Amelia

"Stop this right now," I heard him loud and clear. My eyes looked up to see Heath standing in the doorway, and suddenly, a memory of the past flashed in front of my eyes, causing panic to set inside of me. Heath and Josephine had conspired against me. It was their actions and words that had ruined me.

"Stop! Are you out of your mind?" Josephine almost screamed those words.

"I'm not the one who is out of my mind, but maybe you have finally lost it," Heath said, moving inside the washroom and making sure the door stayed open. I looked at him confusingly as he stopped just a few steps away from me.

"Please forgive me for all of this Ms. Watson," his apology was rushed out as he glared at Josephine. "My aunt surely had grown old and misunderstood you to be someone else. I'm deeply sorry about it," Heath looked at me with pity in his eyes. Something that had never been there.

"Ms. Watson!" She sneered looking at me as if I was a pest. "Are you out of your mind? Why the hell you are giving-," Josephine's words angry and full of nothing but malice were stopped by Heath.

"Shut up if you don't know a fucking thing!" Heath snapped at her with fury in his eyes. It was hard to believe that he was showing eyes to the woman with whom he had conspired to ruin me.

"Can you both please stop this!" I screamed out looking at the diamonds spread out on the floor. I couldn't believe that something like this was happening. It wasn't them that I was concerned but the diamonds that were now all over the place.

"You stupid bitch!" I heard the violence in Josephine's voice but I just didn't care at all in the moment. I didn't care at all about her words or her trying to put her hands on me because in the moment all I cared about was Karl's feelings. These gems belonged to his family and I had let my past ruin all of it. My mind couldn't grasp the cost of all that necklace was worth. Half of it was still dangling around my neck, more than that it was the emotional attachment and importance it carried for Karl and me. I had heard the pride in his voice as he had described it to Lucien. 

"I swear to god if I lost any of the diamonds, I would ruin your whole family for generations to come," I warned looking at her making her hand freeze midair. The old me would have succumbed to fear but right now I wanted to tear Josephine to shreds. I had stayed away from her and family. I didn't even want to see her good-for-nothing family.

"Maybe I need to teach you where you belong!" Josephine's anger and eyes filled with blood didn't scare me if she tried to hit me I would have broken her wrist without regret.

"What the hell is going on here?" I heard the voice loud and clear. I froze in place. All my emotions and feelings came to a halt. Suddenly my heartbeat picked up, and the thought of my past making itself known scared me. It made me think of how people would judge me. Even if I had made a name for myself people would always judge me based on the lie the powerful weaved around me. He stepped inside and the echo of his footsteps of walking inside the room matched with the thundering beat of my heart.

"Now who the hell are you?" Josephine's sharp angry words made me close my eyes. In my mind, I could feel the chaotic moment it felt. My past clashing with my present. Who I was would no longer be my secret to keep.

"Amelia," I heard the concern in his voice as he stopped right beside me. My name over his lips made me breathe a sigh of relief and fear at the same time. I was a paradox of emotions.

"Step back," Karl ordered but no one moved. My eyes turned to look at him and all I could see was concern in his eyes. The worry that marked his face seeing me like this and I hated myself over it. I hated that I had turned this vulnerable.

"I said step the fuck back," he ordered once again turning his eyes away from me to Josephine and Heath in a tone that made me want to step back too. His voice left goosebumps on my skin but as his eyes turned to me I could see the softness over his face.

"Don't you know-," Josephine's words died on her tongue with one furious look from Karl.

"I don't think people like you require to know who I'm," Karl's response was filled with hatred. I had no idea why but he looked at them with distaste as if he understood my feelings for them already.

"Are you alright?" he asked me while bending down to his haunches. His eyes were over my face rather than the necklace that hung through my neck. He was assessing me and his hand put my hair behind my hair making me wince in pain. Josephine had pulled on my hair badly and I felt the pain down to my scalp. My eyes turned to Josephine's hand and I saw a few hair strands strangling between her fingers stuck in her ring.

Karl touched my scalp making me close my eyes. I couldn't look at him feeling ashamed of myself. I had let this happen to me. I should have fought my way out but I had let this happen. I heard the sound of him moving. Karl rubbed my scalp gently with utmost care making the pain go away.

