I DIDN’T HAVE the strength or conviction to keep the shock off my face. Looking at him, a man I’d cherished for so long only to have him walk away, stung. Especially when mum was at home, in pain and suffering, whilst he was at some fancy party with a younger replacement of her on his arm.

“Jolene?” He said, tightening his face once again. “What are you doing here?”

What are you meant to say in a situation like this? Good to see you?

I bit back my repulsion, but that, too, seared my insides, a poison running through my veins.

“I should ask you the same,” I said, voice steadier than I felt.

“I—”

“Jolie,” Archer’s voice came from my side. “Let’s go, come on.” I nodded, numbly, and put my hand on his arm so he could guide me away, not trusting my feet to withstand my weight.

“Archer Redwood,” my father’s voice said. “You’re not usually one to show your face here.”

The arm beneath my fingertips immediately tensed, and I felt the distinctive ticking of a muscle. Or maybe that was me.

“Julian Dubois,” Archer answered, curtly. “Perhaps I had a change of heart.”

I stared between the pair of them in shock. Each radiated anger, flames spitting between the glare they bestowed upon one another, whilst Annalise and I stood in shock. But, I assumed, for very different reasons.

“You two know each other?” I was the first to speak out of the two of us.

“Archer is my biggest competitor,” my fath— Julian said. His eyes never left Archer’s, neither man willing to back down.

“What do you mean?” I asked, hands slipping from his arm.

“Jules owns Dubois Industries,” Annalise said, having adjusted to the situation. “And of course, Archer controls his father’s business, so they’re rivals, hey Jules?” She was attempting to make light of their rivalry, but if anything, it seemed to spark a new fury.

“Rivals?” I asked, though it wasn’t really a question. My voice lowered. “For how long?”

I could feel the gazes of those around us. They stared, not worried if they would be caught or not.

“Years,” was Julian’s curt reply. “Ever since he father died.”

“You mean ever since you killed him.”

I stumbled backwards slightly, before steadying myself.

“Your father,” Julian spat. “Was a raging drunk. What happened to him was no one’s fault but his own.”

Archer stepped forward, back muscles flexing dangerously. “Say that again,” he said, words spilling with the threat he’d coated them with. I’d never seen him like this. It terrified me. This was the big, bed wolf everybody had claimed him to be. I hadn’t believed them. Stupid.

My hand reached for his arm again. The muscles continued to flex and contract under my fingers, but his breathing began to slow down, if only a little.

“Archer,” I said, desperately. “Please, don’t.”

Archer tore his gaze from the man in front of him. Those azure eyes were like a kick to the face, so fierce and unwavering that I wondered how my father was still standing. They softened as he took in my worried expression, and he clasped my hands with his own, bringing them to his lips.

Julian watched the sight. “Don’t tell me you’ve fallen for her,” he said, almost amused.

I looked to him, trying to imagine another face before my eyes and not one I remembered from my childhood. Not the one that, though younger, would take me to the park and push me on the swing for as long as I wanted or would teach me french as we went to school.

“Jolie, let’s go,” Archer said, almost as desperate as I had been. I pulled my hands from his.

“What do you mean?”

“You can’t be that naive, Jolie?” I scrunched my brow in confusion. “He didn’t want you for your beauty or your intelligence or your humour like he might have claimed. He wanted you to get to me.”

“Get to you?”

“Jolie, I’ll explain everything, just come with me,” he said, pulling me, but I dug my heels in. “Jolie, please.” He was begging. I might have savoured the sight if my mind wasn’t whirling, and the room didn’t feel like it was closing in.

The man gestured to Archer, shrugging off Annalise’s hand as she tried to pull him away, “He picked you out of all the girls in that school so he could get to me, punish me for what I did to him.”

I looked at Archer for as long as I could bare.

His shoulders were shaking as he stared at me, blue eyes glistening with unshed tears.

My entire throat felt like it was closing up, I couldn’t breathe, as it swelled with hurt and blinding fury. Tears were streaming down my cheeks, I realised as I wiped my face, but I didn’t have the energy to care whether my father saw, whether the aristocrats around us saw, whether Archer saw.

Behind Julian and Annalise, I caught sight of Autumn watching me, a look of confusion. She went to step forward.

I realised just how many eyes were on me, then. The entire room was turned towards the scene, or that’s what I envisioned, their gazes making my skin prickle. It felt like the entire world was watching me crumble to pieces.

Who would sweep me up when I finally did?

