Chapter 278
Chapter 278:
The wind shifted, sending a swirl of dry leaves skittering across the dimly lit path between them.
“And then?” Millie pressed, her voice edged with impatience.
“And then?” Brandon hesitated, his brows furrowing as he searched for the right words. “Vivian just needed something from me,” he finally said. “She didn’t go over there on purpose.”
Millie let out a sharp, incredulous laugh.
Earlier, Babette had all but shoved her phone in Millie’s face. One glance was enough—she’d seen through their little scheme in an instant.
Yet Brandon expected her to believe Vivian was innocent?
Did he really not know people, or did he just think she was that gullible?
Fed up, Millie wrenched her hand free from Brandon’s grip and strode down the hallway, her heels clicking out her frustration.
He immediately stepped in front of her again, refusing to let her pass.
Millie stopped short, her patience snapping. “Brandon,” she bit out, pinning him with a glare. “Ever since the night you brought up divorce, I haven’t interfered in your life at all.”
She drew in a shaky breath, fists balled at her sides. “But you…” Her voice rose, trembling with anger. “You’re the one who keeps parading your relationship with her around, turning it…” ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ
“Into a spectacle before our marriage is even over. Haven’t you seen the headlines? Do you have any idea what people have been saying about me?”
Brandon’s brow furrowed in frustration, and his silence hung between them. Millie let out a soft, rueful laugh before turning her attention to a spider methodically spinning its web in the shadowy corner of the hallway.
“I understand how much you care for her. You told me yourself—she’s only got six months left,” Millie noted, her voice low and even. “So please, can I ask you to spend those months quietly by her side?”
She paused, holding his gaze for a heartbeat longer before adding, “Just leave me alone. Stop dragging me into your mess.” She wanted nothing to do with their tangled lives.
Not anymore.
Without waiting for a reply, Millie strode away, her steps brisk and final. Brandon’s hand twitched, tempted to stop her, but he couldn’t bring himself to reach for her.
He simply watched as she walked toward the elevator.
The doors slid shut, cutting her off from his sight—leaving him standing alone in the hallway, with nothing but silence for company.
Millie’s words still reverberated in his head, each one cutting deeper than the last.
He’d come to clear the air, but in the end, any explanation felt meaningless. As long as the truth about Vivian remained untold—and as long as Vivian was still alive—nothing he said could reach Millie now.
His hands curled into tight fists, haunted by the fading sensation of Millie’s touch, and a hollow certainty that she was slipping farther away.
.
.
.