Chapter 1366:

Meanwhile, Darden occupied the back seat of his car beside Brandon, vigilance etched across his features while he directed the chauffeur to drive.

Only minutes earlier, Brandon had been raging like a tempest; then, without ceremony, he had been bundled into Darden’s car. Now, beholding Brandon slumped in defeat—eyes vacant, spirit shattered—Darden felt a throbbing ache behind his temples.

After an extended silence, he ventured softly, “Brandon… are you hungry? Shall I have something brought for you?”

Brandon offered no reply. He merely gazed, unfocused, through the tinted glass.

“What is happening there now?” he rasped at last, voice raw from earlier cries.

Darden knew precisely whom he meant—Millie and Myron—yet he held his tongue.

Brandon turned toward Darden, desperation warring with a steely resolve in his stricken eyes.

“Tell me.”

Collecting himself, Darden chose his words like fragile porcelain.

“Charles says they’ve just finished fixing her hair and makeup. The ceremony is about to resume.”

He deliberately swapped “wedding” for “ceremony,” hoping the gentler term might soften the blow. Alas, it did little to cushion the sting.

Brandon returned his stare to the bleeding sunset beyond the window.

“Once the touch-up is complete, she’ll glide down the aisle in her gown to meet Myron,” he murmured, almost to himself, “and become his bride before the assembled crowd. Then the banquet, the toasts, the congratulations… and after that…”

He had walked that path once himself.

Darden kept stealing sidelong glances, grasping for comfort that refused to form on his lips.

At length, inspiration flickered.

“Brandon, keep a steady heart,” he urged.

𝖁𝗶𝖊𝖜 𝖜𝖎𝖙𝖍 𝖈𝖔𝖓𝖋𝖎𝖉𝖊𝖓𝖈𝖊 ⸮ 𝖌𝖆𝗅𝗇𝗈ν𝖊𝗅𝘀﹒𝗰𝗼𝗺

“There’s no need to race toward despair.”

He had once considered parading eligible women before his friend, but after witnessing Brandon teeter on the brink of the river, Darden knew the wound was still too raw for new beginnings.

So he pressed on, voice gentle.

“Even if Millie weds Myron today, the story isn’t finished. You could still reclaim her heart down the road.”

He nodded earnestly, clenching a fist in encouragement.

“Yes—exactly. Marriages end sometimes, don’t they?”

Brandon regarded the unexpectedly optimistic Darden beside him with faint, weary astonishment.

Darden shifted, sheepish yet hopeful.

“It’s a solid plan, isn’t it?” He believed it might tether Brandon to tomorrow, grant him a fragile thread of possibility worth clinging to.

But Brandon knew better. Once vows were exchanged, they would endure.

Myron had orchestrated this triumph through years of patience; having secured Millie at last, he would never loosen his grasp. And she…

A memory surfaced unbidden—Millie leaning on Myron for solace, seeking refuge in his steadiness.

Brandon squeezed his eyes shut against the agony.

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