All Chapters of Between Two Brothers : Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

ISLA'S POVI didn't see Elena move. One second she was leaning against the crates, and the next her hand had fisted in my hair, yanking hard enough that my vision blurred white at the edges, a cry tearing out of me before I could stop it."Let go of me!" I clawed at her wrist, but Camille was already there too, gripping my other arm, and between the two of them I had no leverage, no footing, nothing but the humiliating scrape of my own heels against concrete as they dragged me toward a metal folding chair set in the middle of the room like it had been placed there deliberately."Sit," Elena said, shoving me down into it.The moment my hands landed on the armrests, I felt it — something cold and tacky clinging to my palms, my skin catching against the metal in a way that made my stomach turn. I tried to lift my hands and couldn't, not fully, some sick adhesive holding them fast."What did you do?" My voice cracked with fury and fear in equ

DARE'S POVI didn't knock. I shoved Julian's office door open hard enough that it cracked against the wall, and he barely had time to look up from his desk before I was on him, hauling him up by the collar of his shirt."Was it you?" My voice came out lower than I intended, more dangerous. "Did you set that up?""Darian—" Julian's hands came up, more startled than afraid, though the smirk hadn't fully left his face even now. "What on earth are you—""Don't." I shoved him back against the wall, forearm braced against his chest, close enough to see the flicker of surprise finally register behind his eyes. "The basement. Isla. Someone spoofed my number, someone with access to building security, someone who knew exactly when the Voss cousins would have motive and opportunity. Was it you?""Dare—" Finn's voice, urgent, from the doorway. "You're still in the office. Half the floor can see through that glass wall. Whatever this is, it cannot hap

ISLA'S POVDare had agreed to the rest of the week off without argument, which somehow unsettled me more than if he'd fought me on it. A single line in a work email — Take whatever time you need. Don't rush back. — no explanation, no attempt to check in beyond that, like he'd decided the safest thing he could do for both of us was simply disappear from my life until I resurfaced on my own terms.I was curled up on my bed Saturday afternoon, half-watching something on my laptop without actually absorbing any of it, when my phone buzzed with a message from the building's front desk. Package and letter for you, Miss Harlow. Courier just dropped it off.I went down to collect it, curiosity briefly overtaking the low, persistent exhaustion I'd been carrying all week. The package was heavier than I expected, wrapped in expensive black paper, and the letter tucked beneath the ribbon bore a wax seal I recognized instantly — the Blackthorne family crest, pressed in

ISLA'S POVDare stood so abruptly his chair scraped hard against the marble floor, the sound cutting through the stunned silence like a gunshot."No." His voice carried across the table, flat and final. "I'm opposed to this."Victor's expression shifted from satisfaction to something colder, sharper. "Excuse me?""You heard me." Dare's jaw was tight, hands braced against the table's edge like he needed something to hold onto. "This engagement isn't happening. Not like this. Not tonight.""And why exactly not?" Victor's voice had dropped into the low, dangerous register I recognized from every negotiation he'd ever conducted, the one that meant he was already calculating how to win. "Give me one good reason, Darian."Dare's eyes flicked briefly to me before returning to his father, something raw and unguarded flickering there before he schooled it back into something harder. "Because Julian isn't fit to be her husband."T

ISLA'S POV"Darian." Serena's voice cracked back through the foyer before she'd even reached the door, spinning to face him one last time, fury still bright in her eyes. "You humiliated me tonight. Defending her, in front of your entire family, like I don't even factor into your decisions anymore.""Leave her out of this, Serena." Dare's voice was low, final. "This was my decision. I stopped you because it was the right thing to do, not because of anything Isla did to provoke it. If you're angry, be angry at me.""Oh, I am," she snapped, though something in her voice had thinned, exhaustion bleeding through the anger now. "Believe me, I am."Fine," she said, voice tight. "Enjoy your evening, both of you." She turned sharply and swept toward the door, heels striking hard against the marble until the sound faded entirely into the night beyond it.The silence she left behind felt heavier than the argument itself.Dare turned to me s