"Lucien can you come to the ladies' washroom with some security," his words had me opening my eyes and looking at him wide-eyed.  

"Yes, it's urgent. Amelia was assaulted in the bathroom and if you don't want me to cause a ruckus enough to end the party you better come here fast. Run would be a better word," Karl's words dripped with anger but his touch was still soothing. He was a master of his emotions. His hand didn't leave my scalp. His eyes went to the necklace around my neck and then to the

"How dare you?" Josephine had to intervene taking a step forward.

"Stop it, Josephine," Heath pulled her back almost instantly glaring at her.

"Try to take another step towards us and I will make sure that you will be walking out of here handcuffed with all eyes on you," Karl's warning didn't seem empty at all. I could see it in his eyes that he would follow his words. Heath understood him and grabbed Josphine taking a few steps back. I looked at both of them. While Josephine was full of anger Heath on the other side had fear in his eyes. He feared Karl and somehow it brought relief to me. It left a sense of accomplishment in me and I had no idea why. It was like the tables had turned. 

I felt Karl's fingers on one side of my neck making me turn my head towards him.

"Let me get this off you," he spoke with a gentleness that I craved. He pulled on what was the rest of the necklace and laid it on the floor. His eyes didn't waiver from my neck. The fingertips of his assessing any injuries on the neck rather than the necklace.

"The necklace just," I tried to speak but he just raised his brow at me.

"Shh," First I need to make sure you are safe and sound," his words were too much for me because no one has ever cared for me. No one had dared to care for me or even stand up for me. Suddenly I felt overwhelmed. All through the years, I had been alone.  In the orphanage, in my married life, and all this time until I met him no one had dared to worry about me. I could feel my eyes turning moist. He made me feel safe and so much more than what I had felt.

Never did his eyes waver from me to the diamonds scattered around the floor.

"God, what had happened here?" I heard Lucien's voice making my eyes turn towards him. He stood in the doorway with a few security guards behind him. His eyes met mine and I saw worry fall over his face.

"This woman attacked her," Karl snarled looking towards Josephine.

"She attacked Amelia. What the -," he asked horrified as he stepped towards us one look at my neck and then at the necklace on the floor his face turned expressions to one full of anger.

"She did this!" Lucien's voice boomed in the bathroom, making Josephine jump. "Are you for real?" he asked, taking a step toward Josephine. I saw fear on Josephine's face.

"You........... You have no idea who she is, what she-," Josephine stammered and I could feel anger rolling out of anger.

"I very much know who she is but who the fuck are you to try to touch her. How dare could you touch someone so important? Who. Gave. You. The Fucking. Right?"

"Do you have any fucking idea what have you done? I can sue you and your whole goddamn family for trying to hurt her and trying to fucking steal rare diamonds" Lucien threatened walking towards her and I could see the worry seep into Josephine's eyes but she was like a dog caught in the corner. When threatened she would bite like a crazy dog.

"I don't fucking care. She deserved this-," Lucien cut off her words as he moved in her personal space.

"You are the scum under her feet. You understand that," he seethed at her. "I think you deserve what is coming your way. Just because your pucking little pony family sponsored this event does that mean that you can insult people and bring harm to them?"  I saw the color drain from her face instantly.

"You just sponsored it but yet everyone else had to pay to be a part of this charity event you sponsored making you think you can sit on a high horse and stomp people," he lacked at her. Heath stepped away from abandoning Josephine altogether. 

"I'm sure a million-dollar lawsuit for trying to steal billion-dollar diamonds while harming Amelia would humble you down to come begging the same woman because I assure you she is going to be your only saving grace," I saw the bad side of Lucien and though it was not for me it scared me too. There was a gleam in her eyes as if this was his revenge.

"I assure you that it will be coming your way being the owner of those diamonds," Karl spoke looking at her with malice.

"Mr. Wilson," Lucien turned to him with a smile extending him his phone. "Why don't you click the photos on this phone of mine as proof of this until you want to be a part of the lawsuit too? I mean wasn't he here when you came in here Karl." He asked turning around his head to which Karl nodded. Heath stared at the phone for minutes.

