Letting go was definitely hard, but holding on was so much harder. That was why I had already made my decision to leave and let Jake go. I have caused a lot of damage to so many people and I couldn't take it anymore. I had conned a lot of people throughout my life, and I had done a lot of things that I was absolutely not proud of. But this was the first time ever that I felt this kind of guilt and rage upon myself.

I really loved Jake, but I manipulated and lied to him. I knew that he was going to be really hurt when he would know the whole truth and that would even hurt me more than it would hurt him, but that was something inevitable.

I have decided to leave New York once and for all. Eric was also coming with me; it wouldn't be safe for him to stay in New York after I tell Jake the truth. I felt really bad and sorry for him, he was also starting to build a life here in New York, and things with Alice were going perfectly. Now, he was forced to leave the country with me because of the mistakes I had done that wouldn't allow us to step a foot in the city that never sleeps, ever again.

We have made all of the arrangements that were required for us to leave the country. We have booked a private jet, we would be using aliases, and fake passports as our names couldn't be on the passenger's list. I was sure Jake will do everything possible to find me after getting to know the truth.

Now, the two of us were preparing our suitcases and double-checking everything we needed to successfully get out of the country.

"Hmm... Adrian Kingsley," Eric said, checking his fake passport. "That's a good alias."

"I'm really sorry, Eric." I sighed. "If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't be forced to leave New York."

"No, it's not just because of you," Eric said. "Both of us know that staying forever here in New York was more like a miracle. There are too many hassles here."

"It wouldn't have been a miracle if our last heist hadn't had so many troubles that followed after it," I said, giving him a slight fake smile.

"Winds do not blow as the vessels wish, I guess." Eric sighed, then he looked at me. "But I know it's harder for you, I know how much you wanted this life, and how much you loved Jake."

"I was living a lie, I should have listened to you from the beginning," I sighed. "I shouldn't have gotten so attached to Jake. I really should have walked away from the very first time."

"Do you really believe that leaving New York and giving up on your life here is the right thing to do?" Eric asked, looking at me straight in the eye.

"There's no other option, things with Jake will come to a dark end inevitably if I didn't end everything now," I answered, "And, it might be my payback for all the things that I have done to him."

"You can always start fresh somewhere else," Eric said, giving me a sympathetic look.

"Yeah, but then Emma Lawrence will have to become a memory for me." I shifted my gaze, so he wouldn't be able to see my change of expressions. I knew that once I tell Jake, he would do everything within his power to find me and that included keeping track of me everywhere with the help of Interpol, of course. I would have to continue my life with aliases and fake identities.

Oh God, I really screwed up hard this time.

Eric sighed before he asked. "How are you going to tell him and when?"

"I will write him a letter in which I will tell him everything, and I will make sure that he receives it after our plane takes off," I answered him. I had to make sure that I was totally out of reach when he receives my letter which would include a full confession about everything since the day of the heist.

Eric looked at me with sympathy, but he didn't add anything else and returned back to putting things in his suitcase. Then his phone buzzed indicating that he had received a message.

"Good. They are telling me that our private plane is ready," he told me before I got the chance to ask. "I will go check it out and make sure that everything is okay."

"Alright," I said.

"We will start getting ready when I come back because we have to leave before dawn. So make sure that everything here is prepared," he told me while putting his jacket on.

"I will," I assured him. Then, he sent me an encouraging smile, telling me that everything would be okay before he left the apartment.

I sat on the couch, and immediately thoughts about Jake overwhelmed my mind. I haven't heard from him lately, and I told him that I would be really busy these days because of things related to work, so we didn't talk that much. It was better this way because I wouldn't have handled him being so close to me at this time. What I did to him really hurt me and leaving him also would hurt me, but it was one of the best scenarios of what could happen. It was better this way for both of us.

I sighed and decided that it was probably time to write my letter. I grabbed a pen and a paper before I started to think about what I was going to write. I didn't know how to transfer everything that happened into words, like what am I going to write? Maybe I would just go with... 'Dear Jake, I'm really sorry but do you remember that thief you were going after and trying to catch all this time? Guess what? She was no one but me'.

