Chapter 6
Jenna had never told Nicholas about Emmett.
That silence was not secrecy.
It was self-defense.
Nicholas treated every useful connection like something family owed him. A name became a favor. A favor became an obligation. An obligation became a demand.
If he had known Jenna worked with Emmett Stewart, he would have tried to turn her into an access point.
Not a sister.
A corridor.
Jenna knew that because it had happened before with smaller clients.
A nonprofit director.
A podcast host.
A regional investor.
Each time Nicholas discovered she knew someone useful, he suddenly became affectionate.
Then impatient.
Then offended when she protected confidentiality.
“You’re impossible,” he once told her. “You act like your little writing jobs are national security.”
Jenna replied, “Confidential means confidential.”
He laughed.
“You write words, Jenna.”
Yes.
She wrote words.
Words that raised funding.
Words that steadied companies after scandals.
Words that helped powerful people sound human when humanity did not come naturally.
Words executives memorized before stepping onto stages where millions of dollars shifted based on whether they sounded trustworthy.
But to Nicholas, writing was decoration.
Until it belonged to someone rich.
Then it became brilliance.
Emmett understood that.
He had hired Jenna after rejecting three famous agencies because their drafts sounded like a committee trying to imitate courage.
Jenna gave him twelve pages and one note.
Stop trying to sound visionary. Tell the truth clearly enough that people can survive it.
Emmett hired her the same day.
Now, in the wedding ballroom, he did not reveal her complete client list.
He did not expose contracts.
He did not turn the wedding into a public collapse.
He revealed only one thing.
Enough.
Jenna was not insignificant.
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Nicholas had only needed her to be.
Read the full story 👉 Jenna protected her connection to Emmett because Nicholas had always treated her relationships as resources he could claim.