"Got to make a choice quick, Mr. Wilson, I haven't got all night." Lucien snapped at him and that got Heath moving. Taking the phone from Lucien's hand he clicked pictures one after another as proof of what had happened in the small space of the ladies' bathroom. Josephine stood there stunned looking at Heath. Somewhere deep down I felt a different kind of happiness seeing them suffering. Never had I seen them like this. All through the past they were the predators and I was the prey but now they had become the prey.

"Ah that's good," Lucien smiled at Heath as he gave back Lucien his phone. As Lucien swiped through the photos I saw the anger on his face. "You did really good," Lucien added.

"Now you can leave but first you will be patted down as thoroughly as the security can just to see that you aren't escaping with a diamond." Turning around Lucien looked at the security guards he had with him.

"Pat him down, strip him, and check his mouth too. Make sure that the search is thorough so we don't have any diamonds missing," Lucien's instructions were cut and clear and he looked at Heath and Josephine with a menacing smile. 

"Oh and also get female security down here. The culprit needed to be checked thoroughly," he added in his order to the guards.

"There are fifty-six big diamonds and thirty-eight small ones Lucien. I think you and I both know how much that necklace was worth," Karl added as he looked at the necklace. "I'm sure you will be able to retrieve all of them."

"I will make sure," Lucien's eyes turned to me and they softened a bit. "Why don't you take Amelia home?"

"Don't worry. I'm taking her back home with me leaving you in charge of getting all the diamonds back to me." Karl told him and I felt his arm move under my legs and back. Before I could even protest I was hoisted up in Karl's arm as if I were a child. Instantly I wrapped my arms around his neck feeling his warmth all around me.

"Don't worry I will. I assure you I won't mind brining in a doctor if I have to," he looked at Josephine and Heath before turning his eyes back at me. "Take care of her and we will talk when I'm back home."

"I will have my lawyers prepare a lawsuit," Lucien nodded in agreement with Karl.

As Karl carried me out of the washroom, my emotions washed over me like a tidal wave. My head resting against his chest made me believe that everything was fine. My arms tightened around his neck instinctively, as if letting go would send me crashing back into the darkness I had fought so hard to escape.

Lucien stood by the doorway, his expression still etched with fury as he oversaw the security measures being taken. But the moment his eyes moved toward me, they softened, his concern evident in the way his brows knitted together. He nodded at Karl, as if silently reassuring himself that I was in safe hands.

Safe.

The word lingered in my mind, foreign yet comforting.

I turned my head slightly, my eyes finding Josephine and Heath. Josephine's lips were pressed into a thin, furious line as a female guard moved towards her.  I could see from her expression that she was barely containing the venom she so desperately wanted to spit. Heath, on the other hand, looked defeated. His fear was real, his hands twitching at his sides as he stood motionless, watching Karl carry me away like I was something precious.

For the first time, I felt nothing for them no anger, no pain, no lingering fear. Just relief. They no longer had power over me. The past they had tried so hard to drown me in had been reduced to nothing but a lie, and for once, I was the one walking away not them. They were the ones left behind, the ones struggling to hold on to something they had already lost.

A deep, shuddering breath left me as I buried my face against Karl's shoulder. The warmth of his body, the strength in his hold it was everything I had never known I needed.

No one had ever fought for me before.

No one had ever cared enough to stand up for me, to shield me from the things that tried to break me.

But Karl did.

He didn't just want to keep me safe he wanted to cherish me. And for the first time in my life, I allowed myself to believe that maybe, just maybe, I was worthy of that kind of love.

Tears pricked at my eyes, but they weren't from sadness.

I was exhausted, and overwhelmed, but in Karl's arms, I wasn't alone.

I was loved.

__________________________________________________________

Hey, everyone I know I took a lot of time to update but I had been battling writer's block and I had to read a hell of a lot to overcome it and I'm thankful I was able to. Please let me know how you feel about the chapter. I would be really glad if you did.

Again sorry for the late update. Writer's block sucks and this one was damn long.