Golden Hearts |Completed| ✔

Part 40

Unedited.

Third Person POV

"Let's not forget who played who, Doctor. Annalise Emma Sampson. You're the one responsible of my cheating ways the most."

Emma stood there frozen, unable to do so much as blinking. Silence ruled over for sometime before Emma finally snapped out of it and faced him once again. "You found out, huh?" She inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"Knew is more accurate." Michael corrected. "I knew it all along, right from the very beginning." He confessed.

"And you just played along? Why?" Asked Emma.

"I found it the best way to both protect you and keep you by my side at the same time. If not you would have already been hurt from the same people you're hunting." He said.

"You resisted my hypnosis then." She assumed.

"No, I was never hypnotised." He admitted.

Emma looked at him intently for awhile then it clicked. "You used a puppet in your place." She said.

"Yes, you'd be amazed how much money can solve." Michael said. "I knew something was off about you the moment I was notified you accepted the marriage proposal my dad offered sometime back. And you just happened to accept it right after you were back from abroad after you turned it down multiple times and rebelled against your own father because of it, so I did some digging and found a bunch of interesting things." He started his explanation.

"Which are?" Urged Emma.

"I found out what you were up to the entire time you were abroad, how you completely changed from the sweet and docile Emma to the invincible A.L. I also came to know that your one and only reason to live was vengeance from the moment you found out about your mother's murder. You excelled in a lot of domains, law, medicine, and business management. You picked law so that you would know just how to use the loopholes in it to your advantage, and you chose medicine so that you know where to target of your victims' bodies if the need ever arose to use your own hands while you specialised in hypnosis to be able to extract information from your enemies in the easiest and most unsuspecting way possible, then you skipped to business management so that you will be able to destroy their life long work in a snap of your fingers. The same work that most probably lead to your mother's demise." Michael looked at her when he added the last statement, his eyes held a hint of pity and sorrow for her. "Since you're so neat you chose only the ones that would help you executing your revenge without being noticed. You even learned martial arts and raised your own army in the process. You calculated everything well, but you missed a lot of things in process." He concluded.

"Enlighten me." Emma didn't bother confirming his theories, even though they were more than just that. Whatever he said were more of facts than assumptions. Only she didn't want to give him a sense of victory by asking how he knew all that or how he was able to play her so well without her knowing.

"The most important one of them is right in this house living with you, and goes by the name Adam Knights, your husband. But that's not my story to tell neither are the other ones, I just want you to know two things or maybe three. Don't trust anyone around you, including Mr. Knights. They are not what they seem to be." He said mysteriously, causing Emma to scrunch her eyebrows together slightly. "The second thing is, you might not be the one who's playing this game after all. You may be just a pawn that's being moved around by an invisible power, so don't get too comfortable in this role play and don't let your guards down else you might get hurt." He continued with his mysterious talk.

Michael stopped talking for sometime.

"What about the third one?" Asked Emma, curiosity dancing in her eyes.

"What?"

"You said you had three things you want me to know, you only mentioned two of them." She explained.

"Oh! It's about me, so I'm not sure if you want to hear it." He said cautiously.

"I've listened to all of the nonsense before it, so I'm sure one more thing won't make a difference." She shrugged.

Michael smiled at her tenderly. Of course the Emma he came to know wouldn't admit any of what he said got her attention. "Don't believe all of what you hear and see, looks can be deceiving. Same goes with my story with my childhood sweetheart." He said.

"Quit the puzzle talk already." She said irritated.

Michael only shrugged.

"Are you saying the story you told me about your childhood love is a lie?" Asked Emma.

"No, only a small change in the female lead." He said. "It was never my current wife that I ruined our marriage for, it was-"

"Me." Emma said. "But why? Why would you do that?" She was genuinely puzzled and curious.

"I had to protect you even if it meant losing you. If we were put in the same predicament once again I would do the same thing, your safety is much more important to me than my feelings. No matter how strong they are. However I never thought that you would jump into another dangerous territory, even more dangerous than the one you were in. That's why I'm here now, please come with me. I can protect you from the imminent danger." He repeated his earlier request.

Emma opened her mouth to answer, but Michael beat her to it. "Think carefully before answering because this is the last time I'm asking you. If you decline I will disappear from your life and never show up in front of you again. Think of it as your last chance to break free from this chaos around you before answering." He said.

"My answer is still the same, I can't- won't leave my husband. Until I confirm your words I will not leave his side, betrayal will not be started by me." She answered. "But I am grateful to you for coming here, it seems like I have a lot of digging to do myself. If whatever you say turns out to be true, and I come out of it alive I will make sure to repay this debt." She added.

"I really hope I'm wrong and Mr. Knights' love for you turns out to be real and not just a charade because he's the only one who can protect you now. Even though it will tear my heart open seeing you with another, that's a sacrifice I'm willing to live with if it means you're well and well taken care of. I really wish you all the happiness of this world." He walked towards her and wrapped her in his arms for awhile before kissing her forehead, bidding her goodbye and retreated to his car.

Emma stayed in her place until his car disappeared from her view, and the gates closed. She then reverted her gaze to Müller who was looking right back at her, something about her gaze did not settle well with him.

It was as if her orbs were desperately pleading with him to prove something wrong.

Then the next moment he found himself running towards her to catch her before her head hit the concrete floor.

A/N

Hey, guys!

So the real deal just started. How did you feel about these new revelations? And who do you think Emma is in danger from? I'm sure you're quite shocked with this turn of events. There's a lot more from where that came from.

There's two or three more chapters before the first part of the story ends and the second starts.

I hope you enjoy reading this chap, and don't forget to vote and comment. I'll be waiting to read all of your opinions about the story so far.

Mi-M-Ab.