“What?” My voice trembles as I turn to James. “What is he talking about?”
James’s jaw ticks and his expression darkens.
“James,” I whisper, placing a hand over his heart, feeling it hammer beneath my palm.
He swallows hard, avoiding my gaze. “Remember when I told you Abigail cheated on me with her colleague, Matt?” he says.
Oh God. I think I know where this is going. My stomach plummets.
“Yes,” I answer, already dreading what’s coming next.
“It wasn’t Matt,” he says, his voice stripped of emotion. “It was Lucas.”
“What do you mean?”
“Lucas fucked Abigail.” James’s voice is razor sharp. “He was shagging her theentire time.”
I bring a hand to my mouth, completely stunned.
Lucas stands firm, but his charming and polite facade cracks, revealing a truth I’m now awake enough to see. I barely recognise him. My heart shatters for James, breaking apart at the reality that Lucas ruined his future too.
And it all makes sense.
Tears pool in my eyes as I glance between them, disbelief and hurt burning through me. “How could you do that to him, Lucas? How could you hurt your own brother like that?”
Lucas’s gaze drops, and I swear I see shame flickering across his face for the briefest second, before his jaw tightens again, a steel wall sliding back into place. “It was a mistake. I tried to end it with her, but she wouldn’t have it,” he mutters defensively.
“Really? Is that whyyourmessages were popping up on her phone?” James says.
Lucas scoffs. “Believe what you want.”
“Lucas, I really think you should leave. Please,” I say, my voice shaky.
Lucas frowns. James steps closer to me, his hand curling protectively around my waist. “It’s okay, sweetheart,” he murmurs, brushing his thumb over my hip. He looks at Lucas. “Get out.”
Lucas’s eyes dart to me, then the hand holding the bouquet one last time. He looks regretful and resentful, but I don’t flinch. I won’t dare give him the satisfaction.
“I really did love you,” he says quietly, as if those words could somehow undo the damage. With a final, vicious glance at James, he storms out, shutting the door behind him with a loud crack. The silence that follows feels suffocating. I stand there, totally stunned.
James steps closer, his hand rubbing slow, soothing circles on my back. “Are you okay?” he asks.
I nod, though the tears still burn at the edges of my eyes. “Me? Areyouokay?”
He presses a kiss to my temple. “I’ve got you,” he says against my ear. “As long as I have you, I’m good. And I’m not going anywhere.”
Chapter 37
James
I’d wondered how to approach the subject with April—if I even wanted to bring it up at all. My relationship with Lucas is my issue, and I don’t want it to influence how anyone else feels about him. He did a shitty thing, no doubt, but in the end, it was my choice to keep him in my life, however distant that relationship might be. I could choose to dwell on the past and let it eat me alive, or I could choose to accept it and find peace somewhere else. It was just easier that way. I didn’t have to like him, but I could be civil, for everyone else’s sake. Not that the prick deserved it.
This was never how I wanted April to find out about Lucas and Abigail. It’s not that I intended on keeping it from her forever, I just felt that it wasn’t the right time, and it’s a subject I hate revisiting. The woman I thought I loved—the woman I thought I wanted tomarry—was shagging my fucking brother.
Had I not found out, I don’t know if it would’ve ever stopped, or if they would’ve just kept going, my ring on her finger or no.
When I heard that April and Lucas had called off their engagement, the alarm bells instantly began ringing. Even though I hadn’t spent much time getting to know her while she was with Lucas, we communicated enough for me to figure outthat she was a kind person and far too good for him. It was clear he didn’t deserve her.
April wouldn’t end a relationship over something as trivial as lack of communication. I can tell she’s the kind of person who is all in, that she would try everything to make it work. She’s loyal. And when she told me about finding the messages on his hidden account, I wasn’t surprised in the slightest. Not after witnessing his appalling behaviour at their engagement party.
