It was the second time that day she had dropped to her knees for Daniel. Her face was still flushed with the heat of recent passion.
At that moment, the last string in my heart snapped.
My arm slowly lowered the gun. I closed my eyes tightly until the moisture faded, then turned and walked back into the house.
“Sophia, control your man. If he dares to show off in front of me again, you’ll die with him.”
Two days later, Mr. and Mrs. Hart arrived with Emily Hart.
The butler accepted the long wedding registry from Mr. Hart and handed it carefully to my father. Mr. Cole didn’t even look at it—his eyes only burned on Emily before he sighed.
“The Cole family doesn’t need these things. All I want is for Ethan to be happy.”
From the moment she entered, Emily’s gaze had been fixed on me, and I took the chance to study this so-called simpleton daughter of the Hart family. She was as beautiful as the rumors claimed, but somehow different too. Her eyes, though childlike, seemed to hold an ocean’s depth.
When Emily and I locked eyes, my father waved his hand.
“Ethan, she’s our guest. Show Miss Hart around the estate.”
As we walked toward the garden, a heated quarrel drifted to my ears.