Chapter 2

Adam stood in front of me.

"I told Mike not to come." His tone wasn't harsh. If anything, it carried a hint of negotiation.

His words hit me like a bucket of cold water. "What did you say?"

"Mike is the Harris family's driver. If you call him to pick you up without telling anyone, your parents are going to ask questions," he replied.

Adam held up his phone so I could see the screen. Mike's number sat at the top of the call log. It was the call we'd just ended.

"I'll handle this. Just come back with us for now. We can talk when we get to the hotel."

I stared at the call log for three seconds. "What gives you the right to cancel it?"

"Anthony, I'm doing this for your own good." His tone was sincere, just as it had been back when we'd called each other brothers.

For a moment, I almost believed him.

Then I glanced at the car. Summer had her face pressed against the window. Her eyes were red, and she was staring straight at me.

Joseph sat beside her and handed her tissues.

I looked away. "That night, at my engagement party, where did you go after you got me drunk?"

Adam's expression changed. He didn't panic. His face simply went rigid, like someone who'd just been caught.

He opened his mouth, but several seconds passed before he spoke. "How did you know?"

"I didn't. I was guessing. Now I know."

His Adam's apple bobbed.

"It was an accident." His voice dropped. "You'd had too much to drink and went to sleep first. Summer came over to get something, and I'd been drinking too..."

"Are you going to tell me you didn't mean to?" I interjected sarcastically.

He said nothing.

His silence was answer enough.

Joseph got out of the car and stopped a few steps away. Somehow, he looked even worse than Adam. "I did too..."

"You did what? You didn't mean to either?"

He bit his lip.

"The night before you and Summer had the engagement party, I was having a hard time..." His voice was so quiet that the wind almost swallowed it. "I drank a lot. Summer came to see me because she was afraid I'd do something stupid."

His voice dropped even lower. "I always thought she wasn't good enough for you. I thought she didn't deserve you. But you got her anyway, and I couldn't take it. She stayed with me the whole time, and then..."

"Then you didn't mean to either," I finished for him.

Two men had been with my fiancée on two different nights. One had been with her at our engagement party, while the other had been with her the night before. What a coincidence.

The car door slammed behind me.

Summer got out. She steadied herself with one hand against the doorframe, and tears still streaked her face.

She walked straight toward me and dropped to her knees. "Anthony, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry..."

Her knees struck the asphalt with a dull thud.

I looked down at her.

Adam immediately stepped forward and pulled her up. "The ground's cold. You're pregnant. Don't kneel."

Joseph reached for her other arm. "Summer, get up. This is our fault, not yours."

The two men stood on either side of her and shielded her between them.

Once they had helped her to her feet, Summer looked up at me with tears in her eyes. Fear and a plea for forgiveness filled her expression, along with something else I couldn't quite identify.

The wind picked up again. I stood across from the three of them and felt like an audience of one who had been forced to watch a play unfold.

Adam turned back to me, his voice low. "Anthony, get in the car. Let's go to the hotel first. Summer isn't feeling well. She can't stay out here in the wind."

I looked at him. Then I got in the car.

On the way to the hotel, Joseph handed me a thermos. "Anthony, have some water."