Chapter 217 - Heart Attack

After freshening up, they arrived at the huge lunch Lara had arranged on the patio as it was a beautiful day, worth enjoying. 

Later, Santiago dropped Emma and Alicia at Killian's house that was just five minutes away from his own. 

A housekeeper was there to welcome them. She greeted the ladies and took them inside. It was already dark and they were retiring to bed as they were tired from travelling. 

When Emma and Alicia were in the living room alone, it felt like one could cut the tension between them with a knife. 

"Thank you," Emma murmured as Alicia walked to withdraw the curtains. 

Alicia snorted at her and gave her a dirty look. "For what? Spending another day without killing each other? I think I am doing a pretty good job not murdering you."

How could she forget Emmaline Costas? This wickedly yet beautiful barbie doll was her teenage nightmare. How could she forget that this woman forced her to drop out of college? 

"Look Alicia, I know you don't like me," Emma said with exasperation. "And you are tolerating me because I am Killian's wife. Thank you for not spilling out to Killian that we are the arch enemies that no one would wish to have. I couldn't imagine his stress when he would have once he gets to know his wife and the sister he loved the most are enemies and had a bad past." 

"Emmaline Costas! Do you at least regret what you did to me?!" Alicia asked her. Her eyes blazing with indescribable hatred. "I was a teenager who grew up without an ounce of love. You know how difficult it is for a girl like me to attend college? I worked my ass off in high school and got a full ride into college. But what happened in the end? I dropped out. You sure were banned from campus but your minions made my life hell. You only cut my hair but they cut my confidence and killed my soul." 

Emma suppressed the sob from escaping her throat. "I'm sorry, Ellison. I couldn't recognize the woman I was then. I regret it. I regret it a lot. I feel ashamed for what I did. But what could I do? I had loved him with every fibre that constitutes me. I had made sacrifices beyond words for him." 

"But he didn't love you, " Alicia whispered. She couldn't hear this woman say that she loved her husband. No, she couldn't hear anyone say that she loved her husband. She was very possessive and territorial. "You had no right to love a man who doesn't belong to you." 

"He doesn't belong to me now," Emma whispered, wiping her tears. "But he did once upon a time. We were engaged, Alicia. Not for a year or two but more than a decade. He was unfaithful to me that's why I left him on the altar. You are right, he does love me. He never loved me." 

Alicia's wide eyes looked at him in horror. She felt her legs wobbly as she clutched her chest in pain. 

"Alicia!!" Emma shouted when she saw how Alicia fell to the ground. She patted her mouth. "Say something." 

But the latter didn't say anything but just clutched her heart in extreme pain. Her forehead was sweating and her eyes were fluttering. 

"Alicia, please say something," Emma cried. She didn't know what was happening to her. 

"It hurts," Alicia whispered as tears trickled down her face. "Take care of my Emy. Please."

At this moment, Emma knew that something was not right with Alicia. She shouted at the housekeeper to call an ambulance. And in the next ten minutes, an ambulance was out taking Alicia. Since she was the only one at home along with the housekeeper and other servants, she asked them to send Emy to Persephone's house straight away. And called Santiago on the way. 

"What happened to her?" Santiago asked as soon as he saw Emma. 

"Doctor said it's a heart attack," Emma whispered. She was trembling badly. 

"Heart attack," Santiago repeated the words as if he couldn't believe them either. "How does it even happen?"

Instead of telling him, she burst into tears. "It's all my fault. I shouldn't have provoked her." 

"Emma, will you at least tell me what happened?" Santiago said. He couldn't understand how a woman who was laughing with them a few hours ago suddenly had a heart attack. And now Emma was saying that it was her fault. 

"Alicia and I share a bad past. Before you ask, what does it mean? She and I know each other from before," Emma told him, wiping her tears. "No one knows. And she didn't tell anyone either because she was trying to protect Killian and my marriage. When Alessandro Marino sent Salvatore to college in Nevada, she was a freshman there and he liked her and I was jealous. I made her life hell." 

"Emma, please tell me you didn't tell her anything about your relationship with Salvatore? Or Isabelle's?" Santiago demanded immediately. 

"I told her that I left Salvatore on the altar because he was unfaithful to me and I regret what I did to her and ashamed too," Emma said looking at his tensed expressions. 

"Emma, Salvatore and Alicia are married and have been for years," Santiago dropped the bomb. 

Emma was so shocked that she forgot breathing for a moment. "What?! How is it even possible? He was engaged to me? And now married to Belle? Wait, does it mean Emy is his daughter?"

Santiago nodded his head. Emma collapsed on the chair. "He not only betrayed me but her too. She has been in the dark all this time." 

He was about to say something when the door opened and a doctor came, "Who is the patient's family?"

"Is she alright, doctor?" Santiago asked. 

"Does Miss Palmero have any history of heart disease? We need to study her medical history.. For now, all I can say is that it was the biggest mistake on your part to provoke a patient who seemingly had a heart disease."