“Emma,” he said in a drawling voice. “You’ve played farmer long enough. The council is impatient. And it seems you’ve brought some… distractions with you.”
He glared at Amaka with such intense contempt that she gasped. Emma stepped in front of her, protecting her wife, as the tension reached its peak. The war was no longer just about market share, but about their very existence.
“You’re wrong about one thing, Marcus,” Emma replied, her voice icy. “This isn’t a distraction. It’s the reason I’ll never come back.”
Amaka then understood that the real fight was only just beginning. She was no longer the submissive orphan; she was the wife of the stranger, and she would not let anyone destroy what they had built.
Silence fell once more over the plain, heavy with menace. What would Amaka do to protect their sanctuary? The fate of Emma’s empire now rested in the hands of the one who, once, had nothing.
