Chapter 9
By the time Bryce finally woke and sobered up, the sun was already high in the sky. His head throbbed from the hangover, leaving him dazed and groggy.
He was about to ask Yara where the painkillers for his headache were, but when he opened his eyes, all he saw was the divorce decree lying next to him.
He froze for a second, then frowned and opened it.
“Yara, what is this? I only had a few drinks yesterday. Do you really have to use divorce to threaten me?”
He flipped through it as he stood up, but stopped cold when he saw the names on it.
The divorce decree was real.
His expression soured. Bryce ignored the pounding headache, pulled on some clothes, and hurried downstairs. But after searching every corner of the villa, there was no sign of Yara.
There wasn’t a single trace of her left in the house.
Everything that used to belong to her was gone, as if she had never been part of his life at all.
Bryce’s face darkened, lost in thought. After a long pause, he pulled out his phone, only to see she had blocked him.
Yara had really left, but why? Had he not treated her well enough lately? She loved him so much, so how could she just leave?
As he sat on the couch, his head continued to pound from the hangover.
Suddenly, his phone buzzed with a new message. He turned on the screen to see it was a message from Yelena.
She wrote, “Bryce, are you busy? I suddenly really want that molten chocolate lava cake from Southend. Can you get it for me, please?” She followed it with a cute emoticon.
As soon as he saw Yelena’s message, Bryce dropped the thought of Yara and drove straight to the shop.
In his mind, this was Yara’s way of trying to get his attention, and he was tired of pretending to love her.
Since she wanted to throw a tantrum, he would wait and see how long it would take for her to come crawling back and beg for a second chance. Bryce scoffed and stopped caring about her.
He drove for two hours, then waited in line for half a day just to buy the molten chocolate lava cake. By the time he got to Yelena’s place, it was already evening. She looked like she had just woken up. As soon as she saw him, she ran into his arms.
“Bryce!”
Bryce caught her, his eyes filled with affection.
STA
“I got you the cake. You should eat it while it’s still warm.”
14
He pulled the cake from his coat, still warm and tightly wrapped.
It made Yelena smile.
“Thanks, Bryce,” she said.
She took it, unwrapped it, and snapped a few photos from different angles. Then she pouted and complained, “Why did you only buy one? Yara really likes this cake too, and she’s going to be upset you didn’t get her any.
“I’ll split this with Yara. Make sure you bring it to her, okay?”
Yelena still hadn’t realized that Yara had already left. She first posted the photo on her Instagram, then opened their chat to send it to Yara directly.
But the message wouldn’t go through, and Yara’s profile picture was gone. None of Yelena’s messages were delivered.
“Yara blocked me, Bryce! Did you do something to make her mad again?”
“I didn’t do anything. She left on her own,” Bryce replied with a scoff.
As he spoke, Bryce pulled out the divorce decree. He hadn’t thought much about it at home.
But standing in front of the woman he had always wanted, he couldn’t help but say, “Lena, isn’t this better? Yara was the one who asked for a divorce. Now that she’s gone, we can finally be together.
“We don’t have to be siblings anymore, just like when we went on that trip.”
He stepped closer with every word. Yelena’s expression grew panicked as Bryce quickly cornered her against the wall.
“Bryce, you’re my brother. Our family would never agree to this.”
he wanted to say more but couldn’t stop him from claiming her. When it was just the two of them, they were like a real couple.
They slept in each other’s arms every night, free to be as close as they wanted without care. They even ended up in bed together. Bryce grabbed her wrists and pinned her to the wall. His eyes were bloodshot as he kissed her hungrily.
“I told you For you, I would cut ties with the whole family if I had to.”
