15
“Brother!” I gasped.
He pinched my cheek. “What did you call me? Brother?”
“Well, what do you want me to call you?”
He pulled me into his arms, ruffling my hair. “Call me Nick.”
“When did you start liking me?” I asked, looking up at him.
His gaze was soft, full of affection. “From the first time you came to our house. I told myself that when you turned eighteen, I would go to your family and ask for your hand.‘
“Then Spencer Whitehall popped up out of nowhere.”
“Good thing he’s an idiot.”
The man’s smile was bright and bold.
So this was all his plan, all along.
When he dropped me off at home, Leo was standing by the door.
His face was pale, covered in stubble, and he had lost a shocking amount of weight.
I acted as if I didn’t see him and walked past.
“Lila.”
“What do I have to do for you to forgive me?”
‘I turned and looked at him, my gaze steady. “You might not believe this.”
Chapter 2
“This brother… you… I chose you. I begged for you.”
Tears filled Leo’s eyes. “Lila, I was wrong. Please, can you forgive your brother?”
20 07
I shook my head. “I’m sorry. I guess I’m just not fated to have a brother. The moment you slapped me for
Jenna, our bond as siblings was broken.”
After that day, I never saw Leo again.
My parents told me he had gone to a monastery in the north of the city, to pray for my well–being.
I lowered my head. That idiot.
He promised he’d be my driver for life.
That liar.
I inherited the Clark Corporation, becoming its youngest–ever CEO.
Nick held me in his arms. It was my 20th birthday.
On a luxury yacht, under a sky full of fireworks, he got down on one knee and proposed.
Sadie was next to us, crying like
fool.
Suddenly, a scream ripped through the crowd. Jenna burst forward, the glint of a dagger flashing as it flew
straight towards me.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
A shadow fell over me.
The sharp blade plunged into Leo’s chest.
Security guards tackled Jenna. Maria rushed out, kneeling in front of her daughter. “Why are you so foolish!
This is your fate! Why can’t you just accept it!”
Jenna laughed, a wild, unhinged sound. “I am the Clark heiress! Why won’t any of you believe me?”
“The clothes, the bags, the status, the money! It was all supposed to be mine!”
I looked down at Leo in my arms.
Bright red blood poured from the wound, staining the prayer beads wrapped around his wrist.
He smiled, a brilliant, radiant smile. “Lila… brother finally protected you.”
“Leo! Don’t you die!”
“Last life, you died by my hand. This life… I’ve repaid my debt.”
I stood frozen, trembling from head to toe.
He… he remembered everything?
Next life, please, don’t be my brother.
Next life, let’s just be strangers, okay?
The stars were brilliant that night.
And up above, there was one more.
(The End)
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