16
I refused without hesitation
“No. My parents and family are in Miami LA… I’m done with IL”
Ethan forced a smile, his face quickly hardening
Lane, you’ll regret this. You’ll come crawling back!”
I won’t give you that chance.”
ZoeJackson gestured, and the bodyguards subdued Ethan and Mason, binding their hands and feet before loading them onto a helicopter.
Witnessing this decisive action, a flicker of apprehension crossed Zoe Jackson’s face,
“Lanie, does this scare you? Do you think I’m too forceful, not gentle enough!”
Hed risen to the top of the Jackson family using less–than–gentle methods.
He didn’t want to display this side of himself to me
1 looked at him
In that moment, the distance between us seemed to shrink.
I shook my head, smiling
“Why would it? This is perfect”
Two less trouble could be better…
I hadn’t expected Ethan and Mason to follow me.
I’d imagined that without my interference, they’d pursue Qiana openly.
Wouldn’t they end up together, living under the same rooft
Especially since Qiana seemed interested.
absence
I figured they were just adjusting to my abse
People get attached to things; a photograph kept for years, a person shared with for over two decades.
It’s natural to feel a sense of loss when that changes.
But time heals all
I went home with Zoe Jackson
On the helicopter, the roar of the engine mirrored the turmed in Ethan and Mason’s minds. What had they accomplished?
They’d been too late.
Why had I gotten married?
They recalled my earlier hésitation when they’d hinted at their feelings,
They’d seen my internal struggle.
torn then.
I didn’t wam to hurt either of them.
Choosing one would deeply wound the other.
That’s why I’d delayed making a decision.
I’d even preferred maintaining a platonic friendship.
My feelings for either of them hadn’t reached the point of true love.
Ethan and Mason understood that
They didn’t want to ruin their friendship.
So they decided to force my hand.
hat’s when Qiana appeared.
er facade was thing a little investigation revealed her family wasn’t as impoverished as she claimed
he came from a small village, her parents worked away from home, poor but managing to send her to college.
hey even paid for her art and design education,
he’d transferred her residence to the university,
fter graduation, Qiana borrowed a significant sum of money from home, severing ties with her family.
he’d latched onto me after working
than and Mason had only planned to use her as a catalyst, to make me jealous and confront my feelings, forcing me to choose one of them.
