Chapter 141

Chapter 141

Curtis couldn’t help but chuckle at the absurdity, but his laughter was as fleeting and thin as a wisp of smoke, never reaching the frosty depths of his eyes before being scattered by the wind.

He and Leanne were like a modern-day War of the Roses. The word “again” was inevitably part of the sentence whenever someone mentioned them.

“We didn’t fight this time,” he said, taking a drag on his cigarette while watching the snowflakes dance beneath the streetlamp’s glow.

Curtis used to despise winter, which was too cold, bad weather, all hassle, and

inconvenient.

But the best times with Leanne were in that one winter season.

They stayed at the Northwood Mansion, no one to disturb them, nothing to trouble their peace. It felt like the whole world consisted only of each other.

Leanne was like ice wrapped in stone, requiring gentle, patient, and persistent warmth.

Once the stone heated, the ice inside melted into a subtle trickle of water first, then slowly into the sweetest honey.

Curtis had tasted that sweetness.

On Christmas Eve, in front of the hospital, even a man like him, often branded as cold-hearted, had stood in the biting winter snow waiting for her..

Leanne ran

an toward him, cheeks flushed, whether from the heat or the excitement of the

crowd’s cheers. It was hard to tell.

She carried with her the cozy warmth of indoors, flinging herself into his arms, snuggled against him, looking up into his eyes with such focus, such brightness.

For a moment, Curtis believed he had thawed her frozen heart. That belief lasted until the day he returned to grab his passport – he had planned a surprise honeymoon as a means to make it up to her.

As he ascended the stairs, he overheard Jennifer talking to a friend.

“Leanne is a real catch,” the woman praised, “beautiful and well-behaved, and she seems so in love with Curtis. I saw them at the diner, utterly smitten.”

Jennifer was dismissive. “In love? She wanted to marry Phillip not long ago. How much real affection can she have for Curtis?”

The woman was surprised, “Really? I had no idea.”

Jennifer continued, “She’s always had a soft spot for Phillip. If he came home, she’d be

1/2

11:27

Chapter 141

waiting in the living room. For Curtis, she never bothered. But she must be delusional to think Phillip would marry her.”

Curtis had believed he was the first choice in that marriage until that moment.

He stood in the shadow of the staircase, his heart turning into ice, cold and painfully sharp at the edges.

His mother favored his older brother, willing to sacrifice him. The girl he treasured wanted to marry his brother, not him.

The two women he loved most didn’t love him in return.

What was he then?

He was the lighter end of Jennifer’s scale, easily sacrificed when necessary.

He was Leanne’s fallback option, only considered when his brother wasn’t available.

“Curtis, maybe you should talk to Leanne again. I don’t think she loves me,” Phillip said, “She was drunk that night, crying and asking why you don’t love her.”

Remembering Leanne in his arms, tearfully asking, “Have you ever loved me?” made Curtis’ heart clench, his gaze growing colder by the second.

“She was asking you. She was holding you.”

“She just mistook me for you.” Frowning, Phillip explained.

Curtis smiled, countering, “How do you know she was mistaken but not speaking her truth through the wine?”

Phillip fell silent.

“I think there’s been a lot of misunderstanding between you two.”

“There’s no misunderstanding. Leanne admitted it herself.”

Curtis felt the irritation rising again. Why should he magnanimously step aside? What kind of martyr did he think he was?

But his heart sank again when he recalled Leanne being bullied by Derek.

She didn’t want his protection, but he couldn’t let her go.

“Phillip, I can’t stand the thought of her with someone else. If it’s you, at least I know she’ll be safe. She adores you, and if she could marry you, at least one of her dreams would

come true.”

11:27