Todos los capítulos de Rejected By My Brother’s Alpha Best Friends : Capítulo 31 - Capítulo 40

BRIELLE'S POVTristan set the book on the coffee table and flipped it open, hands steadier now that we were somewhere the girls couldn't hear."Here." He turned it toward me. "This is the part I stopped reading."I leaned in, scanning the cramped old script."A choice made from fear, duty, or convenience does not satisfy the bond." My voice slowed as I read, the weight of each word sinking further in. "Only love, freely given and truly felt, completes the joining. A hollow choice weakens rather than saves."I sat back, staring at nothing.The words blurred slightly the longer I stared at them, my eyes burning from exhaustion, from crying earlier, from every hour of this endless night stacking up behind them.I forced myself to read the line a second time anyway, as if repetition might soften what it actually meant."So it's not enough to pick one." My voice had gone flat. "I have to actually love him. Whoever he is.""That's what it says.""In thirty days.""Yeah."I laughed, short an

TRISTAN'S POV "You're late." Elena was already seated when I walked in, two cups on the table, one of them clearly not mine given the amount of foam piled on top. The place was quieter than I expected for midday, just a couple tables occupied, the kind of spot she'd picked specifically because nobody would recognize either of us here. "Traffic." I dropped into the chair across from her. "And I see you already ordered for me." "I ordered the good one for me. Yours is just regular coffee. Black, like your soul." "My soul's not black." "Gray, then. Gunmetal." I picked up my cup, hiding whatever expression that pulled out of me, and took a sip mostly to buy myself a second before responding. "You've clearly given this a lot of thought." "I think about you more than I'd like to admit." She tossed it out like a joke, light and quick, though her eyes suggested she'd surprised herself by saying it out loud. I didn't have a comeback ready for that. For once, neither of us fill

TRISTAN'S POV"The betrothal is fake." Dad set his phone down on the desk, jaw tight. "No record exists on the council registry beyond what was sent to Penelope's father. Someone fabricated the entire arrangement."I let that settle for a second, my mind already running ahead to who might have the access to pull something like that off. Not many people had reason to know Dad's true standing, let alone the resources to imitate it convincingly enough to fool another Alpha family."Fake." I looked at Penelope, still standing near the doorway, arms crossed loosely over her chest. "So none of this was ever real.""No." She didn't look particularly rattled by the news, which struck me as strange given everything else happening in the room. "For what it's worth, I wasn't exactly heartbroken to hear it.""You weren't interested." The realization landed slowly as I said it out loud."Not remotely." A faint smile pulled at her mouth. "No offense. You seem perfectly nice. I was already planning

DARIUS'S POVShe looked away first.I stood there a second longer than the moment called for, watching the space where Brielle's eyes had just been, my pulse doing something I hadn't given it permission to do."You're staring at the doorway like it owes you money."Penelope's voice pulled me back. She'd drifted closer while I wasn't paying attention, arms crossed loosely, watching me with the same knowing patience she'd worn her whole life, even as a kid."Just thinking.""About Brielle." Not a question."About a lot of things." I dragged a hand through my hair, aware I hadn't fully answered.She studied me a moment, something knowing in the tilt of her head, then nodded toward the hallway leading off the entryway, away from the noise of Alexander's study. "Walk with me. I could use air that doesn't smell like council business."I followed her without much thought, grateful for an excuse to move, to put distance between myself and the room where Brielle had just looked at me like that

BRIELLE'S POV"The fabric samples came in wrong again." Claire dropped a swatch book on my desk, exasperated, setting her coffee down hard enough that it sloshed near the rim. "They sent the cream in the wrong weight. Third time this month someone's screwed up an order. I'm starting to think the supplier just doesn't own a measuring tape.""Send it back.""Already did. I just wanted to complain about it first." She dropped into the chair across from me, tablet balanced on her knee. "You okay? You've been staring at that contract for ten minutes without turning a page.""I'm fine.""You've told me that already. Twice, actually, in the last hour." She studied me, unbothered by my tone in a way only someone who'd worked for me for years could manage. "I was in the hallway yesterday, Brielle. I watched you grab that woman's arm like she'd tried to steal something out of your purse."Heat crawled up my neck. "It wasn't like that.""Sure looked like that.""I overreacted. It happens.""Not