I sighed and put my head in my hands, I was desperate. I took a deep breath and tried to force myself to think clearly before I grabbed another paper. I was about to write something on the paper but a sharp knock on my door stopped me.

I groaned as I went to open the door. Indeed, Eric has forgotten something and had to come back for it. I was about to snap at him when I opened the door, but I froze and my eyes widened because the person standing in front of me wasn't Eric. Instead of him was Jake, standing there with blank expressions on his face. His blue eyes were looked so much darker. Something about him was different, and it scared me.

"J—Jake," I uttered. I was also surprised by his presence. He always told me before he visited. I swallowed hard. "Hey. You didn't tell me you were coming?"

"I guess I just wanted to surprise you," he said coldly, and his voice sent shivers through my spine. He stepped inside the apartment, leaving me with wide eyes, and an uneasy look on my face at the doorway.

I realized what happened and closed the door before I joined him in the living room. To make things worse, the suitcases were there. Thank god, Eric took the fake passports with him.

"You were leaving?" Jake asked with a raised eyebrow, motioning toward the suitcases.

Something was definitely wrong with him. Besides, his presence was making everything so much harder for me. I swallowed hard before I answered him. "Um... Eric and I were thinking about visiting our parents."

He didn't say anything, but he sent me a look that I had never seen on his face before, and it scared the hell out of me.

What the hell was going on?

He crossed his arms and looked at me coldly. "So, Emma, I haven't asked you before about your opinion on the Corridor in the Asylum painting. You are an art expert, aren't you?"

It took me a while to realize what he had just said, and when I did my heart almost stopped, and I felt like I had received a hundred punches toward my stomach. My eyes widened and my mouth became dry like I had just swallowed a ball of cotton.

He knew...

But how? That didn't really matter now. What I was scared of the most just happened, everything was over. The damage was done and the broken pieces could never be collected or put together again. I felt like I was going to break down, but I pulled myself together as much as I could. I did that to myself, after all.

"How could you do that?" he asked, breaking the silence. "How could you perfectly fake everything up that much? Including your feelings."

Words left me. I stared into those bright blue eyes burning with anger, and my heart fell silent. But I had to say something, I knew silence was not going to fix things up. Actually, at this point, I knew that nothing would be able to fix things up.

I took a deep breath. "Things would have been so much easier if my feelings toward you were fake," I said, smiling bitterly. He didn't say anything and continued to look at me with cold, glassy eyes. "My biggest mistake was falling so hard for you. That wasn't supposed to happen, but I couldn't really help myself." Tears were burning in my eyes but I pushed them away as much as I could. This was the consequence of my actions, and I had to bravely face it.

"Really?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. "Just imagine my reaction when I realized that the girl I'm in love with has been using and manipulating me, all this time. And she has been lying and pretending to be someone else, but in fact, she was the thief I have been trying to catch, all this time. You also enjoyed seeing me struggle with the case, and wonder why everything I did seemed to fail," he spat between gritted teeth. "Do you even feel any kind of remorse for what you did!"

He was now letting his anger show and was waving his hands in frustration. I could never blame him, I caused a lot of damage to him and hurt him badly. I was feeling worse myself, I knew exactly how he was going to react but I didn't want to see him like that because I knew that I was the reason for his pain.

"It was too late when I realized all of that, I was going to tell you but you beat me to it," I told him without looking at him directly in the face. I took a deep breath before I finally looked at him. "I know that my list of sins is a little too long to ask for forgiveness, but I'm really sorry, Jake."

"You are right, Emma. It's already too late," he said before he took out a pair of metal handcuffs from his pocket.

I took a long deep breath and straightened my body before I faced him with the last amount of courage I still had left in me.

He looked at me in the eye for a couple of seconds, then he walked until he was behind me and facing my back. "Emma Lawrence, you are under arrest. You have the right to remain silent," he said as he gently slapped the handcuffs on my wrists with my hands behind my back.

He started escorting me silently to his car. I never really thought that things would evaluate to this point when I started with my plan. I always believed that I was capable of getting myself out of the worst of situations but obviously, I didn't know what I was doing this time. I was just deluding myself just like I deluded everyone else. This time, I have dived too deep; too deep that I wasn't able to see the light on the shore anymore.