Chapter 1046:
“But Brandon doesn’t want anyone else. He only wants you,” Darden pressed, his voice carrying a note of desperation. “He had legitimate reasons for the choices he made back then.”
Millie released a tired sigh.
“Perhaps he did have reasons. But I gave him multiple opportunities to explain himself, and he chose silence every time. Besides…”
Her voice trailed off as she dropped her gaze to the floor.
No matter what justification Brandon might offer, nothing could bring back her baby—the child she’d lost when Brandon pushed her down those stairs.
No explanation could erase the physical agony or heal the emotional scars that still haunted her dreams.
Without allowing herself to say anything more, Millie turned away. “I have things I need to take care of. That’s everything I wanted to say. Goodbye, Darden.”
She walked away quickly, her pace deliberately brisk to prevent Darden from continuing the conversation. She headed straight for the stairwell without looking back.
“Wait! Millie!” Darden called after her, wanting to say more, but she was already gone. By the time he stepped forward and reached the spot where she’d been…
Standing, Millie had already disappeared around the corner, leaving him alone in the empty hallway.
“What’s going on, Darden?” someone from his group called out with amusement in their voice. “Did some chick just shoot you down?”
Darden shook his head and gave his friend a playful shove. “Nothing like that. I was just trying to help Brandon out with something… You know what, forget it. Let’s go grab some drinks.”
Millie soon located Alexia on the crowded dance floor.
𝙎𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙘𝙚 𝙘𝗵𝙚𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙙 ⟦gⲁ𝗅𝗇𝗈ν𝖊𝗅𝘀⫸𝓬𝓸𝗺
After Millie told her friend that something urgent had come up and she needed to take care of it, they split the bill and left the club together.
Millie only felt comfortable leaving once Giffard and Sheridan arrived to ensure Alexia got home safely.
Satisfied her friend was in good hands, Millie climbed into her own car and instructed her driver to take her to the office.
Right now, that was where she needed to be.
“There have been some unexpected changes with the project, so I’ll be working through the night at the office. I won’t be coming home.” Millie typed out the message to Myron before sending it, and then settled back against the leather seat. She stared out at the darkness beyond her window, gripped by a strange sensation.
For several disorienting moments, she couldn’t determine whether she was trapped inside some elaborate dream or fully awake in reality. She felt suspended somewhere in between, neither fully one nor the other.
The car glided smoothly through the city streets, which remained surprisingly busy despite the late hour.
Even at this time of night, the elevated highway was packed with vehicles, their headlights creating rivers of light in the darkness.
Adkins’ cryptic words from earlier that day kept echoing through Millie’s mind like a song she couldn’t stop hearing. His warnings. His carefully worded advice. His refusal to discuss her father’s death.
.
.
.