16
I refused without hesitation.
No. My parents and family are in Miami. LA… I’m done with it.”
Ethan forced a smile, his face quickly hardening.
“Lanie, you’ll regret this. You’ll come crawling back!”
“I won’t give you that chance.”
Zoe Jackson 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?”
He’d 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.
I 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 roof?
Especially since Qiana seemed interested.
I figured they were just adjusting to my absence.
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 turmoil in Ethan and Mason’s minds. What had they accomplished?
They’d been too late.
Why had I gotten married?
They recalled my earlier hesitation when they’d hinted at their feelings.
They’d seen my internal struggle.
I was torn then.
I didn’t want 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.
4
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< 16
That’s when Qiana appeared.
Her facade was thin; a little investigation revealed her family wasn’t as impoverished as she claimed.
She came from a small village; her parents worked away from home, poor but managing to send her to college.
They even paid for her art and design education.
She’d transferred her residence to the university.
After graduation, Qiana borrowed a significant sum of money from home, severing ties with her family.
She’d latched onto me after working.
Ethan 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.
