Anah had just come out of the powder room when an anxious-looking Ember quickly pushed her back inside and locked the door.
"Look at this," Ember urged as she handed her iPhone to her friend.
Anah paled upon reading the headline. "Is she...is she alright?"
"I checked Twitter for the latest updates," Ember answered uneasily, "and they say she's still in the E.R."
Anah didn't let herself think. "Will you excuse me?"
Ember could only nod, with Anah already rushing past her. Had she done the right thing, telling Anah about Guilia's accident?
Ethan was immediately concerned when Anah asked to speak to him privately in a tremulous voice.
"What's wrong?" he asked as soon as they were away from the other guests.
After taking a deep breath, Anah just went ahead and spoke her mind. "You should go to Guilia."
He stiffened.
"I know you're worried about her," Anah said quietly. "That's why you were late, weren't you? You were on your way to her, but you turned back—-"
"Anah—-"
"Go to her," Anah urged. "I can see in your eyes you're worried about her, and I know you'll never forgive yourself for not being there if ever something..." Her voice trailed off, but the way he whitened told her that he understood exactly what she was saying.
A muscle ticked in Ethan's jaw. Anah was so damn young, and she had only known him for over a year. So how was it that she understood him so well?
"It's okay, Ethan," Anah said softly. "Please go."
A curt nod, followed by the softest kiss on her forehead, and then she was watching him walk away from her...and towards another woman.
He was the only one, Anah thought sadly, who didn't say she looked beautiful tonight.
And that said it all.
While all she could see was him, Ethan didn't see her at all.
Chapter Five
Ethan had come home.
He had only been gone for a year, but it felt as if he had returned decades older. Hopefully wiser, too, but since he hadn't even managed to resist Guilia's plea for one last fuck before leaving this morning...
Maybe he was simply damned to be an eternal fool, Ethan thought hollowly, where the woman he loved was concerned.
A cab from the airport had him arriving at his home in half an hour, and grim thoughts continued to linger in his mind as he slowly walked up the driveway. The twins were likely to be stunned to see him back, and there'd be no point hiding the truth from them.
When their parents' untimely demise had left Ethan and his older brothers vulnerable to money-hungry vultures hoping to take advantage of their youth, the three of them had made a pact. No matter what happened, they were to be truthful and loyal to each other, and it was because of that pact that Guilia's actions had left him no choice.
If she had asked him for the world, Ethan would've done everything to serve it to her on a fucking silver platter. But instead, Guilia had demanded from him the one thing he could and would not ever do. It would be tantamount to destroying the dreams of the people around him, and Ethan could not and wouldn't ever be able to live with such dishonor and betrayal.
Upon reaching the main house, Ethan found the foyer empty but heard laughter coming from the dining room. His spirits lifted as he recognized the twins' familiar voices. It would be good to be around his brothers again, and as he walked through the open doorway—-
"Ethan?"
A girl had clumsily shot to her feet, her face paling at the sight of him, and as his eyes clashed with hers, it was like feeling his entire world spin out of orbit.
Anah, he realized in shock.
She wore her hair much shorter now, red-gold locks falling just past her chin, and with a sideswept fringe that emphasized the oval outline of her face. She used to have cute cheeks that still carried a bit of baby fat, but that was gone now, along with her braces.
She was all grown up now, but it wasn't this that had Ethan's own face losing color. Rather, it was the way she was staring at him, and only now when it was all too fucked up...only now did Ethan realize that this was how she had been looking at him from the very start.
Anah was looking at him...with eyes of a girl hopelessly, desperately, and foolishly in love.
ANAH WAS STARTING TO feel scared. It was her first time to see Ethan again, and although she had dreamt of this moment nearly every night and imagined every possible scenario that could happen—-
Reality turned out to be a horrible nightmare. She had seen the way Ethan's hazel eyes turned cold and hard as he stared at her, and she didn't understand it at all. She was hurt and confused, but she also couldn't help worrying about him. He was usually this vital force of rakishly charming energy, with the kind of personality that could light up an entire room with just a disarming flash of his smile.
But this Ethan...he looked older than his years, and more world-weary and cynical, like life had turned its back on him far too many times. Could something have happened between him and Guilia again, and that was why he had come home?
Ethan had no trouble reading every expression that flitted over Anah's face. He knew his cold reception towards her had not gone unnoticed, least of all Anah herself. She had every right to be furious with him, but instead all he could see in her eyes was concern.
Foolish, so goddamn foolish.
Why the fuck had she let herself fall in love with him, even knowing he had already lost his heart to someone else? The urge to change her mind seized him, and Ethan desperately racked his brains for something to say or do
