Page 30 of From Our First

I turned, nearly falling out of my chair at the sound of Nate’s voice. He walked in, his eyes wide as he looked at me. And then they narrowed into slits as my parents turned as one to face him.

“Nathan,” my mother bit out.

I looked between them, confused. “Wait, you know each other?” I asked.

“Of course, we know each other,” Nate said. “They’re the ones that showed me the photos of you cheating on me.”

I looked at him, and my world tilted on its axis as I turned to my parents and finally understood.

“What the hell?” I asked.

Though I was afraid I already knew the answer.

Chapter 7

Nate

I stoodin Myra’s sitting room, wondering if I’d somehow crossed a portal into the past. One of the worst moments of my life was now staring back at me in full force.

Her parents might look slightly older—not much, if I were honest—but they had the same expression they’d had the last time I saw them.

Disappointment.

Anger.

Pity.

And, once again, I didn’t know which of the three were for me and what was for Myra. Probably a mix of all of them.

Myra looked at her parents and I had a feeling I’d fucked up. Not now. Not in this moment. But years ago. I looked between them and I knew I’d been decided, and I’d made the biggest mistake of my life. A colossal misstep that I’d never be able to come back from.

“What the hell?” Myra asked, her hand shaking at her sides.

“Myra, what did I say about that tone?” her mother snapped. I took two striding steps forward to stand at Myra’s side. We may have been on opposite sides of many encounters recently. But right now, I was on her side. I didn’t know why. I didn’t know what would happen next, but something was going on. What I did know was that I did not want to be in the dark.

“I told you before, this is my home. How do you know Nate?”

“It was a long time ago, Myra,” her father said offhandedly, waving off the entire situation as if he hadn’t had a hand in breaking Myra and me up.

“No, it’s happening right now.Howdo you know Nathan?”

“We met with him to make sure the family got what it needed.”

My stomach churned, and I felt as if the world had crashed down around me. I couldn’t breathe.

“Those photos were fake, weren’t they?” I asked, my mouth dry.

“Photos? What photos?” Myra whispered, her face pale as I looked over at her.

“Jesus Christ.” I gasped.

“Stop being so overdramatic,” her father snapped. “Of course, we knew about the marriage. You two were far too young to get married. And who is this man? A Brady? No, Myra. You had to go off and marry someone so beneath your station that no one had ever fucking heard of him,” her father shouted.

“What did you do?” Myra asked, her voice steady.

Far stronger than I felt.

I saw the younger man in the room smirk for just a second before his face smoothed to a carefully neutral expression.