Page 40 of Claimed By The Other Brother

Another silence. This one is different. Charged with something I can't name. Scarlett takes another drink, then sets the bottle down on the bench between us.

"I don't even know why I'm surprised," she says quietly.

"Deep down, I knew. There was never real passion between us. Never that spark everyone talks about. We were... comfortable. Safe."

"That doesn't make what he did acceptable."

"Doesn't it?" She looks at me.

"Maybe he was brave enough to admit what I couldn't. That we were settling. That we were going through the motions of what we thought we were supposed to do instead of what we actually wanted."

"There are better ways to end a relationship than abandoning someone at the altar."

"Are there? Or would it have just been a slower kind of cruelty?" She laughs bitterly.

"At least this way it's quick. Like ripping off a bandage."

"This isn't a bandage, Scarlett. This is public humiliation."

"I know." Her voice breaks.

"Trust me, I know."

I watch her, this woman I barely know, falling apart in her ruined wedding dress. She's right—I don't know what this feels like. I can't imagine the depth of the pain she's experiencing.

But I know rage. And I know betrayal. And I know exactly who's responsible for putting that broken look in her eyes.

"You barely know me," Scarlett says suddenly.

"Why do you care?"

The question catches me off guard.Why do I care?This isn't my problem. I should be in my suite, dealing with the work issues, not sitting on a terrace with her. But I meet her eyes and tell her the truth.

"Because no one deserves this."

The air between us shifts. Something changes in the way she's looking at me.

"He always ran," I continue.

"Even when we were kids. When things got hard, when pressure built, Miles would find an excuse to leave. To pivot. To start something new instead of finishing what he started."

"And you?" Scarlett asks.

"What do you do when things get hard?"

"I stay. I fight. Ifinish what I start."

"That must be exhausting."

"Sometimes."

"But you do it anyway."

"I do it anyway."

She picks up the champagne bottle again, but doesn't drink. Just holds it, running her thumb over the label.

"I feel like such a fool. Everyone tried to warn me. My friends, my mom in her passive-aggressive way. Even Miles himself, with all his cold feet and second-guessing. But I didn't listen. I just kept pushing forward because that's what you're supposed to do when you're in a relationship, right? You work through problems. You don't give up."