“Hadley, this is your eldest brother, Ernest.”

“Ernest.”

“And this is your second brother, Eric.”

“Eric.”

She squeezed her eyes shut as memories crashed over her in violent waves.

Hadley’s mouth compressed into a thin line. “Eric, I’m at the airport right now…”

“The airport?” The words hit Eric like a physical blow. She was at the airport? But Phillips had scoured the systems earlier and found no reservation under her name. Why was she there? Was she hunting Linda down?

“Hadley!” The memory of her palm connecting with Linda’s cheek sent panic shooting through Eric’s veins. “Don’t do anything reckless, Hadley! Listen—someone like Linda isn’t worth destroying yourself over! You’re still young! You’re only twenty-five. You have decades of beautiful life stretching before you!”

“And…” His voice cracked with desperation. “You’ve already bled enough!” Those four brutal years in Blathe—hadn’t she suffered enough? He wouldn’t let her sacrifice another piece of herself.

“Please, listen to me. You’ll have a radiant, magnificent future—everything any woman could dream of, and more! Do you hear me?”

“Yes. I hear you.” Hadley absorbed his words in silence, a ghost of a smile haunting her lips. “But, Eric, do you know what runs through my mind as you say all this?”

“What?” Eric’s spine went rigid as he jabbed Phillips on the shoulder and mouthed urgently, “To the airport!”

Phillips understood immediately, barking at the driver, “To the airport!”

On the other end of the line, Hadley gripped her phone, a bitter smile twisting her features. “I’m wondering… when you plead with me like this, is it truly for me? Or for Linda?”

“Hadley!” Eric recoiled as if she’d struck him, his scalp prickling with shock. He denied it with fierce intensity. “Not for her! Never!”

“Is that so? Yeah… I knew you’d say that.” Hadley’s sigh carried the weight of exhaustion. “But what can I do? I can’t silence these doubts that devour me…”

g?ν.?n – ?

“Hadley?” Eric’s voice fractured with raw desperation. “What do you need me to do? Tell me.”

“I honestly don’t know.” She shook her head slowly, letting silence stretch between them like a chasm.

Then, suddenly, she shattered the quiet. “Eric, let’s just end this.”

Eric’s world tilted on its axis, his thoughts fragmenting like shattered glass. “End this?” His typically composed voice quaked like a leaf in a storm. “What do you mean by that?”

“I mean…” Hadley’s lips trembled as tears carved rivers down her cheeks, pooling beneath her sunglasses. “Let’s call it off.”

She pressed on. “Linda was right. I can’t deceive myself anymore… I don’t possess the strength to keep loving you. I once despised you with every fiber of my being. If my love for you now falls short, I have no faith to walk a lifetime beside you.”

Drawing a shuddering breath, she repeated like a death knell, “Let’s call it off, Eric.”

“No… no!” Eric’s voice cracked like splintering wood, his eyes wide with terror and raw disbelief. His throat felt raw, each word scraping like sandpaper.

“It can’t be called off! It can’t be over!”

He refused to accept it—refused to let this be their ending.

“Hadley, you’re not thinking clearly! Just wait. I’ll come to you at the airport. We’ll go home and work through this together, okay?”

“Don’t bother.” Hadley’s sigh carried the weight of finality, her fingers clenching the phone like a lifeline. “And don’t worry… I would never do anything illegal.” She sighed again and continued, “I’m just taking Elissa home to Ontmond. My flight’s about to board.”

“You’re taking Elissa home?” Eric hadn’t anticipated this, and the words tumbled out. “Fine! No problem! Then… wait for me! I’ll come with you!”

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