He Lost Me to His Best Friend novel Chapter 157

Scarlett walked into an empty booth next door. Yardley followed closely behind, his face pale and his eyes unsettled. Tonight had completely shattered everything he thought he knew about the people closest to him. His mind was a chaotic mess, but one thing was crystal clear: this circus had to end before the damage was irreversible. To protect the big picture, he decided to step in as the peacemaker.

He walked up, placing a hand gently on Scarlett's shoulder, and spoke in a soothing, earnest tone. "Scarlett, look. Sylvia and Aunt Gwen emptied everything they have. If you really need the money, I'll cover the remaining tens of millions. I'll have finance wire it to your account first thing in the morning. Let's just drop this, okay?"

Scarlett looked at him quietly, her gaze sharp and deeply knowing. She didn't say a word. It was exactly as she predicted. Even after seeing Sylvia's true, repulsive nature, Yardley's default setting was to protect her, clean up her messes, and disguise it as "looking at the big picture." She had anticipated this. But anticipating it and hearing it from his own mouth were two different things.

A dull ache still throbbed in Scarlett's chest. Not because she still loved him, but because in their entire five-year marriage, she had never once received this kind of instinctive, unconditional protection from him. Not once.

Yardley waited a moment. When she didn't respond, he tried to rationalize further. "I know how Sylvia and Aunt Gwen behaved tonight was highly inappropriate. But at the end of the day, they were just letting off steam. It didn't actually hurt you. I know you brought me here to see this side of Sylvia. Well, I saw it, and I'll know how to handle things moving forward."

He moved behind her, gently massaging her shoulders, and lowered his voice to a whisper. "Scarlett, you have to leave room for people to breathe. We're still going to be family with Aunt Gwen and Sylvia in the future. Just do me a favor and let this go, please?"

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