withhold the baby from his father."

"Probably not ..." She looked at his wrist and the watch he wore. "Oh my God! Is it already that late?! Have we talked all the time?" She jumped up. "I have to go! They have probably already noticed that I left."

Nolan also rose. "What do I tell Aiden when he calls?" He inquired.

She shook her head sadly. "I don't know. I owe him my life. But I don't feel more than gratitude for him."

Nolan nodded and then pulled the box with the rings out of his pocket. "He asked me to give you this."

She recognized the rings immediately, she had first seen at the beach house on the Maldives and later in one of the wedding pictures, that had been published on the Internet. "My engagement and wedding ring!" She exclaimed, taking them into her hand cautiously.

Nolan nodded. "They are yours. Of course he hopes that you will come back to him. But I understand that you can't do this anymore, because of your feelings for Daniel."

"I never intended to hurt him. But I can't live with him when I love someone else." She held the rings tightly in her hand.

"Danny-Boy can be really lucky," Nolan said, grinning. "He almost lost everything, and now he's going to get it all back twice, you, the baby ..."

"I really want to start a new life, Nolan," she said with a serious expression. "I want to leave it all behind me and start again as Emily Grayson. I have no desire to take revenge. I think it's time to let it rest."

Nolan nodded. "Sounds like a plan. And of course I'm still there for you if you need me."

"Thank you, Nolan!" She squeezed him and let the rings slide into her trouser pocket. "You're truly a good friend."

"I'm trying," he grinned, and returned her embrace.

"I have to go now, but we'll keep in touch," she promised.

"Go then!" He gave her a slight slap on the butt. "See you around!"

She ran as fast as she could, along the beach, back to Grayson manor.