Lex stared at me, looking dazed–like he was lost somewhere between nostalgia and regret. Whatever he was thinking, I didn’t care.
The wind blew my hair into my face, and I tucked it behind my car, ready to leave. Just as I stepped past him, his hand shot out, stopping me cold.
I instinctively stepped back, but he wasn’t trying to grab me. In his hand was a bracelet.
It looked almost identical to the one my parents had left me.
“This bracelet is to make it up to you,” he said softly. “Doesn’t it look just like yours?”
There was a flicker of hope in his voice, but I didn’t care about the bracelet. My eyes locked on the faint scar running across his wrist–eerily similar to mine.
He noticed where I was looking and gave a bitter, hollow laugh. “I guess there’s still. something we have in common.”
I met his gaze and sighed. “Lex, you know it as well as I do. What we had ended three years ago.
“Everything you’re doing now? It’s a burden to me. Whether you believe it or not, I’m married. So please–stop showing up in my life. Can you do that?”
With every word, his face went a shade paler.
I didn’t look back. I just walked away, letting the sound of the bracelet hitting the ground and a muffled sob fade behind me.
That was the last time I saw Lex.
Even when I visited Grandpa Hubert at the Hamilton mansion, Lex was nowhere to be found. Ivana was gone, too.
Later, I heard Lex had forced Ivana to leave. He’d cut all ties with her, completely shutting her
out.
Desperate, Ivana started searching for him–and, for whatever reason, me. A few times, she showed up looking like she had something to say, but before she could get much out, someone always appeared to drag her away.
I asked Joshua if he had anything to do with it. He just shrugged. “Not me.”
Life moved on, or so I thought.
I never expected to hear Lex’s name again. Not like this.
One day, his friends called. Their voices shook with anger, frustration–maybe even guilt.
“For the past six months, he’s been drinking non–stop,” Roy said, his voice rough. “He’s barely been sober.”
