Chapter 334:
It wasn’t just the beating—five years ago, Brandon had pieced together every crime Hayden had ever committed and handed it all to the police. He made sure Hayden paid for everything, right down to orchestrating Hayden’s divorce from Nicole.
Only after that had Millie finally clawed her way out of hell.
“So, what is this?” she asked, searching Brandon’s face across the candlelit table. “Did you bring me here just to walk down memory lane?”
He met her gaze, his eyes lingering on the faint redness along her lashes.
Brandon shook his head slowly.
“I just picked this place at random,” he answered, his voice low.
Millie gave a small nod, swallowing down the ache in her chest.
“If we’re done here, maybe we should just call it a night,” she said, her voice steady but quiet. “You wanted dinner—we had dinner. You wanted Ari here—she’s here. What else could you possibly want from me now?”
Outside, the sky had deepened to a rich sapphire blue, the darkness pressing against the restaurant’s windows.
Brandon hesitated, and then looked right at her. “Would you dance with me?” he asked softly, his gaze gentle and oddly vulnerable.
Millie looked enchanting in the dim light, her eyes still rimmed with red, her hair drawn back in a loose bun that made her seem even more delicate.
But to Brandon, none of that mattered—what he saw was the girl she’d once been, barefoot in the yard, laughing without fear.
That long-ago summer still haunted him. He’d been the outsider, lurking on the fringes, watching the Bennetts through windows and half-open doors, hungry for the happiness they shared.
All these years later, he wanted just one more memory with her.
“Just like when you were little,” Brandon murmured.
He switched on the music—something slow and sweet—and stepped closer, holding out his hand.
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Millie hesitated, her gaze falling to his outstretched hand as a quiet ache filled her chest.
Memories of her parents flooded back—her father’s gentle laugh, her mother’s warm embrace.
In those days, the Bennett family stood at the very top of Crobert’s social pyramid. James Bennett had been the favorite to claim the city’s elusive fourth seat of power, their family’s future bright and boundless.
Back then, the world seemed to revolve around the three of them, cocooned in happiness that felt unbreakable.
She used to believe their little family would always stay untouched.
Her parents’ love had been the envy of all Crobert. But fate tore them apart—her father lost far too soon, and her mother left to weather hardship alone.
She still remembered the day she went to Nicole, desperately hoping for her help to adopt Ari. Millie had tried calling Nicole “Mom,” reaching for a connection that simply wasn’t there. Nicole refused, holding herself at arm’s length.
Year after year, Nicole seemed to slip further away, her warmth replaced by a polite chill.
Maybe, for Nicole, there was a different story—a truth Millie had never been meant to know.
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