“Don’t overthink it. Scarlett had too much to drink. It wasn’t safe for someone like her to walk home alone at night, so I brought her back here. She’s your sister, after all. It’s only natural for me to look out for her. Besides, she’s a considerate girl. She insisted on leaving early because she didn’t want you to misunderstand when you came back.”
Ambrose, usually a man of few words, suddenly became a fountain of excuses when it came to Scarlett. Every sentence seemed to be a defense, a justification for her actions.
Hazel stared at him, the man she had known for over twenty years, and felt as if a stranger stood before her.
They had grown up together, childhood sweethearts through and through. She had been by his side, supporting him through the grind of building his career. How had she ended up as nothing more than a placeholder?
The question lingered in her mind, but she didn’t want to seek an answer anymore. In seven days, she’d be gone.
She no longer had to endure it for the sake of "family harmony."
Hazel’s eyes locked onto Scarlett, and the words she had kept buried for over a decade finally slipped free, tumbling from her lips like a long-held breath.