Chapter 355
Nathan sat frozen in his car, his fingers gripping the steering wheel as he watched Evelyn through the tinted windows. His breath caught when she laughed at something Harrison said.
He couldn't bring himself to step out.
The dinner lasted two excruciating hours. Nathan watched every smile, every casual touch between them. When they finally left arm in arm, his vision blurred.
His phone buzzed violently. Eleanor's shrill voice pierced through: "Nathan! Where are you? Ms. Delaney has been waiting—"
He crushed the phone against the dashboard and hurled it into the night. The engine roared to life as he sped away.
——
Gregory was halfway through a whiskey when the VIP door slammed open.
"Who the hell—" He choked on his drink seeing Nathan's stormy expression. "Jesus, man. You look like death."
Nathan hadn't stepped foot in their usual haunt since the divorce. The man who collapsed onto the leather couch wasn't the Sterling heir everyone feared—just a hollow shell.
Gregory signaled for everyone to clear out.
"Let me guess," he poured Nathan three fingers of bourbon, "Evelyn Carter strikes again?"
The glass shattered against the wall. "Is it written on my forehead?"
Gregory sighed. "You're obsessed. But she's moved on. Why torture yourself?"
The image of Evelyn tucking her hair behind her ear for Harrison flashed behind Nathan's eyelids. That smile—he used to see it directed at him.
"Is there..." Nathan's voice cracked. "Any chance left for us?"
"None." Gregory regretted his bluntness when Nathan flinched. "But! Women are unpredictable. Remember how she chased you?"
Nathan remembered. He'd been convinced her marriage proposal was a power play.
Three years. Three years of icy distance, of pretending she didn't exist in their own home. Not once had he touched her.
"Listen," Gregory leaned in, "Evelyn loved you. You were just too blind to see it."
The words hit like a sledgehammer.
"Loved? Past tense?"
Gregory shrugged. "Why else would a woman like her marry you? For your sparkling personality?"
Nathan's world tilted.
Evelyn... loved him?
The possibility had never crossed his mind.
"Women don't operate like us," Gregory continued. "It's all or nothing with them. If there was love once..." He let the implication hang.
Nathan's hands trembled. Somewhere in the wreckage of their marriage, had he missed his one chance at real happiness?