Chapter 19
“Bryce, please don’t ask me that. I love you, I really do, but I just can’t risk being kicked out of the Dalton family…” Yelena’s tears began to fall, and she turned and ran off.
Watching her disappear, Bryce felt something inside him just die. Only now did he really understand why Yelena had never wanted to go public about their relationship–her title as a Dalton mattered more to her than anything else.
Bryce didn’t even remember how he got home. It was like all the strength had been drained out of him, and he couldn’t bring himself to care about anything.
He started drinking heavily, going through bottle after bottle every day, completely losing himself in alcohol.
His friends came by all the time, trying to talk some sense into him, but nothing seemed to get through. It was like alcohol was the only thing that made the world bearable.
They would gather around, worry written all over their faces, whispering to each other as they watched Bryce.
“It’s been a month now. What’s going on with Bryce? I’ve never seen him like this.”
“Maybe it’s about Yelena. I heard she’s about to get engaged to someone else. It’s an arranged marriage set up by her family. Do you think that’s why Bryce is drinking himself sick?”
“But that doesn’t make sense. If he really wanted to stop it, he could. His father would give in if he pushed hard enough.”
“Or maybe…”
The last question trailed off, but everyone knew who he meant. No one dared to say her name out loud. The last time someone did, Bryce lost his temper, smashed every bottle in the room, and yelled at them all to leave.
So now, they kept their voices low.
“I thought Bryce always saw her as just a tool. Why would he fall apart because of her?”
“Still, Bryce hasn’t been acting right lately. Yelena’s called him a bunch of times, and he won’t even pick up.”
“I still think it’s about Yelena. She probably doesn’t want to be with him anymore.”
No one really knew the truth-
—
not even Bryce himself. He wasn’t sure if it was Yelena or Yara who hurt him more.
When he finally realized that Yelena, whom he had loved all those years, would always choose her place in the Dalton family over him, something inside him shattered. And strangely, every time he closed his eyes, he saw Yara’s face.
People used to talk about their marriage, always whispering that Yara had chased after him for seven years, and that even after three years of marriage, he’d never so much as touched her. Still, none of the rumors ever seemed to bother Yara.
After a month without her, Bryce was finally beginning to understand what it really meant to lose her.
He kept thinking about all the little things she did for him–how she used to cook breakfast, how she cared for him, how she would fall asleep holding him, and relying on him completely.
He remembered how her eyes always sparkled with a smile, how she stayed strong and gentle even when he ignored her. She was always resilient, like a little tree, no matter how cold he was to her.
But now, Yara was gone, and Yelena, whom he’d chased for years, didn’t love him either.
He felt pathetic, realizing only now who had really cared for him all along.
He tried to drown the pain in alcohol, but no matter how much he drank, Yara was always there in his mind, like an obsession he couldn’t shake, haunting him with regret.
Especially here in Jedo, he couldn’t stop thinking about the last thing she’d said to him, that she didn’t love him anymore.
How had things ended up like this?
The pain finally spilled over, and he let out a broken yell, hurling a bottle across the room. The chaos in his heart was driving him mad.
His friends tried to hold him back, but he threw anything he could get his hands on. When lie reached the wedding photo on the wall, he stopped,
It was the only photo they ever took together, and the only thing of hers she hadn’t thrown away.
He used to hate that photo, always thinking he should replace it with one of him and Yelena, right in the center of the room. Now, it felt like that single photo was the last straw that broke him.
He gripped the frame so tightly his hand shook. He stood there, completely tom apart, unable to make a choice.
His friends saw the pain in lils eyes and tried to reason with him. “Bryce, if you really want to go find Yara, just go. She really was good to you.”
Bryce stood there, stunned, his voice barely above a whisper. “Do you think she’ll ever forgive me?”
