He Lost Me to His Best Friend novel Chapter 69

Yardley's legs buckled. Cold sweat drenched his forehead and back.

He stood numbly in place, like a hollowed-out tree stump, unable to make a single sound.

Clarissa stared at the empty elevator bank for a long moment before sweeping a frigid glare over the lingering employees. With just one look, she sent the nosy crowd scrambling.

She turned, grabbed Yardley by his tie, and effortlessly dragged the broken man back into the glass-strewn office.

Yardley slumped into his chair like a lifeless puddle of mud.

Looking down at him, Clarissa's lips curled into a sneer.

"What? Can't handle it?"

Her voice was as cold as crushed ice. There was no sisterly warmth, only undisguised mockery.

Yardley picked up a glass of water from the desk. His hands were shaking so badly he spilled it all over himself, but he didn't seem to notice. After downing a mouthful of cold water, he finally snapped out of his daze.

He looked up at Clarissa, his eyes filled with confusion and defiance.

"Clarissa, was I really that awful?"

Before she could answer, he instinctively launched into his own defense.

"When Scarlett and I got married, sure, we didn't have a wedding, but I never hid her. Everyone in the company knows she's my wife. We got together because I drank too much during that project out west. Any other guy wouldn't have taken responsibility for a one-night stand, but I did."

"I didn't neglect her. I bought her flowers every holiday. I might not have been there when she gave birth, but I paid for her postpartum recovery center and the nanny."

"And..."

Yardley desperately racked his brain for every detail. "When we got together, Mom and the rest of you were entirely against it. But I withstood all that pressure for her."

"I opposed your marriage back then, not because I looked down on Scarlett like Mom did, but because I knew you weren't fit to be married. I knew you would destroy whoever you ended up with. And looking at you now, I was absolutely right."

Yardley was stunned. "You..."

Clarissa sneered and pressed on.

"You can see a man's true colors most clearly during three phases: pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum recovery. Out of those three, did you do a single damn thing right?"

She took a step closer, towering over him.

"There has to be a limit to how much you care about Sylvia. No matter what happens during her pregnancy, labor, or recovery, it is never your place as her cousin to get involved!"

"If I had known you were flying to Country A over and over again for Sylvia, I would have stopped you. But it's too late now. You completely broke Scarlett's heart."