He Lost Me to His Best Friend novel Chapter 414

"A person rarely gets the chance to truly go wild in life. Letting it out is better than keeping it all bottled up. Forget your mother—even I want to go on a rampage! It's just my position and my status that hold me back. You have no idea... every time your mother cries, my heart bleeds."

Dominic let out a long sigh and hung up.

Julian held his phone, his mind reeling.

He had thought that once he found out the truth, cut ties with Sylvia, and cleanly ended the marriage, their family's life would slowly return to normal.

Only now did he realize that this marriage had been a devastating earthquake for his parents, destroying their decades of peaceful, stable life.

They had looked forward to his marriage so much, which meant his divorce crushed them just as deeply.

They had adored the idea of a grandchild, which made the revelation that the boy wasn't a Croft an agonizing betrayal.

The only reason they had appeared so calm, so forgiving, and so understanding... was because they were terrified that showing their own heartbreak would make Julian feel even worse.

So, they swallowed their pain and put on a brave face for him.

But then again, hadn't he been doing exactly the same?

These past few weeks, he had faked his own composure, acting as though nothing had happened.

In reality, every single night, he needed alcohol just to drift off to sleep.

Even though every trace of Sylvia and the child had been scrubbed from the house, the wound in his heart had never healed. It had just been bleeding quietly in the dark.

It was just how their family was wired—they were habitually stoic.

The etiquette carved into their bones didn't allow them to break down, show grief, or lose control in front of others.

-

Scarlett and Elara found a clean nearby restaurant, booked a private dining room, ordered some appetizers, and asked for two bottles of red wine.

"I've been a professor my whole life. I've taught high morals and ethics, and my son's marriage ended up a total disaster. I thought we knew her family, that it was a perfect match, but we were played for absolute fools."

"My husband is an honorable man, our marriage is solid, our son is exceptional, and our family's code of conduct is pure... yet God played this sick joke on us, tying us to a daughter-in-law like that!"

"For the sake of that child, I forced Julian to swallow his pride. Even during the divorce, we worried about the kid's future, so we let Julian give that woman a fifty-million-dollar settlement... But now, the more I think about it, the more I feel like suffocating."

"Why?! Why does the Croft family have to swallow this massive injustice? Why did we try so hard, only to end up with nothing? Why did we lose so much money, just to let the villains win and our own family suffer?"

Elara looked at Scarlett, utterly heartbroken.

"Do you know how much money we poured into that marriage from start to finish?"

Scarlett frowned. "How much?"

Elara smiled bitterly and slowly held up five fingers—