He Lost Me to His Best Friend novel Chapter 166

"We divide and conquer. You handle Yardley, and I'll handle your aunt. No matter what, we are going to make Scarlett choke on her own medicine and throw her out of the Flynn family for good."

A fleeting, deeply toxic malice flashed through Sylvia's eyes... At this point, she wanted Scarlett dead.

-

Scarlett waited at home for three solid days.

Finally, Yardley called, asking her to meet at the Windsong Chamber for lunch to discuss how they were going to resolve everything.

Scarlett walked straight into the restaurant and pushed open the door to the private dining room on the second floor. She froze.

Yardley wasn't alone. His older sister, Clarissa, was sitting right next to him.

Scarlett's expression instantly plummeted into a frosty glare.

"Yardley, I thought we were here to negotiate. Bringing your sister along—what kind of power play is this?"

Before Yardley could open his mouth, Clarissa stood up. She offered Scarlett a warm, remarkably friendly smile.

"I insisted on coming with him, Scarlett."

"I wanted to personally apologize for how poorly my mother and brother treated you during your pregnancy and postpartum recovery. Will you accept our apology?"

Clarissa's tone carried a level of respect and peacefulness that Scarlett had literally never heard from her before.

The sudden, massive olive branch caught Scarlett completely off guard. A mocking smirk curled on her lips as she immediately locked eyes with Yardley.

"What, did you change strategies?"

"This angle isn't going to work on me, Yardley. Don't assume that just because I let your sister see a few pictures of Dawn, it means we're suddenly best friends and she can play the peacemaker."

"I am not close to anyone in your family, and that includes her. So drop the act!"

Scarlett pointed a sharp finger directly at Clarissa, dismantling their polite facade in three seconds flat. Her face was a mask of cold, unyielding armor.

Through all those endless, lonely hours, if just one member of this family had spoken to her the way Clarissa was speaking to her right now... if they had offered her a single ounce of warmth... she might have felt her marriage was worth saving.

But that was the old Scarlett. The Scarlett who still harbored the pathetic delusion of building a happy life with Yardley.

Now, the damage was completely irreversible.

Clarissa's words were incredibly valuable, but they were long past their expiration date. So far past, that Scarlett didn't even want them anymore.

After a long, heavy silence, Scarlett stepped fully into the room and closed the door. She looked at the siblings with dead eyes.

"Clarissa, if you had said this to me before Dawn's christening, I would have thanked you. I probably would have hugged you, cried my eyes out, and felt forever indebted to you."

Scarlett's lips curled into a devastatingly bleak, sarcastic smile.

"Unfortunately, you're way too late."

"Offering a life-saving pill after the heart has already stopped beating—do you honestly think it's going to work?"