Chapter 24

The words tore out of my throat, raw and desperate. I didn't care how I sounded anymore. I didn't care about dignity or pride or any of the things that had once mattered to me. All I cared about was Sophia my Sophia and the terrifying possibility that I was losing her forever.

Taylor let out a sharp, mocking laugh a sound completely devoid of warmth. She rose from her chair slowly, deliberately, her palms flat on the desk as she leaned forward.

"Are you out of your absolute mind?" she asked, her voice low and dangerous.

"Who was it that pushed her into my life with your own hands, Andrew?" she countered, her voice dropping into a lethal whisper. "Who threw her away like garbage?"

The words hit me like a physical blow, and I stumbled backwards, my face draining of colour. She was right. She was absolutely right, and I hated her for it.

"I... I didn't mean to!" I stammered, my bravado cracking as I desperately tried to justify myself. "I just... I thought it was a joke at first! But then... today at the restaurant... I saw you two being so intimate right there at the dinner table!"

The memory flashed before my eyes Sophia's hand in Taylor's, their heads bent together in quiet conversation, the way Taylor had fed her a bite of dessert with such tender care. It had made me sick to my stomach, and yet I hadn't been able to look away.

My chest heaved as the ugly truth clawed its way out of my throat.

"I'm so jealous, Taylor!" I screamed, losing whatever shred of dignity I had left. The words echoed off the glass walls, raw and pathetic. "Besides, I'm your little brother, after all! How could you take the woman that's mine? You can't do this to me!"

I yelled at the top of my lungs, my voice cracking with desperation. I was acting like a child; I knew that but I couldn't stop myself. The jealousy, the rage, the fear it all came pouring out of me in an ugly, unstoppable torrent.

And just like that, Taylor snapped.

In a terrifying blur of motion, she stood up so violently her chair slammed back against the wall. Before I could even blink, she swept her arm across the desk, grabbing the heavy stack of financial papers she had been working on and hurling them directly at my face.

Thwack!

The sharp impact of the heavy folders slammed hard against my chest and scattered across the floor in a chaotic mess of white pages. I looked down at the wreckage she had created the papers strewn everywhere, the folders bent and crumpled and then back up at her, my breath catching in my throat.

"You are not worthy of being my brother at all!" Taylor snarled, pointing a steady, rigid finger straight at my chest, her eyes blazing with an unholy fire. Her voice was low and deadly; each word was a dagger aimed straight at my heart. "So let me make this crystal clear for you: if you ever dare to mention pursuing Sophia again if you even breathe in her direction don't blame me for kicking you out of the family entirely and stripping away every single cent, title, and privilege you possess."

Her voice didn't waver. Every syllable was soaked in absolute, terrifying conviction. She meant every single word.

I stared at her, my mouth opening and closing like a fish gasping for air. I had never seen her like this never seen such raw, unfiltered fury in her eyes. She wasn't bluffing. She would do it. She would destroy me without a second thought, and she wouldn't lose a single moment of sleep over it.

A sudden, reckless wave of desperation washed over me. The lies I had been telling myself finally shattered under the weight of my own misery. I had been pretending that Sophia still loved me, that she would come back to me, that everything would return to the way it was before. But looking at Taylor now at the fierce, unwavering protection in her eyes I realised the truth.

I had already lost her.