part 77

Third Person POV

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David Sampson was sitting on one of the majestic couches in the Knights' guest living room, waiting for his daughter to make a presence.

He knew his waiting may not be met with the result he wants out of it, and that his tries to mend his relationship with the daughter he was deprived from years ago could prove futile but he was willing to try. He was going to give it his all to be back in his daughter and granddaughter's lives.

Would that atone for his past mistakes, then?

Would this effort of his atone for the mistakes he did to his one and only true love, his late wife?

Can she forgive him for breaking the promise he made to her before she died, of keeping Emma as far as possible from the lifestyle she was forced to, from the bloodshed she so loathed?

Will he be able to look her in the face in the other life?

"Father, how can I help you?" His daughter's voice brought him back from his short reverie.

He looked up to the entrance to see her and Adam entering.

"Emma." David voice was hoarse whisper, he didn't know if it was because of the memory lane he was just snapped back from or because of seeing his daughter face to face instead of in pictures only, after so many years.

Either ways, he couldn't keep his tears in.

Emma was shocked to say the least, it was the first time she saw her father's tears.

The mighty David Sampson was in tears while looking at her, longingly. It was as if he was looking at someone he desperately missed through her, and she knew exactly who that someone was.

Her late mother.

She was told that she was a spitting image of her, that the resemblance she had to her mother was uncanny.

She always thought of it as an overstatement up until now.

The look in her father's eyes told her just how exact those words are.

"What do want, father?" Emma questioned in her business tone, she wasn't about to fall for this. A few drops of tears were not enough to wipe everything off.

"How come you look exactly the same, even in behaviour. If I didn't know any better I'd say Elsa's the one in front of me." David said.

"This isn't a family reunion, father. So I'd prefer if you tell me the reason you're here instead of indulging in emotional stuff." Emma said.

David shackled endearingly before all traces of emotions abandoned his features, leaving him with an expression so stoic, one wouldn't think he was the same man who was reminiscing his past moments ago.

Emma looked at him for a while, trying to analyse him but in vain. So she opted to sitting down on the couch opposite from him, next to her husband.

"I want to answer a question of yours." He stated.

"A question of mine, you say?"

"Yes." He replied.

"And that may be?" Emma asked.

"Why I was so determined to send you back to Michael few years back." He answered.

"Michael already paid me a visit as I've been told." Emma said.

"Let's not play mind games now, shall we, daughter. I know of every single thing that happened in your life so far, even the smallest of events." David said. "Michael may have paid you a visit five years back, but he only narrated his part of the story, nothing more and nothing less." He added.

"If you're so sure of your infos why don't you answer this?" Emma said. "Why did I bomb four places in different countries?" She asked.

"Why not start with correcting you first, you bombed five places not four." He corrected. "That too, excluding your husband's place." He added.

David knew what Emma was trying to do, she was laying him a trap. She wanted to prove his earlier statement about knowing everything about her, wrong.

She was testing him.

"Why are you so sure?" She asked.

"You attacked my mansion in Turkey along with Rob's in Italy and Ester's in Germany." He said. "But because you were in a hurry to know where I exactly was, you selected two other mansions of mine just in case. In the U.S and Italy." David said.

"Why the U.S and Italy alone and not other countries? And how did I know which one of your mansions in those two country to bomb exactly?" Emma retorted.

"I'm offended, daughter." David chuckled. "You really are underestimating my intelligence." He added, humorously.

Emma just looked at him, not moving a muscle much less showing any sign of humour.

"Because you knew if I'm not in Turkey, I'm in the U.S or Italy. I rarely ever go to other countries, unless it's about business. My vacations are spent in the home I shared with your mother in Italy before I moved to Turkey, or our vacation house in the U.S." He replied.

"What question did you say you want to answer?" She asked instead of acknowledging his right answers, but her lack of comeback said everything she did not.

"I came here thinking you might be interested in knowing the answer to it, but if you aren't I can take my leave of my presence bothers you." David said.

"Let's hear what you've got." Emma said nonchalantly.

