Page 195 of Goodbye Note

“For Nova, I don’t want to be in a war with her. So you can’t hate her.”

“I can hate her all I want. What you do is your choice.” He tipped his head back. “Is that why…at your wedding?”

“There were a lot of reasons.”

“I didn’t know.” Arik’s voice rang hollow.

“I know. I couldn’t tell you.” I couldn’t even admit it to myself.

“Is that why you’re not willing to call it what it is?" he asked quietly.

"If I can’t remember, how can I call it anything?" I didn’t want it to be a thing. I couldn’t let it be more than it was. It already took the little I’d had left of him.

Silence fell between us, and I truly wasn’t sure if I’d made things worse.

“I never thought you left me for her,” he said at length.

“How?”

He lifted his shoulders. “I saw how you were with her when we were together. She’d be pining after you, and you wouldn’t even notice she was in the same room. She’d ask you something, and you’d barely respond. I knew you only had eyes for me.”

“How did you react when you found out?” Maybe I was a masochist for asking.

“I was upset. Hurt. But thought maybe if you moved on, I could too,” he whispered, sounding empty.

“Guess that’s why you’ve dated so many people recently.”I didn’t mean for the jealousy and spite to infiltrate my words, but it did.

“Those were all PR.” Arik’s words were like a punch to the gut.

“Is that why you came to my wedding?”I had to know.

“I don’t know why I came, but when I saw the invitation, I wanted you to put the final nail in the coffin. I needed to be in the same space with you and witness you moving on. But, well, you know how that went.”

“I would have left with you.”

“You had to be there for your kid.”

“We could have done what we are doing now, and she would never remember a time when her parents were together. I almost think it’s worse for her to remember the idea of a happy family.”

“You obviously love her.” He lifted his shoulders. “And that’s not how our cards were dealt. You’re where you need to be.”

“No—” The elevator groaned and started moving, cutting me off.

The second the doors opened, Arik darted out. An EMT crew waited, along with Kiernan and John.

Both of them tried to speak, but Arik didn’t stop.

“Are you at least okay?” Kiernan called when he was huffing and puffing and couldn’t keep up with Arik.

“Nope. I’m going to go have a mental breakdown and then commit a murder, so be on call to help me bury a body.”

Kiernan grabbed me when I tried to get past to follow Arik. “What the fuck did you do?”

“Shockingly, it’s not me.” No one knew except for my brother, and I didn’t want anyone else to. I’d die if it ever got back to Nova.

Kiernan narrowed his eyes but released me. “Go fucking catch him. He can’t go outside. He’ll get mobbed.”

“Old man.” I jogged after Arik, finally hearing footsteps on a staircase. I leaned over the rail, looking up, then down, spotting him.

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