I had to get out. Everything was spinning. Julian was still talking, taunting me about what a lie everything was. Archer was begging. People clinked glasses in an adjoining room. I had to get out. I had to get out. I had to get out.

I turned from them and fled. I didn’t care who I pushed, then, not bothering with apologies as I jostled people about to get through. There were outcries of protest but I couldn’t bring myself to care.

Stumbling forward, I reached the threshold and was about to cross it when I turned. Autumn stood, alongside Noah and Mrs Redwood, and Archer. They all watched, probably taking in my smeared make up and reddened face.

“Jolie,” Autumn said, coming forward.

“Is it true?” I asked, looking up from the floor and connecting our eyes. My voice was levelled, flickering on the edge of control.

She couldn’t keep her golden eyes on mine. I looked to Noah, who was actively avoiding eye contact, too. Only Mrs Redwood had the courage, the decency to look sympathetic.

I was greeted with silence, but even that was deafening.

I turned again and stumbled out of the door.

The air was thick and sweltering, suffocating me with every inhale. Or maybe everything would be like that, feeling like a pair of hands clamping around my throat. Maybe it had always been like that but I’d been too busy being happy with Archer to notice.

I felt more than heard Archer following me.

“Leave me alone, Archer!” I said, continuing to walk forward, past where we had sat and made up. It felt like a life time ago.

“Jolie, just let me explain,” he said. “I can explain everything, please, just let me.”

I spun more quickly than he was expecting, making him stumble back slightly as I had done.

“What’s there to explain?” I asked, laughing bitterly. “You heard my name at school— or was it before then? It was at the uniform shop, wasn’t it?” He had the nerve to look guilty. “You heard my name, and you took the opportunity to get to Julian Dubois through his daughter. Only, that didn’t work out all too well, did it, Archer?”

He stepped forward. “My feelings were all real. I wasn’t plotting then.”

I scoffed. “Was that when you finally realised my father doesn’t give a flying fuck about me so this whole scheme to hurt him or destroy business was a wasted effort?”

“You know that’s not true.”

My eyes must have been blazing, for he looked at me like I’d slapped him across the face. “Do I know, Archer?” My voice was sharper than I expected, slashing my throat and then scarring him, too. “How do I know everything you’ve ever said to me hasn’t been a lie?”

“Do you not trust me?”

“How can I?” I let out. “When I now have to second guess every look, every moment, every kiss, and wonder if it was all part of this elaborate plan to destroy my father.” My fingers were shaking and it wasn’t because of the sudden breeze. “Well, Archer, you may not have succeeded in destroying my father, but you did manage to destroy me.”

“Jolie, please just—”

“Congratulations, Archer Redwood,” I said. “I hope it was worth it.”

And with that, I walked away, wishing more than anything in the world that I’d never see those blue eyes ever again.

***

It was late by the time I got back to the chalet. I’d spent more hours than I could remember just walking, walking, walking.

Mrs Redwood and Autumn were sat at the kitchen island, but there was no sight of Noah and Archer, thank god. They turned to me as the door clicked shut.

“I’m just getting my things,” I told them, though that much was obvious. “I’ll be gone by the morning, don’t worry.”

I traipsed up the stairs, careful to avoid a run in with anyone, not that anyone seemed to be on the top floor at all.

I began picking my things out of drawers and wardrobes and out of the bathroom. Every time my fingers brushed something of Archer’s, it felt like a needle pricking my hands. Stop letting it affect you so much.

But that was easier said than done.

I was halfway done when a knock was heard at the door.

“Jolie,” Autumn said, stepping into my room and shutting the door behind her. “Why don’t we just wait until morning and then figure something out?”

My back was turned to her. I paused in folding.

“You all knew,” I said, on a shaky breath. “And you didn’t tell me.”

“I didn’t know how to,” she said, lamely. “He’s my brother.”

I reached over and picked up another shirt and began folding once again. “So you let me walk around, believing he could ever feel something for me, and the entire time you knew he was just using me.”

“It wasn’t like that,” she said.

“You let me look like an idiot.”

“I just didn’t think it was my place to tell you.”

“No,” I said, a broken laugh slipping through my lips. “The truth is you were too busy fucking Noah to care about me.”

“That’s not fair, Jolie.”

“No,” I said, turning to her. “What’s not fair is your whole family letting him lie to me, letting him walk all over me. You knew what he was planning, how much it’d hurt me. That, that isn’t fair.” I raised the red material in my arms. “Here’s the dress.”

She left the room without another word.