"Well, for starters, and unlike what you thought, I didn't want you together with Michael because of money." David started. "I wanted you safe and away from all suspicions. I knew Michael loved you for a very long time, I could see it in his eyes way before you got together. I could see myself through him, the way his pupils would dilate and lighten up whenever your name is brought up and how lost in you he would be when you're around. The very same passion I had for your mother, I could feel it in him for you. I was assured that you'll always be safe with him, and that he would never allow anything to harm you as long as he lives."

"He harmed me the most, according to what I've heard." Emma scoffed.

"No, he harmed himself to keep you safe. He was killing his heart each passing day for letting you think the worst of him, but the growing ache in his heart never wavered him from his goal to keep you safe, not even once. I was sure right then and there that I could never find someone like him, someone with the same passion he had for you, someone that shared the same goal as me. I did feel bad for putting him through this, for putting you both through that torture for years but it was the best option we had at that time." David said.

"You still didn't answer the question." Emma said, her expression void of any emotion. She did feel bad for Michael but she didn't want to show it, not because of David, because of her husband whose grip is about to break her hand with its force. If anyone deserves any sign of courtesy in her eyes, it was her husband, the one who indeed stood by her side through thick and thin. The one whom she can never repay if she spent the rest of her life trying.

"I didn't know of your mother's will and I didn't trust anybody to protect you from the danger that was lingering around you. Your relationship with Adam seemed way too perfect to be true, something about him didn't settle well with me so I had to bring you back to Michael where I knew you were safe." David said.

"You mean that time you broke into my apartment and threw all kinds of insults at me." Emma chuckled humourlessly.

"I couldn't come clean about it and your stubbornness wasn't helping our case with the imminent threat, so I had to try a different method." David defended, ashamed of his behaviour.

"Why did you change your opinion about Adam?" She asked.

"What I thought was a bad feeling about him at first, turned out to be just me feeling sorry for Michael that he had to endure so much for you to stay by his side safe and protected. I wasn't ready to accept him in place for Michael." David admitted. "That was until he came barging through the door of my hotel suite, warning me to stay away from you." He added.

"When did you know who he is?" Emma asked.

"As I kept tabs on him, I figured there was something about the aura around him that just did not fit the businessman everybody know, but I couldn't find it no matter how much I dug so I lasted Rob if he knew anything, and though he was hesitant, he told me about your mother's will." He replied.

Emma nodded in understanding.

There was awhile of silence before she decided to break it off. "Thanks for the information, but I'll be heading inside now if you don't have anything else to say." She said standing up.

"Daughter." He called for her as she headed to the door with Adam.

"Yes."

"Michael never cheated on you, he never slept around." He said. "All of the women you saw with him were either his friends or hookers he rented for you to think he was sleeping around, for the charade we created to be believed." He added when she didn't speak.

"So what! What do you want her to do about it! Hold him a party for his virtue!" Adam snapped angrily at the old man as he turned around to face him. His face so red with anger.

He was seriously trying to control his temper from the moment David mentioned Michael, but the old man kept on adding fuel to his already rising temper, knowingly or unknowingly, Adam did not know or care. He only knew that the old man was polishing his ex son-in-law's image in front of his wife and he did not like it. Not that he didn't trust Emma, it's just that Michael was a name he had problems with.

He did not like sharing, and this Michael dude that had his father-in-law hooked is someone he knew his Emma had a feeling to some point, despite how she denies it.

David was shocked at Adam's reaction, he heard of his possessiveness of his daughter but didn't know it was this severe. He saw how his daughter's hand on the man's shoulder was the only thing stopping him from attacking him.

"I think you should leave." Emma said to her father.

"I want to meet Gisela." David said, looking at his daughter this time.

"You're not going anywhere near my daughter until you know to control that tongue of yours." Adam said, sternly before he turned around, took his wife's hand and headed out.

"Jeff, escort the guest out." David heard Adam gives instructions to one of his men before the clicking sound of his and Emma's shoes on the floor disappeared in the hallways.

A/N

Enjoy, my lovelies!