Home / The Gardenias Vow / Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

All Chapters of The Gardenias Vow: Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

8 Chapters

Chapter 1

Zack's POVDarren Norton and Sophie Selby stood there glaring at each other, both of them obviously putting on an act.My throat tightened, and I clenched my fists until my fingers went numb.Just last night, Sophie had been ranting to me about Darren."Zack, your idiot best friend wants to change the wedding setup again. How can one guy be this much of a pain?"Darren happened to be on a video call with me at the time and heard every word. He got so angry that he drove straight over that night to confront her."Zack, Sophie doesn't have an ounce of patience. She doesn't deserve you. Dump her!"I'd been afraid they might actually start fighting, so I stepped between them to break it up. Instead, I got shoved to the floor, and my lower back slammed into the sharp corner of a table.They'd both panicked, and there was no faking the worry on their faces. But so was the love I could hear in their thoughts now.My best friend and my girlfriend had really betrayed me.When I stayed

Chapter 2

Zack's POVWhen Sophie got out of the car, her knees nearly buckled. Then I heard what she was thinking.[This is all Darren's fault. That bastard just had to try a new position last night.]I stiffened when Darren leaned in. My hand shook as I shoved him away.He cried out as he lost his balance and went down hard on the gravel."Darren!"Sophie reached for him on instinct, then caught herself and stopped.Darren gritted his teeth against the pain. Without warning, he raised a hand and slapped Sophie across the face. The slap landed with a sharp crack, leaving a red handprint on her cheek."Sophie! If you hadn't kept pushing me, Zack never would've gotten hurt!"Sophie helped him back to his feet, her voice turning cold. "Don't act innocent. You started it."I wanted to cover my ears, but Sophie's thoughts came through again.[I want to kiss his tears away. Doesn't he know how much it hurts me to see him in pain and still trying to tough it out?]She could barely stand see

Chapter 3

Zack's POVI clamped a hand over my mouth, refusing to let a single sound escape.Clothes hit the floor one after another. Every so often, another used condom was tossed into the trash.I lay there listening until my whole body went numb, but the pain inside me only got worse.Sophie used to tear Darren apart whenever she talked about him. "With a temper like his, I feel sorry for whoever ends up marrying him."But now I heard what she was really thinking.[He's so cute.]Darren had always been just as vicious whenever he talked about Sophie. He used to say, "She's such a bitch." But his thoughts told a very different story. [I'm sorry, Zack. I love her so much.]Suddenly, I was just tired of all of it.After they finished and left, I crawled out from under the bed and took in the mess they'd left behind. Instead of crying, I pulled out my phone and snapped a few pictures.Then I opened the chat pinned at the top of my messages and sent Sophie one line."It's over."

Chapter 4

Zack's POVIn an instant, countless thoughts flooded my head.[Zack's insane! Is he seriously going to kill someone right here?][Oh my God. He's going after Sophie's precious Darren. He's dead!]The noise made my head pound. I was just about to look at Sophie when she kicked me hard in the stomach, sending me to the floor. Pain shot through me, and my stomach clenched.When I managed to look up again, Sophie was already gripping Darren's safety rope, still visibly shaken."Zack, you went too far. You left me no choice."I went too far?Another wave of pain twisted through my stomach as I lay there on the floor. I wondered if Sophie thought for even a second about what I'd done for her when she kicked me.Years ago, when debt collectors came after her, I stepped in front of her and took a blow that could've killed me. She still had no idea that by then, I'd already given her one of my kidneys.A laugh slipped out despite the pain."Sophie, we're done."She froze.Before sh

Chapter 5

Third-Person POVThe room was empty.Sophie stopped in the doorway with a slight frown. A strange sense of panic came over her, as if something she'd always thought was securely hers was suddenly slipping out of reach."Zack?" she called.She checked the bathroom, then the rest of the room, but there was no sign of him. Thinking he might have stepped out, she caught a nurse passing in the hall."Excuse me, have you seen the patient in this room? He hurt his back pretty badly. He couldn't have gone far."The nurse glanced inside, then shook her head. "It's only 7:00 am, ma'am. Most patients aren't even up yet. Maybe he went for a walk?"Sophie dismissed the idea immediately. He had to be angry with her.She pulled out her phone and noticed an unread message waiting in the chat pinned at the top of her screen, the one saved under "Babe."Her heart jumped as she opened it."It's over."Sophie went still.Zack wanted to break up with her, and she couldn't understand why.Darre

Chapter 6

Third-Person POVDarren still refused to believe the ring didn't fit. He took it from Sophie and tried to force it onto his finger himself, but it was useless.The ring had never been made for him.After everything else that had gone wrong that night, that finally pushed him over the edge.Crying and furious, Darren grabbed glasses from the champagne tower and splashed Sophie with them one after another."Sophie! If you don't love me, just say so! I'm not going to cling to you! What are you trying to do, humiliate me in front of everyone? If you love Zack, then go after him! Just stop dragging me into whatever is going on between you two!"Sophie's face darkened.She was well known in the finance world, and being humiliated in public like this by the man who had once been her biggest rival was quickly wearing through her patience.She caught Darren by the arm and lowered her voice. "We'll talk about this later."But Darren was far too angry to listen. He pulled away, refusing

Chapter 7

Zack's POVI was lying in a hospital in Kensford, with Mom and Dad sitting beside me. They'd been here for the past month.They watched me anxiously."Zack, how's your back? Do you have feeling in your hand?"Still a little dazed, I flexed my wrist, then my fingers. A faint, prickling ache ran through my knuckles.I carefully shifted my back. The sharp, bone-deep pain was gone.Tears sprang to my eyes as I smiled. "Mom, Dad, I'm okay. I'm really better.""Thank goodness. And thank Amelia. Without her, who knows how many more times Sophie would've gotten you hurt?"I looked over at Amelia Bennett and gave her a small nod. "Thank you, Millie."Amelia glanced at me, said nothing, and walked away.I pressed my lips together.Mom sighed. "Don't be too upset. You should've seen her when you first came back. You were white as a sheet, and Amelia was so scared her hands wouldn't stop shaking. She's angry with you, that's all."You two grew up together. There's nothing you can't tal

Chapter 8

Three months hadn't been kind to either Sophie or Darren.After Cindy recovered the money Sophie had taken from me, a video of Sophie's disastrous proposal to Darren by the river in Delswick ended up online.The scandal damaged her reputation, and before long, her company fired her over the fallout.Darren didn't fare much better. The woman he had grabbed and kissed that night turned out to be engaged.When her fiancé saw the video, he called off the engagement and vowed to make sure Darren never worked in finance again.Within a month, everything Sophie and Darren had spent years building in the finance world, including their connections, was gone.I looked them over without much interest.Darren's eyes were red. "Zack, I'm sorry. There was a reason for what happened between Sophie and me."Sophie clenched her fists nervously. "Zack, Darren and I only did what we did because we had no choice. There was never really anything between us!"Was that so? Their thoughts said otherw

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