Escape from Mr. Whitman (Emma and Theodore) novel Chapter 264

Emma stared at the face before her, an overwhelming weariness settling over her like a heavy fog. She was so tired—so impossibly tired—that she could barely remember what Theodore had looked like at sixteen.

“Theodore, just go.” Her voice was flat, drained.

“Emma, come back with me,” Theodore insisted, refusing to budge. “I know you’re angry, but you can’t keep punishing yourself like this. I know you want to dance, but you can’t anymore…”

Emma’s gaze hardened, fixed on him with an icy determination.

“Am I wrong?” Theodore pressed, frustration creeping into his tone. “The doctors have already made it clear. You’re letting that guy Sebastian fill your head with empty promises—he’s just using you, Emma! Look at you, you’re all skin and bones. What happens if you get hurt again? Stop forcing yourself to do the impossible. I’ve told you before: you don’t have to do anything—you’ll always be Mrs. Whitman.”

“Shut up!” Sebastian snapped from the sidelines, his patience finally snapping.

Theodore shot him a dismissive glance but didn’t let go of Emma’s hand. “Emma, that’s enough. You’re mad that I left you alone, so I flew halfway across the world to find you. You stormed off without a word, and I’ve come again and again to bring you home. I’ve put up with your anger, your stubbornness—surely that’s enough.”

Emma stared at his tense, veined hand gripping her wrist, making no move to pull away. His tone left her feeling suffocated.

“Theodore.” Her voice was so quiet, so calm, she could have been talking to a stranger. “To be completely honest, these past ten days away from you have been the happiest I’ve had in five years.”

She saw it hit him—a crack in his eyes, something shattering deep inside.

Emma knew he didn’t believe her.

He couldn’t accept that the woman who once trembled before him, who loved him so desperately she would have given up anything, could say something like that. In his mind, she was always supposed to beg him to take her back. Without him, how could she possibly survive? Wasn’t that right?

But, Theodore, that’s not true anymore.

She had to call him several times before he seemed to come back to himself.

“Theo…” she hesitated, unsure.

“What is it?” Theodore’s voice was distant, as if waking from a dream. He started to walk away.

“There’s something I’m not sure I should say,” Cecilia ventured.

“Just say it.” Theodore sounded utterly disinterested.

“I know what’s going on in your head,” Cecilia sighed. “You’ve always felt you owed Emma, that it was your fault she couldn’t dance anymore. But Theo, you’ve already repaid her a hundred times over. You gave her the best five years of your life. You’ve given her so much money, so many homes. Without you, would she have been able to just pack up and move abroad